The Food Network Challenge this Sunday (7/26) is Sesame Street Cakes! Roland Winbeckler is competing against Mike MCarey.

I wonder if they finally found someone to beat Mike?! The commercial I saw looks like this is gonna be interesting! I can't wait!!!

My tv guide says its a rerun of a Disney challenge. What time? Did I miss something?

They are probably running the Disney one at 7 PM. The new challenge is usually at 8. I haven't checked the TV guide yet though. BUT I can't wait to watch it. Whoo hoo! We need a new one every single week!

I know I can't wait!!!!! I have it on my work calendar, google calendar, icalendar and my itouch, it going to be crazy! But I am 100% positive Mike got this one!

GRRR. I'm checking the Comcast tv guide and all night Saturday is a cake challenge rerun marathon, and both on Sunday are listed as a Disney rerun.

What?!

Roland Winbeckler? Wow!

It almost doesn't seem like a fair competition -- Mike loves his fondant and Roland loves his buttercream -- the mediums aren't even the same. By all means let us know who wins (I don't have cable!)

Man, I can't think of a more "night & day" competition

I have never seen RW work in anything but 2 dimensions on a buttercream covered cake..........never any stacking or sculpting. He's a nice man, but I think of his work as very 70s.

Mike, on the other hand, is so outside the box--very new era.

This should be really interesting!

Rae

Wow! I'm editing this to say that I WAS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! I went to RW's site: winbeckler.com and WOW! Of the 6 times that I have seen him at ICES and Cake Camp, I have not ONCE seen any evidence that he would be so incredibly capable at sculpting and 3-D! Why the classes he offers at these events haven't showcased this incredible talent, I don' know, but this should be good!

Rae

i have his book on stacking and sculpting. he is great.. now i will sit back and watch.. he makes life size people ..looks just like them.. thanks for this info..

at the convention...i have only known him to demo beautiful b/c flowers,etc.. i have all his books.. he does schedule classes on sculpting.. airbrushing, etc. haven,t taken them.. but can do his flowers.. i love him and marsha . they are very talented... people pay him big bucks to make life size sculptures of their husbands, etc. i saw one several years ago .on tv.. the sculpture looked just like her husband. down to the fingernails, ha! it was perfect..

This should be great... Roland has some incredible skills.. check out some of his sculptures.. www.winbeckler.com

I love both but for a FN challenge it's Mike all the way!!!!!

I am so happy they finally asked Winbeckler to compete. He is one of the original 3D artists!

R. Winbeckler has done some incredible, life size 3-d cakes. I'm glad to see Mike is back though. It will be interesting!

My money would be on Mike, he is just so calm and looks to be totally enjoying what he is doing. If only we could all be like that!!

That's a tough call, but I love Mike. It'll be a great one to watch. Can't wait!!!

I'm rooting for Roland. He's wonderfully talented and probably the best I've ever seen with an air brush. He's also a great instructor, as is his wife. I can't wait to see the competition!

Roland gets my support. The extreme detail he gets is amazing. I don't know about Oscar the grouch though. Roland's best work is human faces.
I am super excited that they acknowledge that buttercream decorators aren't all has- beens.

OMG,OMG,OMG!!! I just saw RW's site, my first time looking at his 3D work and now I have mixed feelings about this FN challenge because being mike's fan I'm terrified with RW's trully amazing work in BC but at the same time I'm happy to see that this time around Mike is going to have real competition The only sure thing here is that we are going to be the winners just watching this 2 titans working their magic can't wait, I'm more stressed than on my wedding day!!!

Lauren Kitchens is in this challenge as well. I really admire her abilities. She's up against some tough competition; however, and discusses it in her blog:

http://fancycakesbylauren.blogspot.com/2009/02/sesame-street.html

If you remember, she debuted at the Disney Challenge and did Mary Poppins coming out of her carpet bag. I was really impressed with her calm composure in that challenge. Even though she fell short of her own expectations, she never got catty or boo-hooed over her performance.

I had the AWESOME experience of taking Mike's chocolate class in March. He was going to tape the challenge the day after our class and he showed us a picture of what he was doing for Sesame Street. After the taping, he said that it went well, but that it was a really difficult challenge! I can't wait to see the outcome!!!

On a side note, after seeing him in class, he is VERY calm while he works, and his work space is SUPER clean and organized ALL the time!

I can't wait for tomorrow's show!

After checking Winbeckler's site, I see he is now using fondant on some of his displays. That is what he will probably do on the challenge, just to be with the times, and I will be so disappointed. His fondant work doesn't compare to his buttercream work, IMO.

I wanted to see a challenge of not so much Roland vs Mike.....but buttercream vs fondant.

R.Winbeckler is awesome , but M. McCarey IS THE MAN! His work has better proportions and is cleaner than anyone else out there in 3-D Cakeland in my opinion. No matter who wins, it's going to be fabulous to watch the masters at work. Can't wait!!!!

This challenge will probably be the most interesting of all of them.

How many of you will be unplugging the phone for this one?

Theresa