The Sophie Fund thanks the 25 bakers who entered their showpieces in the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest. The judges selected 10 contestants to receive Honorable Mention Awards. Congratulations to all! Honorable Mention awardees were presented with $25 gift certificates from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance.
Honorable Mention
Katy Holloway
Dawn Kracht
Sadie Hays
Megan Martinez
Jonica LeRoux
Anayeli Newton
Bethanie Keem-Calhoun
Isaac Ortiz
Amin Lopez Luna and Marina Mahashin
Travis Bohmer
Katy Holloway’s “The Pineapple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree Cupcakes,” upside down pineapple cakes and tart cherry curd filling topped with decadent cocktail cherries under tropical umbrellas in brown-sugar sand.
Dawn Kracht’s “A Taste of Fall Cupcakes,” pumpkin cakes with maple frosting inspired by hikes at Taughannock Falls and other area parks when the temperatures cool and the leaves turn colors.
Sadie Hays’s “Mount Merapi Cupcakes,” purple-black sesame and rice cakes resembling volcanic sand topped by billowy clouds of coconut buttercream frosting with mango-passion fruit curd “lava” centers.
Megan Martinez’s “Pumpkin-ed Up Salted Caramel Cheesecake Cupcakes,” pumpkin cakes filled with cheesecake with a salted caramel Swiss meringue buttercream frosting and vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream flowers.
Jonica LeRoux’s “Bear Paw’s Smoky Sugar Shack Cupcakes,” brown butter vanilla cakes topped with maple frosting, smoky bacon and smoky salt—inspired by memories of a renaissance man making maple from sap.
Anayeli Newton’s “S’mores Cupcakes,” chocolate cakes with Reese’s Peanut Butter chips on a graham cracker crust foundation with toasted marshmallow frosting.
Bethanie Keem-Calhoun’s “Mimosa Cupcakes,” orange and champagne cakes in a sweet champagne cake soak with a strawberry flavored champagne frosting that bubbles to the taste.
Isaac Ortiz’s “Dubai Chocolate Cupcakes,” moist chocolate cakes filled with rich pistachio cream, finished with a pistachio buttercream frosting dusted with chopped pistachios and topped with chocolate-covered strawberries.
Amin Lopez Luna and Marina Mahashin’s “Coco-Mango Sticky Rice Cupcakes,” coconut and mango tres leches soaked sponge with coconut-mango whipped cream frosting and fresh mango and coconut flakes.
Travis Bohmer’s “Apple Pie, Oh My! Cupcakes,” cinnamon-infused cakes with apple pie filling topped with vanilla-apple cinnamon frosting and buttery crumble.
Hailey Ayres won 1st Place and the Grand Prize with her “Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice Cupcakes” in the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest organized by The Sophie Fund on October 18.
Her pumpkin cakes were filled with fluffy pumpkin mousse topped by a cream cheese frosting, caramel drizzle, and cinnamon flakes for a “baker’s touch.” Ayres said her goal was to create a “refreshing and nostalgic Fall treat.”
“When I think of baking, I think of cooler Fall temps and that leads me to the Fall flavors all around,” Ayres said, adding, “I find baking as a release to my anxiety.” She said she volunteers with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to “fight for mental health for my community, my family, and myself.”
1st Place Awardee Hailey Ayres
Kyra O’Toole took 2nd Place with her “Fall Forest Cupcakes,” an entremets-style dessert with a pumpkin-spice financier base, filled with layers of milk chocolate feuilletine, dark chocolate maple/bourbon ganache, pumpkin/ginger gelee, praline mousse, topped with maple Chantilly cream. Her magical forest was created with modeling chocolate, crumbled chocolate cookies (soil), honey sponge cake (green moss), and gelatin (fairy wings).
“Baking is my safe space,” O’Toole said. “I enjoy the creativity and artistry that goes into it. At first, I didn’t have an idea for these. It kind of just came to me. The design is representative of things that make me happy.”
Kyra O’Toole’s “Fall Forest Cupcakes.”
The judges awarded Kate Bagnell 3rd Place for her “Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes,” vanilla cake with a cinnamon swirl, a brown sugar cinnamon buttercream center, and a tangy cream cheese frosting topped with a miniature cinnamon roll “as an added bonus.”
Bagnell certainly takes the cake when it comes to her cupcake inspiration. She fondly describes cinnamon rolls as an “ooey gooey center burning with molten sugar and warm spice… Christmas morning breakfast table with sweet music and warm laughter… a calm, soft cinna-sanctuary within a loud, bustling airport.”
Kate Bagnell’s “Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes”
Josie Bower received the Youth Award for their “Pumpkin Spice Ghost Cupcakes,” a moist pumpkin spice cake with sweet cream cheese frosting fashioned into ghosts. Just in time for Halloween!
Josie Bower’s “Pumpkin Spice Ghost Cupcakes”
The Sophie Fund announced a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for Aušra Milano in recognition of her outstanding contest submissions since the contest began in 2016. Said contest Emcee Gabriella da Silva Carr: “One year, Aušra submitted brown butter carrot cupcakes—her favorite—with a message that reflects the true spirit of the Ithaca cupcake baking contest: ‘Simple, humble cupcakes, nothing too fancy, pure comfort and love.’”
Twenty-five bakers entered the contest this year bringing a range of themes including: grandmothers; fathers; Taughannock Falls; Hispanic heritage; Harry Potter; volcanic Mount Merapi; U.S. Marines; sticky rice; apple pie; Almond Joy; S’mores; Champagne bubbly; Mexican and indigenous flavors; Dubai Chocolate; diversity, love, and acceptance; and (of course, since it’s late October) Halloween.
The Awards Ceremony was hosted by Carr and Ben Sandberg, and the event featured live musical performances by Joe Gibson and Rachel Beverly.
This year’s contest also featured a Cupcake Decorating Workshop with pastry chefs from Wegmans, and “10 Years of Ithaca Cupcakes!,” a photo exhibition of entries to the annual cupcake contest from 2016 to 2024.
The contest was produced by Cara Nichols of CRN Events.
Volunteers from student organizations at Cornell University supported the contest: Alpha Phi Omega, Cornell Circle K, PATCH (Pre-Professional Association Toward Careers in Health), RISEUP Cornell, and Hotel Graduate Student Organization.
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.
The Sophie Fund’s 2025 Cupcake Button fundraiser is live! Each October, we coordinate with college student organizations to collect donations for local nonprofits focused on community well-being.
This year’s campaign is raising funds for Ithaca Welcomes Refugees (IWR), which provides an array of support services and resources for new arrivals in the community. In the past 10 years IWR has aided more than 250 refugees from more than 15 countries.
The 2025 Cupcake Button fundraising campaign helps local refugees
“IWR guides our refugee partners as they rebuild the most basic and essential elements of their lives in a new home, with tremendous support from this wonderful community,” said IWR Executive Director Casey Verderosa.
IWR’s ”Welcome Home” program helps refugees find housing and provides them with furniture collected in donation drives, linens and other housewares, and a two-week supply of basic groceries.
It operates “response projects” to assist refugees in their self-stated resettlement goals, most commonly finding jobs, enrolling children in school, taking English classes and driving lessons, and locating medical care.
And IWR runs the Global Roots Play School to provide a nurturing environment for preschool age children while caregivers work, go to English classes, and perform other resettlement tasks.
Late this summer, IWR identified and furnished housing for an incoming family of eight from Afghanistan, with only three and a half weeks’ notice and with the support of a caring team of volunteers from the community. They also piloted a summer camp at Global Roots Play School, to address the issue of decreased English class attendance by refugees with young children while public schools are closed.
IWR was established in December 2015 as an all-volunteer organization responding to the global displacement crisis in support of Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga, a federally designated refugee resettlement agency. IWR then increased its operations in 2021 after Catholic Charities closed its resettlement effort due to reduced refugee flows during the first Trump administration and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The second Trump administration is also presenting challenges, with its aggressive immigration policy.
“Refugee resettlement nationally has been a roller coaster ride over the course of our ten-year history, and we continue to be strapped into that roller coaster,” said Verderosa.
“Since January we have substantially increased our aid to refugees in crisis as they face threats to their ability to remain in a country where they have found safety. We expected fewer new clients this year but have actually been working to support more people than last year as people in previously stable positions find themselves once again on uneven ground.”
IWR holds new volunteer orientation sessions two to three times per year for needs ranging from supporting home move-ins, organizing donations drives, driving and/or accompanying newcomers to appointments, childcare, and interpreting. Volunteers are also sought for helping with events, communications, and fundraising.
Volunteer with IWR: Fill out an online form here and be contacted about future orientation sessions.
Students raise money through various in-person activities (and provide donors with Cupcake Buttons) on campus and in the community.
Community members may also contribute to the campaign directly through The Sophie Fund’s DONATE page.
Since 2017 the Cupcake Button campaigns have raised nearly $8,000 for organizations including: Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service; Mental Health Association in Tompkins County; Advocacy Center of Tompkins County; Village at Ithaca; The Learning Web; National Alliance on Mental Illness–Finger Lakes; Family & Children’s Service of Ithaca; and Ithaca Free Clinic.
The Sophie Fund organizes the Cupcake Button campaign in conjunction with the Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest. Donors receive a Cupcake Button featuring the image of a cupcake created by Sophie Hack MacLeod, a Cornell art student who died by suicide in 2016 for whom The Sophie Fund is named.
To enter the cupcake contest on October 18, click here for information and a registration form.
If you have a comment, concern, or suggestion about mental health in Tompkins schools, please feel free to email it to The Sophie Fund: thesophiefund2016@gmail.com.
National and local surveys document the seriousness of a mental health crisis affecting young people. In a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 40 percent of high schoolers said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Twenty-nine percent reported poor mental health, and 20 percent said they had considered taking their own lives.
A survey of high school and middle school students in Tompkins County came up with similar patterns. Forty-seven percent said they felt anxious or worried on most days, 35 percent felt sad or depressed on most days, and 34 percent said that “sometimes I think life is not worth it.”
“For our school personnel, this can be a hearty quick reference guide with options that can be tailored to a student’s needs—or a fellow colleague’s needs,” said Tiffany Bloss, executive director of the Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service.
“There are many opportunities for no-cost trainings to enhance the comfort level and confidence in talking to someone else about their mental health.”
After a brief “Mental Health & Suicide Prevention 101” introduction, the guide details the mental health and suicide prevention education and training that the organizations are ready to present to Tompkins school administrators, teachers, students, and parents.
DOWNLOAD: Mental Health Support & Suicide Prevention for Schools in Tompkins County
The guide compiles handbooks and toolkits to assist Tompkins schools in developing mental health promotion and bullying prevention programming as well as suicide prevention strategies in their school communities. The guide points to recommendations for youth use of social media issued by the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychological Association.
“Tompkins County’s mental health nonprofits offer beneficial mental health programs designed for students, teachers, and parents,” said Sandra Sorensen, executive director of NAMI Finger Lakes. “Bridging the gap in education and community services is important to all of us. We already have great evidence-based programs designed and ready to go at no cost to our schools. The guide outlines all of our programs and highlights our collaborative nature. We are here to serve and assist.”
The guide also includes 5 Simple Steps, a downloadable “safety plan” young people (or adults) can consult if they are feeling overwhelmed with a deteriorating mood.
The five organizations requested an opportunity to meet directly with the Tompkins County school superintendents and their leadership teams to provide a presentation on the support services available and respond to any concerns or questions they may have. The organizations have met with the Ithaca and Trumansburg districts, but Lansing, Groton, Dryden, and Newfield have not scheduled a meeting.
If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.
Can you believe it? For the tenth year in a row, The Sophie Fund is hosting the Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on Saturday October 18 at the Bernie Milton Pavilion in the Ithaca Commons.
What flavors are exciting your senses? Salted caramel? Peanut butter or pomegranate? Mocha or green tea? Strawberry or coconut? The judges can’t wait to taste your masterpieces.
CLICK HERE for all the information on contest procedures and rules, and the Contest Registration Form.
(You can register online or download a Contest Registration Form and bring it to the contest venue with your cupcakes).
Contestants of all ages are welcome and will be eligible for dozens of prizes including a Grand Prize valued at $250 and a Youth Award valued at $100. Everyone is a winner! (Open to amateur bakers only.)
Contestants are asked to submit trays of six cupcakes along with a completed Contest Registration Form. The form asks for your full recipe, ingredients, and a brief story about your cupcakes.
The story could be about a person, place, or thing that inspired the recipe and decoration. Or what techniques you favored. Or the joy you had baking them. Was there a challenge you had to overcome in making your cupcake dream a reality? Tell us!
The content will take place RAIN or SHINE. Submissions are received from 10 a.m.–12 Noon on Saturday October 18 at the Bernie Milton Pavilion. The entries will then be judged by professionals from Ithaca’s bakeries and restaurants. Judging is based on cupcake taste, decoration, and originality. Winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony at 3 p.m.
Prizes include 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place Awards, as well as the Youth Award for teens and pre-teens.
The contest is organized every year by The Sophie Fund, established in 2016 in memory of Cornell University art 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, while on a medical leave of absence from Cornell, Sophie was active in Ithaca’s vibrant culinary scene. According to her family, she hoped to open her own bakery after completing her Cornell degree.
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