Appearance and display

Question of the day:

How does one judge on appearance (one of the judges' criteria) when bakers must cut their dessert into 60 small bite-sized pieces?

Answer:

Appearance is entirely up to the baker. In past competitions, some bakers made an extra dessert to place adjacent to their cut pieces so that the tasters were wowed by appearance. Some cookies have been frosted or decorated to make them look more attractive than other cookies. Cakes may have decorations in the frosting.

Bakers sometimes want to bring in their own fancy serving dishes and have done so. The first year, one candy-maker hollowed out a large book and inserted "dirt" in the form of crumbled oreo cookies and gummy worms, which definitely added to the display!

Other bakers have placed fresh flowers amongst their desserts to help jazz up the display.

If the baker wants to add creative touches, they may do so to both their display of the dessert area as well as to the appearance of the dessert. If the baker chooses to just bring bite-sized samples without worrying too much about display and appearance, that's great too! The most important criteria is to remember to have a good time!