Food TV

The Food Network has done it again, bringing us a Challenge full of wonder and joy. Food Network Challenge: Dr. Seuss Cakes was nothing short of spectacular. Having been a Dr. Seuss fan my entire life, I am pleased to say that almost every amazing edible sculpture lived up to it’s expectations. The cakes featured such beloved characters as Sam I Am, The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, and that lovable elephant, Horton. There were two rookie chefs in the kitchens this Challenge, which is pretty unusual in and of itself.

First let me focus on the amazing duo from Cake Girls. They have worked on two cakes already in the Challenge kitchens, and won both times. Both with the Simpson’s cake and the Disney Princess cake. Their main pastry chef, Mary is absolutely fantastic. She took the Cat in the Hat and absolutely brought him to life. From hand sculpting the Fish to lovingly crafting Thing 1 and Thing 2, her cake looked like a page out of a pop-up book.

Next, lets take a look at our 4 time competitor. (My apologies, I don’t remember the names of any of the competitors except Mary from Cake Girls.) He has not yet won a FN Challenge, and I think the reason for that is that his work, as compared to the others, is a bit amateur-ish. Now don’t get me wrong, I think he’s great. He has a good attitude, and he does things with cakes and other pastry working ingredients that I will die without ever being able to achieve. But his work is inferior to that of the other contestants on the Challenges. For example, his Horton, while absolutely fantastic, was not very true to the Seussian style. He did have the opportunity to look both at the new movie, Horton Hears a Who, as well as the original book, and I think that may have put him at a bit of a disadvantage. After all, the new CGI film, is also not very pen and ink Seuss style. His elephant was good, but the legs were awful. They were nothing like an elephants legs, and honestly, I think most people made better elephant legs with playdough in elementary school. How difficult is it to make stumps with wrinkles for knees and half moon toenails? Really?

Next up we have rookie #1. She was charged with creating The Grinch, and representing how he stole Christmas. Her sous chef worked well with her. Really well, considering that they lived on opposite sides of the country and worked through phone calls and e-mails to practice for the competition. She created the Grinch sitting atop his sleigh upon the Mt. Crumpet with presents falling over the edge, and poor litte Max being dragged along. It was an incredibly cute cake, but the perspective (according to the judges) was all wrong. The Grinch, while impeccably sculpted and colored was far too large in comparison to the rest of the cake. It did look fantastic though.

Rookie #2 was charged with making the ever popular Sam I Am with the Green Eggs & Ham Cake. I have to say that she did an excellent job. Sam was exquisitely sculpted and while the green was slightly off color as compared to the books, it made a striking cake. While the scene itself was not specifically out of the book she did an excellent job of creating a Seussian situation for him to be in. With his head sticking out of the top of a tower of green eggs balanced precariously on the green ham and a hand on a cable holding onto the platter this particular cake hit the spot for me. The judges, however, were missing Sam’s friend.

That being said, the winner, and undefeated champion on FN Challenge was again Mary and her sister of Cake Girls. Congrat’s Girls! You did a GREAT job!!!