Dress Form Cake with Roses

Our city does a cake decorating contest.  There is some pretty intense competition.  Last year I took second, this year I took first place and the buttercream award (people's choice).  Here's my entry:

 

I've done this dress before, but this time I used larger flowers and placed them more concentrated towards the bottom.  I actually didn't even use all of the flowers I had on hand. 

 

One of the things we were being judged on was how many different techniques we used.  So there are a lot of little details everywhere.  The piped doiley (which broke in about a thousand places) The chocolate table.  The boquet with a variety of flowers.  Draped and quilted fondant on the purse.  The string of beads around the neck are sugar.

 

The shoes were everyone's favorite.  In fact I think I've discovered a secret.  Every year the entry that wins the buttercream award has a shoe.  I'll keep this in mind for next year.  People don't know this, but shoes are not too hard, just time consuming.

 

Here's the floorboards made of fondant.  The marbling technique I used for the wood is different than the marbling technique I used for the manequin top.  The floor has long marbled lines, the manequin has more of a curvy marble look.

 

The next day we served this cake at a young womens fundraiser for our church.  Because it was for the young women, I thought I would make it a little more modest and add sleves.  I actually really like the look with sleves.  If I had known this, I would have added them the night before, but when competing, I try not to do too much that is unknown.

 

And here's the back

 

Here I am with my 2 diligent (twin) assistants.

 

And here's all my booty.  A Bosch mixer, a beautiful cake stand, and a large cupcake pan

 

The awards.

And, in case you need more pictures, here is the bow side of the dress.

 

And the non-bow side of the dress.