Cake Competition prep: Day 1

Hi!

I didn't get "a lot" of stuff done on my cake today, but I did.... if that makes any sense! lol

No cakes were baked, but I cleared out my kitchen, made lists, finalized the design (it's totally awesome, if I do say so myself.... nobody ever accused me of not being ambitious THAT's for sure!!) and started some of the prep work. I swear, if it were possible to get contact diabetes, I would have gone into a coma tonight!

I made:
2 batches of butter cream
1 batch modeling chocolate (I think I may need 2 or 3 batches, but I only had enough chocolate for 1)
1 batch Rice Krispie treats (I like these better than cake... it was all I could do not to eat the whole batch!! lol)
2 batches of royal icing double (Might be too runny, I might need to add more sugar... we'll have to see)
A Gelatin sheet (I'm going to have a "water" element and this is a really cool technique that I discovered on the internet)
a double batch of piping gel

I'm punking out and buying the fondant. I just don't have the time or sanity to try and make it right now. For me, fondant outcomes tend to rely more on the position of the moon and some sort of mystical chant/dance/special handshake that I am not privy to, than my actual skills. I nearly had a breakdown in September over making the stupid fondant (ANTS were in my sugar!! and you don't really notice powdered sugar ants until you have freckled fondant. At that point in time, you either chuck it, take a deep breath and have a good cry or try to convince everyone that you used fancy vanilla beans in your recipe....)

I'm really pushing my skill set with this cake. It's going to be a stacked AND tiered cake*. It will have figures modeled out of chocolate and dusted with lustre dust to look like bronze*. It will have a cool "fountain" with water.* piped royal icing decorations* Handmade flowers and ferns* and a bunch of other cool stuff, I'm not gonna tell you about right now :) You will just have to follow along if you want to see the final product!



*all stuff I have ever done

OMG OMG OMG!!!

As you know (if you've been reading, lol) that I finished my first Wilton course on Wednesday. After class, I was talking with my instructor and she asked me if I had ever thought about doing a cake competition. I told her that I *had* thought about it, but that I didn't have any idea where to find one locally. She said that she got an email the other day about one in the area and that I should check it out. She told me that Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes was going to judge it.


(*squeal* I wanna work there for a week.... just to absorb the knowledge!)

I googled and found the website, but the web page said that entries had closed at 5 pm that day. I was all bummed out, and I read the rules in a "woulda, coulda, shoulda" mood and I discovered in the fine print that the entries were to be closed on March 4 at 5pm. After a few emails back and forth, the powers that be decided that due to a technicality (the web guy didn't change the rules when they changed the date every where else on the website) that they would send me an application. I filled it out and sent it in with pictures of my airplane, firetruck, blue flower, and hand of cards cake.

I've been on pins and needles for a day in a half, part of me desperately hoping they pick me and the other half dreading it.




I got an acceptance email at 4pm today!!!!



OMG OMG OMG!!!


I have to go up against 55 other cakes, most of whom have been planning/preparing their cakes for weeks..... at a venue that is 3 hours away..... in the middle of spring break.


*breathe* *breathe* *breathe* *breathe* *breathe* *breathe*



This is the competition http://cakechallenge.missouri.edu/ The theme is “A Mizzou Spring.” I have been madly googling, because not only do I have JUST 10 days to pull this cake out of thin air, I have NEVER BEEN TO MIZZOU!!! lol

Oh well! I have tons of ideas and I'm hoping to "make it Bigger, make it Badder, make it AWESOME!!!" enough.


ACK!!!





Anyone want to come clean my house??

More Cake!!

I just finished the Wilton Cake Decorating Basics Course I (four week class covering the basics of cake decorating), and I have been reminded that I abso-freakin-lutely HATE working in just buttercream! lol. Can't stand it!! The second class in this course had me throwing a tantrum/meltdown to rival any 2 yr olds! (It probably didn't help that I hadn't eaten all day and was hopped up on diet coke). lol

I have redeemed myself (I believe) with tonight's cake. It was my final for the class and I think it turned out very nicely.