Contestants in the 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest on October 19 wowed the judges with their works of art—so many masterpieces to evaluate! Congratulations to these winners of Special Awards!

Most Em”Pink”athetic Award

Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County

Flavors of Nostalgia Award

Sadie Dowden

Apple Orchard Award

Jackie Rumsey

Un“matcha”d Creativity Award

Ayami Yamaguchi

Trick or Treat Award

Wilfred Race

Mind Over Mocha Award

Alpha Kappa Psi

Essence of Flower Award

Seyedehraheleh Aletahamakikouhbanani

Pumpkin Pie Is So 1621 Award

Rebecca Costello

Most Inspiring Story Award

Precious Walsh

Let’s Break the Mint Award

Miles Rosenberg

Deep Blue Sea Award

Gamay Hudson Paxton

I Want S’more Award

Meg Banning

Most Comforting Award

Savannah Ventura-Ewing

Got Me Feline Good Award

Keeley Firinne

Very Fall Very Taylor Swift Award

Iris Pellani

We’re Rooting for You Award

Nina Trautmann Chaopricha

Suicide Prevention & Crisis Service of Tompkins County’s “Very Berry Sweet Treats of Kindness Cupcakes”: Moist and flavorful strawberry cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting, decorated with fresh berries, hand painted miniature French macarons, and chocolate words of kindness.

Sadie Dowden’s Dessert Cart of Cupcakes: A half dozen unique cupcakes with apple pie, lemon blueberry, fruity pebbles, pumpkin, chocolate raspberry, and S’mores themes and flavors.

Jackie’s “Caramel Apple Cupcakes”: Granny Smith apple cupcakes with heavy cream frosting.

Ayami Yamaguchi’s “Sweet Harmony Cupcakes”: Cupcakes with matcha, mochiko, and azuki bean flavors combining a beloved American treat with favorite Japanese ingredients symbolizing understanding and appreciation of different cultures.

Wilfred Race’s “Whimsical Halloween Nostalgia Cupcakes”: Chocolate ganache cupcakes with maple and bourbon icing decorated with spooky icons.

Alpha Kappa Psi’s “Mindful Mudcake Cupcakes”: Decadent chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream frosting and gummy brain and gummy worm decorations.

Raheleh’s “Persian Cupcakes”: Rose water, and saffron flavored vanilla cupcakes with a creamy cardamom frosting.

Rebecca Costello’s “Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes”: Pumpkin flavored cupcakes topped with cinnamon frosting.

Precious Walsh’s “Apple Cupcakes”: Apple spice cake and muffin base with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Miles Rosenberg’s “Mint Craft Cupcakes”: Chocolate cupcakes with mint buttercream frosting inspired by Minecraft grass blocks.

Gamay Hudson Paxton’s “Swim Team Cupcakes”: Steamed molasses pudding cupcakes with blue water-colored sauce from an old family recipe.

Meg Banning’s “S’more Delight Cupcakes”: Chocolate cupcakes with Graham cracker base topped by toasted marshmallow frosting.

Savannah Ventura-Ewing’s “Carrot Collision Cupcakes”: Carrot cake muffins with cream cheese frosting and white-chocolate carrot decorations.

Keeley Firinne’s “Strawpurry Catcakes”: Strawberry cupcakes with lemon curd filling and strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream icing.

Iris Pellani’s “Brown Butter Spiced Cupcakes”: Spiced cupcakes with a maple and bourbon cream cheese frosting and candied pecans.

Nina Trautmann Chaopricha’s “Celebrating Sustainability Compost Cupcakes”: Carrot, apple, oatmeal, and pumpkin seed cupcakes creating “a dark, loose, crumbly mass of organic matter with a pleasant earthy fragrance.”

The Sophie Fund thanks the 29 bakers who entered their masterpieces in the 9th Annual Ithaca Cupcake Baking Contest. Judging so much originality, creativity, and skill is a challenging task! Besides the three top awardees, 10 contestants were selected to receive Honorable Mention Awards. Bravo to all! Honorable Mention awardees were presented with $25 gift certificates from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance.

Honorable Mention

Aušra Milano

Jessica Cullen

Katy Holloway

Angela Meeker

Avery Carr

Renee & Julia Bauer

Pragadeeshwaran Sivasamy

Hailey Ayres

Alecia Sundsmo

Aušra Milano’s “All Things Orange Cupcakes”: Blood orange flavored chocolate and olive oil cupcakes topped with a bouquet of blood orange buttercream flowers.

Jessica Cullen’s “Mango Magic Cupcakes”: Classic vanilla cupcake with a tart mango curd filling, vanilla frosting, and whipped cream topping.

Katy Holloway’s “Waiting for Spring Cupcakes”: Vanilla cupcakes with a pomegranate curd filling and pistachio buttercream frosting flower garnished with four pomegranate seeds representing the time Persephone must spend in the underworld.

Angela Meeker’s “Dark Chocolate Raspberry Curd Cupcakes”: Gluten free decadent deep dark chocolate velvety cupcake, with a homemade raspberry curd filling topped with a homemade cream cheese, white chocolate, and raspberry swirl frosting decorated with dark Bavarian chocolate and fresh raspberries.

Avery Carr’s “London Fog Cupcakes”: Chocolate cupcakes with brewed Earl Grey tea, topped by a Swiss meringue buttercream frosting emulsified with butter steeped with vanilla bean and Earl Grey tea and adorned with salted caramel.

Renee & Julia Bauer’s “Autumn Tea Party Cupcakes”: Chocolate cakes with ganache filling, topped with Earl Grey buttercream frosting and a candied orange slice decorated with a chocolate leaf.

Pragadeeshwaran Sivasamy’s “Chai Cupcakes”: Chai-infused cupcakes, with cinnamon frosting decorated with a pippette containing a sip of Chai tea.

Hailey Ayres’s “Apple to the Spice Cupcakes”: Apple spice cakes filled with apple cider dices, topped with cream cheese frosting with cinnamon bites and leaf sprinkles.

Alecia Sundsmo’s “Summer Reprise Cupcakes”: Strawberry lemonade birthday cupcakes, with lemon cakes and filling topped with strawberry icing decorated with strawberry wedges.

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