Schedule of Events

Saturday, September 17

Orientation-  4-5 p.m. on the Exhibit floor

Sunday, September 18

Station Set-up  8-9:45 a.m.

Competition 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. (Lunch provided)

Judging 4 p.m.

Monday, September 19

Station Set-up  9-9:45 a.m.

Competition   10 a.m.- 4 p.m.  (Lunch provided)

Judging 4 p.m.

Tuesday, September 20

Awards Ceremony- 11 a.m.

Judges will be available for critiques at the conclusion of the awards ceremony.

Competition Categories  

Sunday

• Wedding Cake– Theme in workbook. Sponsored by BakeDeco
• Fondant Cake– Theme announced at beginningthe  of competition. Sponsored by Satin Fine Foods

Monday

• Sculpted Cake – Hyper-realistic cake. Theme in workbook. Sponsored by American Cake Decorating Magazine
• Butter Cream Cake – Theme in workbook. Sponsored by Cargill

Prize Money

Contest Rules

1. Decorators must be professional cake decorators or pastry chefs working in a retail bakery, cake shop or supermarket bakery. Contestants for the CDC will include the top decorators from submitted portfolios. Contestants can compete for a maximum of 5 years total. Portfolios must include pictures in all three listed categories.
2. Contestants will compete as a team of two decorators.
3. Contestants will receive complimentary hotel and travel. Hotel accommodations will be arranged by IBIE. IBIE will pay for three nights of hotel at a hotel chosen by IBIE. Contestants may arrange for additional nights at their own expense. Contestants should book or arrange their own travel and will be reimbursed for up to $400 per person for travel after the competition.
4. Contestants must attend the “Contestant Orientation” scheduled Saturday, September 17 at 4 p.m. at the contest area on the exhibit floor (North Hall, Booth 5847)
5. All professional contestants will complete together on all days. Preparation time is added to the schedule. Contestants will draw a number to designate a work station
6. Contestants must complete designated categories on each day.  Details will be provided before the competition.
7. All decorative work must be constructed during the contest hours and in the contest area. No pre-fabricated decorative pieces, other than those provided by RBA or otherwise specified, will be allowed
8. No offensive cake designs or adult themed cakes. No copyrighted designs
9. Judges will evaluate finished pieces using the procedures developed by the judges and other members associated with the contest. All judge’s decisions will be final.
10. The first place Grand Champion Trophy winner may not compete again in the RBA Creative Decorating Competition for 5 years.
11. An optional conference call will be scheduled when convenient for the competing teams. Committee chairs will answer questions about the schedule and rules.

Competition Conditions

Work Space    

Three stainless steel tables. All cakes will be displayed on separate tables in the judging area once completed. Each workspace will have electricity. Contestants are responsible for keeping their workspace neat and cleaning up your workspace at the end of each day. Time will be allowed when the judges are not in the judging area

Equipment       

Each team will have a 5 quart table top mixer and 1 sheet pan rack. Microwaves, Somerset fondant sheeter and 20 quart mixer will be shared by all contestants. Adjoining prep space will have shared cooler and freezer space and a 3 compartment sink with hot and cold water.

Tools

Contestants must supply their own small wares, hand tools, and decorating tools including turntable, bags, tips, colors and airbrush (with appropriate accessories.)  They should bring a variety of common tools such as rolling pin, knives, cups, spoons, spatula, bowls, paper & towels.

It is impossible to prepare a complete list of tools.  As a general rule, decorators may bring any tool currently used in their work.  This may include: photographs, popsicle sticks, plastic spoons, wooden birch dowels or pegs, PVC or metal pipe, balloons, and pipe cleaners (these items may not be used as decorations), and any tool (fondant tools and mats) ordinarily used at work.  You may use stamps, molds, engraved mats, stencils and image printers.

Materials Provided by RBA

Cakes

Full sheet cakes- for the sculpted hyper-realistic cake

2”  white cake layers for the wedding and buttercream categories(made from Pillsbury Cake Mix)

          Cake for the Fondant category as defined during orientation

Boards

Half sheet boards (reinforced)

Full sheet boards

Drums for the fondant cake, wedding and buttercream cakes

Contestants may bring their own board or stand for the wedding cake but the stand cannot be taken out from under the cake until the end of the show on Wednesday

Icings

Buttercream Icing- Provided by Cargill

Fondant, Gum Paste and Modeling Chocolate- Provided by Satin Fine Foods

Cake supports will be provided by Pfeil & Holing and must be used in the Wedding Cake.  Contestants may bring rice Krispie sheets, powdered sugar, edible glitter, plain rice paper, corn starch, cocoa, isomalt, food colors, airbrush colors and lustre dust. No pre-made or finished decorations

Time  

Contestants must complete work for all 4 categories within the contest time limits.

Prep-and Clean-up time:  Decorators will be allowed into the contest area before   the contest begins to set-up equipment, organize work space, pull cake and other supplies from the Pantry, as well as mix/bag colors and mix colored fondant. They may not make-up any decorative pieces or cover your boards with fondant.

Dress

Contestants should dress professionally.  This may include chef pants, bakers’ white or if their bakery has a standard uniform – they may wear that. RBA/Pillsbury will provide Contest Aprons

Category Requirements & Scenarios

Wedding Cake – Sponsored by Pfeil & Holing Cake Deco

Contestants will be given a choice of wedding cake size layers as listed on the supply list.  Your cake must be at least 4 tiers and no more than 6 tiers of cake.

The wedding cake may be stacked, separated or not. The layers may be cut or shaped. Non-edible and/or manufactured decorations may not be used. The only exceptions are the use of separators or stands.  Pfeil & Holing is sponsoring this category and will be providing Coast supports for your cake and you will be required to use them in your cake.

If you need more information on stacking your wedding cake, there are several YouTube videos that show how.  We suggest you check out Marsha Winbeckler’s video, available at http://www.winbeckler.com/Cake-Decorating-Videos-d33.htm#How%20to%20Stack

Wedding Scenario:

You are designing a wedding cake for Melody and Mark who will be getting married in October.  Melody is a writer and has published 30 historical mystery novels.  Her most famous one was set in a small town in Nevada that is now a ghost town and she wants to use that as a venue for her wedding. She is marrying Mark, who trained in France as a chef and then studied sports nutrition.  He works in an Olympic training camp situated on a mountain in northern Utah where his goal is to provide healthy and tasty meals to the young adults and teenagers who train there.

Melody and Mark met when they were working as activists for climate change legislation and they want their wedding to reflect on their sustainable beliefs and way of life. The bride’s dress will be a recycled vintage dress.  Bridesmaids will be in muted coral colored dresses. All the “floral” arrangements for the wedding party will feature succulents and locally grown native plants. The wedding dinner will feature locally grown foods with a focus on mostly vegan options.

Inspiration Board 2022

Rolled Fondant Cake: Sponsored by Satin  Fine Foods

Contestants must prepare a 2 tiered fondant cake using a 6” tier and a 10” tier for a theme that will be given to you at the beginning of competition using 2 or more of the following fondant techniques- quilting, embossing, painting, brush embroidery, crimping, fondant bows, fondant flowers, fondant swags, molded figures or fondant appliqués. You may use buttercream or royal icing to finish your design or create the appropriate techniques.    Non-edible decorations will not be allowed. Judging for this category will be for fine detailed work as shown in traditional rolled fondant and this should not become another sculpted piece. You will be given the theme for this cake at orientation.  This cake is sponsored by Satin Fine Foods who will be providing the fondant.

Sculpted / Hyper-realistic Cake:  Sponsored by American Cake Decorating Magazine

Contestants will be provided with up to two full sheet cakes. This cake is meant to be a grooms cake based on our wedding couple.   Using creativity and artistic talent, contestants may decorate, sculpt or cut-out the cake in any design.  The design must be 3-dimensional. Structural supports and plates should be used but all supports must be covered with icing. The sculpture may be made covered with either buttercream or fondant icing.  Rice krispie sheets, brownies or modeling chocolate may be used for up to 10% of the structures of the cake. The cake must be at least 12” tall and needs to serve a minimum of 75 servings. The judges are looking for the “wow” factor.

Penalty points will be given for cakes that are not standing or have fallen apart before the award ceremony.

Buttercream Cake: Sponsored by Cargill

Contestants will be provided with 6”, 10”, 12” square layers.  This cake is sponsored by Cargill and will be the centerpiece for an important corporate meeting.  The theme for the cake is to represent the 4 Seasons as experienced by this Midwest-based company.

Judging Procedures

Evaluations will be conducted in two phases.

Grand Champion: Judges will evaluate each contestant’s total work, evaluating product in each category and assigning points using the criteria noted on the scoring sheets.  Judges will work independently.  During Phase 2, RBA staff will tally and average the raw scores.  The Gold, Silver and Bronze will be determined by total score.  Contestants who did not complete one or more categories will not be considered for the Grand Champion Trophy.

Category Medal Winners:  Working one category at a time, judges will examine all contestants’ work.  Once judges have completed their second examination they will nominate the Gold, Silver and Bronze winner in the category.  They will confer and discuss until a final consensus is reached for the category.

Scoring Sheets

The scoring sheets are meant to help judges organize their thoughts and assign a point value to each standard.  It is important that a judge evaluates all contestants in one sitting, and work through one category at a time.  Contestants will not be given final scoring sheets. Scoring sheets are the property of RBA and will not be released after the competition.  You are receiving a copy of the blank sheets so you know the criteria the judges are using.

Penalties

Contestants will not be eligible for the Grand Champion Trophy prizes if they fail to submit a work-piece in any category.

Candidates may earn medals and prizes in any category for which they submitted work.  However, contestants who fail to submit work pieces in all categories will not be considered for 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd place for any category, regardless of their craftsmanship.

Judges will assess other penalties only in cases where a contestant failed to follow directions for the category, or ignored the category criteria. The penalty is a percentage (1 to 10 percent) assessed against the total score within the category.  Penalties will affect the Grand Champion standings.  It is less certain that penalties will prevent a decorator from taking a category medal.  Judges will factor in the penalty into their final selections for category winners.

RBA Judging Criteria and Standards:

Below are the standards for this contest. Scoring in each category will use some or all of these standards.

General Appearance

The Cake level on top with good straight sides, logical height

Tubing uniform and free of air bubbles, starring should be equal, uniform and no points, flowers should show definite petals

Hand work smooth, free of small drying cracks, precision, neatness

Overall Design  Balanced, proportioned, appropriate to technique or them, not over-decorated, stability of structure

Cake Covering and Icing

Contestants will be supplied with prepared buttercream and other types of icing, plus fondant.

Buttercream texture smooth and flawless, no air bubbles or water spots, no thicker than ½” and no crumbs or show through

Royal Icing light and smooth, no air bubbles, knife or sanding marks, flawless color.

Rolled Fondant a matte finish, smooth and flawless, rimmed properly no patches. No thicker than 1/4″.

Flowers

Buttercream or Royal definite shaped petals with proper form, correct number of petals, coloring and detail as close to nature as possible

Arrangements, Corsages, Bouquets balance of design, and proportioned to one another

Leaves appropriate to flower, proper size, coloring as close to nature as possible

Borders, lines, string and scrollwork

Neatnesscake centered on the board; no excess icing on cake or board, the covering, piping, and hand work smooth, free of small drying cracks, and demonstrating precision.

Contestants will need to bring the border in a ½ inch instead of icing the entire board.

Borders should be in proportion to the cake size and other decorations

Shells are rounded, evenly spaces, with definite ridges, no wiggles or blobs.

Stars uniform, evenly marked and executed.

Filigree, line and string work fine, neat, delicate with no flaws, even or uniform in size.

Colors, choice & use

Color consistent shading, balanced and harmonized, and appropriate to theme or decorative motif.

Decorations

Garnish ribbons, draping etc must be made with fondant, buttercream or other icing

Confectionery Painting (if used)

• • Buttercream using colors or colored icing, brush into a pattern. Neat, smooth, no bleeding.
  • Royal clear, crisp lines, with shading and highlights
  • Fondant Patterns painted within lines no feathering or blurring; light and dark shading, and the finished painting should be outlined with fine line
  • Chocolate Painting shading using different chocolates, be crisp and clean no feathery, blurred or smudged lines.
  • Spatula Painting neat, shows good perspective, should not spill over sides and has no show-through
  • Molded Figures are proportioned and life-like in appearance and coloring.

Sculpted Cakes

Cut and shape, use of 3-dimensional elements, sturdiness of construction  (dowels and other non-edible materials may be used but must be covered)

Difficulty of Technique

Creativity and Originality

Sanitation and Safety         

Judges will be sensitive to the use of safe and sanitary supports (avoid, if possible, using wire, non-edible materials such as toothpicks etc).

Order form and hotel reservation sheet

Please return by July 15

Contestant’s Names:  __________________________________________________________

Address:  __________________________________________________________________

Email:  ___________________________________________________________________

Phone:  ___________________________________________________________________

All teams will be provided with layers for the fondant and buttercream cakes- You do not need to order cakes for those categories.

Hotel accommodations for the contestants will be at the hotel chosen by RBA

Please indicate your arrival and departure dates below.  RBA will pay for Saturday through Monday nights. You will be responsible for any additional nights.

Arrival:  _________________________________   Departure:  _____________________________