Minot woman wins grand champion status in decorating competition

More than 20 years of sharing, caring and helping to further the art of cake decorating recently paid off for one bakery manager at Arrowhead Miracle Mart of Minot.

Sunnie Guraedy took the Pillsbury Grand Champion Trophy along with many medals and other prizes at the Retail Bakers of America 6th Annual Creative Decorating Competition held during the American Bakery Expo in Atlantic City, N.J., Oct. 21-23. Guraedy was one of 14 contestants from the United States who competed for the trophy.

“This is what I love to do – especially airbrushed, hand-painted and sculpted cakes,” Guraedy said. “I still can’t believe I won, because of the competition being on such a national level.”

Guraedy became the bakery manager three months ago and credits many people, including her husband, her co-workers, and her mentors for her success.

“Everything was a team effort for me to succeed,” Guraedy said. “My husband, David, never left my side during the competition and was very supportive throughout the whole thing. My co-workers, Bryan, Terry, Carmen, Moranda, Dorathy, and Larissa, did a great job ensuring things ran smoothly while I was gone for nine days. Our store director, Jeff Berg, was also very supportive, and Bob Miller, the owner of the Rollin’ Pin Bakery in Janesville, Wis., and Clayton Artibee, an employee for Bakery Crafts, both taught me how to decorate and shared their techniques along the way with me.”

Guraedy, who is from the Spokane, Wash., area, said there were several steps along the way in order to become the grand champion. Competitors were selected by the Retail Bakers of America affiliates, either through regional contests or committees and are considered the best-in-the-area.

“I won a regional competition in Rochester, Minn. In order to enter the regional competition, I had to send in my portfolio,” Guraedy said. “As a result of winning the regional competition, I was able to compete in Atlantic City.”

Guraedy said the creative decorating competition itself was a two-day competition that required decorators to demonstrate their skills and creativity in five different categories before a live audience.

“The first day included making sculpted cakes, an 8-inch fondant, and seven quarter-sheet cakes with different themes in four hours. The second day included making three- or four-tiered wedding cakes and three more quarter-sheet cakes with different flowers and borders, without flower or color duplication also in four hours,” Guraedy said.

“Usually, it takes six to eight hours to produce all of these types of cakes, and you had to do the best work you could do within the time constraints because you were docked points if you didn’t finish. In fact, to just make a nice wedding cake alone, it usually takes three to six hours.”

Guraedy further explained that during the competition, thousands of spectators were coming in and out of the convention hall, resulting in distractions and not finishing on time.

“I wasn’t really nervous at all during the competition itself, except the first couple hours because at first I didn’t know what to expect. But I began relaxing once I started playing with the food,” Guraedy said. “Plus, the people’s conversations didn’t bother me as I work out in the public every day with those who walk through the bakery. In fact, I wondered if the others were affected because I was only one of two supermarket decorators in the whole competition, where the others were from bakeries who work alone in the back.”

Guraedy said she took silver medals in three categories, including the wedding cake, sculpted cake and the 8-inch fondant categories. As a result of her medals and having the highest points in the point systems’ overall category, she was crowned the champion.

“I didn’t think I would win because a gal from Chicago had bigger pieces with a lot of different techniques,” Guraedy said. “I wasn’t even sure I had won when they called my name out, and I was really surprised that I did.”

Guraedy, who plans to become a certified decorator, will be returning to the Retail Bakers of America Creative Decorating competition next year to be held in Las Vegas, not as a contestant but as a judge.

“The Retail Bakers of America is a great organization who do a lot of seminars and training to help people create better products, and I am looking forward to being a judge at their competition next year,” Guraedy said.

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