The Central Florida Fair

This weekend, Adam and I drove to Orlando to drop off my entries into the Central Florida Fair Confectionery Arts Competition. There were many categories to choose from, but I entered cakes into the "wedding cakes larger than 3 tiers" and the "It's Showtime" (the fair theme) categories. I also had to enter as a professional because the rules describe teachers as professionals. Dang, I gotta up my game if I want to compete with the pros!

The wedding cake was the same one that I entered into the Let's Eat Cake competition in February. I had to make a few quick repairs on it, but it was mostly in good shape after all the activity and transportation of the last competition. Here's a picture of me setting up my cakes at the fair.
Notice the utter disorganization in the room set-up. You can't see it because my head is in the way, but the majority of the other entries were on a table in the corner. That table got full so they had me set mine up way over here... They're going to move them to join the rest of the entries after the judging has taken place... Seems odd, but whatever. Also notice directly behind me is a table with Peeps dioramas (you can see the backs of the dioramas in this photo). Some were super cute...and some I just didn't get! haha! Adam and I are going back to the fair this weekend so I'll be sure to take pictures of most of the entries and post them here!

Here are my two cakes! Adam and I totally meant to take pictures of our heads poking through that ear of corn on the left-hand side of the photo, but we forgot! Hopefully it'll be on display this weekend!



As I mentioned above, the theme of the fair this year is "It's Showtime!" I wanted to make a cake that showed the stage as well as gave hints toward all the work that goes on backstage during a big event or show.

The front of the stage features a classic "It's Showtime at the Central Florida Fair" sign. The cow sitting on the corner of the stage was created in the likeness of a cow that appears on the fair brochures this year. The cow is announcing the start of the annual duck races! Here, 3 ducks (all wearing swimming goggles, although it's hard to see from this angle) are lined up at the starting line waiting to race!

On the side of the cake, I put 2 general admission tickets to the fair.

On the back of the cake, you see a ladder and paint cans (presumably used to decorate the stage) and a sign pointing to makeup, costumes, dressing rooms, etc. I decorated the sides of the stage with famous movie quotes and the words "lights, camera, action."

The stage is sitting on a giant film reel which is then sitting on a giant director's clapboard. Have you noticed anything....weird...about the pictures above? Notice how the film reel stays stationary, but we see a different side of the stage in each photo... The stage rotates! The red and white bulls-eyes on the cake are were you can place your finger to turn the stage. Here, I'll ask Adam to demonstrate:

Ooh, he seems really excited about it! Haha! Just teasing, he REALLY didn't want to pose for this picture. But, what can I say, I must have awesome manipulating skills - I didn't even have to beg! Maybe he knows that it's just better in the long run to shut up and do what I ask.

Anyway, I applied to be in a live, televised cake decorating competition the first weekend in May in Maryland. The rules of that competition say that at least some part of the final cake must move when a little pressure is applied. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to practice in case I got chosen! Unfortunately, it's not looking like I was chosen since I haven't heard from any of the producers yet...bummer, that would've been fun!

So how did I make the stage spin??? Hmmm...I think I'll save that for a future tutorial!