An eager group of amateur bakers from Tompkins County gathered at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on Oct. 19 to show off their creative confections at the Sophie Fund’s 9th Annual Cupcake Contest.
Scott Macleod and Susan Hack, along with friends and family, founded the Sophie Fund in 2016 after their daughter, Sophie Macleod, died by suicide. The Sophie Fund is a nonprofit organization based in Ithaca that aims to support mental health initiatives specifically aimed toward young people.
“We believe that there needs to be a lot more education in the society about mental health,” Macleod said. “We need to break down the stigma, which is one of the factors that prevents people from seeking help or admitting that they may have an emotional disorder or a mental health disorder of some kind.”
As an organization, Macleod said they focus on supporting suicide prevention initiatives like the Zero Suicide Model in Tompkins County, which increases self-harm and suicide-specific screenings within healthcare while improving upon prevention treatments to make them more effective. However, Macleod said the Sophie Fund addresses other issues, including anti-bullying and sexual assault prevention through education.
“It was a natural thing for us to try and do something in Sophie’s memory, but also just help other people not experience what Sophie did and what we’ve experienced with her death,” Macleod said.
Macleod said they chose to host a cupcake contest because it was a way to honor Sophie and her love of baking. He said his and Hack’s vision for the contest was to create something that would be enjoyable for the community and make the subject of mental health somewhat more accessible.
“The contest is purely fun,” Macleod said. “You won’t find the word mental health in the contest promotions or anything like that, but we sneak it in by the fact that it’s the Sophie Fund sponsoring this.”
Starting at 10 a.m. that morning, cupcake submissions began flooding in. Macleod said anyone could participate in the event as long as they were amateur bakers. Cupcakes of all different colors and flavors with a variety of decorations were ready to be judged by local professional bakers, chefs and restaurateurs including Olivia Carpenter ’22, owner of Via’s Cookies and Yoko Jingu, owner of Akemi’s Food.
Cara Nichols, owner of CRN Events, has been the event producer of the Cupcake Contest since 2021. She explained how each of the 29 contestants submitted a tray of six cupcakes along with their recipe and a brief story about the inspiration behind their cupcakes.
From hosting the event online during COVID-19 to moving it inside last year because of rain, Nichols said the Sophie Fund was thrilled to finally hold the contest on a stunning fall day.
Attendees from the local area, Sophie Fund volunteers and contestants bustled around exploring the mental health resource tables, some of which included the Tompkins County Bullying Prevention Task Force, the Mental Health Association in Tompkins County and the Ithaca Free Clinic. Passersby could collect free pins, stickers and candy as well as important literature about the different organizations and the resources they offer. Those who were simply attending the event without competing could take advantage of this as well as live entertainment and free cookies.
Nichols said that while the event does spread awareness for mental health and suicide prevention resources, it is also a place where people can showcase their passion and abilities.
“We are looking to be able to connect with the Ithaca community to spread the word on resources to support mental health and suicide prevention, and also for the community to have a lot of fun,” Nichols said. “This is such a unique contest and the ways in which people showcase their baking abilities are just incredible.”
As everyone awaited the results of the contest, the crowd was occupied with live music performances by local musical duo Joe Gibson and Dan Collins, singer-songwriter Rachel Beverly and singing comedians Kenneth and SingTrece. Finally, after some brief speeches by local organizations including the Ithaca Free Clinic and Cornell Minds Matter talking about the resources they offer, it was time to announce awards.
The emcees for the awards ceremony were Carly Robinson and Gabriella da Silva Carr. They are both part of the staff for the local theater group, Civic Ensemble, and they are returning emcees for the cupcake contest. Robinson and da Silva Carr gave out awards to cupcakes that stood out to the judges, a few honorable mentions and one special Youth Award to returning baker Isabel Perkins for her chocolate peanut butter “Dream” cupcakes. There were only three submissions that made it to the finals, where they were judged by a panel of VIP judges.
Carpenter was among the VIP judges and had a table set up at the event where she was giving out free cookies. Attendees who were disappointed to learn that they could not eat the cupcakes being judged were especially grateful. Carpenter said those who assumed her favorite part about the event would be trying the cupcakes were wrong.
“[My favorite part] is definitely just being here,” Carpenter said. “It’s such a positive event. Everyone is so happy, like everyone is smiling. … It’s just joy, unadulterated joy.”
The finalists were: Marina Mahashin with Rasmalai and Tres Leches cake-inspired cupcakes; Grace Qi with Harvest Caramel Apple cupcakes; and Sadie Hayes with Orange Pomegranate cupcakes inspired by Middle Eastern flavors. As the judges tasted and rated the cupcakes, Robinson and da Silva Carr read the stories that went along with each cupcake out loud to keep the audience entertained. Hayes, a local acupuncturist, was announced as the winner.
Hayes said she has been baking since she was a child. She said she enjoys being able to play with flavors and bringing joy to the people she loves through baking. She had previously participated in the event and said she was thrilled to finally take home the grand prize. Hayes said she believes the event is important because of the lack of conversations about suicide.
“Nobody likes to talk about suicide,” said Hayes. “There’s a lot of taboo, there’s a lot of miseducation, and there’s a lot of secrecy.”
In her cupcakes, Hayes combined flavors of orange, pistachio, almond and cardamom along with a spiced pomegranate filling and white chocolate frosting. She said she wanted to emulate harmony through her cupcakes as it is a huge part of baking and cooking and something that is needed among humans now more than ever.
“We have to find a way to bring balance between people in our world,” Hayes said.
Macleod said the cupcake contest is only one part of what the Sophie Fund does along with other important community initiatives and partnerships with the Ithaca City School District, Ithaca College and Cornell and local mental health organizations.
“We’re trying to be a catalyst to create lots of conversations at the contest and beyond, to just keep this topic top of mind with people,” Macleod said.
