3 to Face Off in IDDBA 18 Cake Decorating Challenge

Three contestants have been chosen to participate in the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s 23rd annual Cake Decorating Challenge, to be held June 10-12 at IDDBA 18 in New Orleans.

Over the course of the IDDBA 18 show, contestants will create enough cakes to fill an 8-foot bakery case, a tiered wedding cake, and themed/custom design cakes. They’ll compete for first-, second- and third-place trophies.

The decorators receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to the competition are:

• Lindsay Anderson, Lunds & Byerlys, Minneapolis. Anderson started decorating cakes in high school and continued to decorate throughout college. She currently is a pastry chef and has been decorating for 14 years.
• Natasha Damm, Lambs Gardenhome Marketplace, Portland, Ore. Damm started her decorating career nine years ago when she began decorating basic case cakes. She now decorates daily production cakes, cake orders and wedding cakes as her store’s lead cake decorator.
• Randy Stratton, Dillons, Wichita, Kan. Stratton started in bakery four years ago as a cake decorator and moved up to a pastry chef after his first year. He now does custom orders and the bakery cases.

Not only will participants gain recognition for themselves and their stores through the Cake Decorating Challenge, Madison, Wis.-based IDDBA notes, but they’ll further advance their skills and build a network, uncover more potential, and discover cutting-edge trends and techniques to bring back to their departments.

Judges for the competition will be Dawn Sweezey, of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Rich Products Corp., and Dustin Humpherys, of Brownsburg, Ind.-based Maplehurst Bakeries LLC.

IDDBA 18 attendees also have the opportunity to be a judge. Each day at the show, there will be a an opportunity to vote for a favorite decorator through the People’s Choice Award based on the cakes created that day.

Visit IDDBA’s website to learn more about the Madison, Wis.-based trade group and the speaker lineup, networking opportunities and educational opportunities at IDDBA 18.