One of the most striking things about the cake show was that no matter how perfect the cake was, everyone seemed to be displeased with the cake they were entering that I spoke with. I’m not sure what to think of it.  Either we all have really low self-esteem, are being very humble, can’t see the beauty in our own work, or we are psycho perfectionists.  It’s probably a mix of all the above.  It made me wonder if cake decorators/artists are ever pleased with their work. I just thought about my cakes and I can’t think of one cake that I was absolutely pleased with how it came out. We all have initial visions and sometimes they just don’t work how we had it in our head. We see flaws that no one else sees, but at the end of the day the cakes we make put smiles on people faces and awe in their eyes, and I wonder why we just aren’t happy with that. Why isn’t that my measure of success—why isn’t that your measure of success?

Perhaps it is because we are always comparing our work to one another and of course we would do that, after all it is a competition.  What I was most inspired by was the youth and beginner cakes. You can just see the fun in the youth cakes, it is refreshing to see.  You can see each unique person, their interests, the things they love, and their favorite colors in their cakes. Looking at the beginner cakes reminded me everyone has to start somewhere and some people just have it. There are the rare few that are just extremely talented and will produce a flawless piece on their first go round. Nonetheless, you can still be great; it just takes hard work, practice, patience, confidence, and perseverance. It takes some guts to enter a cake that has very visible flaws amongst cakes that will end-up in magazines across the world. But those cakes scream, I’m going to keep going, I’m taking this seriously, and nothing comes easy.  As someone who entered the semi-professional division that had a cake that I felt wouldn’t even make it in the beginner or youth division I asked myself many times over the course of the weekend, why did you do this? I still don’t know the answer, but I tell you what—it has made me want to try harder, be more precise, and move out of my comfort zone. So I am a better cake decorator for it.

 For your viewing pleasure, pictures of many of the youth cakes entered. The youngest are 4 years old!