Formal Affair 2011 Cake Competition

OK, so the bridal show and the cake competition is finally over!  Sadly, we did not win, but we had a great time making the cake and an even better time visiting with the other cake competitors.  There is a lot of great cake talent in Chattanooga, and it was great to see everyone's different styles come together.  I am proud to be among them.

I will go into greater detail in future posts, but today I'll be discussing the cake competition.

This is going to be a lengthy post, so click the link below to read all about it!


THE CAKES   (All can be clicked on for a larger photo)

OK, so it's my blog, so I get show off my cake first!  :)
Don't ask me how many hours I spent on this or what I would even think of charging for it.  It was truly a labor of love for Chad and I.  The theme of the contest was "A Chattanooga Themed Groom's Cake".  A very broad theme, so we decided to make it about our favorite places.  I will SO get into that in more detail in a future post!!

Here are the rest of the cakes, listed in alphabetical order:

212 Market
212 Market is one of the nicest restaurants in Chattanooga.  We have been there several times on our anniversary.  I met the chef that made the cake, but for the life of me I can't remember her name (sorry!).  The building you see there is the Tennessee Aquarium (you'll see it on lots of these cakes).  And when you click to see the bigger picture, you'll notice that those are blown sugar penguins.  They were SO cute!!

Cake Boutique
Patti and her staff at the Cake Boutique decided to recreate the Chattanooga Choo-Choo out of cake.  This is a fondant free cake, it's all buttercream!  I was especially smitten with the little gazebo in the back.  Too cute!!

Chattanooga Cupcakes
For a place that just sells cupcakes, Sonya and her baker (sorry, I met her too and can't remember her name either grrr...) sure brought their "A" Game!!  Volkswagen just built a new plant in Chattanooga and has generated a lot of buzz.  They did a great job with their wonky beetle and their molded figures are really cute!

Couture Cakes
Kimberly and Andrew with Couture Cakes make all their cakes gluten free and all organic.  And they make a mean cake to boot!  Click on the picture to see all the details they did on the Tivoli Theatre.  And look at that Cake bottle... that's sugar!  And hollow sugar at that!  Duff even had to ask them how they did it.

Lady J's Monster Cakes
LeMont and Renita "Lady J" Johnson are some of the sweetest people you will ever hope to meet.  And at their restaurant, Cafe LeMont, they can cook up some awesome food... "Soul in a Bowl" as they call it.  They poured the roof of their aquarium cake using sugar (not isomalt), a real culinary feat.  That sugar was really heavy and just more than her delicious sweet potato cake could withstand.  We've all had days like this, and I commend her dedication and bravery.

Mountain Oaks Catering & Event Center
To be honest, I had never heard of Mountain Oaks before Sunday.  They did a great job recreating the "See Rock City" barns that can be found all throughout the South.  I thought their sunflowers were really cute too!

Piece-a-Cake Bakery
I also met Mark for the first time on Sunday at the show (see I can remember a name occasionally).  He did an awesome job on the VW beetle and his Duff figure (inside the car) had the Charm City Cakes logo and even Duff's tattoo!  PAC received an Honorable Mention in the contest (same as placing 2nd).

Sweet Angel Cakes
Last, but certainly not least, is Toni Repko's winning entry into the competition.  Her cake had a working train and her cake also rotated on a turntable.  I highlighted some of her figures - these things are really small, but extremely detailed!  Toni is such a sweet lady and I am so proud of her.  Congratulations on being named "Chattanooga's Cake Ace", Toni!

This post has took longer and went WAY longer than I initially intended (that and I'm still exhausted from the show) but I know you wanted to hear Duff news.  I'll write it up soon, but I will leave you with a picture my brother took while Duff while was judging our cake!

Update:  More cake, show, and Duff photos can be found on Charis Photography's blog, and they are much better than any picture I could ever take!!  Here's the linky:  http://charisweddings.com/?p=954