competition and flying under the radar

I'm so excited.  My first cake competition is at the end of February.

"That Takes the Cake"
Austin, TX

http://thattakesthecake.org/

I qualify for the beginner division and have registered to enter 4 categories:

• sculpted cake
• special occasion / novelty tiered
• wedding tiered
• special techniques (not on a cake)

What have I gotten myself into???  That's a lot of cake ... and one category doesn't even involve cake!  Looking at the calendar, that's not a lot of weekends for me to practice.  I've started designing and prototyping, but am still no where near where I want to be.  The sculpted cake I've been set on for a while, and started practicing last weekend.  I think I know what to do for my special techniques.  My family and I went to the cake shop and hobby stores on Saturday to pick up some supplies.  My new toys include:

• clay extruder
• gum paste mix
• "Super Black" Americolor gel
• impression mats: brick and cobble stone
• glycerin (the CP brand was cheaper than Wilton)
• electric carving knife
• extra 8" round pan
  

I wanted to buy cake drums, but they were $5 for a 12" round (plus I haven't even decided what my cake dimensions will be).  I'm determined to find a cheaper alternative. 

Anywho, I want these entries to be a surprise, so I won't post any pictures of them until after the competition (hence, the "flying under the radar").  I've already learned a lot but am worried about how I'm going to get everything to where I'll be pleased with it.  Here's a post from cakecentral.com that has several tips for competing:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-603734-0-days0-orderasc-.html

The most important thing I'm taking from that is:

7. Do not try to decorate to please a judge. This rarely works. Decorate to please yourself and to improve upon your own skills.

 All my entries need to be something I want to do.  So ... I think I need to make my wedding cake ... not the wedding cake I got (which was beautiful, BTW) ... but the one I want to make now that I'm a cake decorator.  Something I'll be proud of and would want at my wedding if I had the opportunity to do it all over again.  Same guy, different cake ;)

For the novelty cake, I'm considering making a cake for my daughter.  It's definitely something I want to do.  Something to celebrate her first year on this planet!

That's all for now ... I'm super excited ... come say "hi" to me if you see me there!