Whiz Kids Bake Up Community Spirit

Old-fashioned Bake-off participants

Accomplishment: Participants in the Old-fashioned Bake-off during the Fourth of July festivities in Huntington Woods included 20 bakers ages 12 and younger, as well as three junior bakers, ages 13-20. Winners of the contest received gift certificates from McDonald's, , Zumba, , , , , and Four Seasons. In addition, the winners received bottles of mustard provided by Charlie Marcuse, the singing Detroit Tigers hot dog vendor who has been entertaining crowds since 1999 and has created Charley’s Ballpark Mustard, which can be found in Detroit area stores.

'Doing this for fun'

Bake-off organizer Rick Tripp said the Fourth of July event is a holiday tradition and those who enter do not participate for recognition or prizes.

“We're doing this for fun,” he said.

Bakers brought their goodies and recipes to between 9 and  10 a.m. July 4, he said. The judges were Julie Lask, Sue Brown and Travis Braun, who was the junior judge this year. Tripp's wife, Margaret, helped with the sign-in everyone and organization.

“I've been a judge for many years myself,” he said, “and have run it for 15 years.”

VIPs and politicians then took to the stage, he said. But the real stars of the show were the young bakers and the creative goodies they produced.

After the speeches were finished, Tripp said he announced the winners. The Huntington Woods Parks & Recreation Department handed out prizes and samples were served.

Tripp said 150-200 people lined up to taste the entries.

“It's become a real feature of the event,” he said.

The judges base their decision on creativity and taste and are not asked to explain their choices. The judging is done anonymously with numbers assigned.

“The kids really do it all themselves,” Tripp said. “You can tell, they don't get help. The kids are really involved.”

Sunny Day Cake, Fruity Firecracker cookies and Boom Cake were the names of some of the baked goods.

Two of the most memorable desserts, he said, were Jolie Stocki's Lemon Poppy-seed Pig Cupcakes and a Candy Pizza created by Adam Nave and Henry Einhaus. The pig cupcakes came complete with a picket fence to create a mini “pigpen.” Tripp said the Candy Pizza looked just like a pizza but with candy on the pastry made out to be the toppings.

“It would be tough to highlight just one of the kids,” Tripp said. “They are so enthusiastic. Their eyes are the size of a quarter when they drop these things off.”

And the winners are ...

Kids 12 and younger category:

• First place: Annie and Wendy Klunk for Chocolate Eclair Cake

• Second place: Darby Meade for Razzy Jazzy Fruit Tarts

• Third place: Jack Fuhrman for Fourth of July Cookies

Other participants in the kids category included:

• Naomi Silow with Sunny Day Cake

• Gabrielle Feber and Hannah Cardew with Fruity Firecracker Cookies

• Laura and Simon Topf and Jack Fuhrman with Boom Cake

• Allie Sperl with 1972 Themed Cool Lemon Cherry Cake

• Grace Einhaus with United Cakes of America

• Reilly Weed with American Disco Brownies

• Jolie Stocki with Lemon Poppy-seed Pig Cupcakes

• Fiona Brueckman with Fiona's Gooey Brownies

• Sebastian Carlesso with Fudge Brownies

• Hannah Hook with Hannah's Double Crunch Top Apple Pie

• Adam Nave and Henry Einhaus with Candy Pizza

• Aniela Crayton with Almond Thumbprint Cookies

• Rayna Gold with Star-Spangled Cookies

• Danielle Contorer with Flag Cupcakes

• Sammy Viedem with Excellent Eagles

• Rebecca Driker-Ohren with Yummy Caramel Brownies

• Emma and Abby Cooper with Strawberry Surprise

Winners in the junior category included Lily Brueckman, first place for Memaw's Chocolate Chip Cookies; Rachel Sabbath, second for Red, White and Blue Pie; Ari Janoff and Charlie Driker-Ohren, third for Butterscotch Peach Pie.

Mark Jacobs won the overall prize for Macademia Nut Tart.

Key to Awesomeness: Tripp said the young participants are involved in the community event and he hopes to get even more contributions next year. What's great, he said, is that the bakers are doing it to be part of the July Fourth events in Huntington Woods.

“People don't enter it for the prizes," he said. "They enter it because it's a community event.”