Back from Tulsa OK!

OMG what a trip! The 20 hr drive to Tulsa and the 20 hr drive back just about did me and my friend Karey of Kake Kreations in! Wish this competition was closer! But it's so worth it....the experience, the talent, the opportunities....all worth the drive!

Not withstanding plenty of drama on both the way down and the way back....we managed to make it and not only that...but we both placed in our given divisions.

This year I entered a few of the divisionals and also the Grand Wedding Cake Competition - the mother of all wedding cake competitions! It is judged by 4 separate judges on a 100 point system. After all the cakes were judged, a Grand Champion, 1st Runner up, 2nd Runner up, 3rd Runner up, 4th Runner up and Honourable Mention to the 5th Runner up are chosen. The remaining cakes will either receive a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Certificate of Merit based upon their given scores. Gold = 90 or above, Silver = 75-89, Bronze = 65-74.

I had the privilege to witness first hand my good friend Rebecca Sutterby of Sugar Creations win the whole thing and take the title of Grand Champion for her GORGEOUS Western Innocence cake. I'm so proud of her! Her cake was beyond outstanding and it's a well deserved win.

I was also lucky to place 1st for my Master's Confections entry of the Flower Fairy cookies, my Canada Day Holiday cake took 2nd and my Mucha inspired Summer cake took 3rd. My 6 year old daughter Isabella also sent in an entry - her little mermaid cake took 2nd place in the Junior under 7 category!

My wedding cake entry inspired by Coco Chanel and her love for the camellia flower placed Silver in the Grand Wedding Cake Competition - just 1.5 points shy of Gold too!! This news was beyond surprising since I had my share of tragedy with this cake! On the drive down there was a mishap causing the cake to fall over and some of the flowers became damaged....I repaired what I could in the room only to get to the show and as a result of a bump from a spectator, dropped my box containing my cake and more damage occurred! At that point it was simply to put on a brave face and accept it, move and and learn for the next year. So any award after that is simply "icing on the cake"! The biggest thrill was hearing that Brides magazine's Wedding Style Director Maria McBride was there to chose her top 10 cakes to be featured in the upcoming 75th anniversary of the magazine! And after all my cake went through, it made that top 10 (well actually she chose 14 because she loved that many of them)! So now my cake is to be en route to New York City to be photographed for possible inclusion in the 2009 Brides issue! OMG that was a thrill beyond all thrills!

Here are some pictures of all of my entries - the wedding cake photos are courtesy of my dear friend Becky Willard from Kansas.