New Yellow and Gray Cake AND Giveaway!

I, like many others, am currently obsessed with Lori Hutchinson, aka The Caketress.  I am seeing works inspired by her designs all over the Internet.  The more I see, the more I like her work.

I had been looking for one of her cutters for literally months, and last fall when we were at ICES we kept seeing people using her "signature" cutter on lots of display cakes.  Chaddy took a picture with his phone and we hit the vendor room, showing each and every vendor our picture to see if they had a matching cutter.  Finally, one of the vendors had one and sold us her last one!  I was SO excited!

So, I used her cutter to outline the yellow section of a new display cake, another in my so-called series of yellow and gray cakes.  And ruffles are such a big trend in cakes right now too, that I had to add some.  I did want to add my own flair to it, so I found this petal border cutter and decided to use that to make my ruffles.

AND NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

Well, I don't have an extra set The Caketress cutters, but I did somehow find an extra set of the cutters I used to make the ruffles on my cake. It's the FMM Sugarcraft Straight Frill Set 3 (9-12) cutter (read more about it here). It's still in the package and everything!!  If you interested in winning this, just leave a comment on this post from now until April 2nd at Noon EST.  Just leave me your e-mail so I can contact you if you've won.  I'll announce the winner here on the blog on Tuesday April 3rd.  This giveaway is sponsored by little-ol-me!

ICES 2011 Charlotte - The Cakes

OK, so on Tuesday we talked about all the great people I met at ICES.  So today I wanted to showcase some of the great cakes I saw at ICES.  There's just a couple of problems...  Firstly, Chaddy brought his new lens and while most of the cake shots turned out good, some were just so blurry that we couldn't use them.  Lesson learned: bring the general purpose kit lens next time.  Secondly, we didn't do a great job of keeping track of which person did which cake.  BUT! I refuse to let that stop me from posting the pics.  Please please, please though - if you who know who did one of these "unknown" cakes please leave me a comment so I can give these people proper credit.  They certainly deserve it!

And just to be super clear and perfectly ethical - I didn't make any of the following cakes, these are only some of the amazing cakes I took pictures of at ICES 2011.

 

Cake by Barbara Evans

Look at the cake above by Barbara Evans.  I love the unique cake shapes, the piping and stringwork.  I even love the color.  And the lace molds are nice - in fact a LOT of the cakes there had Earlene's molds on them.  They are the best!!

 

Cake by Dalila Cabrita

This cake by Dalila Cabrita was SO striking!  A black cake is hard to pull off, but this one is awesome!!  The leaves and flowers appeared to be all hand-painted and the buzz was that all the feathers were made individually!  The parrot by itself was incredible.  Even the eye was glossy!

Cake #1 by Unknown - ID in the comments!

I dared not touch any of the cakes, but I wanted to touch this one SO badly.  The topper was SO pretty but I just couldn't tell how it was made.  Sculpted?  Mold?  Both?  I just don't know.  I am in awe.

Cake #2 by Unknown - ID in the comments!

I thought this cake was a great use of lace molds.  I have never seen this type of layering with the pearl and lace mold, but I really like it.  I even liked the little gumpaste urn on top!

Cake #3 by Unknown - ID in the comments!

The cake above was one of the prettiest examples of brush embroidery I think I have ever seen.  This is not a technique I have ever used before, but now I may have to try it!

Cake #4 by Unknown - ID in the comments!

I thought the cake above was really cute.  It made me smile when I saw it.  Even though I didn't do it, it is very much my style of cake.

Cake by Sheila Miller

This was the first time I have seen a cake on its side and I like the look!  This is a cake dummy, but I'm not sure how *I* would turn a cake on its side and make it look that good.  The curls around the bottom were so cute and girly.  And the cake stand?  Nuh Uh!  Not a cake stand at all!  It appeared to be made from gumpaste - it was certainly edible!!

Cake #5 by Unknown - ID in the comments!

This cake shows a great use of the Cricut machine.  There was lots of details on this cake and I really liked the darker color palette.

Cake #6 by Unknown - ID in the comments!

The piping, the swags, the pearl work on the cake above was AMAZING!  There is so much going on with this cake, but it all meshes perfectly together to make a cake masterpiece.

Cake by Elizabeth Dickson

Wen I first saw this cake, I thought "Oh cool, they used fabric on the cake board" - NOPE!  That's all hand painting and there is a lot of it.  Just beautiful!

Cake by Juanita Holloway

I have used marbled fondant on a cake before, but never a cake like this!!  Juanita has taken something we normally consider casual and made something completely elegant.  Great work!!

Cake by Melonie Stanger

I don't want to play favorites here, but it seems like a lot of the cakes I oohed and ahhed over had Melonie's name beside it.  So much so that I sent her a Facebook Friend request from the hotel room later on that night.  This cake was right up my alley.  I like the button-covered hourglass tier, I really like the fondant knot on the bottom tier.  Together, I love it all.  And Melonie's from Georgia too, just like me.  Maybe someday we'll get to meet!

Cake by Terry Tuttle

I'm not exactly sure what this style of cake is called (is it Australian style?), but it's very pretty and unique looking.  Terry is very talented!!

Cake by Jo Drummond

You would not begin to believe the level of detail on this sewing basket cake!  Everything here is edible, I really wished the picture was better, and I'm so glad it wasn't really blurry like some of the others.  Even the cake board was covered in a tape measure.  I just LOVE that idea!  Great job Jo!

Cake by Vera Cainco

Maybe you can't really call this cake - I don't exactly know.  I looked at it for what seemed like an eternity and I'll be darned if I could figure out how it was done.  It was just absolutely fabulous!  My hat's off to you, Vera!

Display by Penny Cunningham & the Carolina Memory Makers

The centerpiece of the whole show was this huge Corvette cake, and I should be horse-whipped for not taking the time to find out more about this awesome cake.  I'm not sure if it was life-size or not, but if it wasn't, it was really close to it.  And then I get around to the back and see all the detail - wowzers!  Does anyone know who did this?  Chaddy Googled it and couldn't find it online.  Update:  He did come through finally and found an article about it here:

Display by Penny Cunningham & the Carolina Memory Makers

And if I read correctly, fellow blog frequenter Angela Barton made those amazing basketball displays.  They looked SO real.  Chaddy wanted to touch one of them, but I wouldn't let him!  He swore they were real basketballs!

As you can see, I was in Cake Heaven at ICES.  If there's ever one close to you, take the time to make the trip.  I couldn't be a part of the entire convention this time, but I drove 6 hours and paid $50 for a 1 day admission and it was worth every penny and every minute in the car!  Let's not even talk about all the stuff I bought!!

Enjoy your weekend!

ICES 2011 Charlotte - Celebrity Edition

This weekend we didn't have any cakes on the books so Chaddy and I packed an overnight bag and jaunted off to Charlotte, NC for ICES 2011.  Even though we had to get up at 4:00 (that's frikkin AM) to get there for the opening, there was SO much going on that we didn't stop until after the vendor room closed at 5:00.

This place was filled to the brim with cake celebrities!  I certainly knocked several people off my "Cake Celebrity Bucket List" (cake people I MUST meet before I die!).  As much as Chaddy stays behind the scenes, he keeps up with all the cake stars (and reads your blogs too).  We had been at the show about 15 minutes and I was talking to a lady about a new airbrush when I hear Chaddy saying "Holy crap, YOU'RE Debbie Goard!  I'm Chad White  I LOVE your cakes!!". By the time I got over there they were deep in conversation about sculpting and pound cakes.  Chad pulled me in saying, "Honey, this is Debbie Goard from 'Debbie Does Cakes'".  She was super sweet and we talked for quite a while.  She even gave me some great advice on airbrushes!

Me and Debbie Goard of Debbie Does Cakes

We turn on the next isle and I see the Fondarific Booth in the distance.  In the booth I see Joshua John Russell and Tracy Quisenberry from Icing Smiles.  We have been big supporters of Icing Smiles since they began so I had to introduce myself.  Amazingly enough, she remembered us right off and thanked us for our help during their Pepsi Refresh Grant campaign.  We talked a while about how their organization has grown and some of the hurdles they have overcome.

Me and Tracy Quisenberry of Icing Smiles

Just a few feet down and I see Mike McCarey's booth.  Inside the booth?  None other than Mike McCarey and Lauren Kitchens!!  I spoke to Mike for a while and told him how modeling chocolate had changed my life! - His response: "Well, then I did my job!"  I told him how excited I was to be taking his Big Bird class in October and then Lauren walked up and joined the conversation.  She was SO nice in person (as is Mike) and told me she would be back in Atlanta in April to teach classes.  I do believe I'll be signing up!!

Me & Lauren Kitchens of Fancy Cakes by Lauren

Karen Portaleo from Highland Bakery, Looking beautiful in red

I'll have to admit that when I spotted Kerry Vincent that I actually gasped a little.  Chad snapped this picture before we actually made it to her booth (he's always scouting ahead) but when we got to her someone had just brought her a salad.  She was trying desperately to eat, but everyone kept stopping her and introducing themselves and asking for photos and autographs.  She was super kind and never gave off any semblance of being mad or put off because of it.  A class-act all the way.  I decided I would move on and try to allow her to eat ad stop back later.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it back.

Hall of Fame Sugar Artist Kerry Vincent

Mary Moy was ALL over that convention.  I didn't get to met her because she was always on the move, constantly running around or doing demos.  I can only wish I had her energy!  Here she is doing a pulled sugar demo - so talented!

Mary Moy from Patisserie 46

I have seen Mike Elder on it seems like a dozen of the TLC's Ultimate Cake Off, always in a challenge.  So we visit the cake room and in the back corner they were having a cake challenge, and there's Mike... going at it!  We later saw him again sculpting a car cake (below).  He had drawn a HUGE crowd - that's showmanship!

Mike Elder from Black Sheep Custom Cakes

When I first spotted Norm he was pointing someone in the right direction of a booth.  I had to introduce myself.  He was such a nice man, he's exactly the guy you know and love from The Food Network Challenges.

Me & Norman Davis of The Sweet Life

Chaddy and Zane Beg of The Sweet Life

We walked right around the corner and ran into none other than Norm's Challenge partner, Zane Beg.  He and Chaddy hit it off and talked for several minutes.  Zane was awesome, just super nice, with the cutest smile!

Sharon Zambito of SugarEd Productions

All day long, Ashley Vicos was running around in the hugest pinky/purpley glittered high heels.  If I walked in those for more than an hour I would be in the Emergency Room.  But not Sweet Ashley; this picture was taken right before the vendor room closed and she was still going strong.  When Chaddy walked up to her he said, "Wow, you're a tall drink of water!"  Not his best pick-up line, thank goodness!

Chaddy & Ashley Vicos of Sweet Ashley's & "Have Cake, Will Travel"

And I saw so many more cake celebs that I didn't get pictures of!  Marina Sousa, Jason Ellis, Dana Herbert, Jay Qualls,  and Edna de la Cruz, just to name a few.  Rumor was that Lindsey Sinatra and Colette Peters were there also, but sadly I didn't see them! :(

And I haven't even talked about The Cake Room yet!  OK, how about you stop back in on Friday and we'll look at some awesome cakes from ICES 2011?