Youths' Skills In The Kitchen

It was the kids’ turn to showcase their best baking skills as the Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition announced its winners Saturday. The contestants certainly delivered on their entries with summer memories that included beach trips, a thermometer displaying the warm weather and a large sugar cookie adorned with a variety of summer fruits and berries. I really like camping and I like baking with my mommy,” said Mackenzie James-Rico, 8, about her s’mores flavored cupcakes. Alice Arevalo, 9, designed a cake featuring a large horse made from fondant and rice crispy treats. My favorite summer memory was horse camp. I love horses, so I made a horse cake,” the young baker said. We were blown away with how well everybody did. It was very difficult; third place was very, very close,” Gonzales said. Caiti Mondragon, a contestant in the first bake off competition, alongside baking enthusiast Kristin Hayden and Gonzales were the official taste testers for the event.

I was really impressed with everything they came out with. They did a lot of creative ideas. I do cakes on the side and was like ‘oh, I am going to steal that idea,’ ” Hayden said, laughing. First place went to Valerie Cadena, 9, from Greeley with a beach-themed cake complete with crushed graham cracker sand. Josie Cooley, 8, from LaSalle took second place with her beach-themed cake, while Grace Lucio, 11, from Greeley won judges’ taste buds with her bright and festive summer cupcakes. What started out as just a simple event that allowed Gonzales to share his love of baking has grown into a popular contest that allows northern Colorado bakers the opportunity to showcase their skills in a variety of themed competitions. Greeley local and UNC graduate Mallory Walker took the title of winner with her two-tiered cake decorated with homemade macarons, the UNC logo and bear, trees, the Rio’s sign and an oil rig. The cake also had the Greeley Stampede logo along one of the sides.

The reason is because there is so much moisture in this recipe you need that cooking time before opening the oven or else they may fall, and never rise. Cool cupcakes on wire racks. Frost them when totally cool. You really need a stand mixer for this recipe, you might be able to do it with a hand mixer, but I've never tried. So I'm going to give the instructions based on using a stand mixer. Tablespoon vanilla extract, or the extract of your choice. First of all, it's really important that your butter is at room temperature. So if it's not already, go put your butter on the counter. I say this because usually when I see that in a recipe I just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds and it works perfectly. But here it doesn't work as well, since the microwave heats it unevenly. Pour the hot white mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer (make sure the bowl is room temperature,) and mix with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium high until it has doubled in volume, when the mixer stops it should not move around in bowl.

Remove the whisk and turn it upside down, the meringue should stand straight in the air. Cut up the butter into 1 inch pieces. It should be moist on the outside but still cold inside. On your stand mixer remove the whisk and attach the paddle. Add half the butter pieces into the bowl and immediately pulsate the mixer several times by turning it on and off in a jerky motion, this forces the butter to the bottom of the bowl. Do it until the meringue has covered the butter completely. Turn the mixer on low. Now beat it on medium high for about 5 minutes. At this point I walk away and come back. I always get worried it's not going to come out right. The reason is because it goes through all kinds of stages. In the end it will be the consistency of whipped butter only a little lighter. The picture above (the one in the mixing bowl) is the finished frosting. When it's done turn the speed to low. Add the flavorings and liqueurs. Taste it and add a little more if it needs it. Frost the cupcakes using a pastry bag, or by using a zip top bag with a corner cut off. This frosting needs to be eaten at room temperature because it solidifies like butter does when cold. So if you are serving them the next day, refrigerate them, but remove them from the fridge in plenty of time for them to come to room temperature.