Dayton City Councilman Jim Lewis, left, and Richard Daugherty judge entries on appearance and ease of preparation before sampling. Not pictured is contest judge Bernie Rubin.Contest winners
Overall Champion: Donna Belcher, Strawberry Treasure Ice Cream Cake ADULT DIVISIONFirst: Amanda Westfall, Strawberry-Topped Black Bottom Cheese Cake Second: Misty Linderfelt, Strawberries on Deck Third: Tracy Clouse, Strawberry Pie Cake YOUTH DIVISION First: Elizabeth Jordan, Surfin’ Strawberries at Sea Cake Second: Joshua Fry, Strawberry FantasyThird: Glen family children, Berry Sweet Ships Source: Tennessee Strawberry Festival
Joshua Fry, 12, and sister Laura, 16, clean drips off the pedestal plate holding Joshua’s Strawberry Fantasy before entering the cake. The dessert, which combined a brownie layer with cheesecake and vanilla wafer crust, took second place in the youth division. Laura entered a Strawberry Cream Torte.
Donna Belcher’s Strawberry Treasure Ice Cream Cake won Overall Champion at the 68th Tennessee Strawberry Festival’s pie and cake contest in Dayton, Tenn. The chest’s raised lid revealed candy gold doubloons, strands of Mardi Gras beads and strawberries dipped in white chocolate then painted with edible gold dust.DAYTON, Tenn. — Donna Belcher is a veteran of the Tennessee Strawberry Festival’s annual pie and cake contest with several prize medals to her credit. Her entries in the annual contest for berry bragging rights have ranged from a full-face Mardi Gras mask cake to one that was a map of the United States.
Her entry this year was a pirate’s treasure chest brimming with gilt-coated strawberries — and it added yet another medal to her prize booty. On May 6, Belcher, who lives in Dayton, was named Overall Champion of the 68th Tennessee Strawberry Festival’s Pie and Cake Contest for her original Strawberry Treasure Ice Cream Cake.
“It’s my own little concoction,” Belcher says. “I use cake mix, but I tweak it.”
As pretty as it evidently was tasty, the chest’s lid was open to reveal gold-foil doubloons, colorful strands of Mardi Gras beads and large strawberries that glittered in a gilt coating. The treasure chest sat on a board iced in blue-tinted waves with molded white-chocolate shells and fish scattered around it.