CITY CAKE 2025 - COMPETITION TERMS
Competition Terms
1. Eligibility:
1.1. Open to Tel Aviv-Yafo residents (18 years and older)
1.2. The Professional track also welcomes local food business owners
2. Timetable:
2.1. The Registration Period opens on January 5, 2025, and ends on February 3, 2025
2.2. First Round Judging (6 selected cakes from each category) – during February 2025 (exact date TBD), we will hold a baking day and tasting day.
2.3. Second Round Judging – during the grand finale at Bialik Square in April 2025 – a second tasting after professionally editing and producing the recipes.
2.4. Winners and people’s choice awards will be announced at the final round grand finale.
3. Registration:
Please fill out the online registration form:
3.1. Full name, contact details, cake name
3.2. Your cake’s complete and detailed recipe:
3.2.1. Recipe title that captures your cake's essence
3.2.2. Ingredient list with precise order and measurements (grams, ml, units)
3.2.3. Step-by-step preparation instructions, including mixing techniques, temperature requirements, baking times, cooling periods
3.3 Your Tel Aviv-Yafo story (700 words max) about your cake's connection or association with the city.
3.3.1. Stories must be in the first person and told personally while referring to an authentic experience.
3.3.2. Writers should highlight the connection between their recipe and a story or place in Tel Aviv-Yafo. This can include descriptions of unique aspects of the city, such as a market, street, neighborhood, or community that connects to the cake. The link can be expressed through a special ingredient or a specific memory related to the city.
3.3.3. The role of the place in the story: describe how a specific location in the city inspired your choice of cake and/or its creation.
3.3.4. Tel Aviv-Yafo urban background: we recommend including unique descriptions of aspects of the city that inspire, evoke, or are expressed in your recipe.
3.4. Visual presentation of the cake (photo, illustration, sketch, digital rendering)
4. Competition Categories:
Participants can choose which track to compete in, the Professional or the Home Baker track.
· The Home Baker track welcomes passionate amateur bakers who love creating in their home kitchens. Your cake should embody your Tel Aviv-Yafo story, celebrate your memories and experiences, capture the unique flavors of our city, and express your creativity and love for baking.
· The Professional track is designed for trained pastry chefs, bakers, and culinary professionals. Your cake should showcase advanced technical expertise, present an innovative interpretation of Tel Aviv-Yafo’s heritage, demonstrate professional-level execution, and honor our city’s diverse culinary traditions.
5. The Tel Aviv-Yafo City Museum has assembled a distinguished panel of experts to evaluate your creations:
6. Evaluation Criteria for both tracks:
Cultural significance is demonstrated through a cake that reflects the values, stories, and memories of Tel Aviv-Yafo while offering a unique perspective on the city’s story.
The personal story explaining the recipe’s inspiration will be evaluated based on its emotional resonance and connection to Tel Aviv-Yafo.
Culinary quality will be assessed through the recipe’s balance, creativity, and ability to create sensory connections to the city’s character.
The cake’s aesthetics should be inspiring and distinctly connected to the Tel Aviv-Yafo experience, emphasizing creative and attractive presentation.
Using local ingredients and incorporating elements of Tel Aviv-Yafo, such as Jaffa oranges, poppy seeds, or ingredients inspired by local markets.
Commitment to preventing food waste through efficient and innovative use of ingredients, including creative incorporation of leftovers or renewable materials.
Additional criteria for the Professional track:
Professional track entries will be evaluated for technical mastery, with judges looking for advanced baking techniques, comprehensive culinary knowledge, and meticulous attention to detail in execution.
7. Competition phases:
7.1. Initial recipe selection
In the initial selection phase, the judging panel will review all submitted proposals and select six finalists from each track, with decisions based on the written proposals and established competition criteria.
7.2. First tasting
The selected finalists will prepare their cakes in a shared kitchen facility, where the entire process will be professionally documented through photos and video. During this stage, an expert panel will conduct the first tasting session and perform a technical evaluation of the recipes.
7.3. Second judging – a second round of expert tasting will be held after professional producers edit and prepare the recipes at the grand finale.
7.4. Grand Finale
The grand finale will take place in Bialik Square in April 2025, featuring public tastings of all finalist cakes, with three finalists showcased from each track. Winners will be determined based on combined judge scores from all competition stages, alongside a People's Choice Award selected through public voting. The event will culminate in a celebration of Tel Aviv-Yafo’s culinary creativity.
8. Cake Preparation Guidelines
8.1. First Round (Semifinalists)
Six semifinalists in each track will each receive a maximum budget of 350 NIS for ingredients.
8.2. The baking will take place in a shared professional kitchen. The process will be fully documented through photos and video.
8.3. For the grand finale – the Tel Aviv-Yafo City Museum and the event organizers are permitted to perform technical adjustments to the finalist recipes necessary for professional mass production to allow the public to taste the cakes at the grand finale.
* Cakes that go on to be produced by professional bakers might require modifications. All modifications will be discussed, and consultation will be made with the original baker.
9. Awards:
9.1. Home Baker track winner:
A professional baking course or workshop (value: 3000 NIS)
9.2. The winning cake will be served at the Tel Aviv-Yafo City Museum café for one month, and all profits will be donated to the winner's chosen charity.
9.3. Professional track winner:
Five premium international baking books selected from world-renowned culinary publications
9.4. People's Choice Award
Awarded to the audience’s favorite cake through public voting. The winner receives a 1000 ILS voucher for purchases at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Museum Café.
10. Documentation & Publication:
Through several initiatives, your culinary creation will become part of Tel Aviv-Yafo's documented history. All finalist recipes will be preserved in the City Cake project and featured in an exclusive Museum postcard series, becoming a permanent part of the city’s culinary archive. Beyond the recipes, selected personal stories will be added to the Museum's historical collection, preserving these narratives for future generations as part of Tel Aviv-Yafo's culinary traditions. The Museum will contact bakers individually to obtain permission before including their stories in the archive, ensuring that contributors maintain a meaningful connection to their culinary legacy.
11. Terms & Conditions:
1. It is clarified and agreed that competition organizers shall be entitled to photograph and document the competition, and participants give their consent to the photography and documentation of the competition and their publication.
2. The organizers may postpone or cancel the activity, in whole or in part, change the dates set in this competition, or change the terms of this competition for any reason at their sole discretion.
3. The organizers reserve the right to disqualify any person or contestant who disrupts or interferes with the proper competition management.
4. The contestant in the competition releases the competition organizers, their representatives, and competition partners from and against any claims, expenses, and liability, including negligence, privacy violation, defamation, copyright infringement, trademark or intellectual property rights, disclosure of trade secrets and damages of any kind to person or property.
5. Competition organizers may occasionally change and/or correct and/or add and/or subtract provisions relating to the call for submissions.
6. Should a contradiction be discovered between the rules and any other publication regarding the competition, the provisions of the call for submissions shall prevail.
7. Any dispute, claims and lawsuit arising from or related to this competition will be settled exclusively by the competent court in Tel Aviv-Yafo.