It was the best of times, it was the shortbreadiest of times. It was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. We had everything before us. Specifically, we had so much cake before us.
We, two Mission Local reporters tasked with the ins and outs of San Francisco politics, were now tasked with taking in vast quantities of buttercream as judges in the annual City Hall bakeoff, a tradition started in 2008 started by Cammy Blackstone, an aide to former supervisors Michela Alioto-Pier, Carmen Chu, Sean Elsbernd and Katy Tang.
The contenders were many: 15 entries from the Board of Supervisors’ offices and the clerk’s office. These reporters were invited to judge them along with Kelly Dearman, the director of the San Francisco Department of Disability and Aging Services, chef Sophie Smith and sous chef Nicki Volante, both from Butter & Crumble, a popular bakery in North Beach.
The political element was baked in, of course, but only through the lens of dessert.
The front-runners
Buttery in-jokes abounded, among them, a shortbread recreation of the Vaillancourt Fountain (the “Vaillanshortbread” Fountain), the controversial 53-year-old city sculpture that is, controversially, slated for dismantling. The shortbread was the work of Raynell Cooper, a legislative aide to District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood.
See also: the Anise Strawberry Sufganiyah donut holes — a reference to Supervisor Connie Chan’s texts, during a contentious debate over whether to continue to suspend a cannabis tax during a budget crisis, describing Supervisors Bilal Mahmood and Danny Sauter as “assholes.” The donut holes were made by one of Chan’s own aides, Calvin Yan.
The Anise Strawberry Sufganiyah donut holes were made by District 1 aide Calvin Yan. Photo by Kelly Waldron. Dec. 17, 2025.
A cake titled “Here Lies ‘Berried’ the Marina Dateway,”turned a polarizing proposal to build a 25-story apartment complex on the current site of the Marina Safeway into a delicious brown butter sponge cake, garnished with homemade mixed berry compote, cardamom, cream cheese whip, and pistachio almond crumble.
A close look at what lay beneath the crumble rewarded those familiar with the Marina’s Safeway’s long-standing reputation as a cruising spot — several chocolate shovels and a white-paper “gravestone” that read “R.I.P Marina Dateway.”
A scroll projecting jauntily out of the cake could be unfurled to reveal a list of state policies intended to make California cities produce more housing, including the state density bonus which contributed to the braggadocious scale of the Marina proposal, and SB 330, which prevents the cities from blocking new housing developments.
This massive frostinged civic in-joke within an in-joke was the work of Fiona Kong, a legislative aide to District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen. Constructing the towering edifice was a multi-day effort, Kong said. She began baking cake components on Tuesday, and was piping Wednesday morning. She made those little little chocolate shovels herself, she added.
The cake concept, though, can be credited to Jackie Prager, another aide in Chen’s office.
“The cake itself is just half of it,” Kong said. “The theming is the other half. And so we’re the dream team.”
The verdict
The top prize went to the Marine Dateway cake, which won for its airy sponge, well-balanced flavor, nice presentation and amazing details. The judges also awarded three other winners.
Most creative: A lemon chiffon cake orbited by five dark-blue stardust-covered cakes of mocha brownie and chocolate mousse. Named “Sunshine + Shadows,” the cake was made by Patricia Petersen from the clerk’s office. Petersen, fittingly, also works on the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, a body that makes sure that city meetings and records of city agencies are accessible to the public.
Most creative award went to a lemon chiffon cake orbited by five dark-blue stardust-covered cakes of mocha brownie and chocolate mousse. Photo by Kelly Waldron. Dec. 17, 2025.
Most visually stunning: A coyote-shaped chocolate strawberry kahlua cake, titled “Co-existence,” — a reference to frequent sightings of coyotes in the city’s parks and hills. It was made by District 9 legislative aide Jennifer Ferrigno.
“Co-existence” cake, a nod to frequent sightings of coyotes in San Francisco’s parks and hills. Photo by Kelly Waldron.
Visually stunning honorable mention: Supervisor Myrna Meglar’s “Peace in the Middle East.” It featured dark pomegranate seeds arranged to look like the Bahai star, which stood out starkly against bright white frosting. The cake itself featured a tangerine rosemary syrup and curd and Dubai chocolate.
Most delicious: A cranberry-cardamom bundt cake with orange scented whip cream titled “Cram-berry Decontrol.” The title is a reference to density decontrol, a zoning change that the city recently made that allows developers to build as many housing units they want on a site, so long as the height limit for the site aren’t exceeded.
“How many cranberries can you cram into one layer?” wrote Frances Hsieh, a legislative aide to Chan, on the card accompanying her cake.
Melgar, who has previously won the bakeoff each of the four times she has participated, accepted defeat graciously. “Seriously, there were a lot of very good entries,” she wrote to Mission Local. That said, she added, “I raised the bar.”
Dining and Cooking