By Marlee Jackson

With a spongy crumb, whipped frosting and assorted berries, Lori Mosley’s home-baked dessert took the cake during the Heritage Cooking Contest Sept. 4 in Montgomery.

“I watch a lot of YouTube videos about recipes, so I got ideas from those and made them my own,” said Mosley of St. Clair County. “I don’t like really sweet icing, so I wanted to try something not as sweet. I just wanted to do something different.”

Mosley’s Chantilly Cake bested 22 other iced sheet cakes in the annual competition hosted by the Alabama Farmers Federation Women’s Leadership Division. A touch of almond extract amped up the moist vanilla cake, which was soaked in splashes of orange juice simple syrup. Mascarpone, cream cheese and fresh whipped cream were folded together to form the cake’s light, luscious frosting.

The first-place honor was especially sweet for Mosley, a rookie competitor. 

“I always said that when I retired, I was going to go to St. Clair County Women’s Leadership Committee (WLC) meetings,” said Mosley, who spent 25 years dishing up lunches in Ashville’s school cafeteria before retiring this year. “And I did! I’m a quilter, too, so I’m planning to enter other WLC contests.”

As the Heritage Cooking Contest champion, Mosley received $150 from the Women’s Leadership Division. Sarah Temple of Houston County netted second place and $100 for Chocolate Peanut Butter Sheet Cake while Cherokee County’s Shirley Lumsden received third and $50 for Ultimate Strawberry Crunch Cake.

An all-star panel of judges sampled contestants’ cakes as special guest Sherri Dunn of Sherri’s Bakery in Centre shared her many-layered life story with attendees. The small-business owner began the Cherokee County bakery in 2018 after decades whipping up treats and decorating sweets in her home.

Empathetic head nods, laughter and questions from the audience accompanied Dunn’s heartfelt remarks about her childhood in foster care; journey of parenting nine children (five are adopted); and overcoming substantial health obstacles, including two years confined to a wheelchair, while building her business.

Attendees then sampled goodies from her bakery before slicing into assorted iced sheet cake entries.

While taste-testing cakes was a pleasure, Federation State WLC Secretary Dixie Black said fellowship was the day’s sweetest treat. Black, of Butler County, reminded attendees to savor God’s blessings during her invocation.

“As we eat these sweet things, we know everything in life is not sweet, but we have the sweetness of God’s love that surrounds us,” she said. “Slow down and enjoy the sweetness of life and the gifts from above.”