It was a more focused and (not much) more serious set of competitors that took to the kitchen for Tuesday’s second annual Oddfellows Whoopie Pie Bake-off. Absent was last year’s inaugural exuberance that led even seasoned bakers like Volunteer Park Cafe’s Heather Earnhardt to over-bake and produce a still-record setting 4 batches of pies for the competition. In 2011, Earnhardt tells CHS she pulled back and chose to focus on one batch likely to contend for the title. Still fighting the urge to overachieve, Earnhardt admitted a second batch, with an exotic tayberry-based filling, was left behind at the cafe and will be for sale on Wednesday.

Back at Oddfellows Tuesday afternoon, tables of judges discussed the merits of this year’s entries as the public weighed in on the people’s vote. In addition to Earnhardt, past champions were in attendance as Audrey McManus of Babeland this year served as a judge and Robin Wehl Martin looked to retain her Classic division title by using the exact same recipe she used in 2010.

Results of the battle were not available at press time. We’ll update as we learn more about the hard-fought contest.