Winners announced at 6th annual Ultimate Cake Decorating Competition

Keeann Cramer of Jerry’s Foods, Edina, Minn. won first place in the birthday cake category and Cristiana Popescu and Andrea Halleland of Daube’s Bakery, Rochester, Minn., took first in the wedding cake category of the Ultimate Cake Decorating Competition, held Oct. 14 at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.

The contest, sponsored by the Upper Midwest Bakers Association (UMBA), featured 10 competitors in the birthday cake competition with the theme of "My Ultimate Halloween Cake" (pictured, right) and eight teams of decorators in the wedding cake competition with the theme of “Wendy and Steve’s Wedding.” Cramer took home $500, while Popescu and Halleland shared the $1000 prize in the wedding category (pictured below, right).

The event was emceed by Lynn Schurman of the UMBA board and sponsored by BakeMark, Bakery Crafts, Brill, DecoPac, Dawn Foods, General Mills, Gregory’s, Grex Airbrush and Lindar. Coborn’s, Sauk Rapids, Minn., and Cold Spring Bakery, Cold Spring, Minn., provided the cakes for the competition.

The other winners were:

• Birthday Cake Competition–“My Ultimate Halloween Cake": Katie Okochi, Lund’s Uptown, Minneapolis, second place and $250; Angie Feddick, Queen of Cakes, Edina, third place and $125.
• Wedding Cake Competition–"Steve and Wendy’s Wedding": Fhoua Yang-Moua and Jaime VanderWoude, St. Louis Park & Edina Byerly’s, Minn., second place and $500; Rachel Wille and Rheanna Larson, Queen of Cakes, Edina, third place and $250.