Great Dane can’t ruin Rikka's great day
- Laurie Sidle, OSU Extension Wayne Co.
- October 4, 2024
- 647
Dogs almost thwarted the efforts of two bakers entering the Wayne County Junior Fair Bake Auction, but the youth came out on top despite the mishaps.
Sarah Hagan’s banana cake decorated as a carousel topped 48 entries to win best of show, and Rikka Pajak-Stenger’s lemon sponge cake captured reserve best of show.
The annual baking contest and auction earned $8,825 for the Wayne County Food and Fashion and Junior Fair boards. Hagan’s cake was purchased for $500 by auctioneers Dave Acker and Jed Acker and Jack and Trevor Gant from Gant Realty, and Pajak-Stenger’s entry sold for $125 to Morris Oil Co. Money raised funds 4-H scholarships.
Before the evening auction, volunteer judges got the envious task of tasting the entries and choosing the winners. Little did they know what some of the bakers had gone through to register their confectionery treats.
Hagan cut the four layers of her cake from a sheet pan cake. She provided a separate frosted portion for sampling so judges didn’t need to cut the decorated version, topped with white chocolate carousel horses and edible gold dust. Hagan said the family dog ate the first small cupcake she had set aside for judging, but luckily, she had a remaining piece to provide a second sampling.
Pajak-Stenger’s lemon sponge cake was her eighth try at the recipe. The 10-year-old piped colored dough on parchment paper on the bottom of a springform pan to create a picture of a chicken and the words “Wayne Co. Fair 175 Years” before adding the cake batter on top. It didn’t work out the way she wanted until her seventh attempt on Tuesday before the fair. She was letting the cake cool on the kitchen counter before freezing it when the family’s Great Dane dashed into the house smelling like skunk.
The stench filled the whole house, and the cake was ruined.
Or as Rikka described, “It was so stinky!”
Undeterred, Rikka got up at 6 a.m. the day of the contest and began the tedious job of once again creating the cake for entry by 12:30 p.m. Mom, Emily Pajak-Stenger, said her daughter didn’t even need to look at the recipe. It needed a dozen eggs, provided by the family’s chickens. That’s eight dozen eggs and “a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” her mom said, but they can laugh about it now.
Rikka said she was happy with her reserve best of show finish. “I’m taking a break from all the cooking I did,” she said.
Payton Hoff was the winner of the third top prize, the Eric Johnson Chocolate Lover’s Award. Her chocolate cake was purchased by Sarah Zimmerly for $175.
Other category prizes were as follows:
—Pie winners age 8-11: Jillian Wellert, first; Elin Jagger, second; and Leah Faye Acker Broome, third.
—Pie winners age 12-18: Alaina Sheets, first, and Madeline Morris, second.
—Cookie winners age 8-11: Willow Jagger, first; Miura Stansfield, second; and Aubrey Liston, third.
—Cookie winners age 12-18: Lucy Acker, first; Allison Mullen, second; and Leonora Zemancik, third.
—Brownie winners age 8-11: Jillian Wellert, first; Izzy Pope, second; and Ruth Steiner, third.
—Brownie winners age 12-18: Madeline Morris, first, and Joy Phillips, second.
—Decorated cake/cupcake winners age 8-11: Sarah Hagan, first; Jillian Wellert, second; and Leah Faye Acker Broome, third.
—Decorated cake/cupcake winners age 12-18: Payton Hoff, first, and Madeline Morris, second.
—Food and fashion board/junior board winners: Makenna Stansfield, first; Joy Acker, second; and Brayden Sprunger, third.
Additional buyers were A&K Cattle Co., Wooster Motor Ways, Nancy and Dan Burkhart, William E. Arnold and Family, Dave and Sharon Emler, Cheryl Dye, Daisy and T.J. Shamp, Shana Shriver from Remember Back When, Dustin Taylor, Lois Douglas, Linn Enterprises (Kelly Kuzma), Acker Auction Service, Mairs Family, Winkler Trenching - Bob Winkler, Bevin Harris/F5 Show Solutions, Dee and Clint Walenciak, Kyle and Katie Wharton, Cheryl Koehler, Chad Bailey, the Carpenter family, Jacki Leatherman, Canaan Industries, and Cale Keener.
Thanks to all who make the bake auction a sweet tradition at the fair.
Laurie Sidle is an Ohio State University Extension family and consumer sciences and 4-H program assistant and may be reached at 330-264-8722 or sidle.31@osu.edu.