RIDING THE ROLLERCOASTER: Cake Off!

What have I been waiting for!??This happened in January!
This was a while back but I'll start from the beginning......
Around mid-november or so,a guy from The Agricenter in Memphis called me up and asked me if I would like to be in a Cake Off competion featuring 4 other cake artist(5 including me)from our area!Honestly I was completly shocked!The main reason being that Duff from Ace of Cakes would be the one judging this competetion.WOW!Talk about pressure!I truley thought he was someone messing with me,so I agreed over the phone and asked his name several times,as soon as I got off the phone I check their website to verify this was no joke,and it was not:)Then the nerves set in!IMy head started spinning with ideas,the 1st idea that popped in my head was Alice in Wonderland(the Disney version)Its so crazy and whimsical and I just thought it would be absolutly perfect!I stuck with it because my imagination was going crazy with different ideas,I probaly drew out a million differnt cake designs and looked at every picture on the internet!I learned EVERYTHING about Alice in Wonderland.
As it got closer to the date,I started making fondant figures and ordered a very special,Very expensive fondant from online.The day before the competion as I was working on my cake for the loooongest time,I got a call from the Health Department,I'll get back to that later on......
Anyway,The day of the competion was so nerve racking,it was not like the competions you see on t.v where they assemble the cake on site(THANK GOD)!We were able to bring the cake fully decorated and set it up and just wait.Duff's plane did not arrive on time so we had to split up the Cake Off in 2 days,Saturday and Sunday.It was basically the same exact show 2 days in a row.Duff came out and talked for a while about his show and told a few funny stories,and then the hard part,He asked each of us questions about or cake in front of like 300 people!Suprisingly I did not pass out and I did pretty good,I was very proud of myself:)Duff actuallt complemented my fondant work and my figure work:)
We got an apron and an autographed book and I must say Duff was super nice and so down to earth,he was a normal guy!
At the end of the last day the cakes were auctioned off to the charity of our choice,my cake sold for $300 and the money went to St.Jude.Anna rode home with me to deliver the cake,the people that bought it were so happy and the lady said she wanted it so badly because Duff touched it,lol!
It ended up being an amazing experience that I will never forget!

So about the Health department,I truley believe that one of the ladies in the Cake Off was the one to call on me,and the reason I got in trouble is apparently you are not supposed to make and sell food from your home unless you have a license from the health dept.I have no idea WHY she would feel the need to do such a thing,but she is very well known for doing this to people,I am not the 1st person she has done this too!So anyway,the way I look at it is what goes around comes around.......

Here are some of the pictures of the fondant figures as I worked on them,I changed up Alice's head several times.....