I can't believe the hair on that one gal - Garcia!
Anna from AOC is doing her 1st challenge and already having problems.
Should be an interesting finish to this hour.

I can't wait to see how they all come out - I love the Ice Age movies.

I know this was already said on the show, but is anyone else bothered by the girl doing the mammoth cake with no filling and Styrofoam? I know they're not really going to be eaten, but it really bothers me for some reason!

Oh no... another messy kitchen.

Poor Vinnie, air brush seems to cause so many problems.

Hey Kakeladi, how far north are you? I am very southern Michigan.

I'm rooting for Anna from AOC. I love her! I just hope her Sid comes out OK!

I'm watching it! Poor Anna....I hope it turns out for her.

I think the pink hair is kinda wild

I am now...thanks for the clue in.

Anna from AOC-I like her (and I love Sid). I'm stuck in the commercial loop right now-can't wait to see the cakes

I'm watching too! I'm glad they've pulled in some new cake people for the challenge.

I'm rooting for Anna also!!!

How do you not bring enough icing to a competition like this?? If it were me (not that I will ever be good enough to do any sort of competition) I would make a TON extra! You never know...

Anna's cake is SO cute! But the guy that moved after her, his cake is really good too...

They ALL look GREAT!!!! This is a tough one to judge

Like Duff always says "Anna does cute cakes". She is always my favorite on Ace of Cakes. I'm rooting for her tonight. Her cake turned out great, but I'm afraid it's not going to be "big" enough to please the judges.

I'm watching too...I love Ice Age!!! Thay all seem to be having their hardships on this one.

Your right. It was good experience for her and I have no doubt she will come back even stronger the next time. Her painting is amazing. She seems very quiet and shy from what I see of her on the show. I would love to work with her. I only live about 30-40 minutes north of Baltimore. I'd love to be able to tour Charm City Cakes.

I really thought that every cake was wonderful in its own right, but putting together a cake with no buttercream and STYROFOAM sheets!

She's been there before--she had to know that the judges would eat her alive for that. It also gives non-cake people and beginners the wrong idea--you just hope that they watch long enough to realize that it's a big NO-NO!

Also, if you ship dozens of cakes, on on top of the other, of course they're going to be compacted. That means that you have to bring along another suitcase full of cake in order to compensate--not just shove in 1 inch styro sheets to make up the difference. Sheesh............

I personally felt that the winner was the right one--great carving, modeling, and airbrush work--and best of all, really good teamwork.

Rae

SO LOVED ANNA'S CAKE...but if the designer who did the elephant would have won if not the styrofoam.....lol....IMO.


Happy caking,

I thought all of the cakes in this challenge turned out really nice. While watching with my daughter, here were some of our comments:

--Michelle Garcia and her husband seem like nice people, but when you are in the food business you really need to take into account how your appearance might influence the customer. I would never buy anything from their store because Michelle's hair and tatoos kind of gross me out.

--The styrofoam thing was bothing me too. What also was annoying to me and my daughter was how many times she said she was unprepared and had no back-up plan--not enough cake, almost ran out of icing, no spare tusks, etc.

--We both love Anna and wanted her to win so badly!!! She is so cute and humble and she's one of our very favorites on AOC. She is an amazing painter!

--Richard is just plain cocky.

Ok, now I feel better to get that off my chest.....

Sweettooth1120 - I'm in Hampstead. I just love Anna's work. I feel like I can relate to her. (Even though I'm old enough to be her Mother! LOL).

It's almost over, I'm hoping the one I want to will win.

i hope everyone is finished watching this, cause if not imma have some p!$$ed off ppl after me. I wanted vinny to win so bad! i thought that the winner shouldn't be able to compete anymore since he has won so many already. give someone else a chance. if he keeps on, he will be seen as a judge favorite and they wont pay any attention to the other competitors. and the "manny" cake? WTH was she thinking with the styrofoam?!? carving it along with the cake and it flaking over everything? may as well have made a hazardous materials sign to go over it. lol. but i love vinny. hope he continues to be front man instead of the girl he works with. GO VINNY!!!

I thought that they all did a wonderful job. I was so disappointed in the construction of the mammoth cake. Even my 13 year old said "Why is there nothing between the cake layers?". It is real shame because her carving and the end result were amazing.

I was really turned off by Richard's attitude throughout the competition. It is wonderful to be confident in your skill and abilities, but I thought he was just a little too much.

I always want to get more time to look at the final cakes. Does anyone know if there is a place on the Food Network site to view competition cakes?

[quote="ljdills] It is real shame because her carving and the end result were amazing.[/quote]I agree.

But standing on the cake table with shoes? Surely she's watched this long enough to know the "clean up as you go" rule? The no-filling problem has been mentioned before.

And while I understand the difference between show cakes and cakes-to-be eaten, it really bugs me when cakes like this are done on challenges. Cakes at the Okla Sugar Show are show cakes and I dont' expect them to be real cake or eatable cake. Cakes on Challenges are made of CAKE and the general public has an expectation of those cakes being eaten. Whether they are or not, I believe it's the expectation.

And with that expectation, comes the expectation that certain sanitary guidelines should be observed.

Well, I suppose one wouldn't really want to eat a woolly mammoth these days anyway...
I was so proud of Anna, that first challenge must be sca-a-a-ry!
I liked Scrat larger, it's in the spirit of a cartoon to exaggerate certain things. He's the focus, he should be larger not in proportion.

I thought Richard's was the best! The rock was amazing - but I loved the detail of the squirrel. I can't believe it only took his asst 15-20 minutes to make that darling little creature. It was amazing!

I thought Anna's was really cute! And Sid turned out great in the end. She did really well for her first challenge and I'm sure that she will wind up there again.

The pink haired woman drives me nuts everytime. I thought Diego turned out really nice. But they were just having major air brush issues.

And the woman who did the mammoth was just insane. She reminded me of Stevie. I couldn't believe she had her foot on the table!!! And she was sitting on it...and yep she was making a mess. It did turn out really good - but she wasn't professional about it. From the what she did to the table, to the uncovered styrofoam, and of course no buttercream between the layers.

But it was a great challenge as usual!

........--Michelle Garcia and her husband seem like nice people, but when you are in the food business you really need to take into account how your appearance might influence the customer. I would never buy anything from their store because Michelle's hair and tatoos kind of gross me out. ........
........The pink haired woman drives me nuts everytime............

I sooooooo agree w/this!