Pool Boy Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Some of you might know that Mrs. TJ has taken up the competitive Baking tack and run with it starting 4 years ago. After testing the waters in the Prince George's County Fair and the Howard County Fair, last year she targeted the Maryland State Fair and walked away with 'Best In Show' Cookie honors for her fabled Ginger Spice Cookies. So, Mrs. TJ, due to Maryland State Fair Rules, would not be able to win Best In Show for cookies this year, so she said 'Why enter cookies if I have no chance to win the whole thing?!' So she entered a few items in the other baked goods sections....Let's see how she did --- Double Blueberry Muffins A variation of a recipe, this involves whole and mashed blueberries as well as a crisp top. These unfortunately did not place in her category. I swear, the Blueberry Muffin category was FILLED with competition. But her muffin recipe as entered suffered from the delay in time of coming out of the oven and the judging. The crip top becomes too moist and loses it's 'thing' -- so back to the drawing board for next year. Applesauce Spicecake This is another variation on a recipe. Meant to be served with caramel icing, Mrs. TJ winged it and instead poured the cake in to a decorative bundt mold and hoped for the best. This category demand NO FROSTING, to best taste the essence of the applesauce spice cake, methinks. Sadly, this also did not place. We'll either have to rethink the approach or recipe for next year or try something totally new. Pumpkin Bread Inspired by a Mama-of-TJ recipe, Mrs. TJ took the recipe and made a couple of minor tweaks and entered it. This has done reasonably well in prior years, placing, I think at least once. But this year we harvested an early ripening butternut squash from our garden, and used that as the primary pupkin base for the recipe and supplementing only where needed with other pumpkin mush. This may have been what tipped us over the edge, BECAUSE SHE GOT FIRST PLACE! Woo-hoo! Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing This was entered in the Devil's Food Cake category. What I found interesting was that all, yes all, the other entries in this category went with 'white' icing. Bizarre. Mixing up some ingredients as if by a whim of her own, Mrs. TJ concoted a true chcolate lover's cake. Pure choclate decadence without being too sweet and too cloying. The icing sealed the victory as SHE GOT FIRST PLACE! Unfortunately, another cake won Best In Show this year, so that only has rejuvenated Mrs. TJ's drive for next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 Link to Maryland State Fair Photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScotteeM Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Congratulations, Mrs. TJ! You're an inspiration to us all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Congratulations! Any chance of getting the punpkin bread recipe via PM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted September 3, 2006 Author Share Posted September 3, 2006 Congratulations! Any chance of getting the punpkin bread recipe via PM? Let me check with the boss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 A shout out to Mrs. TJ! I would think this would be intolerably nerve-wracking. Several years ago, the WaPo Food Section featured foods which had won at State Fairs. They published a recipe for chocolate cake with chocolate icing which won the Virginia State Fair prize one year. I made it a couple of times before dumping the recipe: it was UNBELIEVABLY sweet and cloying. Any chance she would share hers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 A shout out to Mrs. TJ! I would think this would be intolerably nerve-wracking. Several years ago, the WaPo Food Section featured foods which had won at State Fairs. They published a recipe for chocolate cake with chocolate icing which won the Virginia State Fair prize one year. I made it a couple of times before dumping the recipe: it was UNBELIEVABLY sweet and cloying. Any chance she would share hers? What kind of chocolate did you use in the recipe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seeker Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 Thanks for sharing the photos. What a great day for your family! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 What kind of chocolate did you use in the recipe?I don't actually remember; however, the two cake layers took not only TWO cups of sugar, but also a cup or so of blackberry preserves. That should have tipped me off. The frosting was mostly powdered sugar, butter, plus more preserves. I don't the chocolate stood a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted September 3, 2006 Share Posted September 3, 2006 I don't actually remember; however, the two cake layers took not only TWO cups of sugar, but also a cup or so of blackberry preserves. That should have tipped me off. The frosting was mostly powdered sugar, butter, plus more preserves. I don't the chocolate stood a chance. Yikes! You were a brave soul to try that recipe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted September 4, 2006 Author Share Posted September 4, 2006 A shout out to Mrs. TJ! I would think this would be intolerably nerve-wracking. Several years ago, the WaPo Food Section featured foods which had won at State Fairs. They published a recipe for chocolate cake with chocolate icing which won the Virginia State Fair prize one year. I made it a couple of times before dumping the recipe: it was UNBELIEVABLY sweet and cloying. Any chance she would share hers? I've checked with the boss, and the chocolate cake recipe and icing are off limits for now. Maybe sometime soon or maybe next year she'll be willing to share. I think she's most protective of the icing recipe. And let me tell you, this cake rocks. It is so wonderfully chocolatey and the icing is such a great counterpoint and, you guessed it, it is definitely NOT cloying at all. This cake is in balance. I wish I could share the recipe (and I will when she decides it is OK to). Someone asked for the pumpkin bread recipe. Just PM me and I'll send it over. That was approved for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara Posted September 4, 2006 Share Posted September 4, 2006 I've checked with the boss, and the chocolate cake recipe and icing are off limits for now. Maybe sometime soon or maybe next year she'll be willing to share. I think she's most protective of the icing recipe. And let me tell you, this cake rocks. It is so wonderfully chocolatey and the icing is such a great counterpoint and, you guessed it, it is definitely NOT cloying at all. This cake is in balance. I wish I could share the recipe (and I will when she decides it is OK to).Perfectly understandable. However, what are the chances she would bring this cake to the DR.com Fall Picnic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meowzart Posted September 19, 2006 Share Posted September 19, 2006 Hi there...I am MrsTJ. I had no idea he posted this here! I just wanted to say thanks all! Competitive baking has become quite an addiction. I do love those blue ribbons! (Though you do win a little bit of money, too). I do want to mention that the chocolate cake was a dark chocolate cake. I used special cocoa purchased from King Arthur Flour's site--a mix of regular dutch process cocoa and black cocoa. The icing was a chocolate sour cream icing. It gives it such a perfect tang. Thanks again, everybody! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Today's Washington Post has an article on blue ribbon bakers from Maryland County Fairs. I find it odd that the all, but one of the folks in the article say their recipe from was a book, magazine, or the Internet. The other one combined two recipes in some fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meowzart Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Unless the rules specify that the recipe has to be original, you can get it from any source. I usually use a recipe I've found from a book on the internet as my jumping off point, and tweak from there. I spend the year testing and remaking until I've come up with a version that I think is damn good. TJ and my co-workers and family don't seem to mind being my taste testers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdt Posted September 20, 2006 Share Posted September 20, 2006 Unless the rules specify that the recipe has to be original, you can get it from any source. I usually use a recipe I've found from a book on the internet as my jumping off point, and tweak from there. I spend the year testing and remaking until I've come up with a version that I think is damn good. TJ and my co-workers and family don't seem to mind being my taste testers! Cool. My thoughts were along the lines of your path. Cannot see how anyone would mind being a taste tester! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legant Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Borrowing a page from eGullet… I know there are some 4H blue-ribbon winners here; are there others? Have you ever entered a cooking/eating contest? If so, what was it for? Did you win? Place? Was there a prize? Was it exciting? And… are there any upcoming competitions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legant Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Deadline May 15: Trader Joe's Recipe Showdown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted August 26, 2010 Author Share Posted August 26, 2010 My wife is again baking for the MD State Fair. Turned in a bunch of cookies and cupcakes this week. Next week are breads and cakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktmoomau Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 My wife is again baking for the MD State Fair. Turned in a bunch of cookies and cupcakes this week. Next week are breads and cakes. Good luck to her, keep us posted on how she does! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted August 26, 2010 Author Share Posted August 26, 2010 Good luck to her, keep us posted on how she does! My coworkers are happy to eat up all of the 'duds'. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Boy Posted September 5, 2010 Author Share Posted September 5, 2010 Good luck to her, keep us posted on how she does! Week one got a fifth place award in the cookie collection category...Probably would have done better if she went for a theme, or got all cutesy in the presentation Also in week one, she got a fourth pace award for cupcakes other (caramel cupcakes) Disappointed to say the least that NONE of the 4 cookie recipes placed at all. Time to smack some judges around. This week, she entered two items after her Angel Food cake failed to satisfy her specifications (and thus she did not enter it) -- raisin cinnamon bread and blueberry muffins. The cinnamon raisin bread did not place. Probably because all of those that placed had very 'light' crusts and poofy/open cell more vertical bread. Her version is denser and has a deep nutty-caramelly brown color. Ah well. But, the blueberry muffins took first place. WOO-HOO! It must have been the streusel topping that nailed it. Validation! Word! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monavano Posted September 6, 2010 Share Posted September 6, 2010 Week one got a fifth place award in the cookie collection category...Probably would have done better if she went for a theme, or got all cutesy in the presentation Also in week one, she got a fourth pace award for cupcakes other (caramel cupcakes) Disappointed to say the least that NONE of the 4 cookie recipes placed at all. Time to smack some judges around. This week, she entered two items after her Angel Food cake failed to satisfy her specifications (and thus she did not enter it) -- raisin cinnamon bread and blueberry muffins. The cinnamon raisin bread did not place. Probably because all of those that placed had very 'light' crusts and poofy/open cell more vertical bread. Her version is denser and has a deep nutty-caramelly brown color. Ah well. But, the blueberry muffins took first place. WOO-HOO! It must have been the streusel topping that nailed it. Validation! Word! YeeHaw!! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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