Raising money for Historical Society? A piece of cake!

SHARON —  Liz Shapiro, director of the Sharon Historical Society, exceeded even her own expectations with the Taste of Sharon on Friday, July 2, and Saturday, July 3.

The fun began with a Friday evening cocktail party and cake auction, with 26 pastries in the live auction and nine more in a silent auction. Some of the cakes were classic recipes, such as a traditional Southern dessert called a Lane Cake, a chocolate cake made from the prized recipe of donor Lucinda Winsted’s mother, a chocolate-whiskey bundt cake by Mary Kirby and a holiday-themed lemon cake by Frederick Peters decorated with berries to look like an American flag.

Unexpected treats included graphic designer Stephen Greider’s cheeseburger in paradise cake (a sheet cake decorated with frosting to look like a beach, topped with two rounds of yellow cake sandwiching a round of chocolate cake; red, green and yellow frosting swirls represented the condiments on the cake-burger); a Barbie cake by artist K.K. Kozik, with a doll popping out of a dome of cake designed to look like a pink princess gown; and a layer cake decorated with flower blossoms, from the Pink Cloud Gallery.

Expert baker Patsy Stroble, a Sharon resident and former owner of the beloved Stroble’s bakery in Kent, made an orange walnut torte with Grand Marnier and a bittersweet chocolate glaze; its four layers of orange walnut cake were soaked with the liqueur, interspersed with orange marmalade and topped with homemade candied orange slices.

The top-selling cake was by Lynn Kearcher, head of the Sharon Lake Association, who created an edible “Ode to Mudge Pond.� The auction list described it as “a moist butter cake wrapped in a ribbon of white chocolate with vanilla buttercream layers interspersed with layers of apricot buttercream, decorated with a thin blueberry reduction to symbolize the lake, and candied waterlilies.� The final bid: $190.

“I was stunned,� Shapiro said of the results of the auction, which also included several antique and decorative items, including a Jasperware pitcher and plate, four pencil drawings of nautical scenes and two woven coverlets from the 1940s or 1950s. A guided trip to the top of the clocktower in Sharon was auctioned off for $200.

The cakes alone brought in $2,000, bringing the total raised on Friday to $3,000 for the Historical Society.

Saturday was devoted to fun and games, and history tours of the houses on the Green. Six residences were open for tours between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Shapiro and other Historical Society volunteers organized a scavenger tour on the Green, and participants were invited to take a history quiz.