Death has never been so sweet

Surrounded by six judges, three round chocolate cakes gradually disappeared from a small table.

The Sanders County Fair held their first ever Death by Chocolate Cake competition Saturday afternoon.

Fair manager Mike Hashisaki, who also took on the very onerous task of judging, said he wanted to spice up the fair. His idea? Have a chocolate cake competition where competitors use a challenging cake recipe and exactly the same ingredients. He said that the competitor closest to the exact recipe of this year’s death by chocolate recipe would be named winner.

“We just thought we needed something different to get a little more excitement,” Hashsisaki said, “We only got three entries this year but the person who won got $50 in cash and two bucking shoot seats to the bull riding event tomorrow afternoon which is a pretty good prize.”

This year that person was Mitzi Stonehocker from Thompson Falls who presented her Death by Chocolate Cake recipe on a plate surrounded by pictures of her children at previous county fairs and topped with fresh huckleberries she handpicked only a week ago.

Elizabeth Riffle, the culinary art superintendant said that the judges were judging the cakes using a rubric that included four things: consistency, appearance, texture and taste. Riffles said that, while all three cakes tasted good, Stonehocker had won because of the texture within her cake and because of the presentation of her cake.

“It was a hard recipe to make,” Riffle said. “Most of them made it two or three times before they brought it to the fair because it was difficult to make.”

Stonehocker said that she had to try cooking the cake recipe four times before she finally felt that she had gotten it right.

“I made four of them and each time I made it I found that there were little tricks to learn because I was wondering how it was going to be; but I think having the eggs at the right temperature was the secret,” Stonehocker said.

Having to follow a formal recipe was hard for Stonehocker, who enjoys adding a little creativity to her cakes.

“I love to experiment and it was hard for me to follow the recipe just exactly and not add something else to it,” she said.

A few of the volunteer judges were surprised about the unique taste each cake had to offer.

“All three cakes were excellent, but it was so funny how different they were considering they were all made from the same recipe,” Duane Grimes, one of the cake judges, said.

At the end of the event Hashisaki felt that the competition had been a great success for its first year — especially for the chocolate cake judges.

“It benefits the judges quite a bit,” Hashisaki said chuckling. “I thought I only had a couple and then all of a sudden we ended up with six judges.”

Of the cooks who made the savory desserts, Hashisaki also felt that they were given a great opportunity to enhance their culinary skills and have a place to exhibit their work.

“They had a chance at trying their hand at something they’ve probably never made in their lives,” he said, “and next year we’ll look for another recipe just to keep it fresh and we’ll see if we can’t get six or nine entries.”