It was the kids' turn to showcase their best baking skills as the Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition announced its winners on Saturday.

The young bakers could create any baked good, such as a cake, cookies, cupcakes, tarts, bread, that encompassed the theme of "Favorite Summer Memory."

The contestants certainly delivered on their entries with summer memories tat included beach trips, a thermometer displaying the warm weather and a large sugar cookie adorned with a variety of summer fruit and berries.

"I really like camping and I like baking with my mommy," Mackenzie James-Rico,8, said about her s'mores flavored cupcakes.

Valerie Cadena's cake depicting summertime fun at the beach won first place in the first Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition. (Tamara Markard/Staff Reporter)

Alice Arevalo, 9, designed a cake featuring a large horse made from fondant and rice crispy treats.

"My favorite summer memory was horse camp. I love horses so I made a horse cake," the young baker said. "I like chocolate cake and I like rice crispies and I like decorating and eating the cake."

As in past events, three judges considered each entry and based their scores on a variety of features such as taste, presentation and how the contestant fulfilled the theme of "Favorite Summer Memory," Gonzales, Jr. explained.

"We were blown away with how well everybody did. It was very difficult; third place was very, very close," Gonzales, Jr. said. "We pretty much all agreed on first and second, but third place was really close."

Contestants ages 7-12 years entered their best and most creative cakes, cupcakes, cookies or other baked goods for the first Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition competition. (Tamara Markard/Staff Reporter)

Caiti Mondragon, a contestant in the first bake off competition, alongside baking enthusiast Kristin Hayden and Gonzales, Jr. were the official taste testers for the event.

"I was really impressed with everything they came out wtih. They did a lot of creative ideas. I do cakes on the side and was like 'oh, I am going to steal that idea'," Hayden said, laughing. "I was impressed with the young ages, I would never have thought of some of these things.

First place went to Valerie Cadena, 9, from Greeley with a beach themed cake complete with crushed graham cracker sand. Josie Cooley, 8, from LaSalle took second place with her beach themed cake while Grace Lucio, 11, from Greeley won judges' taste buds with her bright and festive summer cupcakes.

Finalists and their families and friends gathered at Realty One Four Points on Sunday afternoon to sample entries, mix and mingle with each other and find out who was the grand champion of the first Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition. (Tamara Markard/Staff Reporter)

In addition to the three winners, finalists for the kids' edition bake-off included:

  • Alice Arevalo
  • Gideon Cannon
  • Sophie Clary
  • Mackenzie James-Rico
  • Sawyer Kluksdahl
  • Alfred Malnar
  • Averie Nelson
  • Jomanh Sharif
  • Mariah Vanscyoc

What started out as just a simple event that allowed Gonzales, Jr. to share his love of baking has grown into a popular contest that allows northern Colorado bakers the opportunity to showcase their skills in a variety of themed competitions.

The initial Great Greeley BakeOff kicked off in February with contestants having to make a baked good that fit the theme of "The Spirit of Greeley."

Greeley local and UNC graduate Mallory Walker took the title of winner with her two-tiered cake decorated with homemade macarons, the UNC logo and bear, trees, the Rio's sign and an oil rig. The cake also had the Greeley Stampede logo along one of the sides.

The Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition open to kids ages 7-12 years who have a love and passion for baking. (Tamara Markard/Staff Reporter)

Gonzales, Jr. and his gang wanted to create an event that honored and recognized Pride Month, so they set up the Love is Love competition that took the competition on the road to Fort Collins.

Bakers from across Weld and Larimer counties who identify at part of the LGBTQ+ community as well as their allies put their minds and hands to work making cakes, cookies, bread and other items that showcased the theme.

On June 12, contestants, judges, family members and friends gathered at the Fossil Creek Lake in Fort Collins to taste the entries and announce the winners.

Chloe Resler, a UNC student, took top honors with her baked challah bread sculpture depicting a lesbian Jewish wedding, complete with the Hebrew verse "The kisses of your mouth, are sweeter to me than honey."

While the top winners of the Great Greeley BakeOff Kids Edition won cash prizes, everyone entered into the competition received some colorful sprinkles to decorate their next baked creation. (Tamara Markard/Staff Reporter)

Gonzales, Jr. is currently working two more competitions — a Halloween themed bake off and a holiday/Christmas cookie bake off.

"The Halloween one I am looking forward to the most; that one is going to be really cool," Gonzales, Jr. said. "That will happen in October of course."

Gonzales, Jr. is also working on doing something big for next  year's Fourth of July holiday.

For more information on upcoming Great Greeley BakeOff events, follow Gonzales, Jr. on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ejgonzales.