Around Des Moines

If your image of a store-bought cake is a flat rectangle with floral decorations, Hy-Vee wants you to take another look. The grocery store chain hosted a cake decorating competition for members of its bakery departments with the final contest taking place at Merle Hay Mall on April 3, 2008.

R. Jonathan Armistead, of the Columbia, Missouri, Hy-Vee was the only male among the 12 competitors. He has worked in the store’s bakery for 3-1/2 years but said he has been in the business for 12 years. The idea for the dragon scaling a tier cake and assorted other treats started when Armistead’s son loaned his father his dragons for the table setting. It did not take long for the legendary creatures to be everywhere.

Donna Basener of the Mason City #2 Hy-Vee was dressed in a gingham check apron as she created item after item based on the Wizard of Oz. There were ruby slippers, sunflower cookies, and an interesting tornado cake. Toto was featured on one of those ubiqutous rectangular cakes so I asked Basener if the store baked treats that were edible by dogs. She said the bakery has done that. At a customer’s request, the bakery found a recipe for dog treats and baked some. The day of the contest came the day after Basener’s 7-year anniversary with the company. She has been baking cakes for 32 years.

This was the third year for the competition, but it is not an annual event. It was started by Don Wilkens, assistant vice president of bakery operations for Hy-Vee after he saw the number of people who turned out to watch a hotel chain’s bed-making challenge. He aid the company wanted a way “to showcase and…reward our decorators.” There were 6 regional competitions for the 7 states where Hy-Vee operates. Two from each district were represented at the finals. There were winners from Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. However, the Illinois winner was unable to attend due to a personal matter so the alternate selected at the regional competition participated instead. Judges came from the industry and included suppliers, technical decorators, and Hy-Vee’s executive chef. The winner was to receive a trip for two to one of several pre-selected locations. The second- and third-place decorators were awarded cash and everyone else received a $100 gift certificate to Hy-Vee. Wilkens said there were no rules. The purpose of the finals was for the decorators to “let their creativity go.” They were to be judged on items such as creativity, technical skills, and producing an edible product.

Melissa W. said, “this has been a really fun experience.” She said she was able to pick up stuff to take back to her store from talking with the other competitors. She has a culinary degree and has worked at the Iowa City #1 store for 4 years. Her table theme was a seaside resort.

M.R. Field writes about local events for AroundDesMoines.com.