IDDBA CAKE FINALISTS FACE ORLANDO CHALLENGE

ROSEANNE HARPER

MADISON, Wis. -- The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association has chosen three of the top cake decorators in the supermarket arena to compete on-site at its Dairy-Deli-Bake 2002 seminar and expo this year in Orlando, Fla.

The finalists selected to participate in IDDBA's seventh annual Cake Decorating Challenge at the Orlando event, June 2 to 4, are Kelly Duran from Wal-Mart, Bentonville, Ark.; Cheryl Jacobson from Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla.; and Ann Stout from Harp's Food Stores, Fayetteville, Ark. Duran is associated with a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pueblo, Colo.; Jacobson with a Publix store in Tampa, Fla.; and Stout with a Harp's store in Fayetteville.

This is the first year a decorator from Wal-Mart has reached the finals, but it is the sixth year a Publix decorator has been in the finals and the third year a Harp's decorator has made it that far.

The decorators participating in the on-site competition are chosen from entrants who enter photographs of their work to IDDBA earlier in the year, and this year a record number of 62 decorators submitted photos. They sent portfolios of photos that showed the level and the range of their skills, and IDDBA's Executive Director Carol Christison said this year's entries were better than ever.

"Over the years we have seen a very steady rise in the skill level of the contestants, so it gets harder and harder to choose just three finalists," she said.

She added that the quality of the portfolios, too, has improved each year, which enables the judges to better evaluate the skills of the entrants.

"We urge contestants to send us at least three dozen photos, showing a wide range of skills. Some folks sent spectacular photos of wedding cakes but not much else. Since they didn't show the variety needed to compete at the on-site decorating challenge, they were disqualified. It really gets difficult because some decorators do exquisite work in a specialized category, but that's not in-store, supermarket cake decorating. They have to be able to do it all and do it quickly," Christison said.

On the show floor in Orlando, the Cake Decorating Challenge will feature three days of nonstop decorating. On day one -- Sunday -- each contestant will decorate a three-tiered wedding cake. On day two, each finalist will decorate enough cakes to fill a three-tiered, 8-foot display case. On the last day, they will decorate cakes in three categories: special occasion, theme/event and decorator's choice.

"This is a real contest under hardship conditions. It's not as though you're in the store and have an entire bakery to pull from. These decorators, the finalists, have to plan their cakes, make sure they have the props or decorations they need, and create all of it in what's really little more than a warehouse. Let's face it -- convention centers aren't known for their climate control, for instance. Then, go to a place like Orlando with its high humidity and you've just compounded the challenge," Christison said.

Again this year, as it was last year in Minneapolis, the cake decorators' stations will be set up within IDDBA's Show & Sell Center on the show floor. There, a panel of industry experts will judge the decorators' work each day and will choose the winner, second place and third place. They'll be announced on the last afternoon of the expo.

Last year, the first-place winner was Eileen Grady, Publix Super Markets. Jeffrey Forster, Harp's Food Stores, came in second, and Linda Flindt, Fuller MarketPlace, Chehalis, Wash., took third-place honors.