If in the picture at right Mary Maher looks tuckered out and disheveled, there's good reason.
The winner of the Food Network Challenge "Last Cake Standing," and $50,000, had just completed a 24-hour cake-making marathon, which had capped days of taping the show, doing interviews and serious cake artistry.
A string of four challenges that ran the gamut from creating superhero cakes and a wedding cake customized for a couple about to be wed, "Last Cake," filmed in Denver in January and aired this month, was the fourth such competition for Ms. Maher, who remains undefeated on the network.
And it was a doozy.
"By the time I got to the third challenge, the tears were just flowing from the fatigue," she said from her Chicago shop, Cakegirls, which she operates with her sister. Brenda Maher was Mary's assistant on the show.
And although Mary Maher ultimately took the top prize, she concedes that she "just blew" the wedding cake challenge, aired as the show's second episode. For that, contestants rode in a limousine while interviewing the couple to be married, then made a cake based on the interview.
Ms. Maher's Faberge-egg-style cake was deemed too formal and too unrepresentative of the couple to win.
But her crowning glory, the 5-foot-tall birthday cake made for the Dilley sextuplets of Indianapolis (known as the Dilley six-pack) hit on enough pistons.
Contestants had 10 minutes to interview the Dilleys, a challenge in itself, said Ms. Maher, who had to keep the teens' names and interests straight. She hit on something that represented them as sextuplets and piled on the individuality.
"The one thing that occurred to me was, when I was 16, all I cared about was getting behind the wheel of a car," she said.
So the base of the cake is a car and it is topped by such things as a football and sheet music to make a statement about each child. At the top is a huge slice of birthday cake with bright pink icing.
Ms. Maher took only an hour break during the last challenge, which aired on Sunday. Such a short break was not a matter of strategy but knowing she works best when tackling a challenge head-on.
And although her Web site, thecakegirls.com, is filled with photos of glorious cakes made at her shop (and a photo of Ms. Maher looking far more rested), nothing she's done has been as intense as that Dilley cake.
She and her sister, natives of Detroit, did not attend culinary school but learned on the job in a bakery. They have become so proficient that their clients have included Bono and Oprah Winfrey.
The interest in artistic cakes has taken Ms. Maher aback a bit. "I never thought in my 20 years of making cakes that people would be watching TV shows about it."
And the idea of being America's best cake maker -- well, she reacts modestly. She bows to those who have inspired her, she says, particularly New York cake maker, Colette Peters (colettescakes.com).
Ms. Maher's son, Hugh, 3, might beg to differ.
"It's so funny: He looks at the TV and says, 'There's Mommy!' "
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church food festival begins Sunday and continues through May 8. The venerable event is in the St. Nicholas Cathedral Community Center, 419 S. Dithridge St., Oakland.
Hours are noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner Monday through next Thursday. Lunch hours are the same on May 8 but dinner will be from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., with all festivities ending at 1 a.m.
Monday is Senior Day: 10 percent off for seniors all day, excluding pastries and bar.
Menu includes beef stefatho, chicken oregano, spanakopita, tiropita, baklava, pasta flora and much more, including galatoboureko, luscious custard pastries that make my heart go zing.
There will be Greek dancing and live bouzouki music, an outdoor patio grill and tours of the cathedral.
Fax orders (for lunch only) to 412-683-4960 or go to stnickspgh.org for an order form.
• The Korean Central Church of Pittsburgh holds its Food Bazaar from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdayat 821 S. Aiken Ave., Shadyside. Korean sushi, California roll, bibimbahp (rice, veggies and beer in hot-pepper paste and sesame oil), kimchi, taekwondo demonstration, music, praise and worship. Call 412-687-7775.
• The Bulgarian-Macedonian National Education and Cultural Center, 449-451 W. Eighth Ave., Homestead, continues its Soup Sega until May 30. Fourteen varieties of soup are available from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturdays; also other Bulgarian specialities such as gyuvech (stew), pulneni chushki (stuffed peppers) and banitza (cheese or apple strudel); call 412-461-6188.
Also, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. May 16, the center will have its 53rd Dance Festival, or Vecherinka, this year in honor of lifelong member Nick Jordanoff, who died March 3.
The Bulgarian ambassador and his wife are to attend.
Hot and cold Bulgarian specialties will be served; cash bar. Admission: $10.
For more information, go to bmnecc.org.
The Oakland Business Improvement District will hold its second "Taste of Oakland" from noon to 3 p.m. May 16. Sample appetizers made by neighborhood restaurants by purchasing a wristband for a $5 donation.
Also, on Sunday, during the Pittsburgh Marathon, the district will hold "Oakland Alive," from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. through the Forbes Avenue corridor and in Schenley Plaza. Information on healthy living from hospitals and universities, live music, snacks from Oakland Farmers Market vendors and businesses, and children's activities will be offered.
For more details on both events, go to onlyinoakland.org or call 412-683-6243.
The Market Square Farmers Market, Downtown, opens today. Seems fitting, after a week that began with hot, hot weather and segued into more seasonal spring temperatures, but warm enough to hit the square.
The opening is earlier than ever, with three new vendors:
Right by Nature, the Strip District natural foods store that's sponsoring the market this season; Billy's Country Smokehouse, a maker of smoked meats in Hempfield, Westmoreland County; and Callifonte Foods, a Vandergrift, Westmoreland County, maker of Fontana pastas and sauce.
The market opens a half hour earlier than last season, at 10 a.m., and goes to 2 p.m.
See a full story on the market by food editor Bob Batz Jr. at post-gazette.com/food.
West Overton Village will open for the season with a May Mart from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 9. Free admission to the museum, bread baking, Civil War encampment, vendors from cookies to herbs and a new gift shop, Uncle Martin's Company Store.
The village is at 112 W. Overton Road, Scottdale, phone 724-887-7910. Or visit westovertonvillage.org.
The sixth Sheep & Fiber Fest will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 16 and 17 in Waynesburg. It "celebrates the heritage of sheep, wool and fibers" in Greene County, and if you've ever been to Greene County, you know there's a lot of sheep there. (I once heard a joke about how farm animals in Greene have two legs on one side shorter than the ones on the other. It's steep there.)
Events include lamb cooking and shearing demonstrations, a sheep-to-shawl contest, dog shepherding, childrens' tractor pull, juried crafts, food and more. Our "Miriam's Garden" writer Miriam Rubin will demonstrate cooking lamb.
Go to sheepandfiber.com or call festival chairwoman Carol Adamson at 724-451-8406.
The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, will offer three sessions of a two-day Kids Grape Camp this summer. It includes a scavenger hunt at a local vineyard, a grape tasting and learning about the northeast Ohio grape industry. Dates are June 25-26, July 23-24 and Aug. 20-21. Packages start at $199 and $209, including Thursday accommodations for two adults and one child age 5 to 12. Visit thelodgeatgeneva.com or call 1-866-442-9765.
Elisa Strauss, founder of New York's Confetti Cakes, will appear from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 16 at the Village Square Giant Eagle Market District. Her most recent cookbook is "Confetti Cakes for Kids" (Little Brown and Company, $29.99).
We've come full circle -- see you next week!
First Published: April 30, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
