I sign up to participate in a cake competition and I'm a little nervious (a lot!).

Calling all veteran in cake competition!

Please I need your advice, what will be the best advice to win?

Thanks!

I love entering cake decorating competitions! What is really invaluable is seeing your cakes next to your peers'. Until I started entering competitions, the only people who saw my cakes were people who love me and who can trust their opinions ? It's great to be able to see what others with the same amount of experience are doing.

I also really appreciate the judges' feedback. I take everything they give me in the way of constructive criticism and work on those things as I go forward with my cakes. My skills have improved tremendously since I entered my first competition three years ago. I've started blogging about my experiences in competitions if you want to check it out. http://beautifullyembellishedcakes.blogspot.com/

This thread has invaluable advice on competitions: http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-603734-competition.html+hints

Good luck and be sure to post pictures after the show!

I'm glad to hear these thoughts -- my friends want me to compete but I'm very shy about it. Thanks for the links too!

"Please I need your advice, what will be the best advice to win? "

Neatness counts the most. Color scheme and coordination seem to be second, then difficulty of techniques.

It seems that most judges like white or off-white cakes for any wedding cake. Bright colors are judged best for birthday, pastels for shower cakes, and chocolate or darker colors for men's cakes.

I've mentioned before that the cake board is important. It really is. It needs to match or coordinate with the cake. The edges must be clean and neat, and coordinating ribbon must be attached to the board. If your ribbon has several colors in it, then the cake MUST have all the same colors in it. Another lesson I learned the hard way.

When you look at your cake, it should be a cohesive piece of art. If your eye flows smoothly bottom to top, then you have a good design. If your gaze gets "hung up" on one or more areas, then those areas need work. Even the wrong color ribbon, no matter how pretty, can cause a break in the flow. A judge can get stuck on how the ribbon doesn't work and may not see the fabulous work on the cake. This is another tough lesson learned. If there is a mistake that can be made in a competition, I have made it.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Michele

since we're talking about competitions, how do you find them? I want to enter one as a begginer but the only thing I can find is our county fair in July. Are they only in large cities like like San Francisco or Los Angeles ( I live in CA )

Thank you so much for all the information.
I'm very nervious and reading your advices made me feel better.

I will post pictures and let you know what happen.