I entered Duff's Extreme Cake contest! Need ideas now!! - Page 2

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as a native son of Illinois....oh come on -- there's so MUCH more!

what about:

Corn (sweet and otherwise --- still the best corn in the world to me!)
Soybeans
Pigs
(monster corn cob w/ little pigs running around on it?)

Carl Sandburg (esp. his poem Chicago)

Chicago deep dish pizza (from Geno's East! -- still THE BEST!!!! and I'll take mine w/ everything but anchovies, thank you!)

The Water Tower in Chicago

The Cubs (and remember Duff did Wrigley Field!)

The clock from the old Marshall C. Fields & Company building downtown

The White Socks

Frank Lloyd Wright!!!!!!!!! (all the buildings you could do! Oak Park has over 8 of his buildings, including his home & studio and there are others scattered all about)

Gwendolyn Brooks (poetry!)

Lorraine Hansberry (wrote Raisin in the Sun)

All the museums in Chicago - esp. Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Insitutue)

and then there is Lake Michigan of course.

and the Miracle Mile

The original founders of Improv sketch comedy -- SECOND CITY in Old Town Chicago -- were Jane Curtain, Dan Akroyd, Chevy Chase, The Belushi brothers and so many others got their start

and for course Marina City -- "those" 2 apt. buildings on the river http://www.marina-city.com/ (would make a very tall and interesting cake -- esp if you did a car crashing into the river like they did in the tv commercial for car insurance)

and think of the fun of making fun of
Mrs. Oleary, her cow and the Great Fire of 1871 (a cake in FLAMES! --- a whole diorama of old Chi-town going up in flames and that cow running for it's life! --- that'd be extreme)

oh....and don't forget Al Capone, the 20's, gin joints, tommy guns.

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OOOOOOO......and working off that last one ---

the movie Some Like it Hot with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag (OUCH on the eyeballs) and Marilyn Monroe!!! -- soooo much you could do with that.

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Trains -- Chi-town was once THE central hub for almost all train traffic --- The Rock Island line very famous example

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and who about COAL -- major producer for many years (both shaft and strip mines)

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the Loop -- could be interesting creating a 3D replica of the elevated trains.

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and of course the tv show ER which is set in Chicago (mythical Chicago Hope Hospital)

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and then you could do a take on almost any novel or short story by Ray Bradbury who is also a native son of Waukegan, Illinois -- my fav would be to do the big old victorian house from Dandelion Wine (based on his real grandparent's home and his family's which stood right next door) or the evil circus from Something Wicked this Way Comes.

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now you've gone and done it! --- got me homesick for Illinois and Chicago -- my kind of town! (cue Sinatra!) (oooo...another idea of cake of Frank singing the song and a cake that illustrates what he's singing about)

Wow! Doug - that is some great brain storming I am imagining some pretty spectacular things now... If Corn is a big thing what if you did a "popcorn"cake - could you maybe do something like popcorn popping inside the cake...like make a cake that looks like one of those popcorn stand things, and have a real popper inside so you could flip a switch and start things up....
Or what about honest Abe eating a deep dish pizza?
If you are really good with fondant I think you could really do a great scene with the Al Capone idea

I agree with staying away with explosives if you're not experienced with this, but I think it would be cool to add a few built-in bowls with dry ice/liquid for a fog/smoke effect.

cake can also be made to explode by blowing up a small balloon planted inside until it bursts.

not as flashy as fireworks (which for the most part are illegal in Illinois for non-pros to use.)

I would tell you my idea, but we would have to split the prize. LOL!

Hey, Doug, you forgot Sinatra singing Chicago -- his swinging tribute to "that toddling town."

Theresa

did I???

read the last two lines of my monster long post!

oops, sorry, missed it.

T.

I think a replica of charm city cakes would be cool with his staff all there, but the extreme part would be that one of Duff's exploding cakes has gone horribly wrong. You could make it look like the roof blew off the building, Duff holding a cake w/ flames shooting out of it flying through the air, a fire truck and ambulance outside of the bakery, and his staff lying around in various positions or on stretchers with bandages. bits of other cakes and cake tools strewn about for some extra effects and smoke and flames coming out the top. Cotton candy dyed gray could be used as the smoke so that it is light and fluffly and won't weigh too much. I think that cake would totally rock! LOL is this competition going to be televised?

ooh ooh.....and you could have a little sign that says, was this an accident or foul play? And then have a masked chicken running around. OKay, so maybe that part only apppeals to my warped sense of humor, but I digress! LOL

Doug has it! The Blues Brothers! You get Chicago plus the "Rockin'" part. Somebody here just recently posted some Jake and Elroy fondant figures. Could be the competition!

Illinois corn now is the one and only Garrett's popcorn! Could you make a cake with marshmallow "popcorn" blowing out the top? Now I'm drooling...

What about forming the words ACE OF CAKES and have minitures of the staff hanging off the words and make the words a little cock-eyed and a small model of the charms city cakes building proping it up like that.

Then have duff looking up at the workers laughing or something like that you get the general idea.

Good luck, wish i could be there to support you. After all we are all part of the cc family. LOL

oh....and more Chicago "institution"...

how could we not mention ....

OPRAH!

Here's one that Doug left out.....the original Playboy mansion and club are in Chicago. Now there would be an interesting cake! lol

I kinda think it'd be interesting to have a large Abe Lincoln climbing the Sears Tower holding a screaming Duff in his hands... in the style of King Kong. (And going with someone elses suggestion above) have a fire making its way through the rest of the city on one side of the building with a cow stampeding toward the Sears Tower? Maybe a field of corn on the other side of the building with parts of it turning into a trail of popcorn (bc of the fire). Maybe have another famous figure like Oprah riding the cow? Dunno if that might be offensive though.

That's all I've got! Good luck!!! I bet you're so excited!

~Carrie

I'm in IL too and didn't know about this! Wow, how exciting for you! Congrats!
I love all the ideas on here. Since it's not in Chicago, I think the corn idea is a great one. Especially this time of year, with harvest and all. Also, don't forget about the Bears and Cubs...Duff has done cakes of both. Your options are unlimited. I'm about 3 hours from there but I want to come so bad!!

Good luck!