This year’s Amateur Cake Decorating Contest will feature six contestants with different backgrounds and experience levels, but all will be sure to bring Great. Big. Fun. to the contest and the North Dakota State Fair. Here is a little sneak peak at all of our contestants:
Brittany Kolstad
Brittany Kolstad grew up in Sheyenne, ND. After having gone to college in the Fargo/Moorhead area and then down to Arizona and Oklahoma, she is proud to say she is back in familiar territory. She moved back to Sheyenne in May 2011 with her fiancée and they have a beautiful 11 month old son named Blaine. Brittany manages the small café in Sheyenne called the Spicy Roadkill Café. On the side she bakes cupcakes and cakes for every occasion. Brittany loves cooking and baking and hopes to have her own bake shop some day.
Amanda Seeman
Amanda Seeman is a 32 year old Massage Therapist from Mandan, ND. She grew up on her great Grandpa’s farmstead south of Mandan and graduated from Mandan High in 1998. In 2000 Amanda decided to get into massage. She started massage school in November 2010 at The Institute of Myotheraputic Studies in Bismarck and has been an independent massage therapist at Chiropractic Care Centre in Bismarck for 10 ½ years now. On the side she enjoys playing women’s volleyball and making cakes for family and friends. She took lessons from Stella, from the Magic Candle, in 2011.
Meggan Gates
Meggan is from Mohall, ND. Her and her husband, Andy, have two daughters, Makenna, 2, and Lakynn, 10 months. Meggan works as a respiratory Therapist at Trinity Health in Minot. Her first birthday cake she made was for her niece and it was a 3 tier castle cake. Meggan enjoyed it so much that she came up with her own frosting recipe and continued making her niece and nephew birthday cakes. Now, she makes her daughters’ cakes as well. Meggan is a self taught cake decorator and has gone through a lot of trial and error.
Jane Peterson
Jane is from Burlington, ND. She is going to Central Campus this year to be a 9th grader. Jane doesn’t have much experience, she just loves to bake! Her favorite things to make are cake, cookies and lefse.
Kylee Johnson
Kylee is 16 years old, from Moorhead, MN and goes to school at Moorhead Senior High School. She lives with her mom and dad, Dana and Dave, and her younger brother, Reed. Kylee works part-time as a cashier at Sunmart Grocery Store. She has always loved baking and started baking specialty cakes 3 years ago. A family friend taught her how to make fondant and some other specialty techniques. Ever since then her interest in baking cakes has grown and she has made many layered cakes through hard work and research on the internet. Kylee has relatives living in Minot and has attended the State Fair before and was glad to hear about the cake competition. She hopes to go to college for business management and later open her own bakery, but that will come with time and a lot of practice. Kylee is looking forward to this contest and a new experience.
Leilani Olafson
Leilani Olafson is originally from a farm near Upham, ND. Growing up on the farm, her Mom made all of their Birthday cakes, special 3-D embossed Santa Clause cookies at Christmas time that her Great-Grandmother Olive and Grandmother Phyllis used to make where they painted on the eyes, mouth, cheeks and put a powdered sugar frosting on for the beard and fur trim on Santa’s hat. That was the start to wanting to pursue the challenges of making baked goods look as real as possible for Leilani. Leilani and her husband Eric have resided in Washburn for 8 1/2 years and were blessed, 3 1/2 years ago with their son Berandt. She currently works at Farmers Union Insurance as a Customer Service Representative and she also owns a home-based Travel Agency named, Away We Go.
These gals are ready and rarin’ to decorate their cakes! Come watch them on Sunday, July 22 at 2pm as they race against the clock to see who will be North Dakota’s next Amateur Cake Decorating Champion.