Chicago’s Best Baker 2019 Winner!

For the past few months, I have been practicing (a lot) for the “Chicago’s Best Baker” contest. This is an annual contest for amateur bakers in Chicago. To qualify for the “Best Baker” category, participants needed to submit entries for a minimum of 5 out of 7 baking categories (i.e., cake, pie, cookies, pastry, bread, international baked good, and gluten free).

After weeks of testing recipes and sending tons of practice baked goods with my husband to work, I submitted my 5 best desserts to the contest this past Saturday. Amazingly, I WON!!!!!

I’m so excited about winning this contest and I’m really pleased that the judges liked my desserts. In the coming weeks, I will be posting the recipes for all of my award-winning desserts so I can share them with everyone.

Thank you to everyone who helped me with this contest. It would not have been possible without your love, support, and feedback. Specifically, I would like to thank my husband who has an amazing palate and gave me invaluable feedback on every version of my recipes to get the best tasting treats. He also tirelessly washed a million dishes (with only minimal complaining), bought all of my baking supplies, and made a last minute chocolate run at 5am on Saturday morning when I didn’t have enough chocolate ganache to cover one of my cakes. I don’t know what I would have done without him. I would also like to thank my younger sister who helped my husband transport my desserts to the competition and attempted to keep everyone calm the morning of the contest.

My Desserts

• Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Pecan Toffee
• Pumpkin Pie
• Cannelé
• Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
• Caramel Nut Shortbread Cookies

Notes

1. You can visit Chicago’s Best Baker website and Facebook pages for more information.