A four-tiered patriotic cake featuring an “I voted” pin, a ballot box, an American flag and a frosting bald eagle has won Connecticut’s 2026 Election Cake Bake-Off.
The winning entry was created by a mother-and-daughter team led by Sophia Grestini of Amy’s Cakes LLC in Cheshire. It was crowned the official Connecticut Election Cake of 2026 after the competition at Hartford’s Old State House on October 26.
A 250-year-old election cake tradition
The annual contest draws on a tradition that began in Hartford in 1771, when Connecticut was one of the few areas in the 13 colonies where residents could elect their own officials.
Election Day was once marked by parties, parades and community celebrations, with large cakes made to feed crowds of voters. The original versions were dense fruit cakes, often containing alcohol.
Nicole Sousa, events and outreach manager at the Old State House, said the cakes were made on a substantial scale. Eighteenth-century recipes called for 30 quarts of flour, 10lb of butter, 14lb of sugar, 12lb of raisins, three dozen eggs and more than a quart of wine or brandy.
A scaled-down recipe later appeared in American Cookery by writer Amelia Simmons, a book widely recognised as the first American cookbook.
Four layers and a frosting eagle
The modern competition asks professional pastry chefs and bakers to create non-partisan cakes inspired by elections and democracy. Entries are judged for presentation, creativity and taste.
The winning cake combined alternating layers of sweet lemon and blueberry sponge with traditional spiced sponge. Red, white, blue and gold decorations covered the outside, while handcrafted fondant figures of a donkey and an elephant represented the two major political parties.
A bald eagle sculpted entirely from frosting stood on the top tier. The winning bakers will also receive a commission to make the Old State House’s birthday cake in 2027.
Sousa said the competition was intended to bring a sense of enjoyment back to elections. “It should be fun, it should be a way to show that you’re contributing to your country and part of your community,” she said.
