Kelly Ripa, The Cake Boss and Electrolux = CakeOff for a Cause

The last few days have been a whirlwind of jet-setting and a true taste of la dolce vita for yours truly.  Electrolux appliances requested food blogger submissions to win a trip to NYC and help raise awareness for ovarian cancer research via Foodbuzz a while back.  I have reasons close to home for entering the contest, and I was over-the-moon when I found out I would be amongst the pool of 15 bloggers selected to go.  As details of the event unfolded, my excitement grew.  Hang with Kelly Ripa? Check.  Stay at the über-chic Hotel Gansevoort in the Meatpacking district? Check.  Get ferried from place to place by an amazing chauffer service during our entire stay? Check.  Attend a private demonstration at the Spotted Pig by their world-renowned head chef  April Bloomfield? Also check!  A couple of days before the event it was revealed that TLC’s Cake Boss himself, Buddy Valastro, would give us cake decorating tips, choose themes, and help us to decorate five cakes that YOU can vote on for free, and every time you vote Electrolux will donate a dollar to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.  What an adventure! 

The event day run of show reads just like something out of a trendy novel about a girl getting whisked into the NYC adventure of her dreams for a day.  I woke up at 6:45am (mind you after a night cavorting with meatpacking glitterati at the Spotted Pig and Gansevoort rooftop lounge) which is 2:45am Seattle time.  After sloshing on a few strokes of makeup and munching a hurried breakfast hosted by Electrolux, a fleet of SUV’s shuttled the 15 of us to the “Live with Regis and Kelly” studio to attend a taping.  By a stroke of dumb luck, I happened to get the best seat in the house, front and center, and thoroughly enjoyed watching Kelly Ripa make chocolate-dipped strawberries and Regis do his comic thing.  After the taping we had two free hours before we were required for cake decorating, and what’s a girl to do with extra time in NYC? You guessed it, I hit up the divine shops peppered about the Meatpacking district.  Sales abound since apparently someday soon winter will give way to spring, so I managed to pick up three dresses in 10 minutes flat at Scoop.  I was really on a mission for boots since winter blizzards were all anyone could talk about and I’d only packed Manolos and Louboutins, but a few new dresses couldn’t hurt, right?

I grabbed a quick NY slice, changed into my lucky Etro dress that I love to wear when I teach cheesemaking classes, and regrouped with the posse for the journey to the Chelsea Market where our event would take place.  We were ushered into a private space atop the market filled with more photographers, videographers and studio equipment than I’ve ever seen.  A state-of-the-art Electrolux kitchen provided the perfect backdrop for the affair, and we got to hobnob with Electrolux engineers, designers and even the CEO while Cake Boss Buddy readied his team for the blogger onslaught.  Electrolux launched its kitchen line in the US two years ago, and let me tell you, I am drooling. They have thought of everything from roll out oven racks to hyper-induction cooktops all the while maintaining a sophisticated stainless style.  Their gas cooktops have close to a 20,000 btu range on a single burner (!) enabling you to crank up the heat but then turn something waaaay down if you need to go into coast mode.  If you are in the market for a kitchen upgrade I strongly suggest you check out this line- I was a Bertazzoni loyalist until I saw these babies in action, now you can consider me a convert. 

Once I picked my jaw up off the floor from drooling over Electrolux’ stunning kitchen, Buddy Valestra and Kelly Ripa took the stage.  They explained that the 15 of us would break down into five teams, and each team would get a cake theme.  I was part of Team Awesome along with Katherine and Meghann and our theme was “Here Comes the Sun.”  Buddy offered us a ton of assistance because he said our theme was by far the hardest, employing lots of crazy piping techniques.  I learned the “squeeze and pull” approach to piping, and while your mind may go directly to the gutter upon hearing that, it’s actually fairly innocent!  Buddy and his crew were amazing teachers and could not have been more kind, genuine and helpful.  Kelly was also a peach- she strolled from team to team heckling us and offering words of encouragement alternately.  I accused her of deliberately messing up on her demo while making a buttercream rose with a piping bag, so we got into a little rose-off.  I discovered that it’s actually much harder than it looks to pipe out those lovely flowers you often see on wedding cakes.  In fact Kelly’s turned out better than mine; though none of ours were quite nice enough to top a Cake Boss cake, so we ate the rejects! 

I gave Buddy and Kelly (along with some fellow-bloggers) a tin of my homemade salt to try- I sure hope they like it.  The event itself took upwards of three hours and in the end all our cakes were photographed and uploaded to the Kelly Confidential website.  This is where the generosity of Electrolux comes in again (you can tell I LOVE these people!).  You, my lovelies, each and every one of you, can go to the website and vote on your favorite cake.  Every time you vote (which is FREE and EASY) Electrolux will donate $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.  I would love it if you would vote for my cake “Here Comes the Sun,” but I understand it’s a touch wonky looking and in the end this is all for a GREAT cause, right? 

I will be posting more about this enchanting trip to NYC in the coming days, specifically about the Spotted Pig, the giant blizzard that necessitated the purchase of a new pair of silver boots, and likely a lot more Electrolux love, so stay tuned and GO VOTE!