Contestants in the 10th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 18 dazzled the judges with their creations! Congratulations to these winners of Special Awards!
Special Awards
The Guac Star Award
Lydia Mentzer
The Sorting Hat Choice Award
Hudson, Paxton, and Gamay
Flavor Bouquet Award
Madelyne Myers
Slice of Pi Award
Kirstan Brodie
Autumn Magic Award
Molly Maher
Spooktacular Sweet Treat Award
Lucia O’Toole
Vivacious Vegan Delight Award
Juju B’s Sweets
Orange Explosion Award
Tabitha Gray
Spirit of Service Award
Rebecca DeGroat
Power in Every Bite Award
Alecia Sundsmo
Sky’s The Limit Award
Village at Ithaca
Lydia Mentzer’s “Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes,” chocolate cakes with guacamole-colored frosting.
Hudson, Paxton, and Gamay’s “Harry Potter Cupcakes,” vanilla sponge cakes with beer-flavored buttercream frosting topped with Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin scarves and pretzel stick wands.
Madelyne Myers’s “Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes,” pumpkin, ginger, nutmeg, and chocolate cakes, with brown sugar cream cheese frosting.
Kirstan Brodie’s “Apple of My Pie Cupcakes,” cinnamon-spiced cakes studded with juicy apple chunks topped with a “pie crust” of salted brown butter cream cheese frosting.
Molly Maher’s “Between Seasons Cupcakes,” chocolate spice cakes with orange marmalade filling topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting and grated candied orange.
Lucia O’Toole’s “Halloween Cupcakes,” dark chocolate cakes and chocolate frosting with Halloween decorations.
Juju B’s Sweets’s “Joy Cupcakes,” cocoa and apple sauce cakes studded with toasted almonds topped with coconut-flavored frosting, sweetened coconut flakes and almond slivers.
Tabitha Gray’s “Orange Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes,” chocolate cakes with orange filling and an orange buttercream frosting.
Rebecca DeGroat’s “Happy 250th Birthday Marine Corps Cupcakes,” carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting and gold and red sprinkles.
Alecia Sundsmo’s “Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes,” chocolate vegan cakes with chocolate icing and a vegan marshmallow on top.
Village at Ithaca’s “Razzmatazz Rainbow Cupcakes,” blue raspberry confetti cakes and Italian meringue frosting topped with meringue clouds and blue raspberry and sour candy.
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.
Kids in Tompkins County are getting bullied at school, outside of school, and online. The most recent survey of students, in 2023, showed a marked increase in bullying over the previous two years.
39 percent of 8th graders in Tompkins County say they have been bullied at school
About a quarter of students in grades 6-12 reported being bullied at school, with the greatest prevalence occurring in middle school grades, according to the Community-Level Youth Development Evaluation (CLYDE) survey of 3,496 students.
Overall, 27.4 percent of students said they were bullied at school; 20.5 percent bullied outside school; and 20 percent bullied electronically.
Eighth graders reported the highest percentages, with 39 percent, 27.5 percent, and 25 percent saying they were bullied in those categories, respectively
The 2023 results represented an increase in overall bullying behavior since the 2021 CLYDE survey, when 21.2 percent, 18.6 percent, and 20.8 percent of students said they were bullied at school, outside school, and electronically.
The Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force publishes “Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families,” a guide with information about how bullying affects individuals and communities and what we can do to prevent it.
For schools, the guide contains resources for curricula, discussion plans, activity kits, infographics, videos, art projects, coloring books, role playing, pledge signing, clubs, Bullying Prevention Month activities, and special websites for teens and kids.
The task force distributed the guide to all school leaders as well as Parent-Teacher Organizations/Associations in Tompkins County.
“The guide presents a brief overview of bullying and its impacts as well as national and local data illustrating the extent of the problem,” said Scott MacLeod, task force coordinator.
“But the focus of the guide is on providing schools with resources with which to proactively prevent bullying. It lists resources that schools can use to organize bullying prevention activities year-round and especially for National Bullying Prevention Month in October.”
For parents and their children, the guide provides detailed information about how to file a complaint to school officials about bullying, harassment, or discrimination under the New York State Dignity for All Students Act (DASA).
“The Dignity Act is set up so that everyone has a role in supporting a child when bullying occurs,” explained Brandi Remington, TST BOCES Youth Development Coordinator and task force member.
“I want parents and family members to know that they are not alone, if they ever find themselves in this situation, and that the best thing they can do for their child is to work in partnership with their school Dignity Act Coordinator to address the issue and to improve their child’s experience.”
DOWNLOAD Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The Task Force encourages schools and youth-serving organizations to use the occasion to provide educational programming and activities designed to reduce (and hopefully eliminate) bullying behaviors.
DOWNLOAD Tompkins County Schools Dignity Act Coordinators
Bullying can have negative and even life-long impacts on both victims and aggressors. Bullying can have a negative long-term impact on mental health, substance use, and it even has links to suicide.
According to StopBullying.gov, kids who are bullied are more likely to experience:
Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy.
Health complaints.
Decreased academic achievement, school participation, and attendance.
Kids who bully others are more likely to:
Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults.
Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school.
Engage in early sexual activity.
Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults.
Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults.
DOWNLOAD Bullying Prevention Resources for Schools and Families
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