Ernest the Gluten-Free Owl & Mary de Konig
Can you bake? Can you eat? Then, just like Mary, you can help Island Connections
BAR HARBOR—When Ernest the Owl took first place at Island Connections' 1st Annual Sugar Showdown in the showstopper category and the overall community choice award, Mary de Konig was a bit shocked.
You see, she hadn’t always been a baker, so winning a baking competition to support the nonprofit that provides free transportation and other services to seniors and people with disabilities from MDI and the surrounding islands probably wasn’t on her bucket list as a child.
Life can be funny like that.
“Growing up I HATED anything to do with being in the kitchen,” de Konig said. “At Christmastime, my family has a tradition of baking for family and friends for gifts.”
And the food they made was really good.
“My mom's famous peanut butter balls were always coveted by our teachers growing up, but I wanted nothing to do with all the baking at Christmastime. I was happy doing all the wrapping for my parents instead. I have a facebook status that pops up in my memories every year close to Christmas that says something to the effect of ‘I don't have to help with baking, yes! I get to do all the wrapping instead!’ I always laugh when that pops up,” she said.
COVID-19 changed that. She started to get really into baking.
“I love the Great British Bake Off. Love, love, love it. And I think I got inspired some by that show,” she said.
She attended school for music education, and for the school year 2020-2021, she was teaching from home with her 1.5-year-old and 3 year old home with her.
“It was such a challenging time. Teaching music should never be done remotely, unless maybe one-on-one,” she said. “So I was looking for something different to do to distract from how challenging that was. My husband is a celiac; he found out when we were seniors in college after having to takes months of hard core antibiotics for ulcers in his stomach. He was really missing a lot of the good baked sweets. So I thought, well I'll give it a try.”
They tried gluten-free eclairs. It was a hit. She was stunned. Then, friends asked for the recipe.
“I started a Facebook group called Mary's Free Bakes. Anything that I had lots of extras of, I'd post on that group, and people would comment to claim their portion. I'd leave the treats in my mailbox for them to pick up,” she said. “It worked great! I got practice doing something that was fun, but we also didn't gain all the weight from eating everything I tried.”
Her first cake came soon after and was made out of kindness again. This time, it wasn’t eclairs that she was gifted someone she loved with, but a mermaid cake for her niece’s fifth birthday.
“So I created an underwater scene on a sheet cake with a mermaid, an octopus, and a little treasure box made from Kit-Kats with those edible necklaces in them. I had a lot of fun with that first cake,” she said.
When her daughter turned a year old, de Konig made her next cake.
“And from there it just started that I would do cakes for my family members on their birthdays. Every cake I have made has been different, I rarely make the same thing twice. But my family are big lovers of chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. So that is definitely a specialty of mine,” she said.
The reasons she now loves baking is because she does it for other people. That’s created some challenges as a business person.
“When I started making more cakes and word got out to the public a bit more, I really didn't want to charge people. Cakes are SO expensive if you buy them right out from a bakery. But my intent also wasn't to take business away from those who do that for a living. And I also didn't want to undersell my work. So it has been challenging figuring out how to charge for cakes. But I love being able to give someone a cake that is personalized to them, to things they like,” she said. “During COVID, I loved how my little baking group brought a bit of community together just by handing out some free baked goods. It gave me connections again that COVID had taken away. But it's also art to me. I love working with frosting, (I really detest fondant and try not to use it at all costs), and it's fun to see what kind of creation I can make with molding cake and drawing with frosting each time. It definitely scratches another creative itch that I've always had with art.”
THE SUGAR SHOWDOWN
The second annual Island Connection’s Sugar Showdown is Saturday, February 8 in Bar Harbor. The organization is still looking for bakers for the three categories: Blueberry Bliss, Sweet Surprise, and Showstopper.
“This event is all about spreading love just like our volunteers do year-round, so there's no better time than right before Valentine's Day!” said Island Connections Executive Director Carissa Tinker. “Winter in Maine can feel isolating and dreary so it is exciting to hold an event that not only brings some spring colors into the darkness of winter, but also allows our year-round community to come together.”
The Sugar Showdown’s purpose beautifully coincides with de Konig’s.
That love for creation, for baking, and that urge to give combined in de Konig’s decision to enter Island Connection’s Sugar Showdown.
“I love making cakes! And I love making new big creations that I get to be completely in control of the design. That doesn't happen often. I heard the event was happening and I knew I needed to enter. I was beyond excited. But also super nervous as I am a home baker. I didn't think I would go far. But I also do love a good competition,” she said.
From Southwest Harbor, she said that growing up with an older brother and four older boy cousins that were basically brothers makes a girl competitive.
“They taught me to be a fighter, and I am very competitive,” she said.
And that's how Ernest the snowy owl and the stump he perched on was born.
“It was two separate cakes,” she said. “The stump was two layers of gluten-free chocolate cake with my homemade whipped chocolate frosting and homemade raspberry filling. It was then covered in milk chocolate bark to look like the tree bark.”
The owl was four layers of gluten free chocolate cake with whipped chocolate buttercream in between the layers with the raspberry filling. She covered the owl in her homemade vanilla buttercream so that she could make the different colors of the owl.
Little meringue mushrooms and acorns were placed around the owl.
“It was definitely one of the biggest and hardest cakes I have ever made, but I was super happy with how it came out. I asked a group of my close friends to help me with a name for the owl, and it was deemed Ernest,” she said.
The cake is her husband’s favorite. She thinks it’s her best.
Winning was still a huge surprise, she said.
“Walking in to set up, I was super nervous because I was sharing a table with a local bakery. I saw their chef coats, and I thought, ‘I am way out of my league.’”
She wasn’t.
“I had no idea I would win. It was definitely validating. It made me believe a bit more that I can actually bake things that people like. And do it gluten free,” she said. “It makes me so happy to be able to do gluten-free cakes and baked goods for family and friends who can't eat them regularly. My husband was born in England, and his dad and step mom still live there. His step mom was asking when I would enter Bake Off. I don't think I could handle that, ha!”
Others think she probably could. The win has inspired her to make more cakes.
“I do have to balance my time between cake making, my work, and homeschooling my children,” she said. “So I don't get to bake as much as I'd like to. But my two girls love to bake with me, and have definitely been inspired to learn to bake themselves. My eldest, now seven, made her first batch of cookies completely solo back in November just before her birthday. And my youngest, age five and a half, will bake with me all the time. Both girls have helped to brainstorm and come up with this year’s design.”
She thinks she’s played all her best cards last year, but she and her girls have been brainstorming.
“I've started practicing. I'm super excited for this new design and for the flavors I've picked. But I'm also just looking forward to (the) event itself again,” she said. “It was such a wonderful community event. I loved seeing all the other creations and nerding out a bit about baking techniques with some of the other contestants last year. It was such a different event and the energy last year was one of excitement and warmth from all who attended. I was definitely nervous, but what actually helped me was the fact that we had come up with a name for my owl, (Ernest), and that I could introduce him to all the passing people. And I think that actually really engaged everyone. I also had so many friends and family that came to support me. It was just such a fun event.”
“The creativity and talent of the bakers really took center stage last year, it truly blew us away. Our hope is that they see the event as a fun community building baking exhibition that happens to have prizes, too, because they really all deserved to win. Last year's bakers poured so much love and creativity into their creations, and we're endlessly grateful for the joy and connection they helped to bring to our community. We can't wait to see what this year's bakers will come up with,” Tinker said.
BAKERS NEEDED!
Via Island Connections: “Registration is open until January 31. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the sweet community competition this February! When you sign up to bake, you’re doing more than just sharing your talents—YOU'RE the secret ingredient, the sugar in the batter, and the frosting on the cake that makes this event possible.”
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