It was delightful to see Vermonters walk up to our table on Sunday with beautiful cakes in their hands to enter into our Twilight Cake Bake-Off. The table was soon full with seven youth entries (14 years old and under) and three adult entries (15 years old and older). Cakes were labeled based on when they arrived and their category, so the judges did not know the bakers while tasting the cakes–the judges being Alexander Twilight (Rod Owens) and Mercy Twilight (Mary Hoytt-Wood).
(All entered cakes)
Thanks to the generosity of our cake contest sponsors, we had some awesome prizes available for the winning bakers:
14 years and Younger Winners
1st prize – a pizza party for up to 10 people, pizza and salad provided by Parker Pie (valued at $250!)
2nd prize – a $100 gift card to Giftwrecked shops at the Eastside Restaurant
15 years and Older Winners
1st prize – a 2 night stay at the Hall House (adult accompaniment required) and a Jasper Hill cheese board. Orin Swift Vineyards artisan wine for 21+ winners (valued at $550!)
2nd prize – a $100 gift card to the Eastside Restaurant
(Youth 1st prize)
Cakes were judged on taste, appearance, and creativity/Twilight theme. For the youth category, the 1st prize went to Tilly Veysey & Nora Demaine for their creative graduation hat and diploma cake. They provided the following printed description with their entry:
“The cap is a rich pumpkin cake with buttery chocolate frosting separating two layers. The diploma is a spiced apple pie roll. Both are covered in sweet fondant. This cake signifies Mr. Twilight’s important graduation from Middlebury College as the first African American to graduate from a college in the U.S.”
(Youth 2nd prize)
The 2nd youth prize was awarded to Caleb Greenwood for his delicious spice cake with buttercream frosting, but Caleb wasn’t there; his mom entered his cake into the contest because it looked like a winning one.
She was right!
For the adult category, 1st prize went to Kate & Jade LaRose for their innovative blackboard with maple wood trim cake. This duo also provided a printed description with their cake:
“This chocolate and vanilla marble cake gives nod to both Mr. Twilight’s ancestry as well as the regal black and white marble lined hallways he walked at the Vermont Statehouse as a member of the legislature. (The first known chocolate cake recipe having been printed in Philadelphia in 1847 in the Lady’s Receipt Book.)
(Adult 1st prize)
Marshmallow cream would become all the rage in New England in a few short decades making the rounds in popular church cookbooks, and so it is topped with a marshmallow fondant.
The cake design evokes what Twilight’s pupils might have written on the blackboard (as “Happy Birthday” was not yet a popular greeting).
Though historical records debate that date and geography of the invention of the blackboard, Orleans County Grammar School used the innovative technology of time credited to Twilight’s colleague Samuel Read Hall.
The cake board display includes images from popular school textbooks used at the time, a letter written by Mr. Twilight, and a local entry from the Vermont Historical Gazette.”
(Adult 2nd prize)
The 2nd adult prize was awarded to Nicole Davis for her beautiful vanilla and almond cake with Italian buttercream and Old Stone House logo.
After the contest, Alexander Twilight Day officially began as the crowd lined up to choose pieces from all the contest entries, plus several other cakes brought to share but not compete. A huge thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us!
P.S. The fun’s not over yet: come anytime during our open hours (Wednesday – Sunday, 11 AM – 4 PM) to press your own apples in our old-fashioned apple press!
Thank you also to our contest sponsors Parker Pie Co., Jasper Hill Farm, The East Side Restaurant & Pub, and The Shoppes at the Eastside!
And thank you to our Alexander Twilight Day sponsors Hill Farmstead Brewery, HP Hood, and The Pick and Shovel!