The sweet taste of victory Grateful Bread Bakery wins best in show award at Republican Women's Chocolate Extravaganza

Grateful Bread Bakery and Cafe owner Gabriele Massie and her daughter Catelyn Smid are the brilliant baking minds behind the show-stopping chocolate creation that took home Best in Show at the Flathead County Republican Women’s Chocolate Extravaganza. Their cake caught the judges’ attention for its creative shape — the entire creation was made to look like a swan, complete with white chocolate feathers tipped in edible gold spray. Beneath the white chocolate buttercream frosting was a dark chocolate cake filled with peanut butter mousse. The chocolate swan’s head was even topped with a miniature crown, adding a fairytale flair to the already otherworldly masterpiece.

Massie designed the cake and Smid spent seven hours putting it together. The duo suffered a setback when the middle of the cake blew out, but opted to make lemonade out of lemons by filling the hole with peanut butter mousse.

“She was pretty nervous, but she is a great cake maker,” Massie said of her daughter.

Grateful Bread entered the competition in 2014 and took home the runner-up prize, but the bakers were determined to win it all this year.

“We’re pretty proud of it,” Massie said.

She especially liked to watch all the attendees hover over the swan cake, and snap photos with their cellphones.

Judge Rudy Koestner, of Kalispell, said the “creativity was just over the top — it was incredible.”

The seasoned epicurean admired the fine detail work, such as the smoothness of the swan’s neck, the beak and the crown on top.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Koestner said. “You didn’t want to eat — you just wanted to look at it.”

The bakery also took first place in professional cakes and tortes (appearance) for the swan cake and second in pies and pastries (appearance) for their Belgium chocolate cream cake. Other Bigfork winners included Bradley Yaeck of Great Northern Gourmet who placed first in professional cakes and tortes (taste) for his chocolate truffle layered cake followed by Dena Bozick of Harvest Foods who took second for her German chocolate cheesecake. ¦