I Did It!!i Won Blue Ribbon, Best Of Class & Best Of Div
Decorating By prettycake Updated 19 Aug 2006 , 2:50am by sugartopped
Congratulations!!! You totally deserve it...your cake is gorgeous!!!!
Hi my fellow CC'nians,
I won yesterday at the 2006 CA State Fair.
I got First Place (Blue Ribbon), Best of Division and Best of Class.
I'm not sure If I got Best of Show since I had to leave b4 it was announced. I f I did I will let you all know...it was Pumpkin Cake w/ Maple Buttercream..everything is MMF. it was judged 96% taste, flavor, texture and 4% appearance and presentation. One cake was disqualified because there was human hair on it and one was presented in a big shoe box. There was a total of probably 80 cakes in the cake div. Thanks for looking. I named it" Autumn Breeze"
here is my entry:
****Awesome job****
Just one question; Did you say one cake was DQ'd b/c of human hair??? Was that one stray hair or did it actually have hair decoration?
It's gorgeous. I'm wondering why they only judged 4% on appearance! I'd think that appearance should count for way more than that!
You must be so proud! Have you ever entered before?
Hey congratulations! It sure is a ....... prettycake! 
I like the colorations on the leaves especially.
Did I read someone say you use a doctored mix? Sure would love to have THAT recipe!
I'm surprised you were allowed to enter with a mix. Our fairs are extra strict about that!
Actually...for the California State Fair isnt it :
30% ...appearance
35% ...flavor
25% ...texture
10% ...crumb
?? 
Yes, something like that.. the hand book breaks it down to these numbers.
The judges really were not very specific on the scores, but they kept repeating that looks has nothing to do with it, but also at the same time, they were very critical about some of the presentation they were seeing..
Actually...for the California State Fair isnt it :
30% ...appearance
I know prettycake already said this in so many words but I thought it might help to know that in judging appearance, they only take into consideration...
Surface crust or frosting
Crust color, texture and depth
Frosting/glaze glossy, not granular, soft, not sticky, suitable flavor
Filling minimum ¼ inch, fluffy, good flavor blend with cake
It's a baking competition, not really a decorating one. If it were though, I'm sure we'd all agree that she'd be able to add another ribbon to her collection
HTH
This was 100% scratch...I don't use doctored mixes for contests. I might as well follow rules of the contest if I'm gonna put a lot of effort and time into it. For friends and family birthdays, I use mix, not even doctored.
Here is the recipe:
Pumpkin Cake
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups plus 2 T. sugar (I like it on the sweet side)
1 can 15 oz. Pumpkin (NOT the Pie mix)
4 whole eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Beat together oil, pumpkin, eggs and sugar until smooth.
Combine in a separate bowl all the dry ingredients.
Then mix the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture.
Mix well.. Pour into prepared pans..
Any size of pan will do.. Like any of your regular cake recipes.
Bake 340 degrees for about 50 mins. or until testing comes out cooked (toothpick method or any method you prefer).
Maple Buttercream:
1 cup butter
1 cup Maple Sugar (this is dry, not like brown sugar)
1/2 Cup room temp whole milk
Add enough powdered sugar until stiff enough for icing and filling
Beat untill all sugars are mixed and disolved.
Then fill and ice the Pumpkin cakes.
Oh yum!! I cannot wait to attempt this cake, just the baking-not the decorating! Something that beautiful is way beyond my skill!
Do you have any suggestions for posible substitution of the maple sugar? Would maple flavoring and another type of sugar work? I live pretty close to the middle of nowhere and doubt any of our stores would even know what I was asking for much less carry it.
I would not suggest using Maple Syrup, it will come out runny and the Maple sugar have a much stronger flavor.
Wonderful cake! Its looks great. I saved the recipe and I will be trying that soon. Thanks for sharing.
Way to go on the Blue Ribbon!! That is AWESOME!!!!
It's a baking competition, not really a decorating one.
Oh! I get it! Sorry I minunderstood.
Oh! I get it! Sorry I minunderstood.
I think she means because I said the decorating was 30% not 4%
Great Job!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations keep up the great work!!!!!
Oh! I get it! Sorry I minunderstood.
I think she means because I said the decorating was 30% not 4%
Actually, I earlier had written that I was surprised that it was only 4% judged on presentation, but then Lisa said it was a BAKING competition, not a DECORATING competition. So, now I understand why it's judged mostly on TASTE.
I would not suggest using Maple Syrup, it will come out runny and the Maple sugar have a much stronger flavor.
If you have maple syrup you could make your own maple sugar by cooking it...check online for sugaring temperature..it's really just a process of boinling it to the right temp for it to sigar....
PS...No...don't use imitation maple syrup. It has to be the real stuff from a tree lol...somebody was bound to ask that lol.
Thanks so much PC for sharing the recipe.
-cp
OR...you could order online:
http://www.ontariomaplesyrup.com/syrup15.html
thanks for sharing the recipe!! can't wait to try it!!
and your cake was beautiful!! so happy you won!!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%