Ah, sugar ... ooh honey, honey

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GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - There is nothing like the exhilaration of pulling off a project successfully.

You thought it might not come off the ground, but you did it, it worked and you're feeling terrific!.

This is the case with Trudi Stander, who had to put her whole annual Garden Route Cake Off competition online this year because of the lockdown restrictions.

The usual ladies' teas where competitors showed off their creations in the towns competing - Mossel Bay, George and Oudtshoorn - could not take place.

Contestants had to send photographs to Trudi to be placed on the Cake Off Facebook page for viewing and judging and for people to vote and bid on the delights which were on auction. In the Cake Off, in its sixth year in 2020, women showcase their prowess in sugar art. This year's theme was High Tea During #Lockdown.

Trudi said the greatest challenge with the competition being wholly online, was getting things done by set times, for example having all the photographs from one town's competitors up on Facebook by a deadline so people could start voting at that time.

The competition was held in three stages: George, Oudtshoorn and Mossel Bay.

The most stressful part of the exercise was when the Cake Off Facebook page crashed because of the unexpected traffic of people voting at once. Horrors indeed.

Photo gallery: Cake Off competition not stopped by lockdown measures

Trudi says, "It was a challenge; we received much traction to the Facebook page all of a sudden on Wednesday [22 April] with the Oudtshoorn Cake Off. We had a half hour to fix the website.

"Thank goodness my husband knows something about technology and the IT person helping us could rectify the problem. I even had someone trying to hack the site," Trudi exclaims. "That's why I made the voting a bit longer. It was so worth it."

Overall winner
The overall winner of the competition was Chèrie Calitz of Oudtshoorn. Sanet Smit won the Mossel Bay leg and Debbie Thomas, the George section. Debbie also won the special Best Sugar Artwork prize.

What made the competition gratifying this year was that, although it was totally online, surprisingly Trudi raised more money from the three towns' auctions than ever before - even more surprising, considering that people affected by the lockdown are watching their pockets.

Chèrie Calitz of Oudtshoorn is the overall winner of the Cake Off contest.

"We have received R12 430 from the auctions. The monies are going to the three town municipalities for the Covd-19 food parcel funds.

"But first I am subtracting the costs of the competitors and giving them money for their ingredients." Trudi feels this is fair because the bakers are not working and earning a living during the lockdown. "They did everything for free upfront, so I feel I must give them their money back.

"Also, I have always had wonderful gifts in the past for the competitors - worth R2 000 to R3 000. This year we did not have them."

Trudi said she also had to pay the person who fixed the website when it crashed.

After these subtractions, R2 300 would go to each municipality for the food parcels.

"Going online was actually a huge risk. I thought, 'Will this work?' But if you don't try you don't know." With the technical glitches avoided next year, the Cake Off should be easy peasy pudding pie - in fact a total cakewalk, Trudi is hoping.

Chèrie Calitz's creation.

"I am thinking of doing the early rounds of the competition online next year. But it is also nice doing a women's morning tea in each town. Every year we have given money to charity. The women buy tickets and they are given finger snack platters. I'm actually in two minds about doing the function totally online or having these tea functions.

"I got fantastic feedback. I really feel I can pat myself on the back."

There were 13 competitors in this specialist competition: three from Oudtshoorn, four from George and six from Mossel Bay.