Sadie Hays won 1st Place and the Grand Prize with her “Orange Pomegranate Cupcakes” in the 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest organized by The Sophie Fund on October 19.
Sadie Hays’s award-winning “Orange Pomegranate Cupcakes”
Her sumptuously moist olive oil orange cakes with a hint of pistachio, almond, and cardamom and a piquant pomegranate curd center were topped with a white chocolate labneh and cream cheese frosting with notes of rose water and pistachio.
“There is a lot of struggle in the world these days,” Hays said. “Through it all, I am looking for the sun rays, the lightness, the freshness, the optimism, and above all, the harmony.”
Full List of 2024 Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest Winners
“I love baking because it lets me create something new by balancing opposing concepts and flavors. This was an experiment in using Middle Eastern flavors. I hope these bring you a little ray of sunshine and some joy in your day,” she said.
1st Place Awardee Sadie Hays
Marina Mahashin captured 2nd Place with her “Rasmalai Tres Leches Cupcakes,” vanilla cakes soaked in a three-milk syrup infused with saffron and cardamom and a whipped cream frosting dusted with crushed pistachios.
Mahashin’s Bengali and Dominican flavors were inspired by her childhood in Bangladesh and her enjoyment of a friend’s tres leches birthday cake after arriving in America.
“Growing up, sweets were an essential part of every celebration, no matter the occasion,” she recalled. “Among them all, my favorite was rasmalai. The richness of the milk and the blend of delicate flavors always captivated me. Every bite of rasmalai feels like a warm reminder of home and cherished memories.”
Marina Mahashin’s “Rasmalai Tres Leches Cupcakes”
The judges awarded Grace Qi 3rd Place for her “Harvest Caramel Apple Cupcakes,” consisting of fluffy cakes made with Fiji, Honeycrisp, and Granny Smith apples with spiced apple pie filling and topped with salted buttercream frosting drizzled with caramel.
Qi said that her contest entry sought to honor memories of growing up in Oklahoma. “Every year at the state fair, my mom and I would always get caramel apples together. That sweet, sticky treat became one of my all-time favorites, and I wanted to recreate that comforting flavor in these cupcakes. They’re a tribute to those moments with my mom.”
Grace Qi’s “Harvest Caramel Apple Cupcakes”
Isabel Perkins received the Youth Award for her “Dream Cupcakes,” with rich, moist chocolate cakes with a fluffy peanut butter frosting and filled with arequipe, a “sweet surprise” also known as dulce de leche.
Perkins’s entry included a surreal fictional story she wrote about her “dream cupcake.” The protagonist imagines a rich, moist chocolate cupcake, and then in a dream set in a futuristic world comes across a ginormous building in the shape of a cupcake that houses a huge rich, moist chocolate cupcake on a golden pedestal.
Isabel Perkins’s “Dream Cupcakes”
Twenty-nine bakers entered the contest this year, displaying a range of themes including: fall colors, autumn tea parties, campfires, Halloween, Greek mythology, birthdays, Persian delights, Cayuga Lake swims, creatures known as cats, and empathy and understanding.
Judging the finalists were professionals from Ithaca’s culinary community, Via Carpenter, of Via’s Cookies, and Yuko Jingu, of Akemi Food, along with Susan Hack, co-founder of The Sophie Fund.
The Awards Ceremony was hosted by Carley Robinson and Gabriella da Silva Carr, and the event featured live musical performances by SingTrece & Kenneth McLaurin, Joe Gibson & Dan Collins, and Rachel Beverly.
The 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the Ithaca Commons was sponsored by Visions Federal Credit Union, Cayuga Health, and Maguire. All awardees received Downtown Ithaca Alliance gift cards accepted by more than 100 local shops and restaurants.
The contest was produced by Cara Nichols of CRN Events.
Volunteers from student organizations at Cornell University supported the contest: Cornell Circle K, PATCH (Pre-Professional Association Toward Careers in Health), Alpha Phi Omega, and Cornell Minds Matter.
Also participating in the day-long event were organizations advancing mental health in the greater Ithaca community. They included: Be Kind Ithaca; Free Hugs Ithaca; Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service; American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Greater Central New York; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; National Alliance on Mental Illness Finger Lakes; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County, Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force, and Ithaca Free Clinic.
The contest is organized every year by The Sophie Fund, which was established in 2016 in memory of Cornell University fine arts student Sophie Hack MacLeod to support mental health initiatives aiding young people. Sophie’s passion for baking cupcakes inspired the launch of the first Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest in 2016. At the time of her death by suicide at age 23, Sophie was on a health leave of absence from Cornell and active in Ithaca’s culinary scene.
1st Place and Grand Prize ($250): Sadie Hays
2nd Place ($150): Marina Mahashin
3rd Place ($100): Grace Qi
Youth Award ($100): Isabel Perkins
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