Judges Eat Up Key Lime Cake

A key lime cake baked by Helen Shevel of Avon Park took the top honors in the adult division of the Highlands County Fair Cooking Contest.

"I'm impressed; I'm amazed," Shevel said of her win on Wednesday. "A friend of mine gave me the recipe and thought I would like it."

She baked it on Tuesday to let it set up for a day and then iced it on Wednesday, she said.

Dustpan cookies, which were presented in a real plastic dustpan, scored top honors in the junior division for Ansley Selander of Sebring.

The fifth-grader at Heartland Christian School said the recipe, which she got from a friend, includes pecans and graham crackers in a mix of butter and sugar.

Among the 10 judges, Karen Andrews judged the junior desserts and appetizers and half of the adult desserts.

"Some things were hard to make a decision, but some I knew right away what I liked best," she said. "There weren't very many in the junior appetizers, but they were very good. There were some very good junior desserts, also."

As the judges scores were being tallied, Bernice Hernandez of Lake Placid said she won a blue ribbon about 10 years ago in a banana bread contest at the fair.

She entered all three adult categories this year with bacon wrapped dates, deep dish spaghetti pie and a strawberry satin pie.

To prepare her entrée, Hernandez makes a crust with the spaghetti and puts sauce and mozzarella cheese over it and then bakes it.

"I enter all the contests," she said. "One day I'm going to win the big prize."

She plans on entering the cooking contest at next month's Lake Placid Country Fair.

Beatrice Vallee of Lake Placid said she has hundreds of cook books.

She used a recipe from one of those books for her appetizer of sea scallops, served chilled with a warm ginger vinaigrette dressing.

Vallee prepared steak with blue cheese for the entrée category and made double citrus tarts for dessert, which are made with oranges and lemons and sweetened canned milk.

The first-place winners in the adult division were:

Entrees - Judy Drake, squash dressing with chicken.

Appetizers - Bernice Hernandez, bacon wrapped dates.

Desserts - Helen Shevel, key lime cake.

The first-place winners in the junior division (under 18) were:

Appetizers - Laura Arumugam, spicy corn dip

Desserts - Ansley Selander, dustpan cookies.

The contestants prepared their recipes and then brought them to the fair for judging.

The 46 entries were judged on flavor, creativity, texture and appearance.

The first-place winners received $75 and a ribbon. Second- and third-place winners received a ribbon and $50 and $25, respectively. Ribbons were awarded for honorable mention.