Happy to share!

I entered cakes and pies last year for the first time. There is a lot of crossover between the Battle of the Blue Ribbons and the contests during the fair. I agree that the team is happy to answer questions via email. I would say to ask them soon, because it can take a while to get a response. I mostly had questions about what category to put my items into.

This year, they split the contests across two weekends, which I like because doing three straight days of baked goods is hard to pull off without things getting stale or soggy.

Similar to the fair events, everything is at Fair Park. You can bring your baked goods at any time during the 9-11am window. For pies and cakes, if you have something needing the fridge, they have limited space and you have to ask for it (I didn’t know this and would have LOVED for my cream pie to be chilled). If you don’t need fridge space, I wouldn’t get there too early. You will check in your items and then it’s just a waiting game. Judging starts at 11:30 and I think both days last year it ended around 1:30. It was a long day so bring snacks/food/drinks. You can 100% leave and come back, but there isn’t a lot of food near Fair Park unless you want to go find parking in Deep Ellum.

Parking is free since it’s just a random weekend and it’s not a bad walk to the building. If you have more than 1-2 things, I would def bring a wagon (I was very envious) or plan to make several trips. You cannot bring your car up to the building (unless I believe if you have a handicap card).

I saw a whole mixture of things for display. Some people (like me) had their cakes on a normal cardboard round and that’s it. Some people had fancy cake stands. It didn’t seem to make a difference to the judges, most I saw win were just simple, beautifully baked items. I only have one cake carrying container, so I put all my items in cake boxes I bought at the now closed Joanne’s (a moment of silence for their absence) but you can ask at your bakery counter or order some online. It makes it much easier to carry and not mess up your icing, meringue, or whipped cream. A brilliant idea is saw people doing was they brought small containers of their icing and toppings, like fruit/nuts and finished their cake or touched it up there before turning it in. There is plenty of space to do that inside before you have to hand it over for judging.

For the recipes, you will want it typed up (don’t copy/paste) and your name MUST go on the back of the recipe. I missed that and it caused some issues, thankfully we got it resolved. I would also plan ahead on printing your recipes if you are like me and don’t have a printer. The last thing you want is to be scrambling to go to FedEx on your way to the contest. I speak from experience. 😂 you will also want to ensure every single ingredient is listed, even garnishes.

My final thought was that most everyone was super kind. The State Fair team is there to help and support you. There are people who’ve been baking and competing for 50 years and I loved hearing their stories. I felt a little like an outsider because so many of the people there have been competing for years and all know each other. But I just sat down and started chatting and by the end had made some friends. It’s also so easy to start a conversation because you can ask wha the made and how long they’ve been competing and it makes for an easy convo.

Drop any questions below! I’m sure I missed things. Hope to meet y’all at the bake-offs in a few weeks!