Winner of the desserts team competition, Nicole Boehler (left) and Hien Nguyen pose with their Violet Fusion, which brings together elements of Germany and Vietnam. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Violet Fusion is flavored with the tastes of ube, a purple sweet potato, and Fanta in the batter. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Alex Miller speaks with Sara Hagen and Maiko Minagawa (left) before guests and judges start to file in. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
The People’s Choice Award and fourth-place winning dessert in the individual category was tembleque, originating from Puerto Rico and made by Luz Areizaga-Diaz. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Kieren E. Van Den Elzen, Jimmy Onela and Stephanie Korbe pose with their dessert khao neeo mamuang, originating from Thailand. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
French, Italian and Comparative Literature faculty Lawrence Kuiper and Anita Alkhas present Chancellor Mark Mone with whisks after he speaks to the crowd. Alkhas and Kuiper are among the main organizers of the event. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Sufganiyah, a dessert eaten in Israel and around the world on the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, made an appearance at the competition, created by Anastasia Ether. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Judges begin tasting the desserts and speaking with the contestants. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
A judge picks up a piece of Sara Hagen's apfelkuchen, a classic German apple cake. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Aparna Deshmukh talks with an attendee about the Indian dessert gajar halwa gulab jamun terrine she made with Kaustubh Rane (not shown). The team won third place in their category. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Attendees sample the desserts. (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
Each year the international language and culture programs at UW-Milwaukee hosts the International Dessert Competition. All UWM students are invited to compete individually or in teams. The public is invited to attend and to sample desserts from around the world. Entries are judged by local professionals and prizes are donated by local businesses.
An amazing array of desserts were on display at this year’s competition, with entries from more than 20 places across the world, including Germany, Vietnam, Holland, India, Italy, United Kingdom, Palestine, Romania, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Denmark, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Puerto Rico and Hawaii.