Darla Julin’s first place wedding cake

Darla Julin of Fantasies in Frosting, Moorhead, Minn., won top honors and a $5,000 Hobart mixer in the 2nd Ultimate Cake Decorating Competition held last month at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Julin won first place in the wedding cake competition and second place in the Halloween competition.

Sixteen contestants competed in each category and were given an hour to complete the Halloween cake and two hours to complete the wedding cake. Contestants were chosen based on their portfolios out of more than 30 entries. In its second year sponsoring the event at the Mall of America, the Upper Midwest Bakery Association (UMBA) brings its cake decorating contest to the public to showcase the talents of area cake decorators and help promote their bakeries.

Spectators watched from three levels of the Mall of America's east rotunda during the competition and had a chance to vote on the people's choice awards with a $1 donation to the UMBA scholarship fund. Children also were invited to try their hand at decorating at the cookie decorating station set up adjacent to the competition.

Here are the winners:

Halloween cake category

Keeann Martineau’s ghost mouse cake earned first place in the Halloween category.

1st - Keeann Martineau, Jerry's Foods, Edina, Minn.

2nd - Darla Julin, Fantasies in Frosting, Moorhead, Minn.

3rd - Mary Ann Moy-Hockstetler, Perfect Day Cakes, Owatonna, Minn.

Wedding cake category

1st - Darla Julin

2nd - Erika Youngdahl, Cub Foods, Rogers, Minn.

3rd - Peggy Tucker, Cakes by Peg, Rochester, Minn.

Corporate sponsors who provided cash and supplies included Bakery Crafts, Best Brands, H.C. Brill, Coborn's, Cold Spring Bakery, Dawn Foods, Decopac, General Mills, Gregory's Foods, Hobart and Julie Bashore's School of Cake Decorating.