GROVE CITY — When Suzanne Patterson entered her first cake baking competition, she went in cold.

"I baked it once for the Stoneboro Fair, and once for the (Pennsylvania) Farm Show," Patterson said. "I had never tasted it. I figured if it won once, it must be good."

While many competitors work all year to perfect award-winning recipes, Patterson relied on an obscure church cookbook that she stumbled upon at a yard sale. Deep Dark Chocolate Cake was the first recipe she saw in the book, and she stuck with it to win first place at the Stoneboro Fair in September, and then second place in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Jan. 10.

Patterson said any bakers who won at their county fairs were eligible to travel to Harrisburg, and she had always wanted to go to the Farm Show.

"I made two cakes just in case I would trip going up the stairs and dropped one, and thought I will have two," Patterson said. "So we made two cakes and I took the one that looked the best."

Patterson carefully packed her luggage around the cakes for the trip to Harrisburg. The cakes had to be made at home, and then delivered to the judges between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Jan. 10. More than 75 cakes were entered in the competition.

"I just thought it was so neat. When you enter your cake, you get a whole goody bag of stuff just for showing up," Patterson said. "You get a whisk, wooden spoons, chocolate chips and a big can of cocoa, and I thought that was really nice."

Patterson said she only changed one thing about the recipe she found in the yard sale cookbook, and that was adding whole-wheat flour for a healthier touch.

She also said there is another tradition she always keeps in the kitchen while baking.

"A lot of people don't do it anymore, but I always sift my flour," Patterson said. "It lightens it up because it takes any kind of lumps out of it and a lot of people don't sift anymore because the bag says presifted, but by the time it gets to you, its compacted down again."

Patterson said while she and her husband, along with her mother-in-law, were at the Farm Show, they almost missed the announcement that she had won.

"It was really weird because we had gone into the equine arena and some of my husband's friends went to the Farm Show too and we watched a cart show," Patterson said. "They had an accident with one of the horses and it ended up going through a plate-glass window, and we got wrapped up in that and weren't watching the time."

By the time she and her family returned to the cake competition, the judges had already picked out the five cake finalists.

"I did not even know that my cake was in the final competition because I hadn't been there for the initial competition," Patterson said. "So I am sitting there eating this baked potato, didn't have my hair combed and didn't have lipstick on, and they got through giving out the first three ribbons and I thought there is no way I am doing any better than that, so I wasn't even paying attention."

When the judges announced that the second place winner was from Mercer County,, she thought, "How many people here could be from Mercer County?"

"My mother-in-law said, 'I think it's you, I think it's you!'" Patterson said. "They called me up and it just freaked me out. I couldn't believe it. I think it was better that I didn't know my cake was up there because I would have been really nervous."

Patterson has been baking since she was 5 years old when her mother taught her how to make biscuits. She said while her story is not typical, she encourages people to get out there and give a competition a try.

"I would say, don't stress over it," Patterson said. "Just pick one and go."

<B>Cake</B>2 cups sugar1 cup flour¾ cups whole wheat pastry flour¾ cups cocoa1½ tsp. baking soda1½ tsp. baking powder1 tsp. salt2 eggs1 cup milk½ cup vegetable oil2 tsp. vanilla1 cup boiling waterPreheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.Combine dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in boiling water just until blended. Batter will be thin. Pour into greased, floured pans. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool.<B>Frosting</B>3 cups powdered sugar¼ cup cocoa4 tablespoons butter2 teaspoons vanilla¼ cup milk¼ cup shorteningMix powdered sugar with cocoa. Cream in butter and shortening. Mix in vanilla and milk one tablespoon at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost cake.