Super Bowl is icing on cake
Local pastry chefs will square off in competition at NFL Experience
The Super Bowl will be more than just a football game for a few HEB employees.
Two pairs of the grocery store chain’s pastry chefs will face off at the NFL Experience on Jan. 28 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Each pair will represent a team in the Super Bowl, jerseys and all, in a cake-decorating competition.
But the championship round wasn’t on anyone’s mind Sunday, while teams attempted to qualify during a two-hour cake-off. Rather, they were trying to figure out how to keep icing from melting on their four- to five-layer creations in the warmer-than-bakery temperature of the HEB Plus in Pearland that hosted the event.
Split down the middle
Melted icing sidelined the 2016 champions, Carolina Gutierrez, 38, and Macaria Rodriguez, 25, of the Fairfield HEB. After a cake layer fell apart, they made a Hail Mary move to sub in cupcakes coated in green frosting, to look like grass.
“We have to improvise,” Gutierrez said. “There’s no time for anything else.”
With 15 minutes left on the clock, glory turned to misery when the top layer of their football-shaped cake split down the middle.
Pairs of bakers representing stores across the Houston area square off each year to vie for a $500 HEB gift card and the coveted title “HEB Cake Boss.” This year, representatives of 15 stores headed to Pearland, armed only with items in their respective HEB’s bakeries — fondant, sugar printed logos, icing and cake. They proceeded to shape and frost confections that fit this year’s theme of “Football is Family.”
An airbrush audible
Second-place winners Stefani Stevenson, 24, and Caleen Castonguay, 23, of the League City HEB came with some additional preparation. One of Castonguay’s first jobs was airbrushing T-shirts. While some of her peers boasted culinary school backgrounds, Castonguay put her airbrushing skills to the test on their cake. It proved successful. Their four-tier confection featuring Houston’s skyline, a grassy field with yardline markings and football plays, displayed how a coach would write them on the chalkboard, earned them a spot at the NFL Experience. Stevenson admitted she went online to look up the plays to compensate for her lack of football knowledge. Her mother, who came to cheer the League City team on, said the family of Texans fans are temporarily adopting the Cowboys.
Football food
Other competitors also ditched the Texans, opting to emblazon their cakes with another highlight of game day: food. The Sugar Land team shaped burgers, fries and popcorn out of cake and icing. The Woodlands duo made a nacho bowl, complete with tortilla chips made out of fondant and poppyseeds. The Cypress crew frosted and cut cake to look like lemon pepper chicken, even placing it in an HEB to-go container, accompanied with fondant green beans and carrots.
Sabrina Derryberry, 22, and Kristen Smith, 30, of the Spring Creek HEB won first place for their work. Smith went personal; she and Derryberry decorated their cake to look like the brick fireplace in Smith’s childhood home. Because when Smith — a Bears fan — thought about family, her mind went to her parents’ mantel, coated in photos of relatives clad in Bears’ jerseys.
‘I’m in shock’
Derryberry and Smith screamed with the news of their victory.
“I’m in shock!” Smith yelled, hugging Derryberry. The pair started out as closers in HEB’s bakery, sweeping the floors and packing up the day’s breads and sweets. They picked up cake decorating along the way. It has them in the Super Bowl spirit.
Unfortunately, the cakes’ destinies weren’t as fortuitous. Because they were not prepared in an environment up to HEB’s food safety standards, the cakes were destined for the dumpster unless their bakers could find a way to cart them home. Derryberry and Smith said it took a team of three to lift their practice cake.
Wasted cake won’t be the case on Jan. 28. HEB Baking regional manager Laurie Contreras announced, after handing the victors’ medals and 2-foot tall trophies, that, while the frosting will be real, the NFL Experience cakes will be made of Styrofoam.