«

»

Jun 05

My First Cake Competition : #5 Comp Day.

 

 

 

 

So competition day loomed ever closer, and I spent 3 days making, decorating and putting the finishing touches on my actual cake. Despite the fact that I have made a practice-run cake and planned my tasks very meticulously, there were some very memorable setbacks … like coming home from the store one afternoon to discover all my sugar flowers had been eaten by the dog!

 

Sugar paste flowers and a translucent sugar butterfly.

 

 

 

This was four days before the actual cake comp, and I was LIVID!! Had to re-do all my flowers and paint them too.

 

Things I have learnt the most about making a competition cake is that fondant is the pits! It is not the easiest cake cover to work with. Bakers and cake decorators make it look so so easy but I struggled. I struggled to keep it even and smoothe … then I struggled to keep it clean and pure white. Then there were the cracks to deal with … ugh!!

 

 

 

 

 

 Fondant drove me crazy and I was close to tears. The cake looked odd and lumpy. Sadness. Then there were the cracks to fill and let me tell you, they were hard to fix. I felt quite overwhelmed, as though I had bitten off more than I could chew … coz I chose an overly ambitious design as my first ever cake competition. This was the first time I was handling fondant and it was kicking my ass.

 

 

Eventually the cake came round and it started looking like a decent edible creation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the event R busted his back carrying my stuff from the car to the judging venue and it was serious enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. The verdict : a pinched vertebral nerve and he was sent home for rest with painkillers. *Sigh*

 

Anyway, the judging of cakes took place in the morning and the results were announced around midday. I didn’t place in the top three and yes, I was a little disappointed with myself. Two of the three judges were pastry chefs and the third was the editor of Elle magazine. The winner got to be featured in the mag with an interview and won like € 100 book voucher to spend at the bookstore.

 

So here are the top three winners and their cakes.

 
 

 

 

So there you have it. I guess my chocolate cake just did not impress … or that perhaps the fondant really was yucky with the chocolate cake and chocolate butter cream …. who knows. The questions could go on and on.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a good experience. I think I know where I went wrong and I now know the intricacies of working with fondant … I think I am not ready for it. For the time being I will stick to the classics and put fancy multi-layered cakes on the backburner for now. Sometimes I wonder why can’t I just win the lottery so that I can fund my tuition at a fancy culinary school … humph. I just know I am better than this.

 

 

 

~ THE END ~

 

 

 

Share

Permanent link to this article: http://foodflurries.com/sweet/my-first-cake-competition-5-comp-day

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *