LAPLUME — Keystone College held its sixth annual Cupcake Challenge in the Hibbard Campus Center on March 5 with 22 bakers participating. Among them were nine professional bakers, eight home bakers and five junior bakers. Three hundred fifty people attended the two-hour long event.
The theme of the event was “Cancer Can Kiss My Shamrocks” and proceeds from the event coordinated by students in the Hospitality Business Management program at the college benefited the Pancreatic Action Network. The fundraising goal this year was $3,000 which was surpassed with a total of $3,500 earned. Over the years, students have raised over $10,000.
Brenda Lidy, faculty advisor and associate professor for the program, is the founder of the event and has been heavily involved since its conception six years ago. She noted that “This is a student-planned activity, so it is nice to take the classroom environment and apply it. Students get to troubleshoot, problem solve and plan logistics. Fundraising is such a good skill set to have … soft skills are often overlooked.”
Lidy continued, saying, “Pancreatic cancer is such a horrible disease … everybody here has been touched by it in some way. Every little bit helps and why not do it in a fun way?”
Every year the event grows in participation and attendance. This year, a People’s Choice Award, which came with $100 and a plaque, was added. The winner of the award was Market Street & Lake Sheridan Bar & Grill from Scranton in the professional baker category.
Bakers make 150 cupcakes for the event, are allowed three minutes to give the judges an elevator pitch about their cupcakes and are required to either pay a small fee or donate a raffle basket for entry into the event. With that, they have the chance to win cash prizes and award plaques, not to mention the invaluable exposure to potential clients who attend the event.
Judges for the event have the enviable job of tasting all the cupcakes entered in the contest and choosing winners based on criteria such as taste, creativity, table decorations and texture. Judging this year was David Joyce, of Wilkes-Barre Area Career Tech Center; Nellie Manarchuck, of PersoNELLIzed Cakes and Café; a representative from Wegman’s Bakery and Michelle Cadden, of Electric City Bakehouse.
Two young bakers and best friends, Gianna Grotti and Gianna Bullick, both of Scott Township, participated in the contest together, marking the second year Gower participated in the event with her gluten-free cupcakes. “I was very excited to do it again this year because last year was a great experience for me and I love baking at home, so I decided to take the opportunity and come again,” said Gower.
Describing their product, Grotti said, “We have mint chocolate with Andes Mints on top, banana with cream cheese and Lucky Charms with vanilla icing and funfetti.”
Their cupcakes were all from scratch, all-natural and gluten free. The girls, who entered the contest under the name G-Squared, took home the prize for best taste in the junior baker category.
Home baker Alyssa Clarkson, of Auburn Township, has participated in the cupcake challenge for three years and won for best taste in her category this year. She made Andes Mint cupcakes and mudslide cupcakes with chocolate, marshmallow fluff and walnuts.
Billie Wech and Rachel Knowlton are neighbors and best friends who have participated in the challenge together for two years. Knowlton is a Young Livings Essential Oils representative who used her all-natural lifestyle as inspiration for the cupcakes the duo made. They created salted caramel cupcakes, coconut lime cupcakes using Young Livings Vitality Lime Essential Oils in the icing and Shamrock Shake cupcakes with peppermint essential oils of the same brand. They won for best cupcake texture in their category.
