IDDBA's Cake Decorating Winner Crowned
Joni Graham, of Carmen's Independent City Market, is the winner of the International Dairy- Deli-Bakery Association’s (IDDBA) 24th Annual Cake Decorating Challenge.
The three-day competition took place during IDDBA 19 in Orlando, Fla., which ran June 2-4. Participants were tasked with filling an 8-foot bakery case with cakes, creating "Toy Story 4"-inspired cake creations and making a special-event cake.
Graham is a self-taught decorator who gained and refined her skills through practice and passion. She started from home 17 years ago and has been decorating for Carmen’s Independent City Market, an affiliate store of Brampton, Ontario-based Loblaws, for three years.
Jess Tatham, of Publix Super Markets Inc., took second place. Tatham has five years of experience decorating cakes, and before starting at Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix, she had no knowledge about decorating. She learned the art through the in-store Publix decorators who trained her.
Dana Nygaard, of Hy-Vee Inc., took third place and also won the attendee-chosen People's Choice Awards all three days. She began working at West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee as a bakery/sweet shop clerk before becoming a cake decorator. Although she had no prior experience, she became an official decorator in 2017 through Hy-Vee’s cake-decorating training courses.
Stay tuned for more coverage from IDDBA 19.
