Baking as a Competitive Sport (And a Fundraising Tool)

Baking cake is not a specialty of mine. For some reason, my cakes are never as successful as my bread.

Which means this article will not provide you with a foolproof cake technique, other than to suggest that box cakes are much better than you think they’re going to be and often in fact are much moister than a from-scratch version.

I like to believe that baking from scratch doesn’t matter, and that the Sharon Historical Society’s annual Let Them Eat Cake fundraising auction is less about how your cake tastes (although it should taste delicious, obviously) and more about how it looks.

“Clever” is not usually a word we associate with the word “cake,” but for the Sharon Historical Society, it seems to me that often the cakes that attract the most attention are those with a catchy cake title that matches a clever design.

Myra Plescia, who is the historical society and museum’s projects manager, offered some hints at how to make a successful entry in the annual cake fundraiser: “In general, well-decorated cakes with visual appeal can generate some high bids.”

But, she adds: “Cakes from bakers with generous family members who are willing to bid can also do very well.”

The fundraising Let Them Eat Cake evening is generally fun and social, albeit with an edge: “The bidding can get quite competitive,” Plescia warned (or promised, depending on how you look at it).

Last year, professional cake baker Elizabeth Mayhew from Millbrook, N.Y., contributed one of her exquisitely decorated cakes (if you want to see samples of her work, visit her Instagram page @elizabethmayhew).

Mayhew’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” brought in $1,550 in the in-person auction last summer. That is not a typo — her cake did in fact sell for more than a thousand dollars. And it was only the fourth-highest income producer! (Mayhew also auctioned off the promise of a cake decorated to the bidder’s specifications, for $800 in the online auction).

Sharon, Conn., resident Rebecca Baum actually produced the two top sellers at the in-person auction: The All-American Cheesecake, which sold for $2,100; and the Brown Sugar Bundt Cake, which sold for $1,600.

The third highest bid fetcher was the Citrus Poppy Seed Layer Cake with Lemon Glaze by Anthony Bellomo, the celebrated owner of Orangerie Garden in Millbrook, N.Y. (it sold for $1,600).

As you read the names of these winning cakes, it will perhaps make you doubt my idea that a clever cake can attract  large bids. The entries listed above clearly won because they were lovely and promised to be delicious, not because they had funny names.

But I return to my original statement, which is that I am not a great baker of cakes. Therefore, if I were to enter a cake into the auction, I would have to count on sheer gimmick to get me into the top ranks of moneymakers.

You might wonder why I’m even thinking about this, and the answer is that any bakers in the area who are proud of their pastry prowess are invited to bake and donate to the cake auction. That means you!

Cakes must be delivered to the Sharon Historical Society & Museum on the Green in Sharon on Friday,  July 1, in the afternoon.

The auction and cocktail party will be that same evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Of course you don’t need to be a baker to help the Sharon Historical Society raise funds for its important and interesting work. It is extremely helpful if you bid on one or more of the cakes, and if you purchase tickets to the July 1 event. They are $45 in advance or $55 at the door. For more information, go to  https://sharonhist.org/let-them-eat-cake-2022.