Event Photos: 2011 Fancy & Frosted Cake Showcase

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Event photos from the Ronald McDonald House® Southern Alberta’s Fancy & Frosted Cake Showcase at Market Mall. Thank you to RMH for providing the fantastic photographs.

We received the House Award – favourite cake from the Ronald McDonald House. Thank you to everyone for your support!

People’s Choice went to Krista from Simply Sweet Ltd. for her fabulous cake! Congratulations Krista!

Many thanks to RMHSA & Market mall for hosting such a fun event!

Candyland Cake

This is our entry for the 2011 Ronald McDonald House Southern Alberta’s Fancy & Frosted Cake Showcase!

The theme this year is “Home Sweet Home” and we went with a “sweet” home & Candyland theme.

Cakes will be on display at Calgary’s Market Mall from Feb 7th to 12th. Drop by to vote for People’s Choice from Monday to Friday.

People’s Choice will be announced on Saturday February 12th at the live event from 11:00 to 1:00 along with free cake samples!

Above was the designed sketch. It’s amazing how close the cake turned out!

Thank you to the many people involved in the making of this cake – I had a blast!

Stained hands and fingers are one of the many results of cake decorating!

While we were painting the mints, we were listening to the above CD – and we didn’t even know what the cover art looked like until we took it out! It must have been meant to be.

Upcoming 2011 Ronald McDonald House® Southern Alberta’s Fancy & Frosted Cake Showcase

This is special hint of what we’ve been working on lately.

It’s for a local cake competition – the Ronald McDonald House® Southern Alberta’s Fancy & Frosted Cake Showcase:

This year the cakes will be on display at Calgary’s Market Mall from February 7th to February 12th.

There will be free cake samples along with the live event on Saturday February 12th from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Centre Court in Market Mall.

Other local Calgary participants include:

• The Avenue Cakery & Bakeshoppe
• Simply Sweet Ltd.
• Calgary Sugarcraft Guild
• Wilde Grainz Artisan Bakery
• Fresh Kitchen

Find out more about the Ronald McDonald House® Southern Alberta’s Fancy & Frosted Cake Showcase here!

• Or check out our Winnie the Pooh cake from last year.
• More event photos from last year’s 2010 Cake Competition

Cupcake Wars

This is an interesting and entertaining article about the serious rivalry between two famous cupcake bakeries located in New York.  It is a story of friends that turn into enemies in the competitive world of cupcakes.

Read the full article, Sweet and Vicious, by Adam Sternbergh, here.

Calgary Stampede – Corndog Showpiece Entry

The above sugar art showpiece was made for display at the 2009 Calgary Stampede Creative Arts and Crafts exhibition. This competition is open to anyone, and it’s a great community event because the entries are contributed by local Calgarians and Albertans. Anyone can enter, and it’s a unique way to be part of the fun.

For the idea, I wanted to created a piece that highlighted some of my many favourite foods at the Calgary Stampede. Food is by far my favourite type of item to create out of sugar. There’s something amusing about sweet items that look savoury – and I love the combination of the feeling of cooking and cake decorating at the same time.

Here’s a run-down of how this showpiece was created:

• It was a rule in the competition for the exterior to be decorated out of edible materials (i.e. fondant), but for the interior to non-perishable, because this was to be on display for the entire duration of the event. In my case, I chose to carve each tier out of floral foam. A center dowel runs also through the length, which is securely attached to the base.
• The mini donuts were hand-shaped out of fondant that was coloured with a mixture of brown and orange, then dipped in cinnamon sugar. The zig-zag edge of the donut bag was created using pinking shears.
• The teeth indentations of the corndog was created using the end of a round piping tip, and additional texture was created using modelling tools. The ketchup and mustard are made from royal icing.
• Relish was created by rolling out a piece of light green fondant, brushed one side with green and yellow colour, then cut it up into little squares.  Shine was added with green coloured piping gel. The same process was used for the onions, except with a purple/red colour and clear piping gel.
• The beef in the bun was created by rolling out a light brown fondant/gumpaste very thin, cutting it in circles, folding the circles loosely, then painting the edges with a darker brown.
• The plate was made out of pastillage, a icing sugar and gelatin mixture that dries very hard.

Update: This entry received the 1st place award in Novelty Cake section of the 2009 Western Lifestyles Creative Arts and Crafts Competition at the Calgary Stampede. Thank you for all the wonderful visitors that showed up to see!

For more information on you can enter into this fun contest, please see the following:

• Western Showcase Creative Arts and Crafts Competition