PARIS, Maine — When the Maine State Cake Decorating Championship takes place on Aug. 24 in Paris Hill, David Turin and Will Beriau will each be watching with a critical eye. They have to—they’ll be serving as judges.
Jobs in the baking judiciary shouldn’t be handed out to just anyone, and Turin and Beriau definitely know their way around a kitchen.
Turin is the owner and chef at David’s Restaurant in Portland and David’s 388 in South Portland. Beriau, who is allegedly retired, ran the culinary arts program at Southern Maine Community College for more than 25 years. He still spends part of every summer cooking three meals a day at an art school in France.
The two have judged at the Maine State Cake Decorating Championship before, so they’ve got a good idea of what they’ll be looking for in a superior confection.
"First and foremost, it’s got to taste good," Turin said. "And then there’s about nine other criteria that we judge on—appearance, creativity, general quality of the icing, some of the special details that people do, whether they paint it or airbrush or make flowers. But every piece except for the structural elements has to be edible."
"We saw cakes last year that were absolutely astounding," Beriau said. "The level of talent, it’s just amazing to me, right here in the state of Maine."
The championship is one of the events that are part of a birthday celebration for Hannibal Hamlin, who grew up in the town of Paris in western Maine and went on to become Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president. And this may be the best part: when the cake judging is finished, members of the audience will actually get a chance to taste for themselves.