2011 National Capitol Area Cake Show by International Cake Exploration Society

International Cake Exploration Society sponsored the 2011 National Capitol Area Cake Show in Annandale, VA on March 26 – 27, 2011. According to the NCACS, they have not anticipated to have at least 3,000 visitors on the show and at least 350 registered competitors. There was overwhelming number of crowd and overflowing cakes on the tables for each competing division. It was one kind of an event that I’ve never been to. TLC and Food Network Channels were there shooting a cake challenge episode called Castles of the Silver Screen.

In the Wedding Cake Category in my Division, this is the Modern Bride wedding cake I designed and entered for the competition. This Modern Bride wedding cake was place 3rd, which surprised me and brought me some tears. I humbly say that my competitors have some talent. This cake was nowhere close to the cakes that took the 1st and 2nd place. Overall, I was so proud that my piece that I worked for almost 2 days, took the 3rd place.

In the Sculpted Cake Category in my Division, this is the sculpted cake (R2D2) I created and entered for the competition. This R2D2 was placed 2nd, which according to one of the NCACS judges who wrote the critic/review card that this could have been placed 1st place in the Tiered Cake category and not in the Sculpted Cake category. Darn! Lessons learned… for me.

These are the Tiered and Wedding cakes for Master's Division decorated by Norman Davis, a multiple 1st place winner of the Food Network Cake Challenge.

The Tiered Cake (above) and the Wedding Cake (below) by Norman Davis.

These are the cake decorated by Zane Beg, assistant of Norman Davis and also a multiple 1st place winner of the Food Network Cake Challenge.

The Scultped Cake (above) and the Wedding Cake (below) by Zane Beg.

Overall, I am very thankful to my husband who was so supportive and caring. He drove me over 4 hours to Virginia, so I can compete and enjoy my passion as an aspiring cake decorator. During this competition, I am proud to say that I was placed 2nd and 3rd with only 11 month of cake decorating experience. Looking forward for more challenges!

Baby Shower Cake from Dee!

Dee’s daughter is having a baby, but the baby’s sex is unknown. So, she decided to have a pastel green for the cake’s theme and the cake design is one of my previous cake designs. I didn’t expect that I will be making a baby shower cake with previous design, but different colors. Overall, I am happy to do it over again. This time it came out great! I am so happy that the family like my creation.

The cake is a butter cake filled with chocolate icing and covered with marshmallow-butter fondant. The pacifiers, shoes and cube are edible. The cube is made with rice crispie treats.

I would like to thank my colleague and a friend, Jana, for spreading the word to her friends about my cake baking and decorating hobby. I got an order from her. Thanks, Jana!

This message was sent to me by Dee on Sat., Mar.12, 2011 at 10:12 PM, "I just wanted to thank you again for such a beautiful cake...it was so much more that I imagined...it was the hit of the party...even the owner wanted to know where we got it...so appreciated all the work you put into it...thank you again... :)Dee"

This message was sent to me by Marisa on Tue., Mar. 15, 2011 at 9:42 AM, "Evelyn, I just wanted to thank you for the cake you made for my sister-in-laws shower, it was beautiful. You really did a great job; I can't even get a ribbon to look that nice never mind have one make out of icing! Everyone at the shower was so impressed and I think they will all want one for themselves. Hopefully you will get some more business out of it. Thank you again, Marisa"