I finally was able to download a pic of a cake I did for a competition. I still had not been able to upload it because of its size but no problem today. Anyways some people were asking about it and I thought I would explain... It was a cake for a competition that Duff from Ace of Cakes was judging. The cake was called a Bakers Nightmare because it was all about our fear of dropping a cake. The bakers were made out of fondant and gumpaste and are supposed to be the people from the Ace of Cakes show. The one in the corner who has already dropped his cake is Duff. This cake had a motor in the base with two speeds that made the cakes spin. Some of the figures had jointed legs because I wanted their legs to swing with the movement. The cakes are foam covered with fondant. The arms that hold all the cakes are hidden within the figures. The angles look really crazy in this picture because after I set it up my brother decided we needed to test it. Well a nut that was tight became loose inside the arm work and the whole thing started to tilt. Well at that point there was nothing more we could do. Time was up and judging was beginning so we had to leave. I was later told that Duff had begun judging and had not gotten to my cake yet when it crashed over. Oh the irony! Why would I choose to make a cake with a theme about cakes falling over???? Anyways here's the pic..
i am so soory to hear about your cake falling over...other than that, it look fantastic!!
great job!!
First of all....that cake is amazing! You SO would have won....too bad it tumbled before Duff could see it! BUMMER!
Your cake looks fabulous, I love the detail in your Ace of Cake figures. So heartbreaking that it fell, but you should be proud of how well it looked.
You definitely would've won, I don't even need to see the other entries. Super original and excellently executed!
Wow, I am soo impressed with your figures alone!! What a shame it crashed. Seriously, could you do the same with real cakes? With the angles and supports used could it work with real ones? I have no clue, that's why I ask. This is worlds beyond anything I could attempt. So sorry you had a disaster. As I said, your figures looked great!!
That is SOOOOO cool!!! Did you at least get to meet Duff? lol.
P.S. Is there a website where we can see the other cakes? I have a feeling that had yours not tipped, you'd have won.
Awesome cake! Did you get to meet Duff? How did you find out about/enter this competition? Did you make the cake on site or make it and bring it?
I'm sorry, this is just so exciting to me! lol.
Your cake is awesome! The figures are amazing! Too bad it didn't survive
You should email it to Charm City Cakes, so they can see the "before" picture. I'm sure they'd love it!
Oh how ironic! LOL But the cake is excellent. Did the judges say anything? I would think you should have gotten some kind of award because after all, your cake did what they whole competition was about!
Keep up the great work.
Kathy
This was a competition that just happened to be in my city Rockford, Il. I found out about it through the newspapers. It was basically a fundraiser for a local museum. The competition cost $50.00 to enter. The cakes could be styrofoam but everything that was visible needed to be edible. The cakes were were made off site at your own leisure and then transported to the museum. The contest was my first and I had only been decorating cakes 3 months. I was so afraid and I really did not want to enter but my husband paid the $50.00 and lovingly pressured me! I was really some what delusional about how long it would take me to make this. I set aside two days before the competition to make the cakes - it was my first time working with dummy cakes and I had only used fondant a couple times! Well I was working on the cakes even as my family was loading them into the car - I was so unprepared! We had to transport it all set up which was a nightmare in the car! I remembered watching an Ace of Cakes episode where they didn't measure the height of a cake until it was too late and it would not fit in the vehicle!! I made the same mistake! Luckily my brothers car had 2 more inches in height! When we got to the competition I really felt like a fish out of water. There were so many professionals and the cakes looked amazing. I had several people walk by as I was working(we had a couple hours on site to set-up but I was still trying to finish decorating mine! I was shaking like a leaf with all of the onlookers!) and a few people asked me what school I had attended - I couldn't believe they thought I had gone to a fancy pastry school. I had attended one Wilton class and spent the rest of my training eating dinners in front of Food Network! Anyways I managed to finish - then we tested it - and then it started to tilt. You know on Food Network Challenge when they are just so relieved that its over and they say they won't ever do another - I know what they are feeling...I just wanted to get out of there - I didn't care if it tipped - I was exhausted (my adrenaline had been pumping for several hours at that point) and I wanted it to be over! But on the other hand if I was given an opportunity now to try again I would probably go for it! I did not meet Duff face to face but I did see him the next day when he put on a demo at the museum. He made comments on everyone's cake and showed pictures of the cakes on a projector. When he got to mine the picture he used was of my cake toppled over. Everyone in the crowd did a loud "AAAWE" (you know like they felt bad) He said "SHHH - no, you don't understand this cake was cool because it was all about cakes falling over!" Well I had been feeling really down that day, we had just toured the museum and saw all the cakes. Of course mine was laying on its side. I did not want anyone to know it was mine - I was so embarassed -but my sweet little girl ran up to it and starting shouting my Mommy made this! I left her with her Daddy and ran to the other side of the museum. Anyways, later, at the demo Duff talked about all the competitions he started out in and how he always came in last place, but that he kept trying. He talked about how his cakes always fell apart because he loved to push the envelope and defy gravity. But Food Network kept inviting him back - not because his cakes were perfect or even intact - but because people liked watching him think outside the box. Well I felt like I could relate to that and he made me feel better about what I had tried to do!
Thanks everyone for your sweet comments. The winner of the competition was a very sweet lady. Her cake was a scarecrow sitting with a bunch of leaves in front of it. It was the cleanest fondant work I have ever seen. She said she would lay down a piece of fondant and if it wasn't right she would keep redoing it over and over. She deserved to win because you could really tell how much time and skill she had invested!
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! Your cake is absofreakinlutely amazing!! SO sorry it fell over before Duff could judge it, but from what I've seen of his personality I can bet he would have loved it!!!
This is such an adorable cake---as well as fabulous!! So sorry it fell...what a heartbreak! Glad you got a pic before the crash!!
Thanks everyone for your sweet comments. The winner of the competition was a very sweet lady. Her cake was a scarecrow sitting with a bunch of leaves in front of it. It was the cleanest fondant work I have ever seen. She said she would lay down a piece of fondant and if it wasn't right she would keep redoing it over and over. She deserved to win because you could really tell how much time and skill she had invested!
awww, that was sweet of you to say (because that was me!) I didn't win though, I got third. Of course going to the competition I had secret hopes of winning (along with everyone else). But when we got there and I plunked down my little scarecrow cake, I turned to my husband and said "I don't think I am going to win!" The cakes were so huge and unusual! Everyone was working like crazy setting them up. I thought your cake was amazing, you shouldnt have been embarrassed. It was a brilliant and creative idea. And yours wasnt the only one to fall over. We've all been there, even Duff. Anyone who does cakes understands.
So here I am looking for the scarecrow picture... You don't have it in your pictures Merissa? I would love to see it.
Peet
It's there, just on the 2nd page
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1151435
i think both cakes were super cool
i love the idea of the falling cake... super cool
and i agree marissa that is some of the nicest fondant work i have ever seen... very clean
Yeastconfection - your cake was totally amazing!!! So sorry it fell!
Merissa - I just love your scarecrow cake!
Saying the two of you have talent is an understatement!
Your cake was amazing!!! And you've only been decorating a short time??? You have incredible talent and even though your cake fell you should be proud of going outside your box and entering even if you didn't want to.
You definitely would have won had it not fallen!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%