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Pound for pound (cake)

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff
 
If 26.2 miles equals a running marathon, then surely tasting 26 pound cakes qualifies as an eating marathon.

Three judges proved up the task Friday morning at the Rural Retreat fairgrounds as they nibbled their way through the assortment of cakes in an effort to find the best of the best.

Nina Bowling, Lois Litz and Geneva Steffey were all back for a second year at the Rural Retreat-Wythe County Fair to judge the signature event of the Bread, Cakes, Pies and Candy department. Last year the trio made their way through 11 entries in a Hershey’s cocoa competition.

For this year’s event, sponsored by the Virginia Egg Council, the only requirement for the pound cakes was that the recipe had to include a minimum of six large eggs. In addition to the finished product, participants had to submit a full version of the recipe they used to produce their masterpiece.

Before diving into the pound cakes, the three judges, all retired home economics teachers, took on entries in a bread category.

“They said it wouldn’t be fair to the bread if they started with the pound cake first,” said Priscilla Hall, the event’s organizer.

Once the pound cake judging began, though, the judges may have regretted having anything else taking up stomach space. Although they only sampled small bites from each cake, the rich desserts soon had the women feeling overwhelmed.

“You can just feel your arteries hardening up, can’t you?” Hall jokingly taunted the taste-testers.

In order to tackle the immense task, the women fell into specialized roles – although all three still made sure to grab a bite of each cake.

Litz took diligent notes after they conferred on an initial ranking for each entry. Bowling passed along the eaten cake to another counter to clear space for the next concoction in a seemingly endless line. And Steffey skillfully wielded the big cutting knife, expertly slicing a perfect sliver 26 times.

Of the three, Litz was the most outspoken, while Steffey’s catchphrase was usually “whatever you all think” – although she did keep a tight grip on the knife for the nearly hour and a half long judging process.

In spite of the intimidating line-up of cakes, the judges were deliberate in their examination of each dessert, noting its taste, texture and visual appearance, as well as examining the accompanying recipe.

Each cake and recipe combination was presented anonymously to the judges to keep the process fair.

No one category seemed to carry greater importance, but the number of holes in the cake was a tell-tale sign for the trained eye.

Too many holes or bubbles in a cake meant the cook had stirred the mixture too long, Litz said. 

Although all entries – including varieties such as chocolate, brown sugar, sour cream, eggnog and coconut, to name just a few –  were classified in the overall pound cake category, the judges tried to group like-tasting cakes together and take frequent swigs of water to keep their palates as untainted as possible.

Their efforts were only somewhat successful, however.

“I think my taste buds are getting impaired,” Litz said after she had sampled more than 20 cakes.
Bowling blamed Hall for their colossal workload.

“Next time, don’t you do so much advertising,” Bowling scolded her.

As the taste-testing wound down, Litz expressed relief that the parade of cakes had nearly ended.
“We’re coming down the home stretch,” she said. “I think we are going to survive this.”

After the trio finally had tasted the 26 different pound cakes, they reviewed Litz’s notes and came up with 11 blue ribbon finalists.
Then came the hard part.

The judges were required to narrow the top 11 down to a top three and ultimately rank first, second and third place.
“They have to come to a consensus,” Hall said.

The top prize was a gift basket from the Egg Council, which included various kitchen gadgets and coupons. All three top entries became eligible to take their recipe to the state fair in Richmond, where cash prizes will be available.

“These people got these pound cakes down to a fine art,” Litz said. “This is being nit-picky, y’all, when you’ve got this kind of competition.”
In the end, flair won out. 

A “Polynesian Pound Cake” – replete with icing and almonds arranged in a flower pattern – took home the special orange “Best in Show” champion’s ribbon. Shirley Sanders Grubb of Wytheville was the creator of the winning cake.

“Isn’t that decorative?” Bowling commented when the cake came through in the first round.

Grubb said she intentionally tried to add a little pinch of pizzazz to the design.

“I think anything you can do to give it more eye appeal is more likely to win,” she said.

Grubb said she was missing a few ingredients from her normal pound cake recipe, so she added some new elements from what she had around.

“I just kind of made it up as I went along,” she said. “I was really surprised and proud. It was the first time I had ever entered anything in the fair.”

Second place went to Cedar Springs resident Susan Byerly’s “Red Velvet Pound Cake,” a colorful creation also topped with nuts and dripping with white icing.

But the judges couldn’t completely ignore old-fashioned recipes. A light and fluffy beige cake the judges deemed a “traditional pound cake,” entered by Fran Angstadt of Wytheville, grabbed third place.

“They’re all good cakes,” Litz said. “You get into appearance and originality.”

Even though their task proved to be challenging, the judges ultimately couldn’t complain about their duty.

“This is a terrible job,” Bowling said, sugar-sated tongue firmly in-cheek.

Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .