Renowned Cake Decorators to Help With Student Contest

The second annual "CalJava Wedding Cake Contest," conceived by prominent cake decorator Daniel Budiman for Pennsylvania College of Technology students, is scheduled for April 30 on the college's main campus in Williamsport.

Budiman is CEO of CalJava International the contest's sponsor and editor of Here Comes the Cake magazine. He earned fame for his unique wedding-cake designs before opening CalJava International, based in Northridge, Calif., which distributes cake-decorating supplies to bakeries, caterers, distributors and cake- and candy-supply stores worldwide.

Students in a second-level cake-decorating course offered by Penn College's School of Hospitality will compete for the grand prize a trip to California to attend a class of their choice at CalJava International's School of Cake Decorating and Sugarcrafts. The prize, worth a minimum of $2,000, includes round-trip airfare and accommodations.

CalJava is also sponsoring prizes for first-, second- and third-place winners of $300, $200 and $100. Photos of the winning cakes may be published in Here Comes the Cake.

In pursuit of the prizes, students will design three-tiered cakes and decorate their tables to illustrate this year's "A Salute to Mothers" theme.

Judges for the event are Kim Morrison, owner of Cakes for Occasions in Spring Mills and two-time winner of the national Sugar Arts Championship in Tulsa, Okla.; Julie Bashore, award-winning master confectioner and owner of House of Clarendon in Lancaster; and Jennifer Eckert, who earned degrees in baking and pastry arts and technology management from Penn College.

Budiman has visited Penn College twice as a guest chef, when, he said, the students' talent and the culinary-arts program's quality inspired him to establish the contest to encourage baking and pastry arts students to pursue the next level in cake decorating, as the craft is becoming a fine art itself.

Judging for the contest will take place April 30, with an awards ceremony scheduled at 1 p.m. in the college's Thompson Professional Development Center. The competition cakes, along with student-created chocolate and sugar-art centerpieces and all-occasion cakes, will be on display for the public from 1 to 4 p.m. on April 30 and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 1.

Those who visit the display may donate spare cash to cast votes for the People's Choice Award winner. The money will be given to the Williamsport YWCA's Liberty House, which provides rooms for homeless women (and women with children) and programs to assist them in becoming self-sufficient.

For more information about CalJava International or Here Comes the Cake, visit online .

To learn more about the academic programs offered by the School of Hospitality at Penn College, call (570) 327-4505, e-mail or visit on the Web .