Tom Reed The Times Jaqueline Smithwick of Cumming and her husband, David, put the finishing touches on their wedding cake design. The Smithwicks won first place in the advanced division at the North Georgia Wedding Cake Challenge held Saturday at Cavender Castle in Dahlonega. Tom Reed The Times Kiara Banks, right, and Lorraine Latimer, both of Decatur, design a cake that is a replica of a waterfall.

Decorating wedding cakes takes patience, skill and originality; now imagine that the cake designers have three hours to finish and are working in sweltering heat.

That is exactly what designers were up against Saturday at the first North Georgia Wedding Cake Challenge, which was held at Cavender Castle, a special events venue in Dahlonega.

"(They are doing) fantastic," said Carol Williams, event judge and owner of Razzle Dazzle Cakes and Sweets in Dahlonega. "So far it's more the people than the cakes. They are all smart enough to know what melting does, and they are adapting to that."

The competition benefitted Lumpkin Family Connection, a collaborate nonprofit organization that helps families and children, and it was sponsored by Williams and Cyndi Durham, owner of Cavender Castle.

It required designers to create a mountain-themed wedding cake design in just three hours, and was broken into five categories with six advanced designers, five intermediate, three teenagers, three preteens and four 6- to 9-year-olds, according to Brenda Cronan, Lumpkin Family Connection representative.

Cascading waterfalls, bottles of mock moonshine and wildflowers and butterflies were just some of the designs created.

"There are some beautiful cakes here, and under adverse conditions they are doing really well," said Keith Ryder, judge and president of the International Cake Exploration Society in Monroe, Mich. "Things end up getting sticky, and it's hard to work with. But they are doing a really great job."

Ryder said that competitions are huge right now because of the popularity of the Food Network.

Event judge Wendy McGhee has studied under cake designer and author Toba Garrett, and has designed cakes for several years now.

"For me (competitions are) really stressful because I am harder on myself, and then you are looking at what everyone else is doing and you are thinking 'I should have done that,'" McGhee said. "At the end of the day you have to be happy with what you have done."

Winners in the advanced division were Jaqueline Smithwick of Cumming in first place and Alpharetta's Maria Velasco in second.

Smithwick's cake design used many mountain elements, including a white picket fence, a mountain landscape and flowers and fruit.

"We love the mountains, and are always out and about with the kids," Smithwick said. "And the first thing we thought about was the landscape and all the different colors."

The prize-winning cake had five layers and was hand painted by Smithwick's husband, David.

Jaqueline Smithwick said the event was difficult because everything is hand painted, and a cake usually takes much longer than three hours to decorate.

"It depends on how much time you want to take, but it usually would take days," she said.

Velasco, who placed second, took a more symbolic mountain theme to her chocolate brown and baby blue wedding cake.

"I thought mountains, flowers and bunnies," Velasco said. "We wanted to add elements like the tree coming up and each trunk represents a relationship. So you see on the front there are the initials and then the wedding date.

"The flowers and bunnies are made out of gum paste, but it's all done in chocolate fondant."

Velasco owns Once Upon a Cake in Cumming, and has been in the cake designing business for about six years, she said.

The cakes were judged in different areas, including following the theme, originality, appearance and neatness and professional attitude, according to Williams. The winners all were given a cash prize.

In the intermediate division Kathy Gibson won first place and Dawn Davis won second.

Intermediate competitor Kiara Banks of Decatur also created a showstopping cake with her take on the mountain theme.

"I was looking at some pictures of North Georgia mountains and pictures of North Georgia," she said. "I came with my family as a child to the mountains, and this is what represents the mountains to me.

"(The cake is decorated with) fondant; the trees are royal icing and the bride and groom on the other side have gum paste."

The white-tiered cake was completed with a cascading waterfall, handmade trees and bears.

The first North Georgia Wedding Cake Challenge seemed a success, attracting many guests who watched the cake designers artistry.

"We will definitely have the event again, but maybe during a cooler time of year," Cronan said.

Contact: abates@gainesvilletimes.com, (770) 718-3414

Originally published Wednesday, August 8, 2007