Caked Out

Everyone who entered deserved a prize.

The block party was great fun!

Heather and Hallie won for best kids' desserts, with a pedestal platter of the "Owls of Panama." Panama is shorthand for our neighborhood [PAtton, NAssau and MAcopin streets], and the chocolate cupcakes looked like owls with big eyes made from Oreo halves [open halves, with the white frosting], topped with Junior Mints. Second place, Hannah's Crownies, a layered brownie/cookie bar.

Terry took home first prize in the adults category, with Deep, Dark Chocolate Caramel Cake--a layer cake with amazing chocolate leaves and caramel acorns on top. Amy entered an inviting Grandma's Apple Pie, with a tender, buttery crust, still warm from the oven. It took second place. Both of these desserts looked like they were straight from the pages of Bon Appétit. And all of the other entries were amazing, too!

I loved my panel of judges. They volunteered to step up to the plate for a challenging task--tasting 11 rich desserts today and giving each one a score of 1 to 10 in two categories: looks and taste.

There was George, who has a big finance job in NYC and tallied all the scores after judging; Evelyn, my friend Barbara's mother-in-law, who comes from Long Island for the party every year and always helps me with the bake-off; and Dean, who runs a hip kitchen products company in Soho.

For the young judges, we had Figgy; Luca, the boy across the street; and Austin, a boy from up the block.

I was touched that after all that tasting, my Figgy wanted to try a piece of my angel food cake, too [which I had not entered] before she left to walk uptown to meet her friend at the movies for a 4:15 showing of Social Network.

There's so much more to tell--about adorable babies, healthy sweet potato salad, pan-cooked greens [this is Montclair, after all], sack races, blue ribbons, horseshoes, tug of war [the boys against the girls], people gathering around the grills, and lots of us pitching in to clean up as the quiet darkness fell.

But I'm tired, and I just want to park on the couch and rest a little. Been standing up in black suede loafers with heels [they're Aerosoles, so they're pretty comfortable] for 6/12 hours straight today! Sweet dreams.

P.S. I saw Figgy taking some pictures. I think she may send them to a blog she loves:
http://boyfriendreplacement.tumblr.com/archive. Pretty funny idea--delectable food as sweetheart substitute.