Etchison accepts award from Q100's Jeff Dauler
Last night I helped judge the 3rd annual Great American Baking Contest — a fun local event that raises money for Share our Strength. Contestants in three categories — professional, amateur, children — enter baked good, and a panel of overfed judges scores them and hands out prizes. This year, the event took place at the wonderful new Cook’s Warehouse in Ansley Mall.
I left Alon Balshan (Alon’s Bakery), Kathryn King (Aria) and Jonathan St. Hilaire (Bakeshop) to judge the kids and amateurs, while I focused on the professional entries with Mary Moore, owner of Cook’s Warehouse. (It was a blind tasting, with no chef identified.) We ended up with a kazillion-way tie after trying a lot of great desserts that each could’ve used a small tweak or improvement.
There was a gorgeous and complex charlotte undone by a (seeming) overload of rosewater, an exquisitely decorated layered torte that didn’t really sing with its advertised cherry …