Kentucky State Fair's 'highly-esteemed' homemade cake contest has announced 2023 winner
The smell of sugar has never been stronger. And neither has the competition.
Walking into a large conference room inside the Kentucky Exposition Center, an overwhelmingly sweet scent wafts from rows and rows of tables covered with treats to be tasted and tested.
One section of tables holds, possibly, the most competitive culinary category for this corner of the Kentucky State Fair. Called “Your Favorite Cake,” the category comes with this important distinction: “From scratch.”
Longtime judge Ruth Chowning, who has 30 years of experience at the University of Kentucky in the field of family and consumer sciences, says "Your Favorite Cake” has come to be a “highly-esteemed” contest.
“For some women, this is the one category they always enter,” she said. “Because a lot of people can make something from a box, but there’s something to be said for making it from scratch. To be able to win in this category, it means you’re a really good baker.”
For at least three decades, home bakers from across the state have entered their not-from-the-box creations in hopes of being named the best of the bunch.
Once brought to the Expo Center, four judges spend several hours viewing, tasting and assessing each cake. They compare notes, sometimes covered in bits of frosting, and take extra bites of the top few cakes. After going through the multi-layered process, they agree on a blue-ribbon winner. Judges consider elements like texture, balance of flavor, visuals and how the crumbs fall when sliced, or “crumbing.”
By that point, though, bellies have been known to be crumbling.
“You really need a stomach of steel,” Chowning said of the task of a judge.
Years ago, the “Your Favorite Cake” team devised a sort of motto for their judging journey.
“It’s like a childhood dream to taste all these cakes,” Chowning said. “But in reality, it’s an adult’s nightmare.”
Chowning, though, was still smiling after helping decide on this year’s top cakes.
“As a teacher, it makes you happy to see that these bakers have learned a lot about how to make cakes,” she said. “You know, they’ve perfected the techniques.”
That especially goes for the first-place winner: “Salted Toffee Chocolate Cake” made by Tonya Root.
The beautifully layered cake, made with chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache and topped with crushed heath bars, was “perfectly done,” according to Chowning.
“That’s part of why hers stood out so well to us,” the judge said. “Because of the techniques. How well it cut. The ganache wasn’t over-powering to the cake. The buttercream was a complement. It's so visually appealing. Everything was so well-balanced.”
And the dessert had many components, as evidenced by a detailed recipe with four parts and more than 1,300 words.
It was the work of someone, maybe, with a point to prove. After discovering the competition a few years ago, Root got third place in 2021 and fourth in 2022.
When the Courier Journal called to let Root know her cake tapped the No. 1 spot, she let out a quiet gasp, before asking, “Are you serious?”
“I’m shaking,” she added. “I lost track of time for a second."
Root, who lives near Bowling Green, said she started baking when she was 11. Growing up in the Cincinnati area, she caught the competitive bug while showing animals as part of the 4-H community.
As an adult, Root has found new ways to test herself. This summer, that’s meant training for a 10k race. And perfecting her entry for the “Your Favorite Cake” contest.
“This has been a goal of mine,” she said. “I’m a very goal-oriented person. I like setting up little challenges for myself.”
Root can now cross this one off her list. And it’s just in time for an occasion where homemade cake would be welcome: She’ll celebrate her 37th birthday on Saturday.
The other top cakes include “Orange Date Nightcake” in second place, “Coconut Queen” in third place and “Milky Way Cake” in fourth.
Salted Toffee Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Cake Layers
8.5 oz King Arthur Unbleached Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
2.8 oz Noel Dark Cocoa Powder
1.5 tbs Instant Coffee
9.6 oz Water, boiling
7.5 oz Granulated Sugar
6.4 oz Dark Brown Sugar
6.4 oz Sour Cream, room temperature
6.15 oz Canola Oil
1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
4.6 oz Eggs, room temperature
Instructions
Sift flour, leaveners and salt into a medium bowl, set aside. Sift the cocoa into a small bowl, toss in instant coffee, pour in the boiling water. Whisk until completely smooth. Set aside to cool. Measure out both sugars, sour cream, oil and vanilla into mixer bowl. Use paddle attachment, turn on low to emulsify ingredients. This can run as long as you like, without affecting the final product. Measure eggs into a cup, pop yolks, set aside. Preheat oven to 335 degrees. Lightly grease the sides of (3) 8” round pans, line bottom with parchment paper that’s been cut to size.
Once ready to mix, add in 1/3 of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in the mixer. Mix on a lower speed until all flour disappears. Stop mixer, scrape bowl.
With mixer running on a lower speed, slowly pour in half the cocoa/water mixture. Once incorporated, stop mixer and scrape bowl.
Add in another 1/3 of the flour mixture as listed in step 1.
With mixer running on low, add in the last of the cocoa/water mixture. Stop mixer, scrape bowl.
Add in the last of the flour mixture as listed in step 1.
With mixer running on a lower speed, pour in the eggs one at a time, let the eggs mix in and just as it disappears, add in another. Mix briefly after the last egg added to ensure it’s properly mixed but not overmixed.
Divide batter amongst the 3 pans. I weighed my pans to divide batter more precisely, which ended up being 17.5 oz of batter per pan.
Place into oven on a middle rack and bake for about 26-29 minutes, depending on your oven. It is done baking when the cake just barely starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool in pans or let cool slightly and turn out onto a wire rack. Do not place layers on their tops onto a wire rack, it will tear the tops up. If not using the layers as soon as they’re cool, wrap in plastic to preserve its moist crumb.
Salted Toffee Sauce
300 gram Dark Brown Sugar
4.7 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
187.5 gram Unsalted Butter
3/4 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
In a medium pot, combine all ingredients except the vanilla. Heat pot while whisking until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat slightly and let simmer 2 minutes, while constantly whisking. Mixture will be slightly thicker and will firm up as it cools. Whisk in the vanilla. Set aside to let cool.
Toffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream
7.5 oz Granulated Sugar
180 gram Egg Whites
18 oz Keri Gold Unsalted Irish Butter, room temperature & cubed
13 oz Salted Toffee Sauce, room temperature
.5 tsp Vanilla Bean Extract
1/8 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
1 tsp Meringue Powder
Place the egg whites and sugar into a clean stand mixer bowl. Place bowl onto a large pot of simmering water, whisking to keep it from sticking to the sides of the bowl. Once the sugar is dissolved, it’s ready to mix. To check this, reach into the bowl to feel if the sugar has dissolved. Place bowl onto the stand mixer and fit it with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high. The egg whites will soon fluff up big. But it won’t be ready to add in butter until the mixer’s bowl is cooled to room temperature. This may take 10 minutes or more of it whipping at a high speed. Once cooled, add in the butter cubes one by one, letting each one get worked into the mixture. Mixture will likely look curdled, but will smooth out soon. Once butter has been all added, pour in the toffee sauce with mixer running on a medium speed. Stop mixer, scrape bowl well. Add in the vanilla and salt, mix on medium speed to combine. With the mixer off, change out attachments to the paddle attachment. Add in the meringue powder. Mix on a high speed for about 30 seconds. Buttercream will be very smooth, light in texture and slightly shiny.
Chocolate Buttercream
16 oz Unsalted Butter, cubed
16 oz Powdered Sugar, sifted
3.5 oz Noel Dark Cocoa Powder. sifted
2 oz Heavy Whipping Cream, room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
8 gram Instant Coffee
Pinch of Himalayan Salt
.5 tsp Meringue Powder
In a stand mixer bowl, place in the butter. With a paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add in small scoops of the cocoa powder and powdered sugar, mixing on low speed until all powder is mixed in. Once all powdered sugar and cocoa powder have been added in, scrape bowl well. Combine the vanilla and instant coffee into a small cup to dissolve the instant coffee. (Microwaving very quickly may help dissolve the instant coffee). With the mixer running on low-medium speed, slowly pour the coffee mixture. Toss in the salt. Stop mixer to scrape down bowl. Toss in the meringue powder. Whip on high speed for 30 seconds. Icing is now ready to use.
Chocolate Ganache
4.8 oz Chocolate Chips
4 oz Heavy Whipping cream
1 tsp Instant Coffee
2 tsp Light Corn Syrup
In a small pot, heat the whipping cream, instant coffee and corn syrup. Whisk constantly. Heat until bubbly. Place the chocolate chips into a small bowl. Pour in the simmering cream mixture. Whisk well until very smooth. Set aside to let cool.
Assembling the Cake
1. Chop 2 large Heath Bars into fine-medium pieces, place into freezer if about to use.
2. Place 1 cake layer (remove the parchment circle) onto a cardboard round, place onto your cake turn table.
3. Fill a piping bag with the toffee icing.
4. Fill another piping bag with the chocolate icing, fitted with an open star tip.
5. Pipe the toffee icing in a double line (stacked) on the edge of the cake layer (all the way around the layer).
6. Pipe the inside of this with the chocolate icing. Use a small offset spatula to smooth out evenly.
7. Place another cake layer evenly over the first layer. Repeat steps 5-6.
8. Place another cake layer on top. With a medium or large offset spatula, smooth the sides out. Place cake into the freezer for at least ten minutes.
9. Remove cake from freezer. Place a large scoop of toffee icing on top. Use large offset spatula to smooth out the top and sides. Add more icing to the sides to keep it all uniform. Smooth out icing. Wipe the dirty icing off into a separate cup.
10. Place cake into freezer.
11. Repeat step 9.
12. Take chopped Heath bar out of freezer. Sidemask the sides of the cake with it, pressing in the Heath bar firmly.
13. Heat the toffee sauce and ganache up enough to make runny again. Pour both into their own squeeze bottles.
14. Squeeze both sauces across the cake in a crosshatch design.
15. Place cake into freezer to slightly firm up.
16. Remove from freezer and using the chocolate icing piping bag, pipe an even rope border around the outer edge of the top of the cake.
17. Carefully spread the Heath crumbs on the inside of the rope boarder/top of cake.
18. Refrigerate until cake is firm before slicing.
19. Keep any leftover ganache or toffee sauce in the fridge. This can be used for when you serve the cake!
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky State Fair's 'Your Favorite Cake' winner announced for 2023
