In Judgement of Cake

The country’s largest private cake competition took place in Austin last weekend and yours truly got to be a judge. Not a judge of cake art and fancy fondant things, but a tasting judge. Even better, right? I got to eat cake.

That Takes the Cake has been going for almost a decade and gets bigger every year. Look at the line to get in!

This was my first year attending and my first time at anything like this, really. Here are some of the amazing things I saw:

From there, they just got crazier:

But my very favorite was this one:

The cakes I tasted were much humbler and I was glad for it. I was allowed to choose my category so I picked angel food cake. I was surprised that no one else picked it as their first choice. Not everyone likes the spongey, light texture, but I love it. Other categories included moon pies, candy, cookies, and mini-bottle cakes and the judges were a mix of bloggers, other types of food writers, and cake enthusiasts. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.

What did I learn from this experience? Cake is good. Even the cakes that didn’t win were pretty tasty. Also, sweet overload happens within minutes. The organization provided plenty of water, but next year I will sneak in some pretzels. What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning! A full list of winners and photos is posted here.