Fremont County Fair

So I took a little something to fair this year... and found I hadn't followed the rules!! All cakes, no matter what category, have to be tasted. Well, I hadn't counted on that. It is real cake, but I just didn't pay attention to things that I normally HAVE to! Didn't even watch for egg shells, no idea if I washed my hands and REALLY overbaked them so they could hold for three days. A normal cake stands for about six hours, so I knew three days was going to be a test in itself! They gave me a purple ribbon, but I'm afraid it may have been an act of compassion!! I checked for next year, and they said one edible tier would be fine. I can do that, but I'd still like supporting tiers to be completely overbaked!!

Anyway, the roses are royal icing, which means they're hard enough to crack teeth, but also strong enough to stand the Iowa heat. If I had been thinking, I would have put posts in each one. Had to learn that the hard way. I was putting them on the night before and at least four of them fell... actually rolled... off and I had to fix a little streak all the way down, along with the vines and shell border. What a mess. So, on a score card of 100 points, if I even got the 25 points for appearance I'm a lucky gal!!