My cake hero

This photo from Cake International Nov 2013 popped up on my timehop (I’m the one on the left). This was my first Cake Show & I was supposed to enter a novelty cake but work commitments got in the way & I didn’t manage it, but I went to the show & was glad I did because not only did I see all the wonderful entries but also got to meet my Cake Hero - Eddie Spence & we had a little chat. As always Eddie was an absolute gentlemen & so humble which made me love him even more.

I told him I had failed to enter & he patted my hand & said “You’ll do it” & as he had been judging over 200 wedding cakes that year he went on to tell me what the judges look for. Eddie told me to make sure my entry stood out against the others - he said the judges were always looking for an original design that had the “wow” effect, the execution of the design technically had to be perfect but the design really was everything. I listened intently to this advice & we said our goodbyes & parted company.

Me & my friend Sam then went over to look at the wedding cake category. There were some beautiful cakes but what struck me back then was that it was a sea of mostly white cakes. So the next year in 2014 I took the plunge & entered the wedding cake category with my “Love Story” Wedding Cake - which was fully airbrushed in a colourful gradient effect. I got an amazing spot on the table directly under a spotlight & the cake almost glowed with colour. That’s when the nerves kicked in big time! Thoughts that the judges wouldn’t approve & everyone would laugh at my entry ran through my head. It was a long 24hrs waiting to get the result.

I wasn’t at the show & My friend Sam was there on results day. She called me from the show & said she was standing in front of my wedding cake entry, I could tell by her voice the design wasn’t her cup of tea which made me sick with nerves. She dramatically told me to sit down. Immediately I thought that’s it I’ve been disqualified but then she screamed down the line “You got a GOLD!!” ... and the rest as they say is history!

Five years after my conversation with Eddie I found myself being a judge for the Wedding Cake entries at Cake International at the NEC in Birmingham, sometimes I really have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming.

 Feel the fear & do it anyway – that’s my motto!