Wow, I can't believe tonight's challenge. I KNOW it's a struggle - but wow, it was not the best challenge! I felt SO bad for the lady who did the NYC skyline. It was bad

I really believe that if Orlando would have had his cakes stacked he would have won.

The Seattle skyline was good, but how the judges said it's a cake competition and he used cardboard.

I felt bad for all of them.

AAAAAGH! I MISSED IT! I can't believe I didn't remember it's on on Sunday nights!

I have to agree... really bad... Although, I think that 8 hours for a whole skyline is real tight for time.

I usually manage to find out AFTER the show that it was on and have to catch it on a re-run, so I was very lucky to catch this tonight. Yeah, I felt bad for the lady who had to run out and buy sheet cakes because hers were (lost? damaged? can't remember). However ... it was a great illustration to me about what all of you fondant folks are always saying about having a cake sturdy enough to hold the weight of the fondant.

I thought Orlando was going to win simply because (a) his was all cake and (b) as the architectect judge said, his was the straightest and looked like buildings.

I think another good lesson-learned was what the judge said about (forget what city ... the blonde lady .... with the park and the fountain). That the landscape / park drew the eye downward instead of upward toward the buildings. I wouldn't have verbalized that, but when he said it, it was a big "Ohhhhhhhh!" moment.

This was the most interesting challenge I've ever seen. Sometimes it's just nice to see that the pro's have bad days like the rest of us.

I only caught the last 20 minutes of the show, but I agree, it was a tough challenge. I think all of the skylines could have been better. Courtney's was nice, but the judges thought she put too much attention on the landscaping instead of the skyline.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didnt the decorator who used cardboard buildings win??? Sure his looked the best, but he was not dealing with the leaning and bulging of cake with his buildings. Maybe a little unfair, IMO.

I think this had to have been one of THE toughest challenges they have ever done. It was a great show (learning experience). Until the end, I wondered if they'd even pick a winner. Everyone was falling so short of completion. It was amazing to see how they "brought it together" in the last hour. I felt bad for all of the contestants, though, for one reason or another.

I never entered a competition. But I could not help but wonder if part of the problem was that they did not hands-on practice what they were going to do, or practice enough if they did. (I think one of the contestants even said they did not really practice.) If they all did a couple 8-hour runs of their project, I think everyone's project would have been executed sooooo much better. To 'lil 'ol me, $10,000.00 would be worth the investment. But I guess for some, it's not about the money, but the exposure. And they're all winners really for even being selected to be on the show.

I hope they do a similar competition like this again (because of the short comings). Maybe make it a "world" skyline challenge. With this one already aired, I'd be curious to see what another set of contestants can execute.

I always enjoy watching cake challenges, when I am lucky enough to catch them. Are cake challenges always at 8:00 on Sunday evenings? ......Just before Desperate Housewives??? Anyway, 8 hours (16 hours with the helper) is not much time to put several cakes together (with windows, doors etc.) and do any city details (streets, rivers, etc.). When it is that involved, it just does not seem to be enough time. I too was surprised that the guy with cardboard buildings won. I think his finished product was beautiful and professional-looking so that must have put him first place!

Can anyone tell me the name of the girl who did the Pittsburgh cake? I had it DVR'd and then deleted it. I can't find anything online.

That cake brought back so many memories for me. Both of my parents grew up in the burbs of Pittsburgh and I used to spend summers with my gram. We would always ride the incline whenever we went downtown for anything. I think it was like a quarter to ride or something crazy like that! I almost went to Point Park College and it's right there at the Three Rivers. Ah the memories!