Brian Kuel

Brian Kuel of West Des Moines has been studying and “doing” baking since he was a young man. “My mom and two grandmothers taught me. I watched their every move and learned from them about baking fabulous cookies,” he says. He waxes nostalgically about the green stand mixer his mom had that he used to mix the dough.

He recalls, “With my grandma on Dad’s side, I remember growing up always looking forward to Christmas, Easter, and family birthday celebrations because there would always be a home-baked cake she made. She always had a freshly baked cake. Later she started asking me to take on the responsibility for baking cakes for all the family functions. She told me to make the flavor I thought would fit the occasion.”

FAMILY TIES

“When my grandparents had a big anniversary celebration, they had me make the cake that would replicate their wedding cake. It was a white cake, almond-flavored. I had a photo of the original cake and found a cake from that era to base it on. I used their original wedding topper. As you can imagine, it makes me feel pretty happy,” he remembers.

For his grandma on his mother’s side’s 90th birthday celebration a few years ago, Brian was asked to bring a couple cakes. “I made a chocolate-raspberry cheesecake and a Reese’s explosion cake. For years we went to Kansas City on Thanksgiving, and my aunts always looked forward to my choices.” Grandma, in fact, told Brian she had never liked cheesecake until she tried his.

“Dad’s mother competed at the State Fair years ago and looks forward to hearing how I do every year. The enthusiasm comes from both sides of the family from aunts and cousins. This year at the Fair I was texting my aunt every day to let her know how I was doing and sending her photos of my entries,” he says.

After graduating from Peru State College in Nebraska, where he played football and got into powerlifting, he cut back a bit. He then married and became the father to a daughter and a son.

In 2002 he got back into baking and focused on cakes. And not just any cakes. He goes for the elaborate ones, embellished to the hilt and so, so full of flavor. Recipes come from here and there, such as Pinterest and Google and even from small-town church cookbooks. “I always make a first cake just like the recipe I find,” he explains. “Then I start expanding and make it my own. I might adapt the crust from one cheesecake recipe and then change the filling from another.”

With encouragement from a friend, he entered the Fair for the first time in 2015. He started out entering two items and has kept expanding each year. This year he entered 27 items.

WHAT IS MAGIC?

What’s the magic of a cake? “It’s the different varieties, really. There’s always something different to try or to add,” says the senior automation engineer for Corteva Agriscience in Johnston for 25 years. “Yes, I analyze the recipes and the experience as a scientist.” He takes vacation during the Fair, but he makes sure to take samples to his colleagues. “Everyone shows up for work that day.”

“I know people call him Mr. Cake,” says Pat Berry, Food Superintendent of the food competition in the Elwell Family Food Center on the Fairgrounds. “He can look at a recipe and see what would or would not work. He watches judging carefully and pays attention and absorbs all he sees. Brian really blossomed in 2021.”

If he is Mr. Cake, then Joy McFarland, veteran baking queen from Tingley, is Mrs. Cake. Brian says she is tough competition. Berry says the two always congratulate the other one.

Brian has made cakes for relatives’ events. He created elegant cheesecakes for a cousin’s wedding in Kansas City. “It wasn’t easy to get them there,” he admits, “but we made it.”

BLACK FOREST CAKE

Brian had a personal best at last year’s fair. Dianna Sheehy of Audubon was the judge, and she said his Black Forest Cake was absolutely the best Black Forest she had ever eaten.

His other goal has been to win a category of the Midwest Living cookie contest. He has achieved that in winning the Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nuts category. He used white and whole wheat flours to get the cookies crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside and added a chopped Heath candy bar to the mix.

Brian doesn’t just stop with desserts either. Brian goes all out on Christmas Eve with full ham dinners with all the trimmings. One year he made a three-layer Tuxedo Cake with chocolate ganache, seven different fudge recipes to share with neighbors, breakfast casseroles, bacon-wrapped chestnuts, and pumpkin chili with Graziano sausage.

“Once you compete at the Fair, you can’t stop. Once you know your competitors, you must keep going. They become your Fair family,” he says.

He does insist on always using two ingredients—Gold Medal Flour and Land O’Lakes butter.

“I just have fun knowing everyone looks forward to my baking and that it’s part of the joy and satisfaction in life for me. I always feel so honored when people ask me to make a specific cake for them for some occasion or gathering,” he says.

These recipes for Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Kahlua Layer Cake are among his favorites. •