Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Pillsbury has announced the winner of their “Kids Bake it fun” contest. A couple months ago, I encouraged you to vote for your favorite young baker, of which three of the ten finalists were from Tampa Bay. Well, congratulations are in order to Tyler Modjeski, a 12-year-old Mulrennan Middle School student from Valrico. He wowed the judges with his dessert invention: a devil’s food cake titled “Jeepers Creepers.” He won a $25,000 scholarship, and will appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno later this month. So, what do Tyler’s friends think? “They thought it was really cool because, well, it is,” he said. “Twenty-five thousand dollars is a lot of money.” Here’s the recipe for Tyler’s “Jeepers Creepers” chocolate cake:

Mix and dump Pillsbury Devil’s Food in oven safe bowl, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake.
Dye 1 tub (2 is globbier) vanilla icing slime color.
Heap on gobs of icing, add worms and eyeballs (candy).
Optional fog effect - PARENTS ONLY- Cut center cake out; insert cup. Before serving, add dry ice.

Good Job, Tyler!