Cake Competion - 2nd Place

Last summer, I had the opportunity to combine two things that I love...baking and the city of New Orleans.  My friend invited me to enter a cake competition she was hosting.  The theme was New Orleans.  I hesitated to enter because I had never done anything like this before, but the the competitive side of me forced me to accept the invitation.  After weeks of planning, it was time to bake and decorate.  The rules of the competition said that we could come with our cakes covered in fondant and decorations could be made, but we had to assemble the tiers and decorate in two hours.  I thought easy peasy.  What I didn't know was that putting the clock on and having a small space that you can't spread out puts on a lot of pressure.  Ahhh! That two hours went so fast.  I did get my cake together. This is my cake that won 2nd place!  I was quite pleased with second place.

The topper of the cake was St. Louis Cathedral.  It is made of rice crispy treats and ice cream cones covered in fondant.  I am not the hugest fondant fan because I don't think that it tastes the best, and I like for everything I make to be delicious.  However, for decorations, I love fondant.  I have always been a crafter so fondant is just another medium for creating things.  

The street cars in the front were actually supposed to sit on the bottom tier but ended up too big, and I had to squeeze them in front of the cathedral. They are made with rice crispy treats and fondant.  The windows, wheels, doors, etc. were piped on with butter cream.  The street signs are fondant piped with butter cream, and the street light is just piped on the cake.  The border around the top tier was to be be greenery with the street car in front of it, but didn't turn out that way.

The music notes were a fondant and gum paste mixture that was pressed into a mold. 

The magnolia and leaves were made of gum paste.

The Cafe Du Monde mug was made of rice crispy treats, fondant, and piped with butter cream.

The bottom tier is bordered in purple, green, and gold butter cream made to look like Mardi Gras beads.

Now, the most important part...the cake.  I had to think of some New Orleans flavor that I could use.  I chose to make a banana's foster cake.  The cake was a banana cake with browned butter frosting and homemade caramel drizzled in between the layers. Yum!