By GABRIELLE SHIOZAWA
Moapa Valley Progress
Moapa Valley High School Culinary teacher Lori Terril goes above and beyond in making her classes exciting as well as educational. In other words, her students get to have their cake and eat it, too.
Last week was no exception. Terril’s classes competed in “Cupcake Wars.” Each of the ten groups of students came up with unique flavor combinations and toppings for their creations. Then they presented their final product to a panel of volunteer parent judges who graded the cupcakes on appearance, flavor, aroma, presentation/explanation and overall experience.
Some students went for classic flavors like vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. Others mixed things up with adventurous flavors like french toast and chicken-and-waffles.
One group concocted a sweet maple cupcake with cream cheese maple frosting and maple-bacon topping.
“It tastes like breakfast!” said MVHS junior Sierra Bunker.
Another group made moist strawberry cupcakes using frozen pureed strawberries. They topped their dessert with a creamy strawberry buttercream.
“I call this one the Cupcake Surprise,” said MVHS junior Dallin Conk. “The surprise is that it’s made by high schoolers, and it still tastes good!”
The panel of judges included Melissa and Chase Frederick and Heidi and Jason Baker. These judges took their time filling out rubrics with commentary for the bakers. Without sugar-coating anything, they also discussed the pros and cons of each cupcake amongst themselves.
The Fredericks and the Bakers agreed that many of the cupcakes had amazing flavors. This meant that trying to decide between them was no cakewalk. Ultimately, the decision came down to presentation.
On the first day of competition, Gannon Hymas, Tristin Lehman, Zach Zobrist, Andree Angeles and Peyton McDermott took the cake with their bacon and french toast-flavored cupcake.
Brody Olive, Madalynn Frederick, Gavin Hadley and Caleb Dalley beat out the second day’s competition with their dessert: a rich chocolate cupcake with a salty peanut butter and pretzel filling. Their dessert was topped with a fluffy salted caramel icing and a pretzel.
“It was the filling that did it; they really went the extra mile,” Chase Frederick said.
In regards to her tendency to include competitions in her teaching, Terril said that they are a lot of work.
“But they bring out [my students’] drive to work hard and do better,” she said. “ It’s a lot of fun! I really enjoy watching them compete against each other; it brings out the best in them.”
