Sixteen teams of four competed against each other in Brenton Student Center (BSC) for the first annual Simpson Cake Boss competition on Friday, Feb. 25.

The teams were instructed to decorate a board-themed cake in under an hour. Students were provided with two pans of vanilla cake and decorating tools, but the rest was up to the team. Some groups decided to grab some cash out of their own pockets to buy decorations in hopes of getting ahead of the competition.

“We spent $30 for our decorations,” sophomore Hanna Russman said.

Among the groups there was a couple who had decided on the same theme which prompted them to work even harder to outperform their fellow classmates. The most common board game at Cake Boss was Candyland.

First, second and third place finishers all received cash for their creativity.

“We’re going to use our money to splurge when we are in Florida,” sophomore Anna Aldridge said.

Many teams participated because they really enjoyed watching the show and they wanted the opportunity to see if they could complete the task in the designated time limit.

“My experience with cakes consists of none other than watching the show,” freshman Paige McConkey said.

Some individuals joked about their previous experience with decorating their own cakes.

“I used an Easy Bake Oven as a kid,” freshman Rachel McCullough said.

Another team used the board game Life as their inspiration. Prior to the competition they printed out a map of Simpson College that aided them in decorating their cake around the board game theme of “Simpson College Life.”

After the teams raced against the clock to finish their cake decorating on time, and then they were judged. The judges were Pfeiffer executive chef, Katya Steven, and Instructor of Communication Studies Steven Chappell. The cakes were judged on six criteria; design, creativity, theme, detail, neatness and overall quality of the cake.

One team that had a Hi Ho Cherry-o themed cake mirrored their design to resemble a pop-up book.

“The hardest part about making this cake (was) that we’re going to put a tree on top,” junior Jamie Elbert said.

Elbert’s team also featured a spinner on the cake that actually, when flipped, spun all the way around. This spinner helped the team earn extra points with the judges, and rewarded team JJAM with first place. Along with Elbert, team JJAM consisted of junior Abbie McKasson, sophomore James Foote and senior Mary Fitzgerald.

Second place was awarded to Team No1 Knows. Team Sugar Mama with a Hungry Hippos design shared third place with the Candy Land cake of Team Three Musketeers.

First place was given $200 with second place awarded $100. Both third place winners were given $60.