My First Baking Contest

This weekend I entered into my very first baking contest.  As you have probably already seen on Facebook... I won "Grand Champion Cake".  I was pretty excited.  Let me start from the beginning...

Friday evening when I checked my email I realized I had an email from that morning from a lady from my community, with the details on the baking contest which was Saturday morning at the Atlanta Fall Festival.  Friday I had emailed Joyce and explained how much I had going on this weekend and that it just wasn't going to fit in.  She also had a lot going on but was going to take her items in the morning and drop them off as well.  So I decided that there really wasn't any excuse for not participating.  I had all of the rules (thanks to her) and just needed to go and get my ingredients.

After supper Friday (at about 6:30pm) I decided to head to Lincoln to get my supplies for baking two different items for the baking contest.  Let's just say that the whole baking event started off terribly because I forgot two ingredients.  But what does any good cook do? I improvised.  I managed to scrounge enough ingredients from my cupboards to make a home-made chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and home-made banana cupcakes with caramel buttercream frosting, still my favorite frosting by the way!

I finished baking by around 9:30pm and got up at 7:00am on Saturday to make icing and "throw together" my creations.  All entries had to be in Atlanta by 10:30am.  I managed to make three different flavors of icing, decorate cakes, shower and have myself ready to walk out the door by 9:30am.  (amazing if you know me well)

Off to Atlanta I went!  I tend not to think that I live in the middle of nowhere, Illinois because I have been in places in Illinois that are even more in the middle of nowhere than I live.  The whole drive to Atlanta (if you can imagine) I was slightly worried about my cake or cupcakes shifting in the car and getting messed up.  Out of nowhere there was a chicken in the road! Yes, a chicken.  Can you imagine? Pulling up to drop off this cake and having to explain that it got messed up on the drive over because I hit a chicken.  Don't worry, I swerved around the chicken who did start to come into the road and missed him!

Anyways, the cake and cupcakes made it safe and sound.  I won 1st in the chocolate cake division, 3rd in the "childrens cupcake" division for my banana cupcakes (don't ask because I have no idea) and then Grand Champion overall cake from the event! Very exciting.

The items that were brought to the baking contest were auctioned at the end of the night and the proceeds went to the Atlanta Fall Festival as their fundraiser as I understand.

 

Oh... apparently I know why the chicken crossed the road.  He was eating! (maybe it was a "she" I really don't know my farm animals that well)