2011 Panhandle Cake CRUMBS Competition!

Well, you probably haven't noticed, but I've been pretty quiet on the blog for the past week. That's because I've been busy finishing my entry to the 2011 Panhandle Cake CRUMBS Competition. I entered last year's competition, fairy tale-themed, with Shrek's & Fiona's Wedding Cake. Here are a bunch of photos from last year's event if you're interested.

I don't want to overload you with photos so I'll just post photos of my entry today. Stay tuned for photos from the on-site 1-tip Decorating Contest and the other competition entries!

Here's the view of my entry from the front:


This year's theme was the 1960s so my cake was called "Sweet 16 in the 1960s." I tried to recreate edible versions of things you might find in a teenage girl's room in the 1960s.

And here's the back:


Of course, if it was a Sweet 16 cake, there had to be a birthday cake on it somewhere! Martha Stewart did a similar cake, and I like the mod look...so I adapted it: changed colors, added a few things, and here ya go:


And this particular 16-year-old has a scrapbook turned to a page showing her boyfriend Mark and her best friends at the drive-in, the skating rink, and the science fair. I found all these photos in one of Adam's uncle's high school yearbooks from the 1960s. Treasures!


This is my absolute favorite part of the cake - the lime green go-go boot made entirely of Rice Krispies Treats! I love how the pom poms came out! Wanna know a secret? I only made the pom poms to cover boo-boos on the boot! I didn't have the pom poms in my original cake sketch, but I'm happy with how they look. They add a little fun & flirtatiousness to the boot!


I built the cake stand for the birthday cake out of foam board and Rice Krispies Treats. Of course, I could have used a store-bought cake stand, but you don't get points for purchased and non-edible items. To decorate the sides of the cake stand, I use a fondant crimper and piped both traditional and Oriental stringwork.


And, on the back of the cake, I had an orange phone made of Rice Krispies Treats, and I propped up 2 record albums - The Beatles' Yellow Submarine and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Now, if you're a Floyd fan, you know that Dark Side of the Moon was actually released in the 1970s. Ooops! I didn't realize that until after I'd made the album cover, and it came out so awesome I just had to use it! Luckily, the judges didn't seem to notice. *wink*


So did I win anything? Well, that's the exciting part, isn't it!?


I won 1st Place in the Professional Division, Best of Show, and Decorator's Favorite.


And here's a photo of the massive cake, me, Lew Churnick (owner of PhotoFrost), and Lisa Menz. I used PhotoFrost images to make the scrapbook and LOVE their product! Lisa has a PhotoFrost printer so after I scanned the images and edited them a little, she printed them off on the icing sheets. Thank you, Lew and Lisa!


You can be sure that when I get my bakery going in Tampa, one of the first pieces of decorating equipment I'll purchase is a PhotoFrost printing system!

Let's Eat Cake Fundraiser Updates!

It's been over a year since I competed in the Let's Eat Cake Fundraiser in Gainesville. It benefited the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and it was a really fun night!

My favorite photo of the night is this one, surrounded by the people who came specifically to support me. Hubby was out of town on business so I felt so special to have a great group of people there with me!


And the reason I'm bringing all this up again, is I JUST ran across some blog posts that the creator of the competition, Melissa, wrote after the competition.

Click here to see her post with a few of the night's entries.

Click here to see her post thanking the people who helped out...but definitely check out Steamy Kitchen's blog post about the event here. She has great pictures of Debbie's and my cakes! Ok, I'll just show you the photos she has of me and my cake:


So she forgot my name in her post...oh well! With such great photos, I can forgive that little detail!

Here is the Tampa Tribune's article about the event. I'm not mentioned in it, but it's still a great article.

Ok, now I'm getting giddy again! Here's Melissa's blog post about the WINNERS!!!

And here's Melissa's funny post about discovering she was featured in Gainesville Today, a local magazine. I had a very similar experience when people started telling me, "I saw you in the magazine!" Huh??? "Yea, there's a great photo of you!" So I immediately rushed out a grabbed a whole stack of the magazines. I gave a bunch to family and friends, but I still have 3 that I will - one day - display in my very own bakery!




Man, I'm so excited now! Competition really gets me going! But I'm also really excited about the Florida ICED Cake Competition because now I'm the one planning it! It's gonna be huge, people! I've already spoken to WCJB about being there for the event. You can bet I'll be talking to the Tampa Tribune, Gainesville Sun, Gainesville Today, etc! This is going to be THE place to be on March 27, 2011! Don't miss it!