I won my work bake off with a millionaires shortbread (lightly salted on top). Can’t remember which recipe but just choose any well rated one. My theory was it would stand out from the other goods because it’s not quite cookie, brownie, cake or candy, and it has some salt to stand out from everything sweet. I think this was true because there were a lot of cookies, cakes and brownies in the contest that were good and it was hard to choose one vs the other.

Is it considered cheating if you're using (someone's) recipe?
Typically, a big part of a cooking contest is that YOU create the recipe.

Who’s judging? Work colleagues? Professional pastry chefs?

I once won a pie contest with a chocolate cream pie. It’s decadent, delicious, and you cover it with whipped cream, so you don’t need to spend a long time decorating.

I don’t have the recipe I used on hand, but this one looks similar:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019473-chocolate-cream-pie-with-oreo-crust

Use the best chocolate you can get. Make the crust yourself- it will be better than the premade Oreo crust and it’s not time consuming. Add the whipped cream at the last minute. If you need to whip it in advance, bring a whisk and whisk it for a few seconds to refresh it before adding.

Good luck!

Is it the kind where they are looking and tasting or just looking?

Just watch the show “nailed it” on Netflix. They show some very easy cake recipes that you could try. 🤣

I want to win a baking contest, but I don’t want to do anything too difficult. Can anyone recommend a recipe?