UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Calling all bakers! Penn State University Libraries needs your help to win back the Grand Champion Trophy in the third annual Penn State/Monash University Great Rare Books Bake-Off.
For the third year, Penn State’s Eberly Family Special Collections Library is facing off against Special Collections at Monash University — one of Penn State’s international partner libraries — for a unique rare recipe baking challenge, and needs participants to help them win The Great Rare Books Bake-Off.
Penn State students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends are invited to discover the hidden gems of historical recipes from the special collections of both Monash University and Penn State. Each university has, once more, combed through their respective rare cookbook collections and found some exceptionally enticing and delicious recipes just waiting to be baked and eaten.
Between the two universities, there are 16 recipes from which to choose. Participants can try their hand at Pennsylvania specialties like wet shoe fly pie and Ogontz cinnamon buns, or Australian favorites like lamington cake or pavlova. Newly added recipes this year include pumpkin scones and butterscotch brownies. Recipes for bakers of various skill levels are included, and historical context for the recipes is provided along the way.
To spice up the bake-off, Monash and Penn State have turned the online event into a friendly competition where institutional pride is at stake. To join the competition, bake any recipe you’d like and post a photo or video to social media (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram) with the hashtag #TheGreatRareBooksBakeOff. Add #BakePennState so your post will be counted in favor of our institution. The university with the most entries wins the bake-off and possession of the Grand Champion Trophy to proudly display in their space.
The bake-off will run Oct. 1-9. Recipes and contest details are available at the competition website.
On Oct. 5, the two libraries will host an online panel discussion with historical food culture experts beginning at 7 p.m. Those interested in attending the panel discussion can register at: Historical Desserts and Discussion Event.