I want to enter a sculpted cake into an upcoming sugar art competition in the fall. However, I've only ever entered decorated styrofoam cake dummies before, but 3D cakes have to be made with real cake. My question is how long would a decorated sculpted cake hold up? Due to my scheduling it would be easiest for me for make the cake a month before the competition, but will the cake rot or grow mold by that point? I've never had a real cake out for that long of a time, so I don't know how it would react. If anyone knows if it is okay to have a cake out for over a month, or a specific type of cake that would work best, please let me know! Thanks

When doing sculpted competition cakes most people either over bake the cake or let it dry slowly in a warm oven. This makes them more stable and keeps them from going bad. Traveling with them is much less stressful when the cakes are more like styrofoam.

The scarecrow in my gallery was used for one competition in the beginning of February and then traveled again to a show in late March. I tossed it a few weeks later because it was damaged. When I threw it in the trash and it fell apart there was no mold. I did use frosting with no dairy products.

Good luck with the competition. Some shows require 3 or more in-progress photos, so check the rules and take pictures just in case.

Michele

That is good to know. Thanks for your help Michele! Your cakes are lovely, by the way, I remember seeing a couple of them at OSSAS.