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Just wanted to go back and tell you all about Kansas City.  Icing on the Cake for Newhouse was just amazing!  The amount to possitive, supportive, and energetic people there was enough to make you want to bathe in buttercream.  Mike Elder put on an incredible event, that if I understand correctly came together very quickly and with the help of some generous friends and peers.  One of the most exciting parts of the show, is to see how each person interpretates the theme, and what they come up with.  The ideas and inspiration are refreshing.  I was so obviously stoked to see and meet Debbie.  She’s even more beautiful and funny in person.  I  also felt awe struck to see so many cake artists in action in the live challenge.  I know that I personally couldn’t turn out the amount or quality of work there, and 3 three hours no less.  It was entertaining, education, and most of all enjoyable. 

Some of the main highlights:

-Pulling into the family hotel with waterpark in Des Moines and finding the “Girls Gone Wild” tour bus in the parking lot.  (I swear I’m still laughing about that!)

-Seeing my sister and her family.  The kids were fantastic, and we weren’t sucked up into any bad weather.

-Debbie won the live challenge with her insane creation.  Always great to support a friend and watch them recieve the accolades that they deserve.

Check this bad boy out!  It’s all cake and the details are jaw dropping.  The plate of ribs and corn was so realistic, it wasn’t even funny.  The cake also had steam coming from it and played blues music.  (Go ahead and faint…I’ll wait.)

-I won the Kansas City Strip award for best representation of the Kansas City theme.

My cake was sort of a personal joke to myself.  Growing up I loved the Wizard of Oz…so much that I cut all my hair off at the age of 3 because I wanted to be a munchkin for Halloween.  I spend the rest of my childhood with a Dorthy Hammil hair cut waiting for it to grow out again.  I’ve already outlined my healthy respect and fear of tornadoes, and the irony of me making the cake while under a tornado watch with warnings going off all around us was just plain ridiculous. 

All the details on the cake are hand painted.  The bow on the side was made from an edible image of the sheet music for Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  The tornado on top of the cake spun.

All in all it was a great week, time well spent with family and those that are a true inspiration to me.  Next year’s event is already being planned, and I can’t wait to see what Mike will come up with.

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