She claims to have a lucky streak and, as if to prove her point, Stephanny Richards rounded off the top-three winners of the Red Label Wine Christmas Cake competition. Coming out as the third-place winner, Richards says it was God's work. "When I saw everybody decorating their tables and so on, I just told myself that if it is God's will, I will be in the top three. And to tell you the truth, I am always winning things when I enter competitions, so in a way I was confident."

Her entry, 'Stephanny's Sweet Potato Fruit Cake', came out of the desire to use a ground provision that she enjoys that would add to the taste of the traditional Christmas fruit cake. "I like sweet potato and I know that people use it to bake other cakes. I also decided to use it because I have it at home," she said.

Having never tried the recipe before, Richards said she had to do a trial run prior to the finals. "I have the regular Christmas cake recipe but the sweet potato is new, so I had to determine how much I needed for the cake."

The 25-year-old says baking is a passion of hers and that she usually consults her mother and the Internet to formulate recipes. "Almost every Sunday I bake something. I will bake coconut cake and carrot cake, using the trash that I get from making the juice. When I want help, I'll ask my mother to tell me some ingredients to use and sometimes I will go on the Internet," she noted.

At present, Richards works as a housekeeper, and is not ruling out the possibility of pursuing studies in foods.