Check out the teams competing in the Great Valley Baking Challenge!
Baking Besties
Halley and Cameryn met while attending JMU and have been best friends ever since. They have each enjoyed baking as a hobby since they were little! Cameryn and Halley take every opportunity to bake for their friends and family, sharing love through their creations. With art degrees from JMU, they both love to show their creative side and even incorporate it in the bakes! They think this event would be an amazing opportunity to make memories and bake together while bringing awareness to the Adagio House’s mission.
Bunny Bakes
Cake: The Banano-Rama
Howdy! My name is Marissa DuVall-Early and I am a novice baker and the sole member of team Bunny Bakes! I am 22 years old and I have lived in the Shenandoah Valley my entire life! I recently married my husband, Jake, and we currently live in McGaheyesville with our sweet, orange cat, Bean. For the past two years, I have worked at the Friendly City Food Co-Op and have loved every minute of seeing familiar faces, eating wonderful food, and having the opportunity to become a part of the Harrisonburg community!
After seeing the flyer advertising the Great Valley Baking Challenge, I was intrigued. Once I looked further into the Adagio House, I was sold. I have always believed that working to better your mental health should always be encouraged and easily accessible. Having struggled with my own mental health, and finding a peace in cooking and baking, I couldn’t think of a better organization to devote my time and energy to.
Earlier this year, I developed a severe intolerance to gluten and struggled to find alternatives that weren’t downright awful. Lots of money and frustration later, I decided to take matters into my own hands! It all started with making a tried and true recipe (butterscotch banana bread, if you were wondering) and simply making it gluten free. It was a hit! I continued to experiment with cookies, pies, and cheesecakes to find the best flour, the best recipes, and the best flavor. My baking journey has not been long, but boy, has it been rewarding.
The Banano-Rama is my first attempt at a multi-layered cake. The flavors are inspired by the memory of sitting on the couch with my mom to eat ice cream sundaes, which we only ever topped with two ingredients: caramel and bananas. I lost my mom suddenly this past December and one of the first things I ate after her passing was our favorite ice cream sundae. My cake is a nod to her, taking our favorite flavors and giving them a new life. I know she would have loved it!
I am so excited for this opportunity and would like to thank The Adagio House for organizing this event and their continued service to our community!
The Patty Cakes
Diane, Pam, and Katrina are connected by a strong bond with Pleasant View, Inc. Pleasant View’s mission is to “support individuals who have disabilities in living out their goals for meaningful work, relationships, and spiritual development.” We feel that Pleasant View’s mission compliments (and vice versa) Adagio House’s belief that “healthy relationships are the foundation for a healthy life.”
Diane loves to bake, so when we heard about the Great Valley Baking Challenge, we thought this would be a perfect way to spend some quality time together. Plus, have some fun while making something incredibly tasty and raising money for a great cause!
Diane learned how to bake from her husband and mother-in-law. When deciding on our recipe, Diane asked to make something sugar-free so her husband (Dennis) could taste our delicious cakes. Although our first attempt at converting a strawberry cake recipe to sugar-free did not pan (pun intended) out as we hoped, we feel that we now have a perfect recipe that will take us to the top of the competition.
We are happy to support this Adagio House fundraiser! We look forward to visiting with many supporters at the Great Valley Baking Challenge on September 17. We are excited to share our scrumptious cake and are hopeful for many votes!
The Creative Cakesters
Anna Sullivan is an amateur baker who has made cakes for her family since 1997. Her first cake was her own wedding cake. Anna comes from a long line of bakers starting with her own grandfather who started Cam’s Ham restaurant in Huntington, WV. Her aunt Shelley and mother Camille encouraged her to bake – already being great bakers themselves. Anna is an educational specialist for Rockingham County Public Schools and is an advocate for children with disabilities in the Shenandoah Valley. Anna comes to the bake-off with her daughter Joy and niece Lydia.
Joy Sullivan is a 2023 graduate of East Rockingham High School, Massanutten Technical Center, and Elkton Recreation Dance in Elkton, VA. She has a certificate in 3D Animation. She enjoys helping and student teaching at Elkton Recreation Dance. Already an accomplished artist, she has won numerous art awards. She is associated with the charitable organization Knights of Pythias in Washington, DC. She will attend Blue Ridge Community College in the fall.
Y2Cake
Cake: All That and a Bag of Chips
Description: Gluten-free white cake with vanilla filling that contains chocolate, butterscotch, M&M, and potato chips
We’re Michele Kresge and Robin Incheck, mother-daughter team Y2Cake. Michele started baking after watching her Grandma Mae bake delicious desserts for the family, mostly without measuring or reading a recipe! Her passion grew into Christmas cookie swaps and taking cake decorating classes. She passed that passion on to Robin as she baked Christmas cookies and birthday cakes for her family, with her daughter watching just as she had watched her grandmother. When Robin grew old enough to help, Michele taught her what she knew. It was a passion they shared and now the student is becoming the teacher! Robin stopped baking when she went to college but picked it up again 3 years ago during the pandemic. As a stay-at-home mom, baking is a creative outlet for Robin as well as a way to connect with her kids and share a passion that spans generations!
Why vote for us? What’s the dealio? It’s our ‘All That and a Bag of Chips’ Cake! It’s the bomb.com. It’s super fly. In all 2023 seriousness, this cake is an unexpected yet delicious blend of salty and sweet, highlighting our very own local Route 11 potato chip. Nestled between white cake layers is a luscious filling that houses all the flavor – milk chocolate, butterscotch, and potato chip. All ingredients are gluten-free. We know what you’re thinking… and we can assure you, this particular gluten-friendly cake is truly on par with your traditional cake. Gluten eaters and avoiders can share equally in the taste and aesthetic of this quirky confection. Booyah!
