Every year, my friends get together for what we like to jokingly call “The Third Annual North Brooklyn Spring Forward Tiramisu Bake Off.” Except no one treats it like a joke. The baking of a spring tiramisu has become an anticipated and competitive ritual.
It started as a competition between two friends to see who could make the better tiramisu. Since its humble beginnings, it has evolved into a tiramisu competition where multiple bakers compete to make the most original and delicious tiramisu of the night.
Whether you’re baking cookies or tiramisu, competitive dinner parties build a sense of community and get everyone involved in the joy of cooking. It adds stakes to your average dinner party and gives you an excuse to host.
In this guide, we’ll go over everything you need to host your own bake-off, with or without tiramisu.
The Competition
First, you’ll need to figure out what you’ll be competing with. Is it tiramisu like me? Are you baking cookies for the holidays?
It’s more fun when everyone makes a variation of the same thing. At my tiramisu competition, people are tasked with bringing the most innovative flavor of tiramisu. Past winners have included strawberry matcha and banana toffee. Here is my recipe for Coconut Rum (Coquito) Tiramisu.
You can also host a more general dinner party competition with savory main dishes too, like lasagna or mac ’n’ cheese. What matters is that everyone brings the same dish. If everyone brings different types of desserts or dishes, it’s harder to judge because not everyone is on the same playing field.
Looking for a more casual competition than a sit-down dinner? Host a Dip Bowl Competition.
The Logistics
Competitors
How many people will be competing in your bake-off? Too many cooks in the kitchen won’t work. If every guest competed, you’d have more sweets than the main course. Make sure to limit your competitors to a certain number. It will help take the pressure off nonbakers who don’t feel confident baking a dessert.
As a rule of thumb, don’t exceed more than 50% or half of your party competing. For example, if you invite 10 people to your dinner party, there should be a maximum of 5 desserts to judge. It makes it easier when households or couples are a team or are responsible for one dessert.
Make sure to ask your guests what they’re bringing so two people don’t bring the same exact dessert.
Timing
Because the fun part of the party happens after dinner, you might want to start dinner earlier than you usually do. Ask your guests to kindly be on time so you don’t have to rush through dinner to get to the bake-off portion of the night.
Serveware
Buy a pack of small disposable plates so each person can have a clean plate for each dessert. You’ll also want to have plenty of spoons, especially for tiramisu.
The Dinner
The star of a bake-off is the dessert, but you’ll want to still serve a delicious meal beforehand. Skip appetizers at a bake-off dinner party. Your dinner spread can’t be too heavy or your guests won’t be able to enjoy or judge the desserts.
It’s best to serve a main course with a light side salad — don’t overcomplicate it. For my annual tiramisu competition, I make an Italian dish like risotto or pasta with a side salad.
You can make this Lemon Zucchini Risotto or this Big Batch Baked Spaghetti and serve it with this Fig and Arugula Salad.
The Bake Off
After dinner it’s time for the part all your guests have been waiting for: the tasting. Each baker goes one by one presenting their tiramisu by plating it nicely and describing before judges take a bite.
We judge our tiramisu based on three categories: taste, texture, and vibes.
- Taste refers to the flavor combination
- Texture refers to the light, fluffiness of the tiramisu
- Vibes refers to the presentation (plating and speech)
Judges rank the tiramisu in these three categories from 1 to 5. You may want to tweak the categories if you’re judging another type of dessert. At our competition, everyone is a judge. But, people are not allowed to judge their own tiramisu or a tiramisu made in their household.
We use a Google Forms link to submit our rankings. After ranking each tiramisu in three categories, judges are tasked with ranking the tiramisus overall against each other.
Crowning the Champion
After everyone has submitted their Google forms, tally up the points from each category for each tiramisu. The tiramisu with the most total points is crowned the winner. If there is a tie (which there has been) you can refer to the final data point where judges chose their favorite tiramisu.
The Prize
In my house, the bragging rights as tiramisu champion are a big deal. But, a prize is always a good motivator to get people involved and raise the stakes. You can give away a digital Uber gift card or even get a custom shirt or trophy made.
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