Wisconsin State Fair culinary contests, 2021: winning recipes

After a year without a Wisconsin State Fair, this year’s event was back at full caloric value — at least in the culinary contests.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll print some of the category winners and judges’ favorites. More than 200 classes of competition were offered this year, with the theme “Wisconsin Dreamin’.”

To narrow down the presentation, our testers chose the winning recipes they wanted to eat.

Jill Albanese, the State Fair’s director of competitive exhibits, said before the fair that people have been spending more time in their kitchens because of COVID-19, and she hoped the quality of the contest winners would reflect that. Did they? You be the judge.

Linda Kochanski of Hales Corners won the first-time cake entry class with this.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch Cake

Recipe tested by Nancy Stohs

Makes 15 servings

• 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cups diced rhubarb (⅓-inch pieces)
• 1 cup cut-up strawberries

For the topping:

• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons butter