Ready, Set, Bake: Le Cordon Bleu College Teams up with Share Our Strength’s Great American Baking Contest
Posted by Cybil Talley on Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Editor’s Note: The Great American Baking Contest Atlanta raised more than $8,000 thanks to the sponsors, contestants, ticket and auction purchasers. We are excited to be able to invest this money in the No Kid Hungry Campaign that will launch later this year in Georgia helping the nearly 500,000 Georgian children who struggle with hunger. If you are interested in helping Share Our Strength in Georgia, or being part of a volunteer team to organize other Great American Baking Contests, contact Amy Crowell at acrowell@strength.org.
On any given day, I open my pantry and find enough food to cook a meal or make a snack for my family at a moment’s notice. We are incredibly blessed to not know what it means to be truly hungry, but that is not the case for nearly 1 out of 4 children in the United States. So what did over 40 professionals, students, children, and amateur bakers do to help the nearly 17 million children that are impacted by hunger? They donned their chef’s toques and baked up their best desserts, of course, for the Share Our Strength Great American Baking Contest in Atlanta on March 2nd.
Back in 2010, Instructor Lori Flynn and I saw the opportunity to host the Great American Baking Contest at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts as a way for our Pâtisserie and Baking students to put their skills to the test and get involved in our school’s social responsibility efforts. A cadre of pastry students and the Bleu Set Volunteer Corps graciously assisted with the logistics of the event. Having never attended a contest before, I was unsure of what to expect. Within just a short period of time, the Share Our Strength team and our students transformed our classrooms into a dessert lover’s paradise! Over 40 desserts tempted the judges and guests. From the homemade appeal of a Sweet Potato Cobbler to the exotic flavors of the Manjari Cremeux Cake, each dessert offered more than just a way to satisfy our taste buds or peak our curiosity. What these wildly varied entries had in common was the ultimate goal of supporting Share Our Strength’s cause. An even sweeter end to the evening came when many of our students and alumni won, including alumna Kristina Stroup Weems (gluten-free Berry Tres Leches Cake), and students Roxeann Ruiz (Persian Dream Cake), Heather Lester (Red Velvet Cake-A Southern Tradition), and Carissa Zedaker (Red Velvet Cake Pops).
By the end of the evening and with a well-satisfied sweet tooth, I came to realize that no matter how grand or how humble, each of us possesses a unique talent that we can contribute to Share Our Strength’s mission to end childhood hunger by 2015. I am glad that in my small way, I was able to share my strength.
March 22, 2011 | 1 comment(s)
Comments
1 reader comment so far.
There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.
Posted by Vanessa Amateur on April 25, 2011
Post a comment
All fields are required (your e-mail address will not be displayed)