Jupiter High School’s Culinary Academy students competed at the South Florida Fair’s Kids Bake-Off competition on Jan. 25. 

Sponsored by the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, the Kids Bake-Off is attended by various schools countywide. While there is no set prize pool for the first-place team, the main goal of the competition is to create a fun environment, where passionate student bakers can compete and show off their skills. Participating classes range from sixth through 11th grade and the Senior Bake Off, hosted separately, includes 12th grade classes.

“There were three other middle schools and about five other high school classes,” Cheyenne O’Meara, sophomore, said. 

During the competition, classes are given an hour time limit, this includes all processes of their recipe, from preparations to baking. The competition began at 1 p.m., though students arrived around 11 a.m. that morning. 

Participating students take a vote on what dish they would like to create for the judges, though, they have to take into consideration the time restrictions, ingredients provided and recipe difficulty. This year, students voted on making chocolate molten lava cakes. 

“I’ve learned the skill of time management, it’s important to ensure you’re on task and use your time wisely,” Jadyn Schmiedl, a sophomore culinary student, says.

While competing, students are having fun while learning essential skills that could become necessary in the culinary field like teamwork, plating and communication. 

“I decided to join the bake-off because if I put my mind to it, we could work together as a team and win,” Dax Cannon, junior, said.

Students within the JHS culinary academy are given the option each year to participate in the competition by the JHS culinary instructor, Juliana De Sena.

“We compete to give the kids a good opportunity to get out there and compete with the other schools because they don’t have that many competitions for the high schools and middle schools,“ De Sena said.

The culinary academy at JHS uses propane-based ovens rather than the electric ovens they were provided with on-site, causing a difference in the oven’s temperatures and cook times, posing an unpredictable challenge.

“The ovens were different from the ones here, we were using electric ovens, but we still had so much fun,” Cannon said.

The students had a great time at the competition. Though they had some minor bumps in the road, it’s of course a learning experience for all of them.

“I like doing it because we get to perform as a group,” Schmiedl said. “It’s just fun when we’re all there.”