Cake Challenge for the Cure Success!

I reached half of my goal! It may sound strange, but raising $2300 seemed a lot more daunting than walking 60 miles. Now I can switch my focus to training. Planning the cake challenge was a lot of calling, emailing, and sitting down at the computer. My body could use some regular workouts for sure.

I think it's safe to call it a huge success. The event brought both Jennifer and me to our financial goals, the cake artists are already talking about next year, and although it was crowded and warm, all the guests seemed in good spirits and enjoyed the competition and the food. The event raised a total of $1700.

Sadly, I don't have any good photos of the event, but a professional photographer was there and is supposed to be posting a slideshow soon. Hopefully soon. I'll link to that as soon as it's ready. For now, these photos will have to do.

Here is a photo of the competition and all the competitors finishing their cakes and one of the judges (right) analyzing their work:

This is the 3rd place cake. The cakes had to have a breast cancer theme, but I loved that this team focused on the 3-Day Walk itself. Because we're doing the walk in San Diego, they showed how we're training in the desert and we end up at the beach in San Diego. This cake had so much detail and the artists (Sugar Buzz & AZ Cakes by Elizabeth) really went all out on the little things--little pink tents, rocks made out of chocolate that you would swear were real pebbles, and the cutest little shoes you'd ever want to eat! I really wish we could have had the audience come through in a single file line past all the cakes so they could all get a good look at them. And with the exception of the wooden sticks for the signs, it's all edible!

The 2nd place cake was done by Vali's Custom Cakes. She's perfected the purse design and made one with a breast cancer theme. It created quite a bidding war and finally went for $150 in the auction!

This is the winning cake by Graceful Cake Creations and Vanlatte Custom Cakes. I wish I had a photo from the front. The cake was big and beautiful and the color scheme of pink/white/black/silver won everyone over. The pink heeled shoe with rhinestones (only thing you can't eat) is adorable. Unfortunately, the base started to wobble after the competition, so they promised the highest bidder a brand new cake. Lucky for us, we all got to taste this strawberry-champagne flavored delight! Grace develops all her own recipes and this cake and her buttercream were amazing!
So there you have it. The first Cake Challenge for the Cure was a smashing success!

Oh, and if you were one of the many, many people confused by my previous post, it was written the night before I appeared on Arizona Midday with one of the cake artists to promote the event. I told only a handful of people beforehand (and most of them live out of state) because it was a live show and I was pretty nervous about it. None of my fans put it on You Tube yet, so I'm sorry I can't show it to you. Too bad.