The Hopkins Organization for Programming (The HOP) and Relay for Life held a bake-off in the Glass Pavilion last Thursday, March 7 in order to benefit Relay for Life, the national charity that acts in support of the American Cancer Society. Senior Jack Morgan and sophomore Rebecca Rabinowitz spearheaded the event.
Each baker at the event was given a donation jar in which students could vote for their favorite dish by donating. Through the donation jars, the event raised over 300 dollars for Relay for Life.
For the first hour of the event, The HOP gave students free cupcakes and decorations; judging of baked goods began at 7 p.m. Students judged a wide variety of baked goods based on creativity, taste, school spirit, and overall success. Winners were given prizes such as a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, a 150-dollar gift card to a Baltimore restaurant of the winner’s choosing, and an iPad Mini.
“I think the event was extremely successful. Not only did we raise money for Relay for Life, but we were able to really engage the Hopkins student body. The student response was very successful and we’d love to do this event next year,” Rabinowitz wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
Sophomores and self-described baking enthusiasts Malvi Hemani and Katie Prochownik were winners of the creativity category.
“We baked two different types of trifles, one was a tiramisu and the other was a lemon pound cake with custard, a blueberry compote, and poppy seed filling,” Hemani said.
Prochownik’s grandfather inspired their unique choice of baked goods.
“Malvi and I knew we wanted to enter the creativity category. My grandfather was a baker in World War II for the generals in Japan,” Prochownik said. “It would have been his 95th birthday the week of the bake-off. We decided to pay tribute to him by using his recipes to create our dessert. His custard recipe was one he used in his cream puffs, and his lemon pound cake was a gift to my grandmother every year for Easter.”
Freshmen Fanny Kafka, Ye Ji Park, and Dennis Han were inspired by the Hopkins campus in their creation, which went on to win the School Spirit category.
“The reason why we chose to the design was because when we agreed that the Gilman Hall and the Keyser Quad are the things that stands out the most about our campus,” Han said. “When I first came to Hopkins I remember taking a picture at the quad with the hall in the background with my parents. We used green icing and coloring to depict the greenness of the quad in summer, and used almond paste to make the Gilman tower,”
Both bakers and attendees expressed happiness with the event.
“I would love to get some of the recipes — next year there should be an option for contestants to print out their recipes or maybe post them on the Facebook group so others can attempt it! The event was definitely a successful one, and I can see it gained popularity over the years. Everyone loves homemade sweets, especially when the money raised goes to charity,” sophomore Ginny Rogers said.
The All-Around winners of the baking competition were Sunny Cai, Burcu Atay, Alli Greco, and Ruthie Burrows from the Delta Xi Phi sorority.
“The dessert that we did for the bake-off was Blue Jay Cake Pops. I learned about the competition through my sorority Delta Xi Phi, Inc., the multicultural sorority,” said sophomore Burcu Atay.
“Overall, it was a very fun experience and the fact that we were able to be a part of such a big fund raising organization was very important for us. As one of our pillars, DXP gives a lot of importance to community service and fundraising opportunities. We are very excited and appreciative to have participated a fundraising for such a great cause,” Atay said.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.