A great time was had by all! This would certainly be said of AFBC’s annual Men’s Cake Bake on Sunday March 1^st. The best part, by far, was the moment we surpassed the $8,000 goal that was needed for the 2015 camp programs and cheers erupted throughout the worship center.

Over 200 people enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs followed by ample slices of cake baked by the men and youth of our church. Then auctioneer, Bill Larson,  took the stage urging the audience to be generous in their bidding, and they were.

This year we had 54 entries in four divisions, including Adult, Father/Child and Youth. New this year was the Tasting category. Jeff Tode took the top award in this category for his Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake.

There were a number of amazing entries which made the judging exceptionally tough. We are grateful to judges Geneva Nixon, Amy Powell and Kendall Harris, owner of Albuquerque’s Cake Fetish.

Grand Champion in the Adult Division went to JD Williams for his “Pasta Cake.” JD’s cake brought in over $1,600 in the live auction. Baking champion cakes must run in the Williams family because JD’s son Trenton won Grand Champion in the Youth Division with a bright pink confetti monster cake purchased by Janet Saiers. Winners of the Father/Child Division were the George Burnell family whose beautiful cross cake sold multiple times.

As always our seniors rose to the occasion with many of the senior men submitting entries. Ed Perdue and Dale Danielson won the award for the Best Non-Cake with their caterpillar made from cereal, chocolate, marshmallows and candies. Frank Gilmer had the only gluten-free entry- a fruitcake complete with a whole apple, banana, orange and nuts – still in their shells. Very creative, Frank!

Not to be outdone, our pastors did their share. Pastor Cook’s Italian Cream Cake was sold and then divided and sold again. Pastor Kevin entered a four layer Butter Pecan Cake that brought in more than peanuts. Pastor Trey’s Caramel Macchiato Cheesecake, which he insists should have won the prize for the best tasting cake, was popular with the Starbucks crowd.

The event drew to a close as we saw winners, arms laden with cake and faces smiling with the knowledge that they had just helped a whole bunch of happy campers. Our question was answered; yes, real men bake cakes especially when they have a really good reason!