I was reading a thread on here a couple of weeks ago about unfair judging at local fairs. It happened to me today. I entered my Sweetheart Cake (in my photos) in a cake decorating contest at a local festival. I don't live in the small town, but I my husband teaches there and I was encouraged to enter by my hairdresser who was born, raised, and still lives there. So I did...knowing full well that I probably wouldn't win because I'm not a local girl.

All I heard the whole time was how beautiful the pink and white cake was. People were saying that it should win (they didn't know that I was the one who made it). It didn't, however. A small fondant covered camouflage cake with a tank on top won. As soon as I saw that cake, I knew I was a goner. The residents of this small town are very patriotic.

After all the judging (there were several categories...tasting, pies, youth, ...) all the items were auctioned. My cake got a collective "Ooooo..." from the audience and a "Beautiful cake" comment from the auctioneer. The tank cake, however, still went for more money.

Oh well...I enjoyed making the cake and the experience. Next year, if I enter, my cake will be either patriotic or military themed.

i went thrugh the same thing and battled for 3 years.. i probably would still be battling if hubby wasn't on the fair board and encouraged them to listen to Why i was raising cain so to speak. they weren't changed due to his influence he just was able to give me a spot where i was heard finally. my cakes were being judged- decorative- not eaten- against baked goods=== eaten- not decorated. finally at the end of last year things were decided and this year we have a new division for decorated- not eaten cakes.

on a side note i'm having an eye issue and not sure if i'll be able to enter a cake this year - talk about irony.. fighting so hard for this and not being able to celebrate it .. i have a few weeks left to go hoping this clears up asap!

LOL, anything military-related where I live is going to win, hands down. It's a no-brainer .

Your cake is lovely, and I'm just playing devil's avocate here, but most cake decorating competitions are judged, in part, on degree of difficulty. That could have had something to do with it. Cake decorators know that the technique you used is, while very pretty, also very simple to do.

That being said, I do agree that many county and state fairs have unfair judging. One cake decorating contest that I enter is judged by 3 women, a mother and 2 daughters. The mother owns a cake business and the 2 daughters work for her and they all hate fondant. They also have no imagination or sense of humor. What can you do?

I enter in the CA State Fair Competition every year and my cake always stands out. This year I won Best Decorated.. I always get First Place. Last year the lady who got 3rd Place approached me and told me
"maybe if you stop entering others might win"... I took that as a compliment and kept entering. This year I did not see her.

Everytime I enter each year, I always go there expecting not to win, at least I will not be too depressed if I didn't win. Just keep entering and make your entry the best that you can do. Give it 110%.. I always do. Thankfully the judges of the competitions that I enter are professional Pastry Chefs.. they know what to look for.. good luck in the next one..

for years i'd also been told 'if your not a huckleberry pie" your not going to win. i finally mentioned it to some of those that matter with the way things run around there so i think that put an end to some of that. weshall see lol