Bakers Fiesta delights

Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer

Bakers Fiesta 2011 at Addison Park, Brown's Town, St Ann, last Saturday, once again brought out baking enthusiasts to match skills and excite taste buds with exhilarating displays of culinary delights.

Produced by Jenny Jenny Productions, the Tastee Cheese-sponsored event lived up to expectations with keen competition in all categories, capped by stage performances from several artistes.

The schools category once again thrilled the crowd with last year's defending champions, the Alexandria-based Aabuthnott Gallimore High School, winning for the second-straight year, with its Carrot Cranberry Cake. St Hilda's High School placed second with its cake Pillow Top, showing an improvement from a fourth place finish in 2010. Brown's Town High School's Big B Cake Fiesta and York Castle's Key Lime Cake occupied third and fourth positions respectively.

In the celebrity cook-off, which required entrants to incorporate Tastee Cheese in their menus, Jamaica National's regional manager Margaret Ramsey, with her Italian-style Tastee Cheese chicken rolls, won top honours. York Castle High School principal Raymond Treasure, improved on his third-place showing last year by finishing second with his Tastee Cheese banana bread.

Chris Charley, who prepared Taste Cheese chicken rice and Richardo Aiken, Social Development Commission parish manager, with his Tastee Cheese and bacon-stuffed baby potatoes dish, tied for third.

The cake-decorating competition only had three entrants, but the results were impressive. Moneague College definitely had the best decorated cake, but unfortunately for them, they misinterpreted the rules by decorating their cake beforehand, whereas it should have been done at the venue before the audience. In the end, it was Aston Peterkin who was adjudged winner ahead of Vanessa Williams of Half Moon.