Written by Sydney Fratamico and Taylor Wyatt|
Photos by Sydney Fratamico and Taylor Wyatt|
Friday, May 4th, Senior Ashlyn Harris and Sophmore Cassidy Shepard competed in the annual regional cupcake war competition, created by Consumer Science teacher, Mrs. Nunan. The competition was hosted here, at the Morgan school, where the girls faced Valley Regional, Fitch High School, Ledyard High School, and HK High School.
The students arrived at around 9:30 that morning and reported to the Culinary room to begin baking their cupcake and preparing their display until noon. Each school was then called in individually. Students presented their cupcakes and displays to the judges. The judges would then score the contestants on creativity and originality, decorating technique, the difficulty of the project, the combination of color and design, neatness and attractiveness of display and design, time and efficiency. They were also assessed on sanitation and safety techniques, clean up, taste moistness, flavor, texture, and frosting to cake ration, presentation to judges, professional appearance of the contestant, knowledge of the project, and overall confidence.
Morgan recreated the cupcake that won best overall in Morgan: “Breakfast Delight”. However, they decided to modify their display and added less maple to their frosting. Ashlyn stated before the competition that she was nervous, yet excited to meet the new kids. Afterward, she said, “I was a stress ball. I was pretty scared, but I was happy we were able to pull it together and represent Morgan and have fun.” Fitch created vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry compote. HK create a chocolate chili, cayenne pepper cupcake with whipped dark chocolate mousse in the center and on top, they added a whipped cinnamon, cream cheese frosting. They added, “It was great to be back here and represent our school.” Ledyard baked an apple spice cupcake. They said, “I felt good about our presentation and cupcakes, however at the same time, it was hard because there are other schools with higher level culinary classes.”
The champions, Valley Regional baked a mango, coconut, dairy free cupcake. “Even though it was a stressful situation, we made the best of it and just had fun competing”, they said.