Cake Report: National Capital Area Cake Show Competition

WOW! What a weekend at my household this weekend! Incase you are not up to speed I’ll give you a quick recap! This weekend started off with National Half Marathon packet pick-up, entering (my very first cake competition) into the NCACS’s cake show, RUNNING the half marathon, baking over 200 cupcakes, competing in NCACS’s Cupcake Cocktail challenge, going to a 3 hour professional class on Air Brushing (Food grade), and finally checking out the award show for the weekend’s competitors/ decorators! If you think you’re tired from reading all of that, I’m exhausted…. and would do it all over starting tomorrow!

Obviously I am not going to blog ALL of that in one post, there is too much to say. Instead this week is going to have the wrap up of my cupcake cocktails, Air Brushing Class, and of course the Half Marathon! BUT for now I am way to excited to not to post my “Special Occasion/Novelty - Tiered” cake. I hope you enjoy!

I discovered NCACS (National Capital Area Cake Show) back in November but never thought much of it again until the new year rolled around. I registered first and then started pondering ideas for my cake theme. Sadly the only thing on my mind these days is Triathlon, and thus my inspiration grew from there.

 

I always imagined that a “Tiered Cake” would have to be at least 3 levels, and being so wrapped up the the tri world these days I couldn’t think of anything else in the world happening in 3s!

Starting from the bottom up was the swim, bike, run, and the cake topper was the grand finish! I promise to keep the chatter to a minimum and let you enjoy the process!

I had a blast making all of the wetsuits… not so much all of the hands! As shown in the second and third last pictures they were a little tedious! But in the end I think they really came out clean and I became much much more efficient at them!

On to the bike! (I actually became so engrossed in making the bikes that I forgot to take a lot of pictures along the way) But please take a peak at the pedal crank and water bottles on both bikes, they were my proudest features!!

 

Then I moved on to the runner! This is the cake topper and I knew it had to really be an eye catcher! Having never competed in a full ironman event (though sometimes I think being the cheering fiancée and training partner has to count as some sort of participant!) I have witnessed the finishing shoot pride and adrenalin and really wanted to do it justice.

(Come on, you know she needed a little “shape”)

Then comes all of the other details that Pull it all together!

(Conversation between me and the Boss/driver-)

ME: “Ray, please please drive slow and take it easy on the turns.”

Ray: “Yes Dear.”

(Last touches before leaving it for judging!)

I may or may not have used the cherry blossom trees to my advantage! I figured that they might draw a little extra attention with the home crowd, and they ended up be a really big hit! Though I will admit that the water cup trail from the aid station was a little feature that made me smile every time!

I’m sure by now you’re wondering “ how  long did that cake take?”, but it wasn’t that bad. It SEEMED like it took forever because I was putting in an hour of time here and there, and in the mean time the cake waited patiently on the kitchen table and counter! I think the person who suffered the most from the cake creation was The Boss; he loves to cook, and lately his space has been limited! But I have to give him a lot of praise because he was truly a good sport about his kitchen being short of destroyed over the past two weeks, and he is certainly my biggest supporter!

In the end I think he was pretty pleased! After all he did come to the award show with me!!

Here I am thinking I’m on top of the world because I WON! I won the 1st prize in my Category (The tiered occasion thing that I keep repeating)! But there were other categories as well in my Division (Adult Beginner) such as” specialty non-tiered”, “Under the Sea” (this was the theme this year), “Sculpted cakes”, and wedding cakes. In total there were over 50 some cakes in my division and to be honest when I dropped my cake off on Friday night, I double checked that I was in the right area!! These “Beginners” were pretty freakin’ fantastic! Intimidating too! They were all in Chef’s Jackets and had special cake carts/ carrying boxes. I was a little deflated!

Then the unthinkable happens (Literally, I didn’t know there were more awards other than “category awards”)! The Boss and I went to the awards ceremony to see the other winners cakes and clap for all of the contestants. I caught wind that I might actually get my picture on the slide show!

AND I DID! And then they announced “and the over all winner of the Adult Beginner Division is…”

MEEEEEE! WHAT???? HOLY CROW!

(Incase you are not the Food Network Geek that I am, that man is Norm. He Rocks. And he wins a lot of Live Challenges! I’m a big fan!)

That’s it folks! I’m exhausted! I really hope you enjoyed the journey of this cake; I had a blast making it! Be sure to poke back tomorrow, I’ll be posting about the Cupcake Cocktail Challenge! That too was a lot of fun… and I just may have created two of my favorite cupcake flavors!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

(Also if you have e-mailed or commented lately and I haven’t gotten back to you, I apologize! This past week was crazy! I will get back to you this week!!)

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Bertie’s Bakery Enters the National Capital Area Cake Show!

So I actually found out about the Cake Show back in the fall when I was traveling with the Boss to Bangkok and India. I had a little down time and started researching cake clubs and associations within the Northern Virginia area. Imagine my excitement when I realized my area would be hosting a huge 4 day cake show!

There are many different cake competitions to enter and at various ability levels! Cake competitions ranged from Wedding, Occasion, Sculpture, to taste! I entered myself into the “Special occasion and novelty- Tiered” division. As well I am categorized as an adult beginner because I have been at this hobby for less than two years without really any training (I will admit that I watch an awful lot of Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss while ridding the bike on my indoor trainer!).

I am really really pleased with the way the cake has been shaping up and I hope the judges appreciate the “theme” of my occasion cake! The idea is that the judges and visitors will know what the cake is for without actually writing it on the cake, like “Happy Sweet 16”. Anyways, it should be okay!

Also while investigating the Cake Show website I realized that this year was the start of the recognition of the booming cupcake market… and thus they are hosting the Inaugural Cupcake Challenge!

Well you know I couldn’t back down from that! I am indeed also competing in the Cupcake Challenge on Saturday! This year’s theme is “Cupcake Cocktails” and I (along with my super awesome helper- the Boss) will be presenting two flavored cupcakes/ cocktails! The Cupcakes can be created with the alcohol baked into the cake batter or used in the icing, or simply you do not have to use any alcohol and just recreate the cocktail flavors! I’m sorry to inform you that I will not be posting my cupcake creations just yet, my competitors could be reading :) But you should definitely poke in through out the week as hints might be slipped out!

Last but not least, I might have forgotten one interesting detail about the upcoming weekend… oh yeah, remember that 1/2 Marathon I signed up for… yup, the National Half Marathon is also this weekend!!! It’ll be one busy weekend!

Well, with all of this coming up, I better get to work! Time is of the essence!!!!

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Two Tier St. Patty’s Day Cake!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to ya! Well that’s how we say it at home!

This a super quick post just to display my cake! I didn’t have time to take a ton of pictures, but by now you’ve seen me level, frost, and cover a cake so I figure for this one time I would spare you the deets! It’s mid-term week at school so I don’t have a lot of extra time considering projects, rehabbing a shoulder, and preparing for the 1/2 marathon next weekend… oh yeah, then there’s that cake competition too!  But somehow I was signed up to bring a cake to class tomorrow? Anyways due to the occasion I thought this would only be appropriate! Enjoy!

Don’t forget to wear green… getting pinched really hurts!

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You’ve Got Mail!

So as I’ve let it slip a couple times I’m a little busy getting ready for a cake competition. Because of the added preparation time, posts have been a little sporadic lately! So I thought it would be fun to keep you a little more in the loop with what it is going to take to make this cake happen!

That’s right! That is a 20lbs bucket of fondant! It arrived on my doorstep today and I am stoked to really dive into the rest of this project! I promise not to hold out on you for too much longer, the details are to be revealed soon!

Later this afternoon another awesomely awesome mail parcel arrived!

 

But then it disappeared! :(

Who turned out the lights? Where’s my PRESENT?

There it is! Yeah! I had registered for the Kitchen Aid Glass mixing bowl for my Bridal Shower back in December, and a family member who couldn’t make it had purchased this for me!! IT JUST ARRIVED!! I am so totally stoked! Now I’m really ready to whip something up!

Come back on St. Patty’s day to see what I’ve got in store!

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ABC’s of ME: More than you ever needed to know!

I have to say thanks to one of my favorite Bloggers Molly who posted a similar list; I stole her idea and then changed some of the letters! As I am spending an incredible amount of time on my upcoming cake show “3 Tier Occasion Display Cake”, I was struggling to find something else to post about!! So here goes!

A. Age: 26; (27 in Triathlon years)

B. Born: St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

C. Chore you dislike: Vacuuming! I absolutely HATE the sound!

D. Dangerous when: on the dance floor (with margarita in hand!)

E. Essential start to your day: Chocolate milk

F. Favorite Food: Meat! Preferably beef

G. Good Samaritan: When I was a teacher I started a "breakfast club" for some of my students who were less fortunate. They'd swing by and I'd have fruit, cereal, or breakfast bars for them. Otherwise they were too tired to participate in my phys ed class!! Maybe this was bribery?

H. Height: 5’ 1”

I. Instruments you play(ed): Does the soccer ball count?

J. Joke: "What did the ocean say to the beach?"..."Nothing, it just waved!" (there is more of where that came from!)

K. Kids: Still negotiating!

L. Love: The Boss

M. Most memorable moment: The proposal is ranking pretty high up there!

N. Nicknames: “B”, Bobs, Bertie, Bob-er-enio, Bam, Bambino, Bobbie-licious (okay not the last one! But anything that starts with B)

O. Overnight hospital stays: There was that one time... well since I still haven't told my mom that one, maybe I shouldn't post it here.

P. Phobia: I'm actually scared of the dark :(

Q. Quote from a movie: "Soap Poisoning"... please tell me that someone else knows what this is from! Click here if you’ve given up!

R. Reading (Currently): Racing Weight

S. Sports (highest levels): Division 1 college soccer (USA), National level Squash (Canada), Provincial Badminton (Canada), High school volleyball, basketball, and track! And now, somehow, I've been talked into Triathlon and Distance running?

T. Travel to-do list: Greek Islands, Antartica, New Zeland, SPACE travel!! (this is actually a never ending list)

U. Unattractive feature (in the opposite sex): Facial hair! Well, back hair ranks up there too... but that is at least a couple dates later! hahaha

V. Vegetables you don’t like: Broccoli

W. What makes you run late: A more specific question would ask "what helps you be on time?" Sorry Boss, but remember I played this song for you early on in our relationship!

X. X-rays you’ve had: Well let's start with the time I shattered my knee cap. Then there was skull x-rays the time my sister broke her hand by karate chopping me on my head (and I got grounded for that one???). Then there was the magical time that I smashed my front teeth out on the soccer goal post! I could keep going...but again, some of these my mom doesn't know about :)

Y. Yummy food you make: Well... I have this interest in cupcakes? I'm not sure I've ever mentioned that on here before?

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Giraffe!!! I'm not sure they're at the zoo... but I saw them on my Safari!

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Tiffany’s Jewelry Cake Box

This weekend I had a blast making up a cake for a good friend of mine’s 50th Birthday party! Well, to re-phrase, she wasn’t turning 50, her friend was and she was throwing her the party! The big theme of the party was basically being 50 and fabulous! They had lots of desserts for the party, but my friend really wanted a center piece to set the tone; more than anything she wanted a Tiffany’s Jewelry Box-cake! What could I say? I had to give it a whirl, and in the end I think it came out really nice! One of my favorites!

 

Now that you’ve seen the glamor shots, lets take a look at the interworking's of the cake. First comes the Vanilla cake. I pull this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks (and favorite bakeries!) More from Magnolia Bakery seriously there isn’t one bad recipe in this book!

One key point I will make about the authors cake recipes is that when she says “Cream your butter for 5 minutes” then you need to cream your butter for 5 minutes! Set an egg timer if you’re the impatient type! This is really a key point in setting up for success for your cake, here’s the difference:

The first picture is after about 2 minutes of standing mixer time. You can see the lumps in the butter still and you can still see the yellow hue of the butter. Moving over to the second picture you can see that the butter looks much much lighter in color, smoother, and personally I think it just looks fluffier. That’s where you want your butter at for this recipe! The next picture down is after the eggs and sugar have also been added to the mix; here you can see that the mixture has still held a very light and fluffy texture.

 

Now I add in the flour and other dry ingredients and then get the batter into the pans. For this cake I chose 6” x 6” pans so I can stack the cake as high as it is wide.

 

The next steps are pretty straight forward:

Trim the cake tops,

Dry stack ‘em,

Fill with the good stuff,

Fill with more good stuff,

Check for perfection,

Cover with the good stuff,

Get it as smooth as you can, and then step away! Refrigerate!

 

As the cake sets up in the fridge, it is now time to work on the design side of things. Since it was her 50th birthday I wanted to incorporate that into the cake somehow and yet still keep the Tiffany’s Jewelry Box look. What else can a person do these days other than “Google” it? So I simply looked up some more examples of Tiffany’s Jewelry and almost every hit was their signature heart necklace and bracelet. So instead of engraved initials, I added her age and it was definitely the last touch I was looking for!

I had several different “silvers” to choose from, ultimately I chose the Wilton Pearl Dust that you can add a drop of vanilla to create a shimmering paint. I think that the added color was what pulled the piece of jewelry together!

Then I worked on the bows.

 

I received a great fondant tool kit at my bridal shower at Christmas and one of the tools was a quilting wheel! It gives the look of stitched material and really dressed up the look of the ribbons!

 

Lastly I measure out the estimated amount of fondant needed, and then start mending in the famous Tiffany’s Teal color. Hopefully by the time that is all finished the cake will be ready for the fondant!

Believe me, easier said than done! But I had a lot of fun! Lastly I get to add the decorations and then out the door it goes to the party!

Hope you enjoyed following along! Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions! Also, I have linked to the products that I use simply to cut down your research time in case you were wondering. I have no connections with any cake equipment suppliers, I just like some of their stuff!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day

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