Last weekend I entered my first cake competition. The Garden State Cake Show was held at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Burlington, NJ on February 4th and 5th. Anyone from ages 5 and up could enter. I decided to enter cakes in the Advanced Adult Competition; one tier and one show themed cake (What I Want to be When I Grow Up). I was a little nervous...OK a lot nervous :) since this was my first official cake competion and definitely my first time being judged by professional decorators. The entire show was great with demos, vendors, classes and even a live cake competition but I'll post more on that later. For now, here are my contributions to the show.
The first cake entered was in the tier/novelty category and I was up against some really great cakes. Here is my entry...
I knew it wasn't perfect and the judges called me on all the mistakes I already knew of but being one of two cakes, I was happy with the end result. I managed to sneak a pic of my cake being judged :) The one in the front was the winner of the category. Gorgeous! This entry was a tribute to my husband and had I known ANYTHING about cake decorating when we got married, this would have been our wedding cake. I particularly love the bold colors and airbrush fading on the cake. Apparently so did the judges because...
...3rd place!
The other cake I entered took most of my time and energy. It was based on the show's theme, What I Want to be When I Grow Up. My children and their imagination was my inspiration. It depicts a child (my oldest) playing in his room and dreaming of his future.
I was REALLY nervous about this cake. If you saw the cake I was up against, you would be too. But the judges just loved my cake...especially the fondant work, wood grain, and little details. They loved it so much that...
...I managed to grab 1st place! I was floored by this win and almost a week later, I'm still on a winner's high. I can't wait for the next show...maybe I'll enter 3 cakes :)
I took a ton of pictures of the event and will be sharing all of the amazing work I saw that day. So stay tuned..
____________________________________________________________________________________________
February 10, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Many congrats again, Kim! You've come so far in such a short time and should be soooooooo proud of yourself! I can't wait to see more posts:)
February 10, 2011 at 11:00 AM
wowee congratulations! i love your cakes! way to go. i'm just amazed at how you did that thought bubble.
February 14, 2011 at 7:49 AM
Thank you! The rest of the pictures should be posted today.
Chris - The thought bubble was my favorite part :)