Last Friday, while I was down in Englandshire, I managed to get to the ICHF Cake International Expo . This was my first cake related show and the website didn’t give a lot of useful information so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Unfortunately I heard about it very last minute so couldn’t enter any of the competition categories or even book myself in for the more interesting demonstrations, but hopefully I will be more prepared next year. The one demonstration I did get to see was very informative and the stall holders were all showing off new bits and bobs, some of which I had heard of and some of which I hadn’t. I’ve picked up one or two new toys which I am looking forward to playing with the next couple of weeks. It was held at the NEC in Birmingham and even though I went on the Friday, the hall was heaving. The queue for the Wilton store was at least half an hour long and it was hard to squeeze in to see what the other stalls offered. But I persisted for the more unusual things and left Wilton to the domain of online shopping. The stars of the show, however, were the competition entries. They were all in roped off areas surrounded by people like me taking pictures and were being judged at the time I was there so I almost never managed to see which category I was looking at but I’m not particularly bothered by categories and winners, I was there to see cakes! So here, without any reference to the judges decisions, are my favourites from the show:

I loved the bold colours and shapes in this whimsical cake and the inexplicable dragonflys circling it.

This is a cake! Really. Not a wooden box with cross-stitch panels. A cake.

I loved the figure modelling on this cake. Check out her eyes!

The Moulin Rouge elephant! How about that for cake carving? Look at the little room above its trunk. Deceptively difficult.

Seasonal and simple. Or is it? Imagine all the work that went into those tiny leaves and flowers!

Just what exactly are these witches protecting?

This was my very favourite cake in the show and it was in the “Novice” class! Cheerful, unusual, and perfectly executed in every detail.

Picture cakes with icing “frames” seemed popular. This was my favourite, but there were several more.

I love the white on white detail here, and the top tier standing on its side!

This was very elegantly done. I hope there is real cake in there, because the balance is perfect.

The most adorable cake on show. Looks like this fat little guy ate a whole chocolate cake by himself! Unfortunately, it was positioned as far away as possible from every edge of the roped off area, so I couldn’t get a good detail shot.

There were of course tables of sugarpaste flowers and figurines but they were all equally perfect and realistic – I don’t envy the judges their job – and the cakes I have picked as my favourites aren’t the most technical of the bunch. There was one which seemed to be nothing but hand piped threads of royal icing and lace work, but these are the ones whose look appealed to me and which looked designed to be served as cake. I think it’s probably because I’m a baker first and a decorator second. You can be as fancy as you like with icing and put on a brilliant show, but at the end of the day, cake is meant to be eaten!