Student success story: One cake. A $5,000 prize. And a South Seattle student who almost never picked up a whisk.
A South Seattle College culinary student's Coffee Ceremony Chocolate Cake, inspired by Ethiopian tradition, won over a panel of Seattle's celebrated pastry chefs, and a prize worth writing home about.
Foziya Robale didn't plan to be a baker. She didn't even plan to be in the culinary program at South Seattle College. But when a missed deadline closed one door, she walked through another and found herself standing in front of a panel of some of Seattle's top pastry chefs, winning a baking competition sponsored by King Arthur Baking Company, a more than 300-year-old institution that has long been a go-to resource for bakers at every level, from weekend home bakers to seasoned pastry professionals.
The prize: a $5,000 cash award or a trip to King Arthur Baking headquarters to bake alongside their team, further develop the winning recipe, and have it added to their online collection, available to bakers of all skill levels around the world.
That moment, she'll tell you, was the result of a very unexpected detour.
A setback that changed everything
Foziya came to South originally on a dental pathway. It was the plan, structured, purposeful, and clearly mapped out. Then a program deadline slipped by, and she suddenly had a year with no clear next step. "At first, it felt like a major setback," she said. "But looking back, it became one of the best things that could have happened to me."
During that in-between time, she crossed paths with Chef Kim Mahar, South's Pastry and Breads instructor, who told her about the one-year culinary program. The conversation unlocked something. Foziya had always loved cooking and baking, but she had never given herself the space to fully pursue it.
"I don't think I realized how much I truly loved my time in the kitchen until I gave myself the chance to fully focus on it." — Foziya Robale, Culinary Arts student
She enrolled. She learned. She grew. And when the opportunity came to compete during her second quarter, she was ready.
The competition: Tastes Like Home
The King Arthur Baking Company competition was part of Tastes Like Home, a campus event that brought together a live baking demonstration by the King Arthur team, a nutrition talk by Dr. Merri Manning of South's Nutrition faculty, and a live baking competition open to South Seattle College students. While most competitors were culinary arts students, the field also included a student from the Wine Studies program and one from Electrical Engineering, a reminder that the love of food doesn't live in just one corner of campus.
The judges:
Dr. Monica Brown, President, South Seattle College
William Leaman, Pastry Chef & Owner, Bakery Nouveau
Rachael Coyle, Pastry Chef & Owner, Coyle's Bakeshop
Christina Wood, Pastry Chef & Owner, Temple Pastries
Jonathan Eng, Regional Sales Manager, King Arthur Baking Company
It was, in short, a formidable room to bake for.
The cake: a coffee ceremony in every layer
For her entry, Foziya made what she calls a Coffee Ceremony Chocolate Cake, a chocolate espresso cake layered with cardamom cream cheese filling and finished with a coffee Swiss buttercream. Every element was intentional, rooted in culture and memory.
The inspiration was buna, the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a ritual of community and connection that Foziya grew up with. As an Oromo baker from Ethiopia, coffee isn't just a flavor. It's home. "The espresso connects back to Ethiopia's coffee heritage," she said, "while the cardamom connects to the way coffee is traditionally prepared in my culture."
Cardamom, known as kororima in her language, was the heart of it. It's the kind of ingredient that works quietly. You might not name it right away, but you feel its warmth. "I wanted the cardamom to be more than just a spice," she said. "I wanted it to reflect the way coffee tastes and feels in my culture."
On competition day, she made one live adjustment: transforming a classic Swiss buttercream into a coffee Swiss buttercream by mixing instant espresso with a few drops of water to form a smooth paste. It was the detail that tied the whole cake together.
Chef Kim Mahar put it simply: "Foziya was deeply committed to creating that perfectly 'memorable bite' of cake...the kind of dessert that stays with you long after the meal is over and continues to come to mind again and again. She absolutely achieved that goal."
What winning really meant
Foziya entered the competition to challenge herself, to test how much she had grown. "I wanted to put those skills into practice in a real competition setting," she said. "It was definitely nerve-wracking, but I knew it would be a meaningful experience no matter the outcome."
"Winning made it even more special, but I'm most proud of the preparation, effort, and heart I put into it."
— Foziya Robale
And what about dental school? She hasn't closed that door entirely. "This experience has taught me that my path doesn't have to be limited to only one thing," she said. "I can have more than one dream, more than one skill, and more than one version of my future. Right now, culinary is where my heart is, and I'm grateful that South gave me the opportunity to discover that."
Foziya's story starts here. Yours can too.
Learn more about Culinary and Pastry Arts at South Seattle College