Pastry and Artistry

10 years ago, Goldilocks started the Intercollegiate Cake Decorating Challenge (ICDC). The contest, where participating schools competed with each other to be the cream-of- the-crop in cake artistry.  Since then, talents among youth have drawn bakeshop masters and pastry-chefs.  The annual challenge brought pride among schools, especially in their courses offered like culinary and hotel and restaurant management.

“Xtreme” Challenge

This year’s ICDC drew a particularly large crowd of spectators at The Block at SM North EDSA. Finalists from ten schools were given base cakes that they could stack in layers, gallons and gallons of ultra-premium whipped cream (supplied by co-sponsor Avoset Pour N’ Whip), and a seemingly endless array of edible hues, different shapes and colors of jelly, chocolates, decorative flowers and other ingredients for edible art works. This year, however, provided a truly “Xtreme” twist: teams were made to decorate five cakes in the span of only five hours, based on themes that they only learned about on contest day.

Finalists

Each team had five participants, representing the best of their culinary arts or hotel and restaurant management courses. In the lead up to the competition, each team was mentored by a top professional chef, in order to prepare them for this one-of-a-kind challenge. Consequently, students from Calayan Educational Foundation, Sain Anne College of Lucena, Pangasinan State University, Lyceum of the Philippines Laguna, Trinity University of Asia, Western Institute of Technology Iloilo, DMCI College Foundation Dipolog, Lyceum Subic Bay, Far Eastern University, and Colegio de San Lorenzo were all on hand to show the audience a delightful display of skill and creativity.

Category Winners

As expected from their young, artistic, and spirited imaginations, all the competing teams came up with five masterpieces that bordered on sculpted cakes to intricate icing art pieces. Submissions for the 50^th birthday cake, 50^th wedding anniversary cake, “Year 2050” cake, the gold-themed cake, and the number-themed cake showcased intricate, colorful, and even gravity-defying designs.  Lyceum of the Philippines Laguna took the top prize in the 50^th birthday cake category, while St. Anne College of Lucena won the 50^th wedding anniversary cake category. Western Institute of Technology Iloilo was judged to have the best Year 2050 cake, and Pangasinan State University and St. Anne College Lucena won the gold-themed cake and number-themed cake categories, respectively. The 50th theme is also in conjuction with the celebration of Goldilocks 50th Anniversary!

Winner Category 1 – 50th Birthday Cake

The Champ

After tallying the cumulative scores, judges Penk Ching, Heny Sison, Millie Dizon, Carol San Pedro, and Cara Wu declared the overall winner and 2016 ICDC champion to be St. Anne College Lucena. The announcement was met with jubilation and wild cheers, particularly from team mentor Chef James Antolin.

“Some of these designs were really impressive – even at par with commercially available cakes. It’s amazing that these were made on-the-spot by students,” noted Goldilocks Marketing Director Cherry Caluya. “The level of talent possessed by the Filipino youth is truly overwhelming,” she concluded

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