So I entered a cake in our local county fair and I was shocked to discover that I received second place. Now, there is nothing wrong with second, and normally I would be thrilled, but it turned out that my cake was the ONLY entry! Last year I entered and won (there were 4 in the category), and so I can say with confidence that my entry this year was far better than last, so WTH? Is my cake really that bad that it did not deserve first?

I talked to one of the judges (who confessed that she knew nothing about cake decorating and was being trained by the other judge who had "written a book") and she said that I maybe should have had ribbons connecting the top and bottom and there was too much empty space in the bottom tier. Ribbons? Really?

Any thoughts? What could be improved on? What should I really have done differently?

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2023618

Read the rules (or talk to the head judge)... in some cases, if only one competitor enters in a particular category they don't automatically qualify to win first place--they may require a minimum number of participants before the first place prize is considered. Also, you may have only met the number of points possible for 2nd place.

I'd skip the local county fairs and find another place to enter your cake. There are cake shows all over the US through out the year. Then your cakes will be judge by people that really know cakes.

As far as what the judge said, unfortunately, when it comes to something like that, their opinion is the one that matters. Maybe her personal preference is a busier cake??

It is a very pretty cake. If you are proud of it, then don't let that second place ribbon take away from that.

I think your cake is beautiful! How did you make the top? Is it cut with the cake cricut and then shaped to dry like that? Such a great idea!

sorry it took me so long to reply... thanks everyone.

I made the topper with gumpaste and cut out each flower, veinde them using a shell to get the look I wanted, and then glued them together over a mold. I tried various molds before I found one that worked for me and released the dome without breaking!

It is a beautiful cake, you should be proud!

I finally got the judge's comments back and she thought that there should have been laces on the corset... but I put buttons. So either she did not notice the buttons or she didn't like them or she thought there should have been both. I got the lowest marks in every category, but most of her comments were positive. So she hated everything, but I did really well. LOL!