I Entered Duff's Extreme Cake Contest! Need Ideas Now!!
Decorating By CAKESHERWAY Updated 24 Oct 2007 , 4:27pm by springlakecake
Hi everyone! OMG, you just wouldn't believe some of these cakes! Talk about a humbling experience! WOW. Don't be fooled by bgallay's modesty, her cake looks very cool in person. The black roses are a cool touch!
DH knocked my camera out of my hand just before we left from setting up my cake, and now it won't turn back on! GAH! I took tons of pictures, but didn't get all of the cakes yet since a couple people worked up until 7pm cut-off, and I didn't want to take a pic until they were done. I'll post some pics Sunday night, lots to do between now & then.
(As an aside, thank you for your prayers. My Grandma pulled through last night, which was more than we expected. She's not out of the woods though, so don't stop yet! ) I'll see a few people for breakfast in the morning, HOPEFULLY with a functioning camera!
Thank you so much Barbara!!! I sure hope Duff agrees with you!
Sorry if I didn't get a chance to talk to any of you cc'er's much at set-up. I really felt pressed for time, and I was SOOOO nervous when I got there, it was hard to have steady hands just to assemble my cake. I was so flustered, I forgot to take pictures!!! So if any of you have a pic of my cake, (I'm "Tim Burton meets Mary Engelbreit") feel free to post it or to send a copy to me... I hope to get some pics tommorrow.
There are so many AWESOME cakes in the contest, that I really have to hand it to EVERYONE who entered! I know how much blood, sweat, and tears went into my cake, (eww! not literally, of course!!) and I know that everyone who took the time and effort to enter probably went through all the same things I did - late nights, a supremely messy workspace (okay, maybe that's just me) MAJORLY postponed housework, some fretting here and there, not to mention some major butterflies. I just want to say that it really takes a big hunk o' courage to put your work out there for the public (and Duff) to judge it. So to all of you who entered - YOU GO GIRL!! (or guy...)
My guess at the winner would be the topsy-turvy/precarious cake with the jointed sculptures of Duff and all his staff.
I really really hope to make it to breakfast tomorrow morning, but its almost 11:30 now, and I have to finish assembling a wedding cake for tomorrow. Luckily its a fairly simple design, but I hope to get to bed by 2 or 3. So..... if I don't see you at breakfast - I'll hope to see you later in the day.
Good luck everyone!!!
Michelle
Michelle, your cake is SOOO COOL! I totally love the big tentacles!! Since you said it was okay, I'm posting a pic of your cake. PM me with your email address and I can send you the full size file, this one's reduced for CC.
The second attachment is my cake, which seemed really cool til I walked in and saw everyone else's cakes! LOL Overall, I was happy with most of it. My swags were really giving me grief though. Grrr....
I agree that the cake by Brook is awesome. But so many of them were awesome in different ways, I can't make up my mind who I think will win. I'm pretty confident it won't be me though! Ha Ha. At least I can laugh and say that at the same time. (I am NOT fishing for compliments here, once I post the rest of the cakes you'll see what I mean!)
Michelle, your cake is SOOO COOL! I totally love the big tentacles!! Since you said it was okay, I'm posting a pic of your cake. PM me with your email address and I can send you the full size file, this one's reduced for CC.
The second attachment is my cake, which seemed really cool til I walked in and saw everyone else's cakes! LOL Overall, I was happy with most of it. My swags were really giving me grief though. Grrr....
I agree that the cake by Brook is awesome. But so many of them were awesome in different ways, I can't make up my mind who I think will win. I'm pretty confident it won't be me though! Ha Ha. At least I can laugh and say that at the same time. (I am NOT fishing for compliments here, once I post the rest of the cakes you'll see what I mean!)
Great cakes ladies! I would love to see a closeup of the cakes with Duff's crew on it!
Hi everyone! OMG, you just wouldn't believe some of these cakes! Talk about a humbling experience! WOW. Don't be fooled by bgallay's modesty, her cake looks very cool in person. The black roses are a cool touch!
DH knocked my camera out of my hand just before we left from setting up my cake, and now it won't turn back on! GAH! I took tons of pictures, but didn't get all of the cakes yet since a couple people worked up until 7pm cut-off, and I didn't want to take a pic until they were done. I'll post some pics Sunday night, lots to do between now & then.
(As an aside, thank you for your prayers. My Grandma pulled through last night, which was more than we expected. She's not out of the woods though, so don't stop yet! ) I'll see a few people for breakfast in the morning, HOPEFULLY with a functioning camera!
Awe thanks I think it was being right next to a 6' cake that kind of intimitdated me.
I will be curious to see who wins though. I read some articles last night and they interviewed him yesterday and he said he's looking for the creativity and fun and that some people take themselves too seriously. So who knows!
I won't spoil the surprise but someone from CC got an Honorable Mention!! There were 3 prizes... HM, 1st place and Grand Champion (or as Duff said .... super duper 1st place). Anyway, I won't steal the glory for that person. It wasn't me obviously.
He also went through all the cakes and shared info on them - all postive of course. it was really cool to hear his comments.
I had a good time until the end when one of the museum volunteers who didn't like me hassled me about anything I asked her and I lost it She wasn't nice to me at check in and I just didn't understand why anytime I had a question she had a smart alec remark for me. I hadn't eaten since 9:30am and it was 3:30 and I had 2 bored kids and tired husband and this lady just wasn't nice. It left a bad impression on me. I unfortunately, I am no hurry to return to the museum although I will say my kids loved it and it only cost $1 more than the Madison Childrens museum and was TONS better!!
Can't wait to see everyone's pictures! For those of you who attended, is there a website with pics from the whole event, or is this going to be televised at some point? It would be sooo cool if they posted pics of all the cakes along w/the comments he made for all of the cakes. Wishful thinking?
Can't wait to see everyone's pictures! For those of you who attended, is there a website with pics from the whole event, or is this going to be televised at some point? It would be sooo cool if they posted pics of all the cakes along w/the comments he made for all of the cakes. Wishful thinking?
I am going to put some up in my flickr account later tonight or tomorrow. There's an event this evening, but I am not going... too tired! I am not sure if it will be up anywhere through the museum though.
Barbara, I thought your cake was really cool! (My nephews really loved the skeleton hands!) and I totally loved Michelle's SO CREATIVE! I am the creator of the pillow cake, and I thought I was being original, but according to Duff, hahaha I was knocking off Collette. nice. I got to talk to Merissa in line for the demo and she and her husband are extremly nice people. I thought she did an amazing job on her scarecrow and I am so glad she placed!!
I dont know how he could choose a winner, there were so many amazing cakes there!
Anyway, it was my first competition and although I thought it could have been organized much better, everyone I met was really nice. I saw the mile long line for autographs and I (successfully) begged the orgainzers to make a line just for competitors. After all I have been through with this contest I was not leaving with out Duff's autograph
Overall, it was a great experience and I think everyone did a great job! I have bizillions of pictures and I will try to share a link tomorrow.
Great Job Everyone!!
Barbara, I thought your cake was really cool! (My nephews really loved the skeleton hands!) and I totally loved Michelle's SO CREATIVE! I am the creator of the pillow cake, and I thought I was being original, but according to Duff, hahaha I was knocking off Collette. nice. I got to talk to Merissa in line for the demo and she and her husband are extremly nice people. I thought she did an amazing job on her scarecrow and I am so glad she placed!!
I dont know how he could choose a winner, there were so many amazing cakes there!
Anyway, it was my first competition and although I thought it could have been organized much better, everyone I met was really nice. I saw the mile long line for autographs and I (successfully) begged the orgainzers to make a line just for competitors. After all I have been through with this contest I was not leaving with out Duff's autograph
Overall, it was a great experience and I think everyone did a great job! I have bizillions of pictures and I will try to share a link tomorrow.
Great Job Everyone!!
Awe! thanks! I wish I had known they were doing a line for competitors I couldn't stay any longer knowing how long that line was - I am not one for standing in lines long & it just seemed like a nightmare. I wonder if the woman who didn't like me made line for competitors? I told my husband that they should have done that. Oh well.. no picture or autograph for me.
It was also my first competition and I learned *a lot* mainly don't try to do everything out of real stuff. I seriously made almost EVERYTHING out of real cake/fondant/gumpaste. The urn with the flowers stayed in a mold for a week to dry b/c I wanted it all real. Now I know I don't need to.
I did have to disagree on that it's not possible to do a round cake. I used the Wilton Ball pan to do a pokemon pokeball cake for my son and it came out really nice and it was ALL cake. I will post it in my gallery. Next time I will suck it up and use stryofoam!
I do have to say that the pillow cake was beautiful. It was VERY impressive!
Hi everyone! This was such a fun day! I didn't go tonight cuz I was just too tired and missed my kids but went to all the day events and let me tell you the cakes were incredible!
I ended up finally doing a standing Mickey/Minnie Mouse cake. The cake was a nightmare to construct and actually would have been easier had I used real cake! Lesson learned. I was so busy this week with orders that this cake didn't get started until I think Thursday sometime. (Lost track of my days). I thrrew it together and boy could you tell by my crappy fondant work! I would say this was absolutely my worst cake to date.
Duff had alot of really nice things to say about it though and I had lots of people who actually loved it. Minnie's nose actually fell off today though! I don't think I have laughed so much as I did last night and today in a very long time!
I didn't actually get any pics of the cake but a few girls are going to email me some that they took. I will post them then.
Great job to Merissa, Beth, Michelle and Barbara! I am so proud to have been there with my fellow CC'ers!!!
Barbara, please don't feel bad about that lady. I know exactly who you're talking about and she was a snot to me a few times too. Fortunately, I don't think she interacts with the public as a representative for the museum on a regular basis, because she definitely has issues.
I've got a few pics to post, but I'll do it tomorrow- it's bedtime for this cake lady!
What a cool experience for all of you! Did anyone get to pinch Duff's cheeks?
Can't wait to see more photos, and see who won!!
How fun! All the cakes look awesome! Duff is so cool, I cant wait to see more pics.
I wore my Charm City Cakes shirt today (ordered off the internet--ps they run big), anyway wore it shopping today, some girl in Macy's ran up, grabbed me and said did you have a cake from there? What was it like? How cool is he? What shape did you have? Like 200 questions in a second. When I told her no cake, just internet ordering, she freaked out. Said she was leaving to go home and order one. That man has made an impact in the world!
Your cakes all look awesome so far!!!!!!
Im sooooooo Jealous.. Im never gona get anywhere near Duff
How fun! All the cakes look awesome! Duff is so cool, I cant wait to see more pics.
I wore my Charm City Cakes shirt today (ordered off the internet--ps they run big), anyway wore it shopping today, some girl in Macy's ran up, grabbed me and said did you have a cake from there? What was it like? How cool is he? What shape did you have? Like 200 questions in a second. When I told her no cake, just internet ordering, she freaked out. Said she was leaving to go home and order one. That man has made an impact in the world!
I'm waiting for the shirt with him on it holding the power tool over his head, with the phrase, "Make it bigger, make it badder, make it awesome!" on it!! It's our mantra in my house when we are baking! Even the three year old is into it!
What a fun post. I sadly only have a DVD and a monitor, no cable... I am wondering if anyone knows if Duff has any DVDs out so I can experience this guy? I'm dyin'!
Thanks for sharing pics, they were so fun. <<<Cheryl
It was a really great experience...I know I said this before, but it must have been REALLY hard to pick the winners. Some people went over the top creative - some were really really tall and/ structurally challenging and some were loaded up with all sorts of gizmos that Duff usually goes for, some like, Merrisa's, were maybe not the biggest, or over the top, but technically amazing.
Hopefully I'll post a link to a photo-sharing site soon, and post all my pics there. Beth will probably beat me to it...
I thought they really kept us rather insulated from Duff - I had no idea they set up the autograph line just for the contestants!!!! Man!!!
However, I did nab a seat right in the front row for the presentation, and I tried to get a pic with Duff and some of the cakes on screen - so if you competed, I might have a pic of you and Duff and your cake 30 feet high...During the show - he took off his chef coat and showed us his "man-whisk" tattoo!!!! My impression was that what you see is what you get with Duff, he's funny, a little geeky, very personable, sort of a perpetual 8-year old in the body of a grown man, and hasn't let his sucess go to his head, at least not too much.
The audience asked what was the farthest he had ever traveled to do a cake. He then told this story about how he went to Istanbul to do a cake, and told the client that he'd need a week, and a nice big kitchen. So the client rented a nice place for him with a great big kitchen, and he confessed that it only took him about 6 hours to do the cake, and then he got to hang out in Istanbul... but I think he was sly like that before he got really big.
At the end of the presentation, Duff did say that he's working on a book, and it sounded like he may have talked with Food Network about doing DVD's, but I don't think he's made any yet.
wow...I'll confess I missed some pages of the middle of this thread, but I cought the photos on the last 3 or so pages...they are all wonderful!! You guys must be so proud of yourselves.
love2stich...your pillows are beautiful...perfect!! And, by your username, I'm thinking it's because you love to sew? How great is that?
Congrats to all of you...you must have been so nervous!!! So, we don't know the winner?
Pictures are awesome and what a great experience for you all, what a dream!!!!!!
Could you tell me how to get the make it bigger, make it badder shirt??? I have looked everywhere online. I even emailed Charm City. I would love to have one!!! I love Duff!!!!!
Hi everyone! I just got home from my 5 hour trip back to Michigan from Rockford. Someone mentioned it before but I was lucky enough to receive the 3rd place (honorable mention) in the contest. Next to my wedding day and the birth of my children it was like the best day ever! I was really honored just to have him look at my cake. It was so nice of him to talk really positively about everyone's cake during the performance as well. I agree the whole thing was a little disorganized and I really wish they could have catered to the decorators a little more. Maybe by setting aside 30 minutes just for us to get pics and autographs etc. Though I think this whole thing just turned out to be much much bigger than they could have hoped for. I guess I was fortunate not to come into contact with the snotty museum person. All of the staff and volunteers I spoke with were extremely nice to me. It was amazing to meet the cc people in person and the other contestants as well. Everyone was so nice and it was great that I got to have breakfast with Beth and Amie. There were many amazing cakes there (I have pictures of them all!) I plan to post some pics! I just can't get to it right this second. More later!
I'm so jealous! I'm a big Ace of Cakes fan. Duff is the best. Congratulations to those of you that were able to attend. The pictures that I've seen are amazing!
Wow, you guys are so lucky! Why can't he have a contest on the east coast??
Can't wait to see more pics!
Courtney
This is the cake that I entered.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1151435
Here are some additional picture I got from the contest. I would like to post more on my website later when I gather up all the photos. I can't wait to see more of your photos.
PS Amie, I think I damaged my memory card when I dropped my camera ! I will keep trying so that I can get you a photo of your cake.
Well, I still don't have a pic of my cake (before it fell apart) but Duff had one and I will post the pic I took of him looking at and talking about my cake.
Again, this has to be my worst cake creation so far but he did have alot of really nice things to say about it, other than the usual "nice use of color/piping" that he said alot that day.
Does anyone have a pic of the "Baker's Nightmare" cake before it fell or of my cake before it fell? If you have one of my cake, please PM me! I would love a pic of my own cake. Thanks!
I would love to hear how much fun the dinner gala was. I wasnt able to go and there wasnt even one article in the newspaper the next day. Was the food good? What did Duff do? I wish I could have gone!!
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