Kitty over at Fahrenheit 350 won the super awesome Fat Daddio's baking pan!!!

Congratulations, Kitty! It was actually my husband who chose the winner. He's really good at that. I had him sit down and read all the entries and pick the best one. Here's the winning entry:

I'm Kitty, currently in Portland Oregon but moving in 5 weeks to the south/southeast - we haven't decided yet! I love to bake because it is an art form; it is a passion; its beautiful and manifests my feelings in a physical form! I just think you are so talented and so creative, I would like more explanations... like how you made those adorable trees! P.S. Your barnyard cake was amazing!

Thanks to ALL of you who left a comment.  I loved every single thing you said.  People that bake a yuuuummmmm-azing!  That's right.  I said it.

I have another anouncement to make.  After reading your comments, I have decided to shift the focus of the blog a bit.  I'm going to take it in a whole other direction.  Instead of focusing mainly on recipes, I will be working on tutorials and how-to's about cakes and cupcakes.  For example, I plan to make a step-by-step guide (with pictures) to making those adorable little farm animals.  My next post is on how to cover a cake with fondant.  I have more.  Please feel free to leave even more comments letting me know if there is any specific how-to you would like to see.  I'm here for YOU!

Now, remember those tiny little trees????  Here's what they were for:

Is this not the most adorable groom's cake you've ever seen!?!?!?!  I had so much fun making it!  Of course, I have to give credit to the CakeChannel for the inspiration.  However, I don't actually know who made the cake to begin with.  Whoever they are, I wish I could personally thank them, because I printed off a picture of it and pretty much made an exact replica...almost. 

Now, since this was the most extravagant, most detailed, most time-consuming cake I have ever made, I did not get how-to pictures along the way.  I know, I feel absolutely terrible about it.  I will, however, tell you how I made a few things.

Trees: Start with green balls of fondant (various shades and various colors).  Shape them into cones, making sure each one is just a little bit different, and place them onto a toothpick that is stuck into a styrofoam block.  Then take a toothpick and just randomly mark little lines all over it to give it a leafy look.  Do this a few days in advance.  When you put the trees on the cake, you can just stick them on there with the toothpick.

Boulders: Use leftover gray-tinted fondant from covering the cake.  It doesn't matter if there are a few crumbs or a little buttercream in the fondant.  You're just making rocks.  Take various size balls of the fondant and just smoosh into a rock-like shape.  Its hard to truly explain this one.  Make them all a little different.  Some round, some flat and smooth, some bulky and sharp.  Attach to cake with frosting.

Tent: The bulk of the tent is actually rice crispy treat.  I just made some treats and cut a triangle out of it to make the tent.  Cover the rice crispies with buttercream, then fondant.  It was very simple, and fun to make.

Campfire: Use dark brown fondant and roll a few small pieces out to various sized logs (think tootsie rolls).  Then I used a toothpick to make little indentions in the logs that look like bark.  Attach the logs to the cake board with frosting.  The fire is just a little piece of red fondant that I cut into a funky little shape.  Do all of this a few days in advance.

Waterfall: As you can see, the cake is 3 stacked tiers.  Before I even covered each individual tier with gray fondant, I cut out the indentions where the waterfall would be.  Looking at it in the end, I should have carved even more, but oh well.  It still flows.  Just cover each tier with fondant, stack them as you normally would (a tutorial on stacking will come someday as well), and then roll out a long strip of light blue fondant.  Attach the blue strip the the cake where the waterfall should be (along the carved parts).  Then use white icing color to paint rapids onto the waterfall.

Grass: The whole thing finally comes together with the grass.  I couldn't believe the different it made.  I used a special piping tip (Wilton No. 233 tip) that makes a grassy look.  Pipe grass all around each tier, including borders, boulders, the tent, the trees, and the waterfall.

People: I can't even begin to explain them.  I had to wing it.  I can tell you that they are supported with toothicks, but as for the rest, I have no idea.  I think I was half asleep when I made them.

So there you have it!  This cake was soooo much fun to make!  It was time-consuming, but not extremely difficult.  I encourage you to try it yourself!

And congrats again, Kitty!

With love, Ev