ICES has thier own culture that promotes the sharing of ideas among cake people. One of the cornerstones is “Days of Sharing” and “Nights of Sharing”. It all sounds very kum-ba-ya, like there will be a bonfire, smores, and syncronized swaying. In reality it is an open forum where a demonstrator “shares” a project or skill followed by an open Q&A time. It actually does exactly what it is suppossed to by encouraging the sharing of new ideas!

This fish was made in 37 minutesby Ruth Rickey. It is all buttercream with three or four small pieces of fondant for fins.  It was mostly an exercise in sculpting and air brushing, but I thought he was cute enough for a photo op!

The first evening demo was an Easter themed candy explosion created by Susan Carberry. #1- Susan is hysterical and makes crazy noises when she is sculpting little animals. #2- who wouldn’t want to dive head-first into this easter basket explosion with CAKE inside?

Easter Bunny Mayhem Cake

The second presenter, Marina Sousa, showed us a graceful and airy pink ruffle cake. I cannot wait to try this one at home!

And not only was Marina gracious enough to share some of this cake’s secrets, she also brought along Mike McCary and Lauren Kitchens to take Q&A while she airbrushed and finished off the cake. Mike is a master of modelling chocolate and sculpted cakes. Food Network junkies will recall his almost lifesize rendition of Big Bird. Lauren is actually down with muppets too, and teached people to give the muppet treatment to others. Fun!

Another memorable cake-as-tv moment this year was The Sweet Life’s victory on TLC’s Ultimate Cake-Off. Norm and Zane  recreated this breath-taking tower at the show.

Here is a detail shot so you can see the sparkle and detail of the cake layers.  You can see the marbled pink and gold on the “pumpkin” tiers and the tiny hand-colored flowers. The round cake layers are coated in sparkling sugar and accented with lacey fondant and piped icing. The clusters on the left are curls of white chocolate.

And that is the kind of detail you need to win $10,000! Incredible.

Here are a few more cakes from the cake room.

Where possible, edible materials are used to tell the story and accent the cake. This mother goose, whose feathers are carved and applied one-by-one rests in a bog of whole wheat spaghetti and oatmeal.

Mother Goose Cake

This ode to cinema features popcorn that was made from marshmallows. Realistic touches, like half-eaten button candy made it almost impoossible to stay away from. But there is NO snacking on display cakes.

Movie Theater Cake

 These guys should be in movies. How amazing is this sculpture?

This japanese lantern has hand-painted screens and edible rocks and bamboo.

Japanese Lantern Cake

WEDDING CAKES

Aside from the divisional cakes, there is a wedding cake group who is given the profile of a fictitious couple. Yet even with the same input of colors, flowers, and the interests of the bride and groom, the cakes varied widely in style, tone, and story. 

I loved the tropical focus of this cake. How did they stabilize that branch?!

This cake has butterflies too, but these guys have grabbed the green swag and are making a run for it. So fun!

This is another one of my favorites.

The lacey bits around the arches are patterns of thinly piped royal icing which are dried and placed on the cake.

I hope you enjoyed this little stroll. Perhaps tomorrow we will look at some professional cakes.