2023 Indiana State Fair: Splenda and an Unexpected End

This is not how I expected my Fair run to end this year ...

It's par for the course I suppose. Quite honestly, this summer has been a summer of frustration where the light at the end of the tunnel seems to move ever further and further away.

First though, let's talk about Splenda.

The Splenda Cookie Contest was Saturday August 5th.

The contest entails making an original cookie recipe using at least 1/4 cup of any variation of Splenda.

When I registered for the contest, I initially thought the cookie was due in with the other pre-registration entries on July 22nd. Later I realized it was an open judged event on August 5th.

My sister in-law passed away on August 6, 2021, after a heart wrenching battle with ALS. For many reasons her graveside memorial could not be scheduled until this year, however, this year, on Saturday August 5th we celebrated her life.

I was going to pass on Splenda. Then, at turn in on July 22nd, I received a complimentary bag of Splenda. Something about getting a free bag of a product you would never otherwise purchase and then given the challenge of making something tasty out of it was a challenge I couldn't resist. I'm broken like that.

I did that for years with Spam. I don't eat Spam. I'm indifferent to it but my family doesn't like it... yet I entered Spam at the Fair for years until I finally won it. Then the sponsors wanted me to promote it. I made my recipe on a couple morning news shows and it was awful. I quit entering Spam after that. Spam is no longer a sponsored contest at the Fair but other sponsors have entered the rotation.

So... I get my free bag of Splenda and I start playing with it. I find a friend who is also competing that is willing to bring my entry to the Fair for me. After multiple renditions of an idea, I come up with a somewhat palatable cookie.

The judging criteria for the Splenda contest was as follows:

Unique, innovative, creative recipe......35%

Taste, flavor, aroma..............................30%

Appearance, color, presentation...........25%

Texture, internal appearance................10%

Supposedly you got bonus points for using little to no added sugar, other than the Splenda.

I created a cookie using tahini, pistachios, and dried Montmorency cherries (left over from the Cherry Contest at the Johnson County Fair).

First attempt produced a shortbread like cookie, but it tasted a bit too flour-y and just lacked something. Plus, I decided I didn't like the Splenda aftertaste. Other renditions followed. I tried adding an egg. It made it more cake-y, but still too bland. I tried adding Medjool dates for more natural sweetness and flavor, but it too made it more cake-y and a bit dense. I decided I preferred the fine shortbread texture and settled on topping the cookie with dark bittersweet chocolate. In my mind, the chocolate covered up the Splenda after taste and added that little extra something that I felt the cookie was lacking. I went back to the first cookie I made and also decided I didn't like baking with Splenda. Not entering this again...

Saturday morning arrives and I hand off my cookies to my friend and go to the memorial service. My friends at the Contest text me updates and photos. I even had one of them video the open judging of my cookie. I ended up with an Honorable Mention - so out of the money (awards were $200 - $100 - $50) - but a ribbon. One of my friends told me I would have won the contest if I hadn't put chocolate on my cookie. The judges loved the cookie but thought the chocolate overpowered everything. Looking at the photo my friends sent me, it also looks like the chocolate was starting to bloom by the time it was judged (blooming is when it starts making unattractive splotches and color changes due to sugar crystallization). Oh well.

Other sponsored contests at the Fair this year included King Arthur Baking and Burton's Maple Syrup.

I have won King Arthur Baking twice in the past and I have also won Burton's Maple Syrup twice in the past. These contests were this past Saturday, August 12th. I did not enter this year because I was on a family vacation to Charleston, South Carolina.

My next sponsored contests were to be the Strawberry Cupcake Contest - where you compete an original recipe strawberry cupcake, and the Sweet and Sour Contest - where you compete an original recipe sweet and sour dish, on this coming Saturday, August 19th.

Now let's talk about my summer...

In some respects, I feel like I took a Gillian's Island type vacation to Charleston - but instead of a "2-hour cruise" it was a "2-week vacation" that turned into this never-ending summer of frustration.

My husband and I went to Charleston at the end of April to dog sit for my niece. It was supposed to be a nice relaxing get away to beautiful setting. 

The dog I was responsible for keeping alive went on a hunger strike and developed bloody diarrhea.

I hand fed it twice a day and washed bedding constantly.

Meanwhile, back at home, my dad had a stroke and then insurance declined a rehab unit placement.

A close friend's mother died.

The finishing touch to this nightmare was our drive home where we got too tired to drive and got a cheap hotel room for the night... and our dog that was traveling with us decided to vomit all over the room at 5am.

We get home. Help my mom make the house more accessible for my dad.

Mom comments she hears water running in the toilet of their ONLY walker accessible bathroom.

My husband and I go to replace the toilet the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.

We pull the old toilet only to discover the flange - the coupler piece between the soil pipe in the floor and the toilet itself - is improperly installed however million years ago it was installed - so we have to call a plumber.

Plumber arrives the Tuesday after Memorial Day. He assesses the area and determines that the original toilet had been improperly installed and the water my mom has recently heard running has leaked out of the toilet and now the subfloor is too wet for him to do anything. He can't install a toilet and instead calls a Water Mitigation Company.

Water Mitigation guy comes the next day, Wednesday, and determines my parents need all the bathroom tile pulled up and the floor replaced and recommend they contact their insurance company.

I spend the next day, Thursday, like literally ALL DAY, trying to get in touch with my parents' insurance company to work out what needs to be done to file a claim.

My parents are in their 80's. They don't have smart phones. My mom has such poor vision she needs to blow a computer screen up 500% to see anything. When we call the insurance company any number you call goes to a phone tree, then it instructs you to either download their app or go online to file a claim.

Long story short, I proceed to spend WEEEEKS dealing with this insurance issue for them.

FINALLY, Friday August 4th - the floor has been dried out and the new tile installation is complete. I drive the check over to the contractor so I can get the receipt to send to the insurance company for final payment so this nightmare can be put to bed.

So ya, I've been at my parents' house all day on August 3rd and 4th dealing with the tile installers. After that, I played with the Splenda cookies all night, dropped them off to a friend at 8:30 am Saturday morning, went to my sister-in-law's memorial at 10am, then spent the rest of the day Saturday socializing with family thinking I was DONE adulting for the summer...

Sunday, my husband and I go back over to my parents' house to finish installing the toilet that we tried to install the Friday before Memorial Day - only to find that the tile guy installed the sub-floor incorrectly and the flange STILL CANNOT BE SCREWED TO THE FLOOR!!!

I had a total melt down.

It was not pretty.

Monday my husband had to call the contractor because I couldn't deal with it anymore.

My wonderful husband. He took the ball and said he would deal with this.

Besides... I was going on vacation. My children and I left for Charleston this past Thursday for their vacation before they went back to school. My husband was staying behind to work.

Free again. This awful summer of doing adult things is over. I'm going to Charleston to play at the beach with my children and do all fun things...

My children are in their 20's. My niece and her friends are in their 40's. That is context for the rest of this story.

Saturday August 12th.

Instead of competing out at the Fair, I'm in Charleston with my kids, staying with their cousin (my niece). We spent the day kayaking with friends. We had dinner reservations. My niece, her wife, another couple and I were going to see a Queen tribute concert after that.

So... we get back from kayaking and I sit down in a patio chair. When I lean back, something flutters out of the cushions, runs into my left shoulder, then falls to the ground. I look over and it's a bat flopping around on the ground.

For those that don't know... my niece is a veterinarian and an advocate for all living things. I mean, we actually had to save a bumblebee from drowning while we were out kayaking. We are sitting around with her veterinarian friends when this occurs. I'm a retired ER doctor. Bats carry rabies and they can be asymptomatic rabies carriers - meaning they can be perfectly "healthy" and still give you rabies - unlike other animals (humans included) where rabies causes death. In the medical world, a significant bat exposure is an indication for rabies shots. You don't have to be bit. A "significant exposure" can even be something as innocuous as waking up in a room with a bat as the virus is transmitted through mucous membranes - like the ones in your nose - and you have no idea whether you might have breathed in some virus off the bat while you were sleeping. Bats transmit the virus through their secretions - meaning spit and poop.

Anyhoos... I'm looking at this bat flopping on the ground. My first thought is, oh, it's just a bat. I personally did not think I had a "significant exposure" as I was 99.9% sure it didn't bite me and it just hit my shoulder before falling on the ground. Plus, I thought it had a broken wing and that's why it was flopping around. It wasn't acting like a rabid animal.

Well, chaos then ensued. The vets on scene were all about rescuing the injured bat and had a wildlife rehabilitator specializing in bats located in less than 5 minutes - I am not kidding!!

Then... they all insisted I needed rabies shots. They, being vets, were all vaccinated. I was not. NO was not an acceptable answer. They sent me to a pharmacy right away to get a shot.

In their defense, rabies is 99.9% fatal if you get it. I was 99% sure I didn't have a significant exposure, but it would suck if I was wrong.

The whole "getting my rabies shots" is another story for a future post because, of course, it was not as simple as "going to the pharmacy." Of course not!

For those wondering why we didn't just get the bat tested for rabies since we had it in our possession - well, to test an animal for rabies you have to kill it because you have to test a sample from its brain. I didn't even bring this up with my niece...

OK, now I have to get rabies shots. Minor inconvenience. We're still having fun.

Monday, we get a text from one of the women we were out with; she has Covid.

She's the gal I was sandwiched in the back seat with coming home from the concert on Saturday night.

Tuesday my nose feels a little stuffy and my throat feels a little itchy. Maybe I'm imagining it.

We drove home Tuesday evening. It took us 14 hours.

By the time we pulled into the driveway on Wednesday morning I felt crappy - like tired, achy. My face felt flushed, but I was a bit sunburned too; I couldn't tell if I was sick or just feeling crappy because I'd spent 14 hours in a car. After a couple hours of sleep I felt fine, but you guessed it... we all took Covid tests and now I have Covid.

ARGHHHHH!!!!

The kids were all negative. They promptly fled my house to their own homes.

So here I am, quarantined in my own home. I will have to sit out the rest of the Fair.

I have a stuffy nose, an itchy throat and a bit of fatigue. Otherwise I'm fine.

I'm waiting for this summer to be over...

2023 Indiana State Fair: Results

I remember the first time I entered the Indiana State Fair. 

Back then, the Home and Family Arts building used to have a Preview Night. This was usually held a couple days before the Fair officially opened. Competitors were invited to look around the building and see how they placed. It was also a nice event to meet all your fellow competitors. I remember pulling up to the building and parking my car, the excitement building in my chest as I wondered how I had done. It's an adrenaline rush like no other.

So, this is how it is in 2023...

There is no longer a Preview Night. The Fair opened on Friday July 28th. In years past there was always a special agriculture themed baking contest on opening day so I would be there competing. There hasn't been a contest on opening day for several years now, plus I had a plethora of other things to do that day and the weather was horribly hot, so really, other than finding out how my stuff fared I had no compelling reason to go to the Fair on opening day.

At 11am I got a text from one of my Fair friends. Go online and see how you did at the fair!!

Apparently all of our results got posted online that morning. Usually this doesn't happen until the Fair is over. I quickly hopped online. The page read "Unofficial 2023 Results" but they were posted.

I found the Culinary Arts page and started scrolling down category by category.

The first Category I came across for one of my entries was Brownies, and the first Class listed under Brownies was Not Frosted Brownies, the Class I entered. My name was at the top of the list. First Place. I was thrilled!

Coconut Stuffed Fudge Brownies

So that's how it went. Instead of going to the Fair and walking around the building looking for my entries with my heart beating out of my chest, I sat rooted in a chair in front of my computer scrolling down a list and feeling the same.

Pies were not due in until Sunday, but on Friday I found that eight of my nine Culinary entries had placed, and both my crochet entries also placed. The Fair is closed on Monday and Tuesday. I started looking online again on Monday night to see if the Pie results were posted but as of late Tuesday night there were no online updates. Therefore, on Wednesday G and I decided to go to the Fair.

Walking into the Culinary area the first thing I saw was the refrigerated display case with the cream pies.

I found my pie.

French Silk Pie

Honorable Mention. I can't complain. There were several other chocolate cream pies. The judges comment sheet noted they thought my crust was too thick. Everything else was marked "good." A key lime pie won the Class.

As far as my other items...

No Bake Coconut Lime Balls

VERY happy with how this went as I was afraid of how they would hold up at room temperature.

Caramelized Onion and Parmesan Biscuits

Comment was that is was "a tad dense."

Loaded Potato Rolls

Comment on this was that the bottoms weren't evenly browned. Usually when I pick my 6 rolls to show I always flip them over to check their bottoms but, quite honestly, I think I got complacent with these rolls and never checked the bottoms. Details. Ugh.

Chocolate Espresso Stout Cake

Now this cake, every single box was marked "excellent" and all the comments were positive - like it seriously even had little hearts drawn on the page - but it still only got a Third.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Comment here was to try whipping the frosting more to make it fluffier. This makes me wonder if the cake was judged cold. I had requested my cakes be refrigerated overnight since judging occurred the day after turn in. I was worried my buttercream would get too soft if it sat out at room temperature overnight. I think I need to look into more room temperature stable frostings for competition.

Opera Cake

Comment was that my sponge was a bit dry. Fair enough as I have never tasted this cake and I've never made this cake before. All the other comments were very positive.

Oatmeal Date Sandwich Cookies

Comment was that the cookie was a bit crumbly. I knew that. That is why I made the date filling.

Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Cornbread

The comment for this was that it lacked flavor. 

This was the only item that did not place. All told, I placed 9 out of 10 Culinary entries - (2) Firsts, (2) Seconds, (2) Thirds, and (3) Honorable Mentions. 

Moving on to my crochet items...

I can't complain. This is the piece that beat me...

It was made with finer thread, thus giving more detail to the roses and the mouse. It also won Best of Show for all of Household Articles - which includes Bedspreads and Tablecloths, Pillows, Doilies, as well as Miscellaneous Household Articles. Miscellaneous Household Articles was the Class which my wreath as well as the winning wreath competed in. It's a large class because, well, it's the catch all "all other" class. There are several people who always make dolls for this class and there's a woman who has made sets of Harry Potter dolls as well as Disney Princess dolls in the past that have won the Class. This year she finished Third. 

As far as my shawl...

I don't have the judging sheet back from my crochet items but I know that this shawl had a hump in the middle where I started the shawl as the stitch tension there was looser than the rest of the shawl. I had hoped it would block out and had even thought about adding an extra finishing row of stitches across the top to straighten things out, however I thought it looked straight enough after blocking so I left it. Looking at it now, I can see the hump so I'm happy this placed.

The shawl competed in the Crochet Accessories Class. This too is a large class because anything that is an accessory, like shawls, hats, scarves, mittens, purses/bags, etc., is included. I looked around to see what had won and laughed.

The winning item was a shawl that used the shortened version of the pattern of the shawl I made last year. My shawl last year won the Class.

This year's winner

My shawl that won last year

*As an aside for those that are wondering - yes, the shawl pictured above is the same shawl that won at the Johnson County Fair this year. Due to the placement of the turn in and pick up days it is no longer possible to compete the same physical item in both the Johnson County Fair as well as the Indiana State Fair in the same year. Turn in for the State Fair falls on Friday and Saturday and pick up from the Johnson County Fair falls on the consecutive Sunday. Both fairs stipulate that items have to be made within the last year. Therefore, I have been finishing my State Fair entries during County Fair week. That makes them still eligible to turn in for County Fair competition the following year as it hasn't been a year since completion when they are turned in for judging.

The second place item was a Kraken Hat.

It's the same hat pattern I used for a hat my niece requested for Christmas a couple years ago.

Not gonna lie... a couple more Firsts and a Best of Show would have made things better, but overall, I'm pretty happy with how things went this year.

I have brought a larger quantity of entries in the past, however I always want good quality and will trade quality over quantity anytime. Placing 11 out of 12 makes me content.

However, next year...

2023 Indiana State Fair: Turn In, Round Three

 

Today was Pie Day. All pie entries were due in by 7pm.

I made one pie - French Silk. This is my favorite pie. I can make it with my eyes closed.

Anyone that has competed in subjective competitions for any length of time will tell you, most of the time it will come down to one judge's opinion on a given day. That is what it will come down to on this pie.

Technically, the pie came out perfect. It has an Oreo cookie crust made of crushed Java Chip Oreos. The crust is smooth and even. There's no chance it is soggy or uncooked. It held together just like it's supposed to. The filling is smooth and creamy with no graininess. I know, because when I make cream pies I always set aside a little bit in a small container to sample and make sure it sets up as expected. This one set up perfectly. The whipped cream is stabilized with a whiff of gelatin so it holds up for more than a couple hours. It has just enough sugar to make it sweet, but not too sweet. Now it will all be up to whether a judge likes it or not.

Our family had a lot of things going on this weekend so I have not been able to go to the fairgrounds since the Fair opened on Friday. One of my fellow competitors was gracious enough to take my entry to the Fair for me. I'm hoping to get to the fairgrounds this week and will give a full update on all my entries at that time.

2023 Johnson County Fair: Cherry Contest and Summary

First, let's talk about the Cherry Contest.

Every year at the Johnson County Fair there is a baking contest on Tuesday and every year there is a different theme. This year's theme was Cherry. There are four categories: Cookies, Breads, Pies and Miscellaneous. You can enter one item in each category.

Most years when I enter this contest I enter an item in each category. This year I just wasn't feeling it. I really couldn't find a cookie recipe that thrilled me. I felt like a cherry thumbprint cookie was too cliche. There were TONS of recipes using maraschino cherries. My opinion is that a maraschino cherry is an artificial rendition of a cherry and I couldn't bring myself to use one of those recipes. I just plain didn't feel like entering a pie.

What I was most interested in was a Bakewell tart. This is a traditional British recipe named after the town of Bakewell. It usually has a short pastry crust, followed by a layer of raspberry jam, then a layer of almond frangipane - which is ground almonds with sugar and eggs. All of this sounds delicious and the tart can also be made with cherries instead of raspberries. My concern though was that there wouldn't be enough cherry flavor to shine through as the bulk of the tart was almond frangipane. Plus, I wasn't sure which category it would go in. Pies? The scant amount of cherry jam was no comparison to a pie. Probably Miscellaneous...  however I wanted to compete a cake in this category.

I decided though that I could make the tart and cut it into bars and compete it as a bar cookie. I made a practice tart. It came out fine but tasted way too sweet and not enough cherry. I then decided I could add drained frozen tart cherries to the jam layer, thus cutting the sweetness and increasing the cherry flavor.

For the cake, I settled on a strawberry cake recipe I had made in the past - it actually won the Strawberry Contest in 2015 - but used frozen sweet cherries and cherry gelatin instead of strawberry. This was the only recipe that went according to plan.

For Breads, I became fixated on making focaccia after I came across a Cherry Prosciutto Focaccia recipe. It sounded wonderful and it would be unique because it would be savory instead of sweet. I made it with a sprinkle of goat cheese and also made a Cherry Balsamic Reduction to drizzle over the top after baking. It was freaking awesome! The only problem was... you couldn't taste the cherry. It tasted like prosciutto. I then found a Cherry Almond Focaccia recipe and decided to go with that.

I baked everything on the Monday before the contest. I made the Cherry Bakewell Bars first. When I took it out of the oven I could see that the top was jiggling all over the place on the cherry layer on the bottom. I figured things would firm up as it cooled so I set it aside and made the cake.

Cake baked without a problem.

I made the yeast dough for the focaccia. It felt super wet. The focaccia though is a high hydration no knead dough anyway so I tried not to worry about it.

I then made the whipped buttercream for the cake and started decorating the cake. It was so hot in my kitchen by now that I kept having to put everything back in the fridge every time I had to refill the icing bag because the buttercream was melting to the point where it wouldn't hold any detail. I think I fought with the buttercream for about 2 hours, then figured out I didn't have enough to finish the top. My husband was out running errands so I texted him to pick up some fresh cherries and I finished the cake with fresh cherries.

Back to the Bakewell Bars. They had cooled so I put a thin layer of icing on top and then put them in the refrigerator to set up. 

The focaccia dough had risen beautifully but was still super wet. I poured it out on a baking sheet and made a series of folds for structure and set it out to rise again. I actually then repeated this whole process two more times before putting the toppings on and baking it. It baked in a 13" x 9" pan. I kept checking it and the bread part just didn't look done. I finally pulled it out after 45 minutes though because the cherries and almonds on top looked practically burnt. I thought the whole thing looked like hell. 

I then pulled the Bakewell Bars out of the refrigerator and cut them. The layer of cherry filling oozed out. There was no way you could pick this bar up and eat it like a cookie. You needed a spoon. I chucked the whole tray on the baking rack to deal with later. I decided cookies weren't happening. I'm not bringing this disaster to a competition.

Tuesday morning I got up and looked at the focaccia again. I didn't want to bring a subpar product because I wasn't competing for a ribbon; I was competing to win. I usually show the entire product in competition but there is an option to show a quarter of your product. I decided to cut the focaccia and brought the most presentable part. This is part of what I left at home...

The way the Cherry Contest is judged, there are three judges. They start by having each judge sample different entries in a category. It is open judging and each judge will comment on the item they are judging, then give it either a blue, red or white ribbon - meaning everyone will get a placement of some sort. After the category is finished, all three judges will then go over all the blue ribbon placings and decide on six Honorable Mentions, a Reserve Champion and a Champion for the category. After all the categories are judged, they will then pick a Grand Champion from the four category Champions.

Tuesday I met my friend Jennifer at the fairgrounds. Jennifer is a phenomenal baker and had an entry in each category... and she had made a Cherry Bakewell Tart exactly like you were supposed to make a Bakewell tart. She had it entered in the Miscellaneous category. And let me tell you, the minute I saw her tart, I knew she was going to win it all.

The Miscellaneous category was judged first. The judge that got my cake commented that the cake was basically perfect. She couldn't find a single thing wrong with it, but she also didn't rave about it either. She gave it a blue. Then it was time to announce the category winners. I suddenly got that pounding feeling in my chest - that feeling that had been missing for the last several years - and that was when I knew, competing, I wanted to do this again. I held my breath as they announced each honorable mention winner. I knew I would get an award; question was how high. If I didn't get an honorable mention, it would be reserve champion or champion. My name was announced as the last honorable mention. Jennifer won the category.

Breads were judged last. Quite honestly I think breads are the most difficult category and I could tell right away that many of the entries were not technically good. Mine at least was technically good... and my judge actually liked it. I ended up with a blue and another Honorable Mention.

Jennifer ended up winning it all with her Bakewell Tart. I guess the lesson here is not to over think things.

As for the rest of my items, this is how they fared...

Chocolate Espresso Stout Cake
First, Other Cakes
Class Champion Cakes
Reserve Grand Champion Baked Goods

Loaded Potato Rolls

First, Fancy Dinner Rolls

Class Champion Yeast Breads

Flower Cupcakes
First, Decorated Cupcakes
Class Champion Decorated Cakes

Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Cornbread
First, Other Quick Bread

Coconut Stuffed Fudge Brownies
First, Brownies

Sweet Potato Spice Cake
First, 2-Layer Spice Cake

Caramelized Onion and Parmesan Biscuits
Second, Baking Powder Biscuits

Coffee Toffee Cookies
Second, Cutout Cookies

Molasses Cookies
No Placing

Mandalove Shawl
First, Crochet Shawl
Reserve Champion Crochet

Cherry Pie Beret
First, Crochet Hat

Purple Jellyfish
Second, Amateur Color Animal Photo

I took a final photo of my ribbons and read every judging sheet.

Every judging sheet showed that all my items were technically "excellent" (choices are "excellent", "good" and "needs to improve") and all the comments were positive. Even those molasses cookies that didn't place were rated "excellent." This means that, at the end of the day, my overall placing depended on one judge's opinion on one day. There was nothing "wrong" with the item; it's just what the judge liked best that day.

I stopped competing years ago when I realized I was picking up my fair ribbons and chucking them in an envelope. I found several large envelopes full of ribbons with just the years written on them and realized I didn't care - because when I first started competing, I wrote down all the details - dates, item, category, etc. - on those ribbons and carefully read every judging sheet. I stopped competing when I no longer felt butterflies entering the building to see how I did or feel my heart pound during an open judging event.

I had butterflies and a pounding heart this year. 

2023 Indiana State Fair: Turn-In, Round Two

 

Cake entries for this year's State Fair were due in by 7pm tonight, Tuesday July 25th.

I spent Sunday and Monday literally swimming in butter, eggs and chocolate... but everything was done by late Monday afternoon. Couple realizations...

- I don't have enough refrigerator space to make more than three cakes, or at least three cakes that require refrigeration.

- It's getting more and more expensive to compete at the fair.

- Things go MUCH smoother if I do all the baking on one day and all the frosting the next day, mostly because I'm not trying to use buttercream in a hot kitchen.

- I should look into getting a stand mixer again.

- I should practice recipes more.

So let's start with that last point.

I have been wanting to make this cake since 2016...

Photo from The Brick Kitchen

It's the Momofuko German Chocolate cake. Back in 2016 I found the recipe 3 days before cake turn in and discovered there was no way I could get the requisite ingredients and supplies to make it in time.

I now own the 6-inch cake ring and acetate sheets and I have corn powder in my pantry. The feuilletine I never ordered because it's outrageously expensive - we're talking $28 for an 11 oz bag on Amazon - and I decided I could use vanilla wafers instead. There are a few other problems with the recipe not being Fair legal but I figured out some substitutions for them too.

The other competition concern with this cake is that it's baked on a quarter sheet pan and then the three layers are cut out of it with the cake ring. The geometry of the pan makes it so you can stamp out two complete circles, but then the third circle/layer is made up of some of the scraps that are left over and I didn't think that would compete well.

So... Saturday I went looking for another chocolate cake recipe that I could bake in three 6" pans. I found something that I thought would work and tried it out. It was awful. That was all I had time for on Saturday.

Sunday July 23, 2023

I started the day grocery shopping for all the ingredients I thought I might possibly need in in next 48 hours. I then waited on G to come by so we could go to the Johnson County fairgrounds to pick up our County Fair exhibits. She ended up running late so by the time we got back from the fairgrounds and had dinner it was almost 5pm.

I started baking after dinner. First up was the Chocolate Espresso Stout cake. Everything went smoothly. I cooled and wrapped the layers and moved on.

Next up was a Lemon Poppyseed Cake. This was a new recipe. I had planned on competing the same cherry cake that I had competed in the Cherry Contest at the Johnson County Fair except that the cherry cake recipe I used for the competition included a box cake mix as part of the ingredients and I needed a totally scratch cake for the state fair. The category is Cherry or Other Fruit Cake so the possibilities were endless. Almost everything I found that sounded interesting though had fillings that were not completely Fair legal and I would have to alter them. I felt like I was succumbing to decision fatigue so I finally decided to keep it simple. Lemon Poppyseed with a Lemon Buttercream. No fancy fillings. No fancy or multiple flavors. Don't overthink it. Keep it simple.

The cake baked up beautifully. I had a little bit of left over batter so I made two cupcakes to taste. The texture was great. The flavor was a bit mild but the completed cake would be brushed with lemon syrup so hopefully that will amp up the flavor. I got those layers cooled and wrapped.

Back to the German Chocolate Cake. I looked around for more recipes...

Another cake that I've been wanting to make for quite some time is a French Opera Cake. This cake is usually a rectangular cake with multiple layers including a chocolate ganache layer. 

Opera Cake
Photo from Evil Twin Kitchen

I had not considered this as a Fair cake in the past because ganache is traditionally made with heavy cream, thus not allowed in a Fair cake. I was looking at the Opera Cake recipe because I was thinking about using the Opera Cake sponge as my cake, then adding the German Chocolate Cake fillings as a sort of a fusion cake recipe. However, it then occurred to me that I could make the ganache with coconut cream instead of heavy cream. Opera Cake it is.

I had the Lemon Poppyseed Cake all done and wrapped up shortly before midnight. I considered going to bed but all the eggs I needed for the Opera Cake were already out on the counter and at room temperature. How long could another cake take?

The sponge for the Opera Cake took 8 eggs - 4 whole and 4 whites. It took me almost 20 minutes to beat the whole eggs into pale thick ribbons with a hand mixer. It took me another 10 minutes to beat the egg whites into stiff peaks. My hand mixer has been doing triple duty this week. Hopefully I don't burn the motor up! 

The recipe for the sponge cake was for a 10" x 15" sheet pan so the bake time was 5-10 minutes. Since I had it in 6"pans I parked myself in front of the oven and watched it like a hawk. My bake time ended up being 12 minutes. Then I had to cool the cakes and wrap them. And clean the kitchen.

I went to bed at 2:30 am.

Monday July 24, 2023

I started the day on Monday by making the chocolate ganache as it would need to sit for a while to cool down and thicken. This was the theme of the day. All my cake components needed to be the same temperature for them to play well together so I was either waiting for things to cool down or waiting for things to warm up to room temperature.

Next was coffee buttercream. I needed room temperature butter and eggs. I had 240 degree syrup going into eggs and then whipping them until everything cooled back down to room temperature to add the butter...

Coffee syrup was next. Simmer then wait for it to get to room temperature.

I finally got out the cake ring, then had to rip my kitchen apart looking for my acetate film. Finally found everything and put the Opera Cake together and put it in the fridge to set up.

Next up was chocolate buttercream.

Melt chocolate and set it aside to get to room temperature but still stay liquid.

Same drill with the butter, eggs and boiling sugar syrup.

Got the cake frosted and decorated.

Next was whipped lemon buttercream.

This time I remembered to make the milk flour paste completely smooth before heating it up so I didn't end up with little balls of cooked flour.

Made the lemon syrup.

Got the lemon poppyseed cake frosted.

Finally, I made the chocolate glaze for the Opera Cake. The glaze has to cool to 88-90 degrees before pouring to get that nice smooth finish. Done!

It was 5pm. I was immensely pleased with myself for finishing everything at a reasonable hour and almost didn't know what to do with myself.

Tuesday July 25, 2023

I got all my recipes typed up and cleaned out coolers to transport the cakes.

The last decision was whether to take the acetate film off the Opera Cake before entry or to leave it in place to be removed at judging. What sealed the deal was the fact that I only had two disposable cake boxes and I had three cakes. I decided to put the chocolate cake and the lemon cake in cake boxes and leave the acetate film on the Opera Cake as it's "container". I did go ahead and remove the original film to make sure it came off easily, then replaced it with a clean film.

Opera cake without the film

My friend Jennifer was also bringing cakes for entry so I drove over to her house and we rode up to the fairgrounds together. We had everything dropped off before 2pm.

Wish us luck!

2023 Indiana State Fair: Turn-in, Round One

This weekend was Round One of turn-ins for the Indiana State Fair and it was definitely a much less hectic affair than county fair turn-in!

My items due in by Saturday July 22, 2023 at 7pm were Brownies, Dietary Restrictions, Breads, American Dairy and my crochet items. The Dietary Restriction category is food for people with dietary restrictions such as gluten free, vegan, etc. The American Dairy category requires that you use at least two dairy products in your item. I had a total of six food items and two crochet items due in. 

I worked on finishing my crochet items as soon as I was done with Johnson County Fair baking so they were done by Thursday. I'm entering my Lost in Time shawl in the Adult Crochet Accessories category and my Advent Wreath in the Crochet Household Items category. I love how the shawl turned out. I really like my wreath too but I'm worried it might be too busy. All the stuff is what attracted me to the wreath pattern in the first place but now that it's done, well wow, it's a lot...

I entered two Classes in the Dietary Restrictions Category - "Cookies" and "Other than Above", meaning something other than cookies or cakes. I actually didn't have any recipes until Thursday night. I finished my crochet wreath on Thursday then went scrolling around the internet for ideas.

Friday July 21, 2023

For the "Other than Above" Class I settled on No Bake Coconut Lime Balls.

These were the first things I made on Friday. The balls hardened in the freezer while I melted the chocolate coating. I then dipped the balls and put them in the fridge to set up. I am really happy with how they look. My biggest concern is that they get super soft at room temperature, and they will be judged at room temperature.

Next I made Oatmeal Date Sandwich Cookies for the Dietary Restrictions Cookie Class. These are gluten free, vegan, diabetic friendly and heart healthy. The recipe made exactly nine sandwich cookies. My experience is that gluten free cookies tend to be very dry - like sawdust dry - and these looked dry to me. The date filling though is suppose to offset the dryness. Once you make the sandwich cookie they are suppose to sit for a day so the flavors can meld and the filling is suppose to soften the cookie. Since I only had 9 cookies and I have to show 6, I decided to wait until Saturday to actually taste the cookie so there will be no second chances with this one!

The final item I made on Friday was the Coconut Stuffed Fudge Brownies; the same brownies I had made for the County Fair. Once these were cooled I took the whole thing out of the pan in one piece and wrapped it in wax paper, then put it in the refrigerator to cut on Saturday just prior to bringing them to the fair. The food won't be judged until Sunday and I want it to taste as fresh as possible.

I decided not to make my Loaded Potato Rolls, Caramelized Onion and Parmesan Biscuits, and Brown Sugar Sweet Potato Cornbread until Saturday. Again, I wanted them to be as fresh as possible for judging. I felt pretty confident I could bake all three items and get them turned in on time on Saturday.

I did go ahead and bake and puree the sweet potatoes on Friday and slice all the onions for the biscuits on Friday. I also typed and printed all the required recipes and tagged my crochet items on Friday night. I even had time Friday evening to grill burgers and hang out with my older daughter and her boyfriend. Definitely a different Friday night compared to a week ago!

Saturday July 22, 2023

Up at 7am. Made coffee and fried bacon.

I need two tablespoons of bacon grease and a cup of chopped bacon for my rolls. For some reason I was barely getting any grease to drain off the bacon. In retrospect I think I didn't cook my bacon long enough to render enough fat off of it. Usually I cook the bacon very crisp. Once things cooled down I could see that my bacon was not as crispy as usual. I actually got out my backup bag of frozen bacon grease but ended up having exactly two tablespoons of fresh bacon grease.

Made my yeast roll dough. This is my go to recipe and I know EXACTLY how it should feel as I knead it. Today the dough was unusually sticky. Humidity has a lot to do with how moist the dough but this dough also has a lot of stuff in it, including bacon and mashed potatoes that could be affecting the moistness. Maybe my bacon wasn't crisp enough? Maybe my mashed potatoes weren't dry enough? All these thoughts crossed my mind as I continued to knead the dough. I added a couple handfuls of flour but didn't dare add too much more because too much flour will make it tough... so I kept kneading, and kneading, and kneading. I think I kneaded for over 10 minutes. The dough was springy and I could stretch it window-pane thin, but it still felt sticky. Nothing to do now though but put it in the proofing box and see how it rises. In the back of my head though, I was calculating whether I had enough time and ingredients to make this again...

Next I started caramelizing all the onions I had sliced the night before. I need room temperature caramelized onions for my biscuits. I tried making them ahead of time in the past and storing them in the refrigerator but the butter hardens up and it changes the consistency of how I want my onions when I put them in my dough so now I make them the day I need them and plan enough time to let them cool down to room temperature.

While the onions were cooking I started making the cornbread. I got to whisking the dry ingredients together when I suddenly realized I didn't have enough cornmeal. UGH!!! How could I have overlooked that? I looked at the clock... 9:15am. I needed to shape my rolls at 9:30 am, then let them rise for another hour. Ok, I'd run to the store while my rolls were rising.

9:30 am. The yeast dough had risen beautifully. Phew!. I turned it out on my mat to shape and noticed the edges had stuck to the bowl. I made the first cut with my dough scraper and the dough stuck. I had a slight moment of panic and grabbed the flour to dust, then remembered it was better to dust with rice flour at this point and grabbed it instead. I sprinkled a little teeny weeny dusting on the dough and the mat and everything was fine again. Big sigh of relief. I put the trays in the back of my SUV to rise, then drove it to the grocery store to get more cornmeal.

Home by 10am. I finished making the cornbread by 10:15 am and put it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes. The rolls were suppose to be finished rising at 10:45 am.

Cornbread out. First tray of rolls in.

First tray of rolls out. They looked good. I anxiously bit into one. 

Perfect!

Got all the rolls baked and then picked my six best.

By now it was noon. One bake to go.

I started grating frozen butter for my biscuits but by the time I got done it was so hot in my kitchen that I noticed all the butter was starting to stick all back together so back into the freezer it all went.

Fifteen minutes later I got everything back out and finished making the biscuits.

As soon as the biscuits cooled I loaded up the car and was on my way.

I left the house at 1:45pm. Pulled into the state fairgrounds at 2:35pm.

Got everything turned in and was back on the road at 2:50pm.

I got back home and realized I was STARVING! Had leftovers from dinner, then sampled the oatmeal date sandwich cookies - pretty good. Cookies are crumbly and dry but the date filling makes up for it. I'm happy with it. Had another loaded potato roll. Ate some brownie scraps. Had a coconut lime ball...

So happy everything went relatively smoothly today!