And the Winners Are ……..

Well, the first ever Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off has now officially come to an end.  It was a huge success.  I am so honored to have been asked by Mel at crushedcaramel and Gary at  bereavedandbeingasingleparent to participate and to judge this very fun, creative event.  We had so many people send in their cakes along with their fun stories, recipes and photos.  They were all AMAZING!!!  Everyone did a fantastic job.  There were so many creative and delicious cakes. I definitely had my work cut our for me.  I had a tough time deciding the winners.  In my eyes, everyone who participated is a BIG WINNER!!!!!  This could not have been possible without all of you and your delicious entries.  Great job Bakers!

So now …… The moment you have all been waiting for …….

First – For good,valiant efforts, I give the Thumbs Up Awards to:

1.  Our first Thumbs Up Award goes to Gary Metcalf from bereavedandbeingasingleparent for his entry – “Houston, We Have a Problem”.  His kitchen had a lot of gremlins on the day he was baking his cake and they were wreaking havoc on his creation.  But he did not let them beat him.  He overpowered them with his ingenuity and creativity, and created a fun and tasty cake.  Great job Gary!

This was only the beginning, yet it turned out fun and festive.

 

2.  Our second Thumbs Up Award goes to Amanda Cade from amadacade.com for her entry “The Birthday Cake”.   You have to read her post about her cake.  It’s hilarious.  She chronicles her baking adventures in a fun, step-by-step way.  You can find her story at https://amandacade.com/2019/03/24/the-great-bloggers-bake-off-aka-why-i-will-never-be-top-chef/

The end result looks delicious!

3.  Our third Thumbs UP Award goes to SUZE at https://suziland.site/ for her “Hole in one Cake”.  Now this cake can EASILY be doctored up so no one would ever know it was a less than perfect cake.  All you would need to do to make this a BEAUTIFUL cake is to add whipped cream and fruit in the center of the hole, and people would think it was a beautiful, creative masterpiece.  This definitely has potential.  Keep up the good work Suze.

 

Starting from 3rd and finishing with first place, here are the winners of the Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off, 2019.  There are no honorable mentions, because EVERYONE who participated is honorable and should be recognized.  EVERYONE did a fantastic job!  I applaud you all.

Our 3rd Place Winner is Ribana from posiclesociety for her entry “The Naked Cake”

This “Naked Cake” is pure simple elegance and is presented beautifully.  Please check out her blog and read her story about her “Naked Cake” at https://popsiclesociety.com/2019/03/23/my-naked-cake-for-the-great-bloggerss-bake-off/

 

For 2nd Place, we have a tie.  It was so hard to choose, and they both looked fabulous, so, they both get the award.  Our 2nd Place winners are:

 

1.  Carolyn from hawkfeatherstories.com for her Tiramisu Cake.  This cake just looks perfectly decadent.  I LOVE tiramisu.  Carolyn was a little shy about posting her story, but fortunately, Mel from crushedcaramel  wrote about it on her blog post
   

   The Tiramisu Cake

 

2.  Our second 2nd Place winner is  Michelle Thomas from thecatlady’skitchen.com for her entry “Ginger Lime Sponge”.   Ginger and lime ….  a perfect summer cake.  YUM!!!!! You can read all about Michelle’s cake experiences on her blog post http://www.thecatladyskitchen.wordpress.com/.

 

 

Before annoucing the winner for the 2019 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off, I would like to show  the other cake entries we received and give EVERYONE honorable mention.  As I stated above, I was very impressed by all the entries, and EVERYONE did a fantastic job!  Keep up the good work Bakers.  I am pretty sure there is going to be am upcoming sequel.  So until then, just keep baking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choosing the 1st place winner was the most difficult decision I had to make for this contest.  There were two cakes I absolutely loved.  They were both perfect and so beautifully presented.  But in the end, there can only be one winner, for this round, and I had to choose.  Both were fabulous.  You are both winners in my book.

The first runner up is Michelle Barry from teacupsandsugarlumps.com for her Lemon Meringue with White Chocolate Chip Ganache Drip Cake.  I live in Denver, which is known as being the “Mile High City”.  This cake is definitely a “Mile High” of pure lemony deliciousness.  It is  mouth-wateringly decadent.  I can almost taste all the lemon and white chocolate now.  YUM!!!!!  Great, great job Michelle.  This is one AWESOME looking cake.

 

And now …….. The moment you have all been waiting for ……  Our 1st Place Winner for the 2019 Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off is …….

Sheree D. Whatley from Viewfromtheback.com for her entry, Gateau du Chocolate et Framboises  (chocolate and raspberries).  The quality of the picture is not the best, but I enhanced it as much as I could on my computer, however, I know exactly what she was trying to present.  This is a very complicated, detailed cake.  Sheree presented it beautifully.  The raspberry colored ribbon is a perfect accoutrement to enhance the raspberries on the cake.    You can read all about Sheree’s beautiful cake on her blog post Great Bloggers’ Bake-Off.  Can you believe Sheree said this “was my first fancy cake and went down a treat”?  WOW!!!!  If this was her first time to ever make such a beautiful cake, she is one very incredibly talented pastry chef.  I don’t know if I could make a cake like this today, but especially not on my first attempt.  This cake is SPECTACULAR!!!!!!  AWESOME job Sheree.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS to Sheree and to all the other bakers.  You all did a phenomenal job!  Keep up the good work everyone.  And a very special thank you goes out to both Mel at crushedcaramel and Gary at bereavedandbeingasingleparent  for creating and hosting this fun bake-off.  They both did a fantastic job of putting all this together.  It would not have happened without them and all their tremendous efforts.  Until next time ……..