Jim Lubetkin, an Amagansett resident, received eight awards in the baking competition at the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, which concluded on Sept. 2.
Mr. Lubetkin, a regular winner of the clam chowder competition at the East Hampton Town Trustees' annual Largest Clam Contest, took first-place blue ribbons for a coconut layer cake, a blueberry-glazed lemon cream pie, and an apple-raisin pie. He also earned a second-place finish for a chocolate and raspberry cake, and three honorable mentions for cookies: raspberry sandwich, raisin pecan oatmeal, and almond-apricot bar.
His coconut cake was also honored on the fair's Cake Day with a special green ribbon recognizing it as best cake in 2023.
"I've enjoyed baking," Mr. Lubetkin wrote in an email, "ever since, as a kid, my mother let me help in the kitchen by stirring packaged Betty Crocker cake mixes by hand with an old wooden spoon ('Don't forget to stir it at least 200 times, Jimmy')."
