By Savanna Peterson
April Alvarez, of Brandon, has been baking and cooking almost her entire life, the age of 12 to be exact. Since then it’s become a lifelong passion, hobby and something she greatly excels at.
Recently Alvarez was awarded the Blue Ribbon award from justapinch.com, a Website where members can submit their own recipes and view, comment and rate others. She was given this award for her “Grandma Baldwin’s Mayonnaise Cake/Pudding Frosting”.
The cake was named after Alvarez’s grandma, who was one of her main inspirations (along with her mother) to start baking and cooking. She does not have a favorite recipe in particular, she just loves to cook and bake.
“My mother and grandmother they both love/loved to cook, so I would watch then and they would teach me different things,” said Alvarez.
Alvarez was notified in June that she won the Blue Ribbon award and was very excited.
“I was so surprised and happy; this was my grandmother’s best cake ever,” said Alvarez.
“Winning that blue ribbon meant a lot to me. I miss my Grandmother so and that blue ribbon hangs on my refrigerator next to my grandmother’s picture.”
One percent of nearly 100,000 recipes posted to the Website have received this award, according to Annakate Tefft the public relations and social media manager of the Just a Pinch Recipe club.
“I just love this club, it is so nice to get comments about your recipes and to talk with other people that have the same interest’s that I have,” said Alvarez.
When Alvarez is not in the kitchen she likes to sew and knit and participate in Civil War reenactments.
“My husband, granddaughter and I belong to the USS Fort Henry which is a Civil War Reenactments, We dress and camp like they did during that time and yes I cook and bake at the events, with cast iron Dutch ovens and coal,” she said.
Alvarez has been a member of the justapinch.com recipe club since September 2011 and has posted more than 173 recipes. She also hopes to win another blue ribbon award.
