A sweet touch: Johnson County students take first in this prestigious pastry contest

The first time was the charm for Olathe East students Lee Delerue and Zoe Swade. Both took first place in their events at Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America’s national fall conference in the pastry arts technical decorating skills competition.

Olathe East has not competed with FCCLA before, as the school’s related club is new. For Zoe, it’s a title she can add to her resume. Lee’s win, however, came with a full-tuition scholarship to Sullivan University in Kentucky — a prize she didn’t even know was being offered.

“I wasn’t expecting to be in the top three even. To win first place nationally, to get a full-tuition scholarship, that was a lot,” Lee said.

With the scholarship being such a surprise, Lee hasn’t yet had time to decide if she’s going to attend the college.

To win their categories, both Lee, 17, and Zoe, 15, had to decorate a cake and a cupcake for a baby shower with a woodland theme.

“Lee was super creative. She made moss out of a cake mix, made trees that were 3-D and stood up and did detail work on the fondant,” said Haley Sestak, a family and consumer sciences teacher at Olathe East.

The competitors all had the instructions ahead of time and had time to plan their designs and prepare any frosting and fondant they needed.

That also gave Lee and Zoe time to practice together, both at school and sometimes at each other’s houses.

“I liked that (the competition) was about cake decorating because that’s what I like to do. I got to bake a lot more than usual, because I had the competition as an excuse,” Lee said.

Normally, this competition would take place in person in Washington, D.C., but with the pandemic, Zoe and Lee competed virtually.

“I think just not having to deal with travel costs made them more inclined to compete, and I think it took away a lot of those anxious nervous jitters, being able to do it in a comfortable classroom they’re used to,” Sestak said.

Students set up cameras to capture themselves working on the cakes for the timeframe allowed, then submitted the video, along with photos of their design.

“Because I practiced so much, it took me a lot less time than I expected, but 20 minutes is still a very short time, so I’m glad I practiced,” Lee said.

The judging for this category was purely visual, so not being able to taste the cakes wasn’t an issue. Competitors still had to bake their own cakes beforehand, though that did not count in the time limit.

“It gives students an opportunity to take what they’re doing in classes already at higher levels,” said Sestak, who co-sponsors the club with fellow teacher Hanna Hurt.

Both Lee and Zoe are new to pastry classes at Olathe East, but they’ve enjoyed baking at home for friends and family for a long time. Before the competition, neither had done a cake unit in their pastry classes at school.

“I usually do things based on themes my siblings like that year. I think it’s fun to have something that makes you want to eat it,” Lee said.

Being part of a competition was also something different.

“I just like being able to use my creative imagination for the cakes in a competition setting,” Zoe said. “I’ve never been competitive about baking. It was a new experience, and I really enjoyed it.”

The two get ideas for baking from social media, but don’t necessarily follow any particular person or channel.

They also get creative in their spare time, both in in the kitchen and elsewhere.

Lee heads the costumes crew for productions in Olathe East’s theater department. Zoe recently started an after school job at Crumbl Cookies, where she decorates cookies when she’s not participating in the school’s junior varsity tennis and varsity debate teams.

This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A sweet touch: Johnson County students take first in this prestigious pastry contest."