Grenada Cake Wars Semi Final Report: 'Once upon a cake'
Hey everyone! It's your girl, Kizzy here again with the behind the scenes report on this weekend's semi-finals of the Grenada Cake Wars. If you couldn't make it out this Saturday, don't worry. I'm going to be your eyes. If you were there but didn't get a taste of any of the mouthwatering cakes, let me be your... well I think you get the picture.
The second round of competition was obviously going to be harder. And I don't even think the contestants themselves anticipated how difficult. Saturday was all about decorating. Each participant came with their cakes dirty iced (a.k.a. crumb coat a.k.a first coat of icing) and when the buzzer went off, they were given 1 hour and 30 minutes to bring these cakes to life.
With the theme, 'Once upon a cake' I was filled with all types of expectations. Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty aka Gold Digger and the Beast? (see below).
Of course these talented bakers had even greater story lines and concepts to wow the judges and the audience. I, just like the audience, had no idea what the bakers chose. Many of the guesses were quite amusing. Like Ann-Marie's story book which some though was a bible.
Some thought Larneth's money pot was a basket and that Kellon' shoe was the head of a poodle.. I think some of us were really bad guessers.
Sheena's cake was obvious because of its colour, one audience member said. It immediately reminded her of Cinderella's dress.
Two decorators took the non-traditional interpretation of 'Once upon a cake' by allowing the cake to tell the story of their lives. Shelly hoped to display the transition of cake decorating over time and Teckla gave us a glimpse of her decorating history from beginning to present
After about an hour, there was a separation of the pack so to speak. It was like everyone was speaking different languages...of experience and skill . See by this time most of the decorators knew if their cakes were going according to plan or if were going to let the pressure eat them alive.
Meanwhile the judges were serving face. We couldn't figure out what they were thinking. Were they impressed? Who were they impressed with? Were the cakes making them hungry? If anyone was taking this war seriously, it was them.
Time flew even faster than before. In the last half hour, everyone was rushing to fix last minute touches. My goodness, you should have seen these guys. Some were trembling, some upped the pace like a gear shifter,
and others just remained steady and unfazed like Jason Statham in Transporter or any movie for that fact. These are folks you want during a hurricane (God forbid oh!).
The audience were great and when the last 10 seconds were on the clock, we all counted down together and screamed our lungs out. For a moment I thought we were at the stadium. Like the first round of competition, sample cupcakes were provided to the judges while the participants gave the vision of the creation. Then the judges came down for a look at the final look at the decorated cakes to make their decisions.
First up was Shelly. The first layer of the whole cake was cookies and cream, while the second layer was cherry. Don't you love when ice creams flavours can transition to cake. (I still want it served with ice-cream though). Shelly is known for keeping authentic flavour and in this instance it was evident. Instead of using a vanilla frosting to tie in the 'cookies and cream' theme, she opted to use 'Grenada Chocolate' frosting topped with a half-moon Oreo cookie and this really brought out the DARK chocolate flavour of the cake.
Next we had Kellon, who used his grandmother's orange cake recipe. The judges and audience were in full agreement that the flavour was on point. I loved that it was a sweet, soft yet sparkling citrus taste and not the harsh zest flavour that is sometimes accompanied with these kind of cakes. Another plus in my book was the surprise frosting inside. Perfect place, perfect taste.
Sheena had a beautiful blend of coffee butter-cream frosting and silky chocolate ganache over a original chocolate cupcake. The ganache added such a richness to the overall chocolate flavour
and connected the coffee and cocoa tones together.. Definitely something you would find in Starbucks.
Ann-Marie kept with the fruits theme and made cherry cake. I loved that the cherry pieces were not too chunky, making an attractive middle yet there were enough cherries to taste the flavour. She topped it with clouds of citrus -hinted icing and sprinkles. YUM YUM!
Larneth's cup-cake was a hopeful as the sun coming out after a rainy day. Everything bubbled of rainbows: the plate, sprinkles, icing and most importantly, the inside. I liked how the thickness of the icing made the entire presentation resemble...you guessed it ice-cream. (Some one please buy me ice-cream next week so I can stop talking about it.)
Shelly showed us her pretty awesome lace work skills and fondant deco. This is the stuff that wedding cakes are made of and reminded me a lot of the work seen on Cake Boss on TLC. Good potential in this contestant.
Kellon shared with us that his original plan for a Jack and the Beanstalk cake came crashing down...literally. His beanstalk was destroyed right before the competition. He quickly had to come up with a new idea. Look at his 'make it work' moment! The details are exquisite from the thread marks to the gingerbread roof. I think it was a great use of colour and material to create a modern take on the woman who lived in a shoe.
Sheena's cake, as the audience member correctly guessed, was a Cinderella theme. Using the elements such as the pastel blue, princess trinkets such flowers and rhinestones and the carriage topper, she artfully captured the elegance and sophistication of Cinderella's night.
Ann Marie's set up gave her the opportunity to tell many stories at once. She brought together the ghoulishness of Casper, the innocence of Ariel and the rawness of Hulk all into one dynamic piece. Now that's a story teller. Like last week, she brought the fire with her piping techniques. My eyes are on you Ann-Marie.
This pot of gold at the end of the rainbow belongs to Larneth. The gold coins were sprinkled next to the skittles so that you could see and taste the rainbow as it dissolved into fluffy, marshmallowy clouds.
Teckla's cake looked like a beautiful flower garden. The story behind this cake is so powerful. She explained that each layer represented a stage in her decorating journey with each colour capturing a different mood. And from the look of the bright colours, this was a happy journey for Teckla. I'm so grateful that she shared it with us. I loved how the yellow flowers, the colour of joy, framed the walkway and wished there was time so that we could see even more blossoms of her life.
I'm pretty sure the judges had the toughest decision yet. Tension was high in the room as the results were read. The finalists? Ann -Marie Pilgrim, Kellon Maximay, Larneth Slocombe and Sheena Gellineau. Congrats to all you! To those who didn't make it through, I hope you will be proud of how far you made it and I look forward to see more of your work in the future.
In the third round of competition, the finalists will teach us what it really means to be patriotic with the theme "Pure Grenada". My expectations are higher than ever and I'm so hyped, I may even bring a flag.
Thanks again to our hostess Charanel Andrews, who has been working so much. She is such an inspiration, proving that sacrifice and commitment are what dreams are made of.
+This week's Noteworthy participants
The second round of competition was obviously going to be harder. And I don't even think the contestants themselves anticipated how difficult. Saturday was all about decorating. Each participant came with their cakes dirty iced (a.k.a. crumb coat a.k.a first coat of icing) and when the buzzer went off, they were given 1 hour and 30 minutes to bring these cakes to life.
With the theme, 'Once upon a cake' I was filled with all types of expectations. Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty aka Gold Digger and the Beast? (see below).
Of course these talented bakers had even greater story lines and concepts to wow the judges and the audience. I, just like the audience, had no idea what the bakers chose. Many of the guesses were quite amusing. Like Ann-Marie's story book which some though was a bible.
 |
| Ann-Marie's Fairy Tale Book |
That isn't so wrong though. It does contain the greatest story of all time.
Some thought Larneth's money pot was a basket and that Kellon' shoe was the head of a poodle.. I think some of us were really bad guessers.
Sheena's cake was obvious because of its colour, one audience member said. It immediately reminded her of Cinderella's dress.
Two decorators took the non-traditional interpretation of 'Once upon a cake' by allowing the cake to tell the story of their lives. Shelly hoped to display the transition of cake decorating over time and Teckla gave us a glimpse of her decorating history from beginning to present
 |
| Teckla's cake |
 |
| Shelly's Cake |
After about an hour, there was a separation of the pack so to speak. It was like everyone was speaking different languages...of experience and skill . See by this time most of the decorators knew if their cakes were going according to plan or if were going to let the pressure eat them alive.
Layers were going up
Trimmings were taking shape
and toppers were added.
Time flew even faster than before. In the last half hour, everyone was rushing to fix last minute touches. My goodness, you should have seen these guys. Some were trembling, some upped the pace like a gear shifter,
and others just remained steady and unfazed like Jason Statham in Transporter or any movie for that fact. These are folks you want during a hurricane (God forbid oh!).
The audience were great and when the last 10 seconds were on the clock, we all counted down together and screamed our lungs out. For a moment I thought we were at the stadium. Like the first round of competition, sample cupcakes were provided to the judges while the participants gave the vision of the creation. Then the judges came down for a look at the final look at the decorated cakes to make their decisions.
Now let's see how it went down contestant by contestant.
First up was Shelly. The first layer of the whole cake was cookies and cream, while the second layer was cherry. Don't you love when ice creams flavours can transition to cake. (I still want it served with ice-cream though). Shelly is known for keeping authentic flavour and in this instance it was evident. Instead of using a vanilla frosting to tie in the 'cookies and cream' theme, she opted to use 'Grenada Chocolate' frosting topped with a half-moon Oreo cookie and this really brought out the DARK chocolate flavour of the cake.
Next we had Kellon, who used his grandmother's orange cake recipe. The judges and audience were in full agreement that the flavour was on point. I loved that it was a sweet, soft yet sparkling citrus taste and not the harsh zest flavour that is sometimes accompanied with these kind of cakes. Another plus in my book was the surprise frosting inside. Perfect place, perfect taste.
Sheena had a beautiful blend of coffee butter-cream frosting and silky chocolate ganache over a original chocolate cupcake. The ganache added such a richness to the overall chocolate flavour
and connected the coffee and cocoa tones together.. Definitely something you would find in Starbucks.
Ann-Marie kept with the fruits theme and made cherry cake. I loved that the cherry pieces were not too chunky, making an attractive middle yet there were enough cherries to taste the flavour. She topped it with clouds of citrus -hinted icing and sprinkles. YUM YUM!
Larneth's cup-cake was a hopeful as the sun coming out after a rainy day. Everything bubbled of rainbows: the plate, sprinkles, icing and most importantly, the inside. I liked how the thickness of the icing made the entire presentation resemble...you guessed it ice-cream. (Some one please buy me ice-cream next week so I can stop talking about it.)
Teckla's Red Velvet was funky and fresh with its pink frosting and cute candies. Usually red velvet cakes are so serious, but these guys shouted 'Party over here!' And that frosting tasted as soft as it looked. The tender inside made a delightful pairing!
Shelly showed us her pretty awesome lace work skills and fondant deco. This is the stuff that wedding cakes are made of and reminded me a lot of the work seen on Cake Boss on TLC. Good potential in this contestant.
Kellon shared with us that his original plan for a Jack and the Beanstalk cake came crashing down...literally. His beanstalk was destroyed right before the competition. He quickly had to come up with a new idea. Look at his 'make it work' moment! The details are exquisite from the thread marks to the gingerbread roof. I think it was a great use of colour and material to create a modern take on the woman who lived in a shoe.
Ann Marie's set up gave her the opportunity to tell many stories at once. She brought together the ghoulishness of Casper, the innocence of Ariel and the rawness of Hulk all into one dynamic piece. Now that's a story teller. Like last week, she brought the fire with her piping techniques. My eyes are on you Ann-Marie.
This pot of gold at the end of the rainbow belongs to Larneth. The gold coins were sprinkled next to the skittles so that you could see and taste the rainbow as it dissolved into fluffy, marshmallowy clouds.
Then fun continues when you cut into it. Look at 7 colours swirl into each other from inside out.
I'm pretty sure the judges had the toughest decision yet. Tension was high in the room as the results were read. The finalists? Ann -Marie Pilgrim, Kellon Maximay, Larneth Slocombe and Sheena Gellineau. Congrats to all you! To those who didn't make it through, I hope you will be proud of how far you made it and I look forward to see more of your work in the future.
In the third round of competition, the finalists will teach us what it really means to be patriotic with the theme "Pure Grenada". My expectations are higher than ever and I'm so hyped, I may even bring a flag.
Thanks again to our hostess Charanel Andrews, who has been working so much. She is such an inspiration, proving that sacrifice and commitment are what dreams are made of.
+This week's Noteworthy participants
Neatest Fondant: Sheena Gellineau
Best decorated cupcake: Shelly Ramdeo
Best tasting frosting: Sheena Gellineau
Best flavour: Kellon Maximay
