A prayer breakfast and a culinary cupcake competition were the delicious finish to Child Month celebrations this past weekend (Saturday 31 May).

Held at the Marriott Beach Resort Grand Cayman the breakfast session attracted over 100 people. Activities included performances by local children and school groups, a bible verse competition and other educational quizzes.

Meanwhile over at the Ritz Carlton, 11 students from National Youth Culinary Programme (NYCP) took part in the Cupcake Wars. The NYCP is a partnership of the hotel, the Youth Services Unit and Progressive Distributors Ltd.

Competitors battled to see who would be the most creative at making sweet treats.

With three teams competing, each group presented two cupcakes – one chocolate based and the other fruit based – frosted with butter cream icing and displayed on a fondant covered pedestal with piping around the seams.

Judges included past participant and culinary student at Johnson & Wales, Leslie Anderson; renowned local cook Georganne Rankine; as well as Head Pastry Chef and Head Judge, Ben Kallenbach, of the Ritz Carlton.

Youth Services Coordinator James Myles explained that most participants in the NYCP are interested in being pastry chefs. Mr Myles adds that a baking challenge encourages students to be creative, work as a team and to create a masterpiece in a short timeframe – which would be the scenario in any busy kitchen.

This year’s winners were Team Chelsea: Chelsea Duty, Brittney Bodden, Sydni Ebanks and Ashley Thompson.

The events bring to a close a month of activities celebrating the children of the Cayman Islands. Organised by the department of children and family services and other supporting public and private sector agencies, Child Month takes place every May.

Photo captions: (GIS)

1. Young girl sings
2. Young girl gets prize for correct answer.
3. Young girl and relative in audience.
4. Prayer breakfast crowd gives standing ovation.
5. Brittney Bodden of Team Chelsea prep fondant pedestal.
6. Team Bandana Bakers await judges’ feedback.
7. Chelsea Duty present cupcake display to judges.