Headline: Baking A Winner
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
The championship formula developed before sunrise Friday when Yvonne Normand awoke and began crafting her first-place Mardi Gras king cake that hours later captivated the attention of tasters at the St. Landry Parish Tourist Center.
Normand had her oven heated after rolling the dough that eventually rose and acted as a base for her mixture of strawberry fig preserves and blackberry pepper jelly cake filled with homemade cream.
With those and other ingredients, Normand created the winning entry for the popular Chamber of Commerce seasonal event.
The Mardi Gras tasting and social combined with the hosted monthly parish Tourist Commission networking program, according to Tourist Commission executive director Herman Fuselier.
“Tasting the cakes has become one of our most popular events every year. Actually the Chamber puts it on as a partner and we host it here (at the Tourist Center) as a way of getting into the Mardi Gras season,” Fuselier said.
The Commission chooses a different parishwide venue each month where Commission members report on activities in their part of St. Landry.
Attendee Renee Daigle added to the Mardi Gras festiveness as she danced around the room wearing several of her hats decorated with feathers and beads in green, gold and purple, while Tourist Commission and Chamber members eventually began sampling the decorative cakes.
The cake prepared by Normand was one of 17 laid out at the Center.
Some of the judged cakes were homemade, while others were donated by various parish bakeries, Fuselier added.
As they circled the table containing the cakes, one Mardi Gras doubloon was placed in a cup by the tasters as a way of voting used to determine the champion cake.
Normand said the key ingredients for the cake were picked and then preserved during the summer canning season.
“I began with preserving the figs. (On Friday) starting around five a.m.,I took some of them and mixed them together with strawberry jello and the black pepper jelly. I added the homemade cream cheese with butter and mixed that into the dough.
“The icing contained evaporated milk and powdered sugar with some Mexican vanilla,” said Normand.
A cake submitted by Mikey’s Bakery in Opelousas was the second place winner, while another from Nu-Nu’s in Arnaudville placed third.
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