NBy CHUCK OFFENBURGER

DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 17, 2025 — Veteran baker Amy Fuson of Indianola and 16-year-old Leeah Hartman of Knoxville — who has a real baking heritage — were the big winners Saturday in the “Great Cinnamon Roll Challenge of 2025” at the Iowa State Fair.

They led the field of 68 contestants in the competition that was watched by a crowd of 150 or more in the Elwell Family Food Center.

Fuson, 69, a mostly-retired medical clinic worker, said she’s been entering the State Fair food contests for years and won the “Mother Podolak’s Chili Contest” at the fair in 2019. “I didn’t start out doing cinnamon rolls, but when the prizes got so good, I decided it was time for me to learn how to to make them,” she said.

There are two classes in the Cinnamon Roll Challenge — one for “traditional frosted cinnamon rolls” and the other for “specialty rolls.”

Fuson’s rolls were indeed very traditional-looking and traditional-tasting. “I’d say they define the genre of ‘traditional cinnamon roll’,” said Doug Moore, of Ames, one of the nine judges in the contest. Jamie Buelt, of Ankeny, coordinator of the contest, sampled Fuson’s rolls and pronounced them “really good, with a good amount of cinnamon in them.”

Like many good cinnamon roll bakers now, Fuson added mashed potatoes and a cup of potato water to her dough “to add a little starch,” she said. She also had a “brown-butter frosting, using a vanilla bean paste in the frosting and in the rolls.”

She won the $500 first prize in the “traditional” roll class. Then when the top placers in the “traditional” and “specialty” classes were judged against each other, Fuson’s rolls were the winners of the first prize over all. And that won her an additional $1,500 — meaning she had a $2,000 day at the State Fair!

The winner of the “specialty” roll class and runner-up in the overall judging was Leeah Hartman, who will be a junior at Pleasantville High School this fall. So she had a $1,000 day.

“Last year, I won a kids’ contest for making cinnamon rolls and I think the cash prize was $300, which was great,” she said. “But $1,000? That’s the most I’ve ever won for sure!”

Her “specialty” rolls, by the way, were “blueberry-lemon cinnamon rolls,” she said, “with a very thin layer of blueberry sauce in the middle and then lemon frosting over the top.” They won high praise from the judges, with well-known pie and roll baker Lana Shope, of Norwalk, pronouncing them “unbelievable,” with “the lemon accent makes the flavor really come alive.”

Get this: The runner-up to Leeah Hartman in the “specialty” class was her mother, Ginger Hartman, who added pistachios to her cinnamon rolls. “They worked so well together, I’m going to try making them next week myself,” said the judge Shope.

Asked how beating her mother in the roll contest will work at home, Leeah said “it feels pretty good! But we always cheer each other on, whoever is winning.”

She also beat her brother Luke, 14, who also entered “specialty” rolls but did not place.

And get this additional fun fact about Leeah’s baking heritage — her grandmother Anita Van Gundy, of Des Moines, was the overall champion of the “Great Cinnamon Roll Challenge” last year.

“My grandma and I talk on the phone a lot about baking, and different things we want to try out with our cinnamon rolls,” the girl said. “She’s been giving us tips, and we try to find the right ingredients so that the rolls have a good flavor combo to them.”

Leeah recalled that when she was 9 years old, she and her grandmother entered a baking contest at the State Fair that was featuring “family legacies.” So a younger member of a family would bake with an older member of the family, while the judges watched them work together and also asked the contestants questions. “It was like a live baking contest,” Leeah said.

Here are the full results of the “Great Cinnamon Roll Challenge of 2025”:

Traditional frosted cinnamon rolls

First, Amy Fuson, Indianola, $500.
Second, Susie Jones, Winterset, $300.
Third, Dalton Fabian, Waukee, $200.
Fourth, Alicia Ruffcorn, North Liberty, $100.

Specialty cinnamon rolls

First, Leeah Hartman, Knoxville, $500.
Second, Ginger Hartman, Knoxville, $300.
Third, Tom Simonton, Urbandale, $200.
Fourth, Matthew Phoenix, Ankeny, $100.

Overall winners

Champion, Amy Fuson, $1,500.
Runner-up, Leeah Hartman, $500.
Third, Susie Jones, $300.

Judges were Eileen Gannon, Des Moines; Lana Shope, Norwalk; Doug and Amy Moore, Ames; Dr. Dan McGuire, Des Moines; Dennis Reyman, Correctionville; George Formaro, Des Moines; Patricia Mullenbach, Grimes, and Roseanne Anderson, Des Moines.

Sponsors of the contest, which paid a total of $5,000 in prizes, were Jamie Buelt, Dr. Dan McGuire, Doug Moore, me and one other person who insists on being anonymous.

As “Cinnamon Rolls Sommelier” — a title Buelt gave me last year in recognition of my 43-year search for the best cinnamon rolls in Iowa — I also served as emcee and chief storyteller during the competition.

—

You can comment on this column below or write the columnist directly by email at chuck@offenburger.com.