Happy Sugar Baking Land

Merci Beacoup's 2nd Annual Halloween Winners!!

We did it!!  Another Halloween contest is in the books and once again, you have proven to the world that our cake friends are the best cake friends anywhere!!  You've also proven to be truly twisted as the horror cakes came in early and often;)  

First off, congrats to everyone for making this year's Halloween contest an even bigger success than last year!!  We topped our entry total from 2011 and the "likes" and comments were through the roof!!  We had well over 4100 responses to the entries which is a huge jump in participation as we introduced the fan favorite category for Halloween!

 Of course, the decisions were as hard as ever.  We have such a difficult time picking winners as so many incredible cakes came in.  Nothing was clear cut, but we picked from the heart and pulled out some names to honor with victory but everyone who entered has our admiration.  There were some truly amazing cakes.  We're applauding you now, listen carefully and you might hear us;)  Below are this year's medalists:

Novice Division Winners

Horror/Scary - John Penn

Traditional - Cheryl Irvin

Day of the Dead - Shanali Zeballos

Fan Favorite - Nichole Ferello

Professional Division Winners

 

Horror/Scary - Sarah Jones

Traditional - Mitchies Munchies

Day of the Dead - Jackie Travis

Fan Favorite - Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones with two wins this year!  Congrats to her and all our winners.  Each one of you did something special that caught our eyes and we are happy to be sending you some awesome medals that I fully expect pictures of you wearing out in public!  No really, we want to see you in a Starbucks ordering a tasty beverage fully medaled.... we're serious.

Okay, I can't say enough how awesome it was this year and how awesome you all are for participating.  It made our Halloween season extra extra special!  I think we're gonna skip a Christmas contest this year, but look out for a wedding cake challenge in 2013 as we enter "Decade Deux of Merci Beaucoup."

 

Merci Beaucoup's 2nd Annual Halloween Cake Challenge!!

Just like a persistent ghost mocking a SyFy Channel TV crew, it is time once more to haunt your kitchens and whip up something fun, something scary, and something sweet for Merci Beaucoup's newest tradition, our Annual Halloween Cake Challenge!!  And yes, two years qualifies as tradition;)

Last year was so much fun, even if the decisions drove us to the judging house of horrors!  Seriously, you all knocked your cakes out of the cemetary in 2011, so now it's time to up the proverbial ante.  For MBHCC 2012, we will have a grand total of 8 winners!!  If you participated in our Holiday contest, some of this will look familiar.

There will be four (4) categories, each containing two (2) divisions of experience.  They are:

• Traditional Halloween Cake Professional
• Horror/Scary Halloween Cake Professional
• Day of the Dead Cake Professional
• Fan Favorite Cake Professional

• Traditional Halloween Cake Novice
• Horror/Scary Halloween Cake Novice
• Day of the Dead Cake Novice
• Fan Favorite Novice 

 Now we can judge cakes against similar cakes instead of juggling a great Day of the Dead against say a super cute pumpkin;)  And you can thank Sarah Myers for the horror category!!  Unlike our Holiday contest, we are leaving it up to you to decide which division (novice or pro) that you wish to enter.  We do reserve the right to change your division if we feel it is improperly categorized but will notify you prior to any decisions.  There will be no entry fee!  The Halloween Contest is completely free to enter, so enter as often as you dare..... muwhahahahaha!!!

How To Enter:

Once again, we're looking for the most creative, spooktacular cakes you're little zombie food brains can come up with!  Wanna enter?  Of course you do!!  All you have to do is send a pic of your Halloween creation to us at [email protected] with the subject heading "Halloween Challenge 2012."  Include in the email:

• a photo(s) of your cake
• what category and division you are entering
• any info or facts about it you want to pass along
• your contact information including mailing address
• tell us your favorite costume you ever wore!! (embarrassing photos encouraged)

The Details:

1. Cakes only!  We only want to see/judge cupcakes etc. if they accompany a main cake.
2. No more than 3 photos per entry (cake).
3. Contest prizes available at no cost to residents of North America.
4. Winners outside of North America will need to pay shipping & handling to receive awards.
5. Fan Favorite awards calculated by total number of "likes" plus "comments."
6. Entries will close on November 5th at 11:59 pm, PST.
7. Fan Favorite Voting will close November 9th at 11:59 pm, PST.
8. All Winners will be announced on Nov. 10th.

The Categories:

Traditional Halloween:  You should enter this category if your cake falls into the traditional imagery of Halloween.  We're talking pumpkins, bats, owls, candy, cartoonish mummies or zombies, Frankenstein,  trick or treating, and light witchcraft.  You know, hobby witches, not Blair Witches!

Horror/Scary:  To enter this category, you are creating a cake with some fright to it.  Realisitic zombies, blood, gore, things based off of movies like Saw or shows like The Walking Dead.  If it's a bit twisted, it goes here!

Day of the Dead:  One of our favorite themes and one we felt needed it's own category.  As you can see, we have allowed entries well past November 1st and 2nd to allow for DOTDers to take part.  Sugar skulls, beautiful flowers, piping, use it all to create something for this category.

Fan Favorite:  All cakes will be entered into fan favorite!  Each cake will receive "votes" by gaining likes and comments on the official contest photo album on our Facebook page.  The highest total for pro and novice cakes will each win.  The tiebreaker if needed will be "shares." 

And Here's the Twist!

Because we love you, If you don't think you have the time or reason to make a Halloween cake this year (like our contest isn't enough reason!) AND you entered a cake last year, you may re-submit that cake for Fan Favorite voting only!!   It must be submitted again and only "votes" acquired under the 2012 photo album will be counted.  Important: You MAY NOT use this generous offer if you are submitting a new cake for 2012.  This is only for those who do not have the time to create something new for this year's contest.

Once again we will gather the cake coven known as Reva, Mic and Marc to judge the winners.  Last year they went with this beauty:

Do you have what it takes to unseat M.A.D. Crafted Cakes?  If so, get cracking on those designs and send 'em on over!!  We can't wait to see what our amazing friends will come up with and as soon as we get a few entries, we will create an online gallery on our Facebook page so everyone can share in the Halloween fun and start voting for their favs;)  Good luck cakers, may the best tiers win;)

Merci Beaucoup's 1st Annual Holiday Cheer Cake Challenge: The Results!!

 Now we can relax!!  Here are the results from our Holiday Cheer Cake Challenge!!

Professional Division Winners

• Christmas Fondant: Jaime Williams
• Any Other Holiday Cake:  Sarah Myers
• Cupcakes:  Sweet Melissa
• Gingerbread House: Alexis Sturgeon (Mission Inn Hotel)

Novice Division Winners

• Christmas Fondant: Heather Kelley
• Christmas Buttercream: Stacey Fruchey
• Any Other Holiday Cake:  Julie Freund
• Cupcakes:  Jessica Cowley
• Gingerbread House:  Susie Gestrine
• Cake Pops:  Michelle Quinones

We've also decided to award Raquel Palacios a special "International Christmas Fondant" award for her wonderful cake that came to us all the way from Australia!!

Your Fan Favorite Winner:  Sherry Oram

Sweepstakes Winner:  Georgine Kratzer

In the Professional Division we had some good entries in both fondant and gingerbread houses!!  Sherry Oram won Fan Favorite for her beautiful ginger house and Alexis Sturgeon sent in three impressive houses including our winner, a replica of the Mission Inn that featured great detail and an intricate construction process.

In the fondant cakes we debated having 1st thru 3rd place awards because they were all so nice.  Tina's ribbon inspired tree and Erica Heery's cute mug of hot cocoa and gingerbread men made us smile, but in the end we handed over 1st to Jaime Williams for a full bodied elf that was clean and showed off a number of techniques.  Why do you guys make this so hard on us?

Things only got harder in the Novice Division where the fondant debate raged into Sunday morning!  The result?  We decided to have both a domestic and international winner!!  From Australia, we just adored the work of Raquel Palacios.  The figures were terrific and the ruffled edges were perfect.  Very well done.  Stateside it was the composition and execution of Heather Kelley's snowglobe and penguin cake that we just kept coming back to.  It tells a fun story and is just brimming with the spirit and fun of the holiday season.  

That being said, major props have to go out to Ainsley Stephens for two awesome cakes, a Peanuts theme and a Christmas dog in a box that were adorable and very, very well done.  We loved Colleen Ray's fondant tree (our first entry) and Nichole Ferello's Rudolph.  Marianne Reitsma, what can we say about your nutcracker?  Amazing.  Everyone did such fun and wonderful cakes and after a slow start to the entries coming in, we were blown away by all of your participation!  Picking a winner is not rocket science and without sounding too cliched I hope, you are all winners to us;) 

Julie Freund's "Any Other" winner was a great example of how to work black and white design into a cake!

And Michelle Quinones' cake pops get the unofficial "made Reva giggle" award along with her 1st place;)

Next year, we hope this will be bigger and better and of course, I'm looking for some Hanukkah cakes.  Seriously, where my kosher cakers at? LOL!  Congrats to literally everyone.  We know it can be scary to submit your work into contests, but we loved each and every one and appreciate the time you took to join in.  We have a full slate of contests in 2012 including more Halloween and Holidays as well as a birthday cake challenge in April and a big wedding cake showdown in August!!  This is just too much fun not to keep doing!!  

One last note, I wanted to give a special shout out to Alex Kleidon who, after seeing us mention the mini series "Hogfather," rented the movie and then proceeded to make us a "Hogswatch" cake for the any other category!!!  There were many high fives and fist pumps when it came in Alex, thank you for stepping outside the box and taking a chance on something new!!  

So from the the Merci Crew and the Hogfather, we hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and here's to a fantastic 2012 full of cakes and laughter!!

Merci Beaucoup's 1st Annual Holiday Cheer Cake Challenge!!

Entries are now Closed!!

It's beginning to look a lot like we're having a Holiday contest!!  Reva's making her list and checking it twice before stuffing it under my pillow, so while she's dreaming of an iPad, I thought I'd rip the wrapping off our first ever Holiday Cheer Cake Challenge.

Ho, ho, homemade treats are at the center of this expanded contest.  After our test run at a Halloween contest, we wanted to make our next one bigger with even more opportunities for people to get their name on the winner's list;)  So, read carefully, and let us know if you have any questions because there are a lot of moving parts this time around.

The Categories:

• Christmas Cake - Buttercream
• Christmas Cake - Fondant
• Winter Holiday Cake (any other, including NYE, Hanukah, Festivus, Boxing Day etc.)
• Gingerbread House
• Holiday Cupcakes
• Holiday Cake Pops

(Please note: Thanksgiving is NOT included in the "any other" description.  December Holidays only.)

For the Christmas cakes, we will place your cake in the proper category based on which medium is used to represent your theme the most.  Ex: If it is buttercream icing with lots of fondant figures, we will put it in "fondant" because the execution of your design relies heavily on the fondant work.

In addition to all those categories, we're also going to have two levels of competition: Professional and Novice.  That's a total of 12 winners!

Novice: anyone who bakes and decorates primarily as a hobby.  A novice most likely is in the beginning stages of their decorating career/business.  It should not be your primary source of income, but it is okay if you are selling your product in modest amounts.

Professional: to enter the professional categories you should consider yourself a full time cake decorator, this includes grocery stores or any other work for businesses other than your own, including freelance.  You should have a business name and a wesbite and/or a well cared for Facebook page as your business.  You will probably have some training and/or multiple years experience.

Anyone can enter the Professional level if they wish, but if you enter the Novice level and you appear to be a professional decorator, you will be notified. This is important because a change to this contest will be an entry fee for Professional entries 

This fee is to help alleviate the cost of awards for a contest this size.  We want to do 4 to 5 contests a year and with one this size, we feel it appropriate to attach a modest fee.  It is also to lend some weight to the idea of presenting the winners with an award that states they won a "professional" level competition.  Pricing is on par with your standard county fair.

A 6 pack of entries, one for each category in the professional division, will be offered for $5.  That is for anyone who wants to enter each category once.  We will also offer any 10 entries for $7.  All other combinations will be $1 per entry.  You do not have to buy an entry for a specific category, you can use your entries for any category you like unless you buy the 6 pack, in which case you will be assigned one entry per category.

Novice entries will remain completely free.  Simply follow the rules and email us your entry.  We appreciate your honesty when entering.  We would like to reward young decorators for their hard work. 

There are no limits to how many times you may enter for either level!

Obviously, each contestant has a unique set of circumstances and if you are unsure of which level to enter, just let us know and we'll figure out the best level for you.

The Rules:

1. All entries must be received by January 2nd, 2012 by 11:59 pm PST.
2. Photos of your entry should be emailed to [email protected].
3. Use the subject heading "Holiday Challenge."
4. Tell us which category and level you are entering.
5. Please include your full contact info in your email.
6. No more than two (2) photos per entry.
7. Awards to be shipped within North America only. Winners outside this area must pay additional shipping charges to receive their prize.  An option to receive a certificate only via email for no charge will be made available.
8. Professionals, please make sure you pay for each entry via our online store here.
9. If you pay with a different name (spouse etc.) or a different email, please let us know in your entry email so we can match you up with your payment.
10. Judging will be conducted by the members of Team Merci Beaucoup.

The Awards:

• The winner of each category will receive a custom medal.
• A Sweepstakes winner will receive a special plaque!
• Fan's Choice.  The entry that receives the most comments and "likes" will receive an award.

The Sweepstakes!

If you're familiar with county fairs, you know of the sweepstakes prize.  The contestant with the most points will win the sweepstakes.  The more you enter, the more chance you have of winning sweepstakes!

1. Professional and Novice levels will be considered for sweepstakes.
2. Most points wins.
3. Each category will be ranked 1 thru 10 with the following points awarded:

• 1st Place - 12 Points
• 2nd         - 10 Points
• 3rd          -  9 Points
• 4th          -  7 Points
• 5th          -  6 Points
• 6th          -  5 Points
• 7th          -  4 Points
• 8th          -  3 Points
• 9th          -  2 Points
• 10th        -  1 Point

In the event of a tie, the highest placement will be considered first.  If still tied, multiple firsts etc. will be considered.

Fan's Choice

All entries will be posted on our Facebook page in special albums for each category (levels will be combined).  Each "like" and comment will be counted as 1 vote.  The most votes will earn the Fan's choice award.  NOTE: voting for Fan's Choice will remain open till January 6th, 2012!  This will allow later entries to earn votes.

All 14 winners will be announced on January 7th!

That enough for you?  Our Halloween contest was so much fun and we hope this time is even better.  Best of luck everyone!

Merci Beacucoup's 1st Annual Halloween Cake Contest: The Results!!

A month and a half ago we announced we would be holding our first ever online cake competition for Halloween!  We're kind of into ribbons and trophies so we though why not offer some up to our fans and colleagues out there!!  We learned a lot by running this contest, like some of you are really twisted!  Creepy clowns, gory zombies, dismembered body parts, we were thinking we'd get some cute pumpkins and stuff, but no, the horror side definitely came out!  We got cute stuff too, but they were always followed up by an open chest wound;)

First off, before we get to the winners, just for fun I wanted to say that far and away, the creepiest, scariest, and really the grossest cake we received was from Stacey Connors who sent us this decaying head in a pool of blood (avert your eyes if squeamish!):

Talk about photo real, seriously Stacey, should we inform the police?  Is there anything you wish to confess outside of you are one twisted cake decorator!  This is actually an alternate view from the one we posted on Facebook so you can see the rat she made.  We didn't make an award for the scariest cake, but clearly, Stacey runs away with it!  We just had to mention it, excellent work.  I can now skip lunch.

 Okay, with 61 entries, you guys stepped up and really knocked our socks off!  We found ourselves applauding the computer screen often as everyone delivered wonderful examples of Halloween cakes.  Even our more beginner decorators showed us really fun and creative cakes and we cannot wait to do this again next year and see how far you've come!  If judging was hard this year, next year might kill us!

And judging was really, really hard.  It's especially difficult given we only had photos and couldn't look around the cakes in person to inspect all your awesome details.  But, it was our contest and we had to do it!  All of you, every last one, will be getting an email from us in the coming week with our thoughts and compliments as well because eliminating any of you seemed cruel;)  We really appreciate all your hard work!!!

Okay, after an initial pass of the entries, we came up with about 25 second rounders.  From there, we narrowed it down to a Top 10, which was more like a Top 12 for a few hours as we debated back and forth!  Here are the entries (in no particular order) that placed in the Top 10:

• Mani Surendra  "Birthday Halloween"
• Loren Ebert "Witch's Brew"
• Jessica Collier "Sugar Skull"
• Pam Williams  "Witch Cauldron"
• Cake Nerds  "Puking Pumpkin"
• MAD Crafted Cakes  "Nightmare Before Christmas"
• Sarah Myers  "SAW Cake"
• Rita Clemmons  "Football Fan Witch House"
• Sweet Cakes by Rebecca "Built on Sin"
• Samantha Hally  "Smiling Jack-o-Lantern"

That was hard, I mean really hard, but we made decisions based on a number of qualities and tried to pick a good cross section of our entries.  But our Halloween dilemma was just beginning!  The Top 5 represent those of you who would receive an award with a Finalist Medal going to the runners-up (2nd thru 5th if you will, although we will not rank the finalists) and a personalized plaque going to the grand champion.  Here then (in no particular order) are the Top 5:

Jessica Collier    MAD Crafted Cakes

Samantha Hally       Mani Surendra 

Pam Williams 

Congratulations to all of you!  Samantha, your pumpkin flashed us that buttercream smile and made us smile right back;)  Pam, we loved your cute little witch sinking into a boiling cauldron.  Likewise Mani, you made such a cute Halloween cake with a black cat and witch, it had a lot of story to it.  Jessica, you killed it with your meticulous piping work and MAD, we got a few NBC cakes, but yours was over the top!

Four of you will be getting our Finalist Medal, one of you will get the champions plaque, and that award goes to.......

MAD CRAFTED CAKES!!!

A frontrunner from the second it came in, MIchele and Derek Smith (M.A.D., get it?) wowed us with a big, bold Nightmare Before Christmas theme featuring a pumpkin tier, an architectural element hanging off the side and a Halloweentown of supporting characters.  And you all agreed, as this cake earned more than double the amount of "likes" on Facebook than any other entry.  This cake tells the story of Jack Skellington and is truly an impressive piece of cake decorating.  Superb work guys! 

There you have it cakers, our first attempt at a contest.  Again, we cannot thank you all enough for your entries, everyone which made us smile!  Except for Stacey who gave us the creeps;)  Thank you for sharing your talents with us, it was truly inspiring.

Next up we will be doing a more elaborate Christmas/Holiday contest with a few different categories and levels to enter so we can try and spread the award cheer to as many as possible!  Stay tuned for details shortly!  Till then, have a wonderful Day of the Dead my friends!!

Reva, Michael, and Marc

Merci Beaucoup's 1st Annual Halloween Cake Competition!!

BOO!!  Greetings cake nerds!  It is time once again for the ghouls and ghosts to come out to play and more importantly, to gather up candy!!  Maybe in one of our fabulous tote bags/candy holders!!  It has also become about baked sweets like cupcakes and cookies and of course, cakes!  We've seen so many great Halloween theme cakes recently and had the pleasure of making a few of our own that we thought one night sitting around the Merci Beaucoup HQ that we should have a contest.  A Halloween cake contest!!  Behold:

It's The Great Cake, Merci Beaucoup!!  Halloween Cake Competition!!

We're looking for the most creative, spooktacular cakes you're little zombie food brains can come up with!  Wanna enter?  It is super simple!  All you have to do is send a pic of your Halloween creation to us at [email protected] with the subject heading "Halloween Contest."  Include a photo of your cake and a spooky joke along with your contact information, favorite candy, and mailing address.  Need more?

The Details:

1. Cakes only!  Sorry cupcakers, we'll take care of you next time!
2. Cakes must have a Halloween/Day of the Dead theme and should be created this year.
3. No more than 2 photos per entry (cake).
4. Maximum 2 entries (cakes) per person.
5. Contest prizes available to residents of North America only.
6. Entries will close on October 30th at 11:59 pm, PST.
7. Winner will be announced on Nov. 1st.

The Prize:  The very first winner of the very first Merci Beaucoup sponsored cake competition will receive their very own plaque of distinction to hang in their place of business, home, or around their neck in a bold fashion statement!  Design pending, but let's face it, to possess this plaque will be to hold pure awesome in your hand and you know you want that!!  The remaining four (4) finalists from our Top 5 will receive a Finalist Medal.

So, get cracking on those designs and send 'em on over!!  We can't wait to see what our amazing fans will come up with and as soon as we get a few entries, we will create an online gallery so everyone can share in the Halloween fun;)  Good luck cakers, may the best tiers win;)

Running Giveaways on Facebook

To say I was ignorant of Facebook's views and regulations on running any form of promotion on our Merci Beaucoup fan page would be a lie.  I cannot plead insanity nor incompetence.  I've known for awhile that, due to some misguided liability concerns, Facebook basically prohibits any and all contests on their site unless you use a third party app.  Even then, it is easy for them to turn around and claim you're doing something wrong.

Most of the third party apps also require payment and end up being cumbersome and annoying.  All we want to do is have fun with our fans and friends and engage each other in conversation etc.  The stuff we give away in quizzes is small and usually left over from something else we've done.  It's not like we're offering a cruise!  But we cannot collect any form of information via FB, even though they collect and distribute our information on a daily basis.  No answers, no emails, I can't even write a winner's name down in a post.  Nothing.  So, we cannot do little giveaways on Facebook any longer.

Instead, we will be doing all future contests etc. on here, our blog.  A safe heaven where I can do whatever I want without worrying about a nervous multi million dollar internet company destroying all my hard work to build our page because they don't want to get sued over me mailing out a fondant leaf cutter.  Will it be more work on our end?  Absolutely.  Will it be more work on your end?  A little, yes.  I can post a link to our contests on Facebook, but after that, everything will have to be run through the blog.

If you're confused yourself about their policies, check out this article.

The genesis of this comes from a lot of stepped up activity by the Facebook police including accounts being temporarily banned at an alarming rate.  I've yet to hear of anyone with a deleted account, but that's probably because they've been deleted!  We have over 3,100 fans, and I can't risk losing that to a knee jerk FB intern.  We still want to be able to build a community on FB and interact with all of you, we just have to move our contests.  

Today I posted our first quiz on Tumblr and it has caused great confusion for both myself and all of you.  I'm sorry about that, blame Facebook.  Even as I was trying to do things correctly and steer you over to Tumblr, I got a message from FB about their promotion rules.  A warning essentially.  It sucks, and I wish we could all just have fun on there without Big Brother pooping on the party.

What is ridiculous is all they have to do is develop a simple promotion app with a disclaimer on it that we could all use easily but instead they are hooked in with third party developers including one they funded.  As far as the internet has come, there is still a lot left to be desired.

As far as the referral contest goes, I don't know yet.  Technically, because it requires the use of a Facebook function (the "like" button), I don't think we can continue with it, but I'm not prepared to let those who worked hard to help us out go without reward, so we'll figure all of that our very soon I promise.

And damn them all, I am stepping up our contests shortly too!  We're gonna have a Halloween contest with a trophy and everything!!  

Thank you for your patience everyone and your participation.  We'll sort this out so we can all just have some fun again soon.  Sincerely,

Reva & Mic