The Great Blanton Bake-Off!

The Blanton Bake-Off

How to Enter

Do you have what it BAKES to win?

Whether you’re an amateur art lover or a beginner baker, recreate a work from our collection or a work you’ve seen on view at the Blanton for your chance to win PRIZES! We’ll put your entry to a public vote via our social media pages (Instagram & Facebook) on World Baking Day (May 17) and announce winners a few days later.

Watch CBS Austin’s Livestream recording of Blanton Bake-Off 2024 Winners Announcement!

BROWSE OUR COLLECTION

Entry Instructions [Entries now closed for 2024]

Limited to one entry per person.
Entries are accepted in three categories: Under-18, Adult (Amateur) and Adult (Professional).*
Let your work shine for social! Tag us @blantonmuseum on Instagram and share your entry using the hashtag #BlantonBakeOff. You can also email images of your bake in JPG or PNG format, maximum size of 2MB per image, with your name and contact details to pr@blantonmuseum.org. Please remember to state clearly which category you are entering.

*Category Clarification: Adult (Professional) entries are strictly for business-owners who create baked goods and/or pastries for a living.

Past Winners

2024

(UNDER-18 ENTRY) Tiffanie Huang (age 16) for chocolate peppermint cake layered with vanilla / Inspired by “Planos em superfície modulada (estudo) [Planes on Modulated Surface (study)]” by Lygia Clark.

(ADULT / AMATEUR ENTRY) Karen Saenz for a gluten-free, 3-layer carrot cake with food color-painted fondant / Inspired by “Head of a Young Man” by Peter Paul Rubens.

(ADULT / PROFESSIONAL ENTRY) Mitzi Avila (Cookies & Chill ATX) for a blueberry daisy cake roll with cream cheese plus a white chocolate sculpture / Inspired by “HI’ by Kay Rosen & a “Petal” designed by Snøhetta.

Special thanks to our 2024 partners Quack’s Bakery and Easy Tiger for providing gift card prizes!

2023

(UNDER-18 ENTRY) Catherine Chacón (age 12) for stained glass sugar cookies / Inspired by “Austin” by Ellsworth Kelly.

(ADULT / AMATEUR ENTRY) Alex Abbott for a white chocolate/orange cheesecake w/ oreo crust / Inspired by “Ablaze” by Melissa Miller.

(ADULT / PROFESSIONAL ENTRY) Mitzi Avila (Cookies & Chill ATX) for a mille crepe cake with an alfeñique sculpture / Inspired by “Stacked Waters’ by Teresita Fernández & “Siphonophora” by Thomas Glassford.

Special thanks to our 2023 partners Quack’s Bakery, Waterloo Ice House, and Cookies Del Mundo for providing gift card prizes!

2022

(UNDER-18 ENTRY) Gluten-free vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream, covered in chocolate, decorated in gluten-free marshmallow fondant by Georgia Chido Gross / Inspired by a tapestry by Luis Montiel.

(ADULT / AMATEUR ENTRY) Joconde Imprime Cake with layers of blueberry almond cake, lemon curd and whipped cream by Blythe Johnson / Inspired by Mac Wells’ “Untitled, Meander Paintings, River”

(ADULT / PROFESSIONAL ENTRY) Cookies by Hannah Erwinn of HC Confections / Inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin,” Teresita Fernandez’s “Stacked Waters,” Carroll Dunham’s “Green (4th),” Pat Lipsky’s “Clear Music,”Roy Lichtenstein’s “Finger pointing,” and Ellsworth Kelly’s “Cité.”

Special thanks to our 2022 partners Quack’s Bakery and La Pâtisserie for providing our gift card prizes!

2021

A pancake with a person wearing a headcloth with flowers on it. On the right is a painting of the same person. — (UNDER-18 ENTRY) Pancake art by Aida (Youth under 18 Category) / Inspired by Fernando Botero, Santa Rosa de Lima según Vásquez [Santa Rosa de Lima after Vasquez].

A sawarak cake with a burgandy and black colored abstract image. — (ADULT ENTRY) Layered Cake by Blythe Johnson (Adult Category)/ Inspired by José Pedro Costigliolo’s “Forma negra [Black form].”

With special thanks to our 2021 partners Quack’s 43rd Street Bakery and Sour Duck Market.

2020

A cookie with tumbling squares of different colours. On the right is a building facade with the same design. — (AMATEUR ENTRY) Sugar Cookie by St. Elmo Architecture Studio / Inspired by Ellsworth Kelly’s *Austin.*

An artwork with a gold ornate frame with the Virgin Mary and child in the center. On the right is an ornate cookie depiction of the artwork featuring the virgin mary and child. — (PROFESSIONAL ENTRY) Chocolate Cookie by Cookies del Mundo / Inspired by Simone dei Crocifissi’s “Triptych.”

With special thanks to our 2020 partners Easy Tiger Bakeshop & Beer Garden.

Press

Artnet, See the Incredible Art-Inspired Cake Designs From the Blanton Museum’s Annual ‘Great Blanton Bake-Off’

Hyperallergic, When Cake Imitates Art

Jing Culture & Commerce, How The Blanton Museum Of Art Unlocked Online Engagement — With Baked Goods

PBS Newshour, What do people knead in time of crisis? Bakers remake artworks from a Texas museum

Smithsonian Magazine, This Museum Is Asking People to Remake Famous Artworks With Cake

About

Established in 2020, the #BlantonBakeOff is a fun annual contest providing art lovers with the opportunity to recreate their favorite works of art inspired by works from the Blanton Museum of Art’s collection! The public chooses their favorites in a social media vote on World Baking Day (May 17), with prizes for the winners provided by some of our favorite bakeries in Austin, Texas.