Cayman Café will be the scene of a recipe showdown Friday, Nov. 4. Students will compete for the right of Southeastern’s signature pastry chef in the “Cubcake Wars” contest in association with the Hall Council, University Housing and Campus Dining.

The application, which was made available for pickup at the Aramark office on campus and the Cayman Café, University Housing asked contestants for their name, contact info, the name of their dessert, an ingredient list and an explanation of their recipe. Thursday, Oct. 27, a week before the event, was the deadline for applications for those who were interested in competing in the Cubcake Wars.

“We did that so that it would give Aramark employees enough time to take the recipes and to be able to plan and order the supplies they will need so they can bake for next Friday,” said Bevann McCartney, area coordinator for University Housing.

Area Coordinators McCartney and Amanda Robbins, Nicholas Robert, marketing intern for Aramark, Ryan Pattison, business major and senior RA and John Goudeau, management major and on-campus RA have all collaborated on the event, which started with Jayme Dykes’ philosophy on a campus-wide dessert.

According to McCartney, the idea started in her office when Dykes, the former Campus Dining marketing coordinator, discussed her travels to other universities, where she saw signature sweets being served.

 “All other Aramark accounts had different signature dishes; like one school had red velvet pancakes because their mascot, their colors were red,” said McCartney.

In order to integrate Southeastern’s mascot into their event, the Hall Council named the competition Cubcake Wars, in reference to a Lion cub.

“We don’t have any real limitations, but we have encouraged students to submit kind of spirited, like either green or gold recipes or their favorite dessert recipe,” said McCartney. “Aramark will be providing obviously the baked goods. Hall Council has been active in getting the advertisements out to the students; we [Hall Council] will be there to help facilitate the event, with the voting and whatnot.”

During the Cubcake Wars event, McCartney and her coworkers hope to have the pastries set up in the middle of the café with each dessert having its own area, but this depends on how many recipes Aramark employees will be able to accommodate. If students submit similar recipes, such as several vanilla cupcakes, then Aramark will extrapolate one of the five recipes out.

Judging will begin at 12 p.m. and end at 2 p.m. Anyone who walks into Cayman Café during these hours is encouraged to participate in the judging.

“The way the judging will work is that when students come in to swipe their ID for lunch time they will receive some kind of token that they will use as their voting chip that they will place in the cans next to the dessert they like the best,” said McCartney.

Some changes may be underway because according to McCartney, the advocates of the Cubcake Wars are unsure how many sweets students will actually be able to handle.  According to McCartney, the council has talked about making miniature pastries from the submitted recipes because if they stick to large scale desserts, students will indulge and may be unable to try the available array of dishes.

The competition’s winner will be given the title of “Chef of Southeastern’s Official Pastry” after the attendees vote on their favorite dish.

“You have bragging rights for the next year,” said McCartney. Your recipe reigns supreme and you will be able to eat this signature dish at Southeastern events.”

For more information on the Cubcake Wars event call University Housing at 985-549-2118 or email Bevann McCartney at [email protected].