Less than two years after opening their doors in downtown Sudbury, Guilty Pleasures Bakeshop recently placed highly in an international baking competition.
The business took third place in the sculpted cake category at the 18th annual Retail Bakers Association's Pillsbury Bakers Plus Grand Champion Creative Decorating Competition.
The competition took place Sept. 8 and 9 in Las Vegas as part of the International Baking Industry Exposition.
Guilty Pleasures bakers Justine Martin and Josée Frappier were selected as one of only six teams to compete.
The decorating competition called on professional cake decorators and pastry chefs to showcase their creativity, imagination, artistry and skills in four categories: wedding cake, rolled fondant cake, sculpted cake and a surprise theme.
For the sculpted category, teams were required to design and execute a groom's cake for the wedding of a fictitious couple, Kiri and Sanouk, an international model and a professional polo player who love to travel and met on a ski trip to Whistler, B.C.
"Groom's cakes are a mostly American phenomena and aren't very common in Northern Ontario," Martin said in a press release. "At first I struggled to conceptualize a design for the sculpted cake because I didn't like the idea of a traditional groom's cake."
But once the idea of a ski hill was floated, I knew that's what we had to go with."
The moving element was more difficult than expected but with help from Sudbury Steel Supply, professors at the McEwen School of Architecture and some friends, the Sudbury bakers were able to pull off a fully-functioning mini chairlift on top of the cake.
While this was Guilty Pleasures' debut into the competitive cake arena, their competitors has years of experience competing professionally, including Jen Barney owner of Meringue Bakery in Wisconsin and two-time winner of Holiday Baking Challenge on the Food Network.
"I truly didn't know what to expect going into this competition," Martin said.
“Ultimately, I wasn't happy with two of the cakes that we put forward, but I'm just glad that we were able to complete all four. Overall, it was a tremendous experience and we'll take the lessons we've learned back to the bakery and into future competitions."
If you'd like to visit Guilty Pleasures Bakeshop and sample some treats, it's located at 82 Cedar St. Visit them online at gpbakeshopbar.ca.
