Connecticut Cake Competition Part 1

This past weekend I entered and attended the Connecticut Cake Competition in Hartford, Connecticut.  My husband and I frequently venture out to Connecticut (as my husband grew up there and has family in Rowayton) but I never had an excuse opportunity to travel all the way out to Hartford… until now.

We decided to make a weekend of it since it is just over a two-hour drive from NYC to Hartford.  We rented a massive SUV and loaded up the cake and we were on the road.  Unfortunately, we got somewhat of a late start and hit traffic (Murphy’s Law) so we didn’t make it to Hartford until the middle of the night.  When we finally made it to the hotel and it was really cold.  Like really reaaaaallllly cold.  I knew we were getting up in just a few hours to take my dummy cake to the convention center but I (being the worrier that I am) couldn’t stand the thought of leaving my poor little gigantic cake in the car.  So we ended up checking in, dropping our bags and finally asked the front desk clerk if we could borrow their cart to get something out of the car.  Long story short, I guess there was a dog show across the street that weekend as well… and they thought we were bringing our dog in from the car… in a cardboard box.  Really?!  Ay yi yi…  We didn’t realize the miscommunication until check out when we noticed the “pet fee” and we put two and two together.   

I digress.

This marks the 6th annual Connecticut Cake Competition.  The competition took place at the Hartford  Marriott Downtown.  It was a great hotel... spacious, new, and even had a Starbucks in the lobby (me= in heaven).  

Me and my awesome "Exhibitor" badge.
Chris was jealous.  All he got was a paper bracelet :)

The Competition was organized so that Saturday was the judging day and no names were displayed on any cakes.  On Sunday the winners were announced and prizes were awarded.  Both days vendors were sampling and selling the latest and greatest stuff pertaining to the cake world and classes/demos were offered on different skills and techniques (more on that later). 

My cake in all its "anonymity" glory

"in progress" detail shot of piping and brush embroidery 

"stand by your cake" shot

The show theme was SUGAR FIESTA!  Since this was my first show, I assumed (a bit naively I admit) that I thought the other wedding cakes would be well, wedding-y.

I was wrong...

Grand Prize: Wedding Cake Division

Bryson Perkins

Can't you just hear the Mariachi music playing in your head?  These "Sugar Fiesta" cakes definitely made me miss my hometown of Tucson, Arizona.  I grew up 30 minutes from the Mexico border and I know folks back home would have gone bonkers over these cakes!

First Place: Wedding Cake Division

Kim Simons

how cool is using a barrel cactus as the support between tiers?

In the wedding cake division, you had somewhat of a choice of how you could decorate your cake.  Every entry had to display 3 of the following characteristics:

                                             A minimum of two (2) Bright Festive Colors

                                                            Two types of flowers

                                             “Extension” designs in any sugar medium

                                                            Lace designs

                                             Brush Embroidery technique a pattern design

                                                            An accompanying Groom’s Cake

To decorate my cake, I used 2 bright festive colors, 2 types of flowers and brush embroidery.  Hats off to my other competitors who made accompanying groom's cakes.

by Jennifer Ramos 

I just love the terra cotta fruit bowl Groom's cake.  So clever!

Groom's Cake by Jennifer Ramos

  Unfortunately, this person left Sunday before I could catch her name, but I loved her Groom's Cake.  Sombrero and Maracas!?  Nailed it!  It was a sugar fiesta, indeed!

The Connecticut Cake Competition also had other divisions ranging from a youth division (and let me tell you that as a former Art Teacher some of those cakes were questionable if the kid made the whole thing themselves... I'm just saying...) to foreign techniques to a chocolate division.  There were quite a collection of amazing cakes and creative designs!

One of personal favorites was the Piñata cake.  I wish I would have thought of it!  Notice the cake is actually hanging from the tree :)

Isn't it soo cute?!  Don't you just want to cuddle the cute little piñata...
is that weird to think about a cake that way? 

 Although the little Piñata cake wasn't the "most impressive" cake in the show, I couldn't help but going back to it and taking more pictures... stalker evidence below...

don't judge me and my love for the Piñata cake!

Another awesome cake in my book was the Donkey and Rat cake by Allison Winslow.

I was taking a picture of the back of the Donkey cake but you can see people in the background checking out my cake.  Yeah!  Yeah!

Other favorites:

Foreign Methods.

Special Occasion Cake: Linda Braun

"The Morning After" at the Roach Motel... Who thinks these things up?!

Nike Shoe and Box by Lauren Frazer

"Sugar Fiesta" Show Theme Cake by Stephanie Stevens

How cute is the donut shaking the maracas!?
That's something I never thought I'd say...

The winner of the weekend was Bryson Perkins who created the award winning wedding cake, and two amazing chocolate plastique sculptures. 

Bryson standing next to his show winning Iguana

Connecticut Cake Competition Grand Prize Winner: 

Bryson Perkins

Can you believe that Iguana is chocolate?!

Carmelo Oquendo from Next Great Baker on TLC dropped by to hand out highest honors.

And I decided to make some new friends...

Carmelo and me

...and visit an old one :)

Colette Petters and me

Colette Peters was a vendor and teacher at the Connecticut Cake Competition.  I was lucky enough to complete an externship with her last year and let me tell you, I owe her a lot.  She has been in the business forever and has so much knowledge and information to share.  Besides having the skills and know how to kick butt in the cake world she also has the best stories and has an awesome sense of humor :)

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to catch up with Colette at the show because she is busier than ever traveling the globe teaching the leading cake experts her craft, selling her books and developing her own line of cutters, molds and cake tools.

To learn more about Colette's teaching schedule, books and tools visit www.colettescakes.com  You won't be sorry! 

Collette Peters and myself next to my cake

The weekend was busy and jam-packed.  My Wedding Cake ended up with a Second Place ribbon which is respectable for my first competitive cake show.

That's all for now.  Stay tuned for Connecticut Cake Competition Part 2 :)

I'll leave you with one question:  If you had to create a Sugar Fiesta Cake, what would it look like?

Discuss...