Fun at The Cake Show

Last Sunday Janet and I had the chance to attend The Cake Show, an Annual event put on every year by the Bonnie Gordon School of Confectionery Arts. This was an exciting event for us as we are not professionally trained bakers, so being able to see such extraordinary work was really impressive.

The show was broken down into five sections: Cake Art Exhibition/Design Competition, Cupcake Challenge, Mystery Design Challenge, Cake Tasting Contest and Live Design Challenge.

Upon entering Wychwood Barns we were immediately greeted with rows of gorgeous cakes for the Art Exhibition. They were split into Wedding and Celebration Cake categories, and the audience was invited to write down the number of their favorite and that cake would go on to win the Peoples Choice award. It was nearly impossible for me to decide on just one as there were literally over a hundred cakes there, all of which looked worthy of a prize.

In addition to the People’s Choice Award there was also the Judge’s Choice for each category. Pictured above is Susan discussing the wedding cake that won her the Judge’s Wedding Cake Prize for the second year in a row. The use of sugar to create the bubbles was what put her over the edge in this stiff competition. It is a super cute and creative wedding cake that anyone would be proud to have on their big day.

This is the Celebration Cake category winner with his amazing creation. Making a tall building out of cake is impressive enough, never mind adding a fire truck with working headlights that light up. I can’t imagine the time and effort that would have went into making something like that work.

The Cupcake Challenge was an exciting live event where three professional bakers decorated their cupcakes in an hour right in front of the audience. All three participants came up with beautiful cupcakes but in the end there could only be one winner. All the cupcakes were put up for silent auction with proceeds benefiting the Stop Community Food Centre.

These are the cupcakes that won over the judges. They looked incredibly tasty and I absolutely love the cute design and theme they represent.

The Cake Tasting contest was a huge hit. For two dollars (all of which was donated to charity) you got to sample four different cakes and vote for your favorite, and the winners were all announced throughout the show. Categories included chocolate, fruit and nut, layer and home style baking.

Last but certainly not least was the Live Design Challenge. Two cake designers went head to head designing a cake around the theme A Wedding at Versailles, and it ran throughout the entirety of the show. Our friend Genevieve from Iron Cupcake was competing, and it was fun to watch her do what she does best. Read about her perspective on the competition here. Both of the cakes looked like something out of a Shakespeare film, and I think everyone watching gained a new respect for the effort that goes into these edible works of art.

If you missed out on the show this year be sure to look out for it next spring, as it is well worth the wait. We look forward to learning more from Bonnie Gordon and her amazing team in the future, and have plans to attend her school’s Designer Cookies and Minicakes class next month. To see the rest of the pictures from The Cake Show head over to our Flickr page.