Minneapolis Cake Picnic draws hundreds of bakers in oven-like heat

Bakers are used to the heat of a kitchen, but bringing a cake to an outdoor picnic in near-record high October temperatures is a different story.

That’s what about 650 bakers did Saturday morning, trying to keep their frosting and fondant cool as they descended on the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the most recent stop on the global Cake Picnic tour.

The sold-out event was extra sweet because it also commemorated the 104th birthday of Minnesota’s most famous baker, Betty Crocker.

The picnic drew participants from near and far — many of them wearing red as a homage to Crocker — including celebrity bakers such as Minnesota’s Zoë François and Christina Tosi of New York Milk Bar fame.

Among the cakes were those inspired by famous Betty Crocker cookbook covers, with flavors that went far beyond what Betty could have imagined a century ago.

Veronica Kruschel baked a strawberry-basil checkerboard cake. The 22-year-old lives in St. Paul but is from San Francisco, where she attended the inaugural Cake Picnic in 2024.

“This is perfect — it came to me,” she said. “I didn’t even have to go to San Francisco.”

“It was hectic,” said Katie Phelps, 22, of Minneapolis. “I tried to go for some fruit flavors.”

But one cake towered above all others: Betty Crocker’s 7-foot-tall birthday cake. Decorated with Betty’s portraits and logos from throughout the years, the cake had eight tiers, each with different flavors that paired Betty Crocker cake mixes, from chocolate and cherry to white and pistachio.

“Like all the other cakes there, this cake is meant to be shared,” said Andrea Williamson, senior corporate communications manager for General Mills, Betty Crocker’s parent company. All participants were invited to have a slice and sing “Happy Birthday” to Betty.

The event was started in 2024 by Elisa Sunga, who wanted to be be “surrounded by friends and as many cakes as possible.” The debut event in San Francisco did just that, featuring nearly 1,400 cakes and getting national attention. There have since been Cake Picnics in Los Angeles and London, among other cities.