Connecticut Cake Competition

1st Place- Special Occasions

2nd Place- Foreign Method

The month of February was a busy month! I had the pleasure of attending and competing in the Connecticut Cake Competition. I had two cakes in the competition. One in the Special Occasions category and one in the Foreign Method category. To my surprise and delight I took first place in the Special Occasions category and 2nd place in the Foreign Method category. 

Betty Van Norstrand and I

I also attended the Connecticut Chapter of ICES; evening of sharing. What a great group! They had a mini live challenge with 4 teams competing against each other to create the most amazing cake in a timed challenge. They had 1.5 hours to complete there cakes, and it was a true challenge for one team, whose cake fell apart out of the gate. But they rebounded nicely and took 3rd place. Lots of fun was had! The live challenge was followed by a wonderful sit down dinner. 

Dianna Lopez and I

After dinner we had two 55 min demonstrations. The first was by Burton Farnsworth who is an award winning sugar artist and has competed on the Food Network. He gave us some great insight into making hand modeled figures. Burton has a mild-mannered secret identity as an illustrator and graphic artist. He designed the packaging for several fragrances commissioned by Lucas Films for their Star Wars Celebration V convention held in Orlando Florida. He is not only extremely talented but very entertaining as well.

Marissa, winner of Next Great Baker & I

The second demonstration was by Vanessa Greeley. I adore Chef Greeley. She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and has such a passion for this industry. She competed on a live challenge for Wedding Cake Wars on WEtv. Her work has been feature in a number of publications and in the Chocolate Fashion show in NYC. Chef Greeley also consults for Dove Chocolate (how awesome would that be!!). She gave us so many wonderful tips and showed us how to work with acetate sheets as well as chocolate transfer sheets, which was my personal favorite.

Nadine, runner up and I

My evening ended with a midnight madness class with Dianna Lopez. She is a hoot and has been on the Ultimate Cake Off twice and works at the Cake Boss's bakery in NJ (Carlos Bakery) on Saturdays. By the time 1 am rolled around I was ready to collapse! I found out the next day she had also judged my Special Occasions cake! She spent sometime giving me some tips for next as well!

The last day of the show started with a breakfast with the winner and 3 finalist from TLC's Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker. My dad and I tuned into that show each and every week, calling each other after each show to weigh in on what had gone down. It was a blast to visit with the winner and the finalists, and find out what they've been up to since the show ended. Still wish Nadine had won, but Marissa was very nice. 

"Mello" & I

I ended my day with a walk through of the cake salon, looking at all the cakes that had entered the various categories. I found myself standing in front of the most amazing wedding cake with another gal. I commented on how beautiful the cake was and wondered out loud how she had done a few things on the cake. The gal standing next to me started telling me how and as I looked over at her I thought she looked very familiar. I couldn't put my finger on where I'd seen her before. One thing led to another and she was showing me some of her work on her phone when she scrolled past a picture of her with Buddy, the Cake Boss. Then it hit me, this was the gal that had taught buddy how to make sugar flowers. Turns out she was also one of the judges. I told her I had entered two cakes, she had judged one of mine and wanted to see the other one. I was in shock! We spent the next half hour walking from table to table and she showed me all the do's and do not's of competing. An amazing half hour, with a legend! 

Ryan & I

I have to say, cake decorators and confectionary artists are some of the nicest people! What a wonderful weekend! Be sure to check out my Facebook page for more picture from the Connecticut Cake Competition at www.facebook.com/epicdelights

Looking forward to a busy week! My store will be opening April 2nd! Lots to do to get ready for opening day! I look forward to seeing all my students this week as well!

Happy Caking!

❤❤Michele❤❤