UPDATE: Help a local teacher win a cupcake contest and raise money for heart disease
UPDATE MARCH 1: Congratulations to Lisette. She placed in the top three of the cupcake contest, winning a package of POM products and AMEX gift card.
ORIGINAL POST FEB. 22:
Madera High School teacher Lisette Lancaster needs your help to raise awareness about heart disease and to win a prize from POM-Wonderful in an online cupcake contest.
All you have to do is go to the this website and vote for Lisette’s cupcake, which is listed as: POM Meyer Lemon, Mango and Rosewater Cupcakes, Recipe Courtesy of Lisette, Fresno. You can get the recipe here.
The contest, which supports the American Heart Association, requires bakers to create a cupcake using pomegranate ingredients. For each entry, POM donated $1 to the American Heart Association. The top winner gets $100 donated in their name to the American Heart Association, a POM ingredient pack and $300 gift card.
I asked Lisette to share more about herself.
What is your background?
I am a high school English teacher at Madera High School. I am a wife to my husband John and mother of two little boys ages 5 and 2. I used to work as an Administrative Assistant at the Madden Library at Fresno State where I also graduated with a degree in Criminology and went back to get my teaching credentials in Special Education AND English. I was born in Hanford but Fresno has been home since my college days!
How long have you been teaching?
I have been teaching for nine years now! Wow! Unbelievable!
Why did you decide to enter the contest?
I entered the contest because one of the recipe sites I subscribe to advertised it. I love to bake and I liked the idea about raising awareness for the American Heart Association. My great-grandmother died from a heart attack and growing up I remember her having a weak heart.
Have you ever entered a contest before?
Not officially like this before! This is my first one and I am super excited because I love baking, I love cupcakes, and I love being competitive!
When did you start baking?
I started baking in my great-grandmother’s kitchen at the age of 10. My first creation was a heart shaped chocolate cake with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting!
Do you bake often?
Depending on the time — holidays I am in the kitchen pretty much non-stop! Outside of holidays, I like to bake with my little ones at least twice a month. They are at the ages where they like to help me and I love showing them how to cook and bake. Their favorite thing to do is pour the chocolate chips into cookie dough — but not without tasting a few chips!
What is your favorite cupcake?
My favorite cupcake from a bakery is from Sprinkles in LA — Vanilla Peppermint (it is seasonal) and my own creation is my Chocolate Cupcake with Salted Caramel Filling and Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting and my S’mores cupcake!!
What makes your Pomegranate Meyer Lemon Cupcake so tasty?
Well the secret is the pomegranate molasses. I made it by reducing the juice down to a really thick syrup! This concentrates the flavors by leaps and bounds!! The mango and lemon are nice complements to the pomegranate which I really wanted to shine through. For the frosting, I wanted to experiment with rosewater since it has a nice floral fragrance and it made the frosting amazing!! Almost like a pomegranate flower!!
How did you come up with this recipe?
Originally I was going to do a Pom-vanilla or Pom-chocolate, but my friend suggested to create something that complements the pomegranate and doesn’t overpower it like chocolate. From there, I just started thinking about fruit flavors and what possible combinations would work. This was my first choice and fortunately for me it worked! I had it taste tested by my biggest critics — my husband, a few colleagues, and two of my students! They are honest critics and they gave me the green light!
What’s the secret to the making good cupcakes?
A few things: First Sift your flour! This makes it airy so your cupcakes come out light! Second invest in an oven thermometer! They are priceless when it comes to baking!! My oven is 25 degrees hotter than what the knob actually states and I didn’t realize this until a few years back when things were coming out dry! Now I set my oven lower but in reality it heats up to the true degrees as stated on the recipes I use. Third – always bake for the LEAST amount of time recommended – if your goods still need more time, it is easier to put them bake in the oven for a minute or two. Otherwise, once they are over baked you have to start all over!
Has baking resulted in any lessons for your students?
Actually last year, I held a four-week cupcake class for our Key Visions Afterschool Program. It was a hit! After CST (the big state standards tests) testing, I want to offer it again for the students of MHS.
Responses to "UPDATE: Help a local teacher win a cupcake contest and raise money for heart disease"
Thank you so much for posting this Kathy! You all can vote once every 24 hours until midnight on Feb 28th!! You can vote from your computers, cell phones, ipods etc…Thank you Fresno for your support!!
I believe it is against the rules of the contest to solicit votes like this through the media. Thanks-we have notified POM.
I was looking at the rules…It said to promote using facebook and twitter, not the media. I feel sorry for the other contestants.
I think I will vote for someone else to give them a half a chance.
@sad on and Jessica: I believe the voting of her cupcake is focused on the idea of the promotion of heart disease awareness, not to win a $300 gift card. Let this school teacher be proud of her accomplishment of giving to a great cause and that she happens to perhaps have a great cupcake at the same time. Fresno couldn’t even win over Salt Lake City on the homeless, and who knows how many fraudulent votes came from that full scale media promotion. Can we at least let a cupcake win for Fresno! Also, I do believe Twitter and Facebook are the media as well, so she is not breaking any rules.
Social media is permitted. Official interviews and media break the terms of the contest rules.
I agree San Joaquin!
Below are the official rules as posted on the POM website. There is nothing in the wording that prohibits this article posted about Lisette’s entry. I’m not sure where you got your information that this was against the rules, but I believe you are mistaken. Furthermore, what’s to stop any other contestant from having an article written about their cupcake entry? To say you are voting for someone else MERELY because someone chose to right an article about Lisette’s entry is petty!
I know where my votes are going! Why wouldn’t you support a local?!?
7. PUBLIC VOTING: At the end of the Contest Entry Period, all eligible Entries received will be posted on the Contest Web Site. Visitors will be able to view each Entry on the Contest Web Site and vote for their favorite Recipe(s) between 5:00 p.m. PST on February 15, 2011 and 5:00 p.m. PST on February 27, 2011 (“Contest Voting Period�). To vote for a Recipe(s), each visitor must click the “vote� button next to the applicable Recipe to submit a vote (each, a “Vote�). Each person is limited to one (1) Vote per day during the entire Contest Voting Period. Votes generated by script, macro or other automated means or with the intent to impair the integrity of the voting system may, at Sponsor’s sole discretion, also be void. Contestants are prohibited from obtaining Votes by any fraudulent or inappropriate means, including, without limitation, offering prizes or other inducements to members of the public, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion. The Contestant who receives the highest number of eligible Votes, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, will be deemed the Grand Prize winner. The Contestants who receive the second and third highest number of eligible Votes, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, will be deemed the First Prize and Second Prize winners, respectively. In the event of a tie, the winner(s) will be determined in a random drawing held at http://www.random.org to break the tie. All prize awards are subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with the terms of these Official Rules.
Judges’ and Sponsor’s decisions are final and binding.
Well Jessica, since you have decided to be a “hater”, perhaps you should investigate before you post your comments. In fact it is NOT against the rules. If you would take the time to read EVERYTHING, you would see that it is not! Did you happend to look at the other entries with high numbers? Because if you did (which you obviously didn’t), you would see that one entry also did an interview in her local paper AND used an online voting system! And you know what, instead of raining on their local’s parade, they SUPPORTED her! So since you notified POM, did they notify you back? I hope you never put your self in a contest because Heaven forbid you need votes from this community, you definitely won’t get them from me. So before you “believe” it is against the rules and decide to be the “ethical police” do your freakin research! Because it is clear you ASSumed wrong information.
Cathy,
The last time I checked, the fresnobehive is social media and ahem, THAT IS OKAY!!! Why don’t you get your facts right instead of using your own interpretation. If you had you would realize that Lisette, broke no rules! While you are at it, look at some of the other contestants like the first and second place contestants and you will see that they too, GAVE INTERVIEWS!!! Your views just reaffirm why I want to move out of this closed minded self-rightoues small town. You are ridiculous.