ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DALLAS
SOURCE: LESLIE SOWERS HOUSTON CHRONICLE
IT WAS A TORTE WORTH $1 MILLION, but Kurt Wait's recipe for riches wasn't a lawsuit. Still, his victory was as sweet as dessert.
Kurt Wait of Redwood City, Calif., the first man ever to win the grand prize in the Pillsbury Bake-Off, marched off Tuesday with the $1 million winnings for his recipe for Macadamia Fudge Torte.
A single father whose 9-year-old son lives with him part time, Wait said he is a self-taught cook. He works in finance and information systems.
``It was a blind test,'' Wait said. ``I figured I had as good a chance as anybody.''
Conscientious about nutrition, he added fruit to his recipe to add moisture and decrease the fat content of the rich, fudgy concoction to about 30 percent.
This year's competition was Wait's first time as one of the 100 bake-off contestants. He won one other cooking competition, a hamburger cookoff, a few years ago.
Wait's recipe was the winner in the Special Occasion Desserts category.
Judges gave his chocolate cake with pockets of rich fudge and a topping of macadamia nut streusel high marks for its ease of preparation and blend of textures.
Wait also won the Bake-Off's first consumer preference award given to a recipe that a consumer panel found most appealing. He won a $10,000 Sears Kenmore kitchen makeover.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB