I am a judge for both open class exhibits and 4-H. Every judge is different in what they are looking for in an item.

#1 make sure you follow the rules and guidelines-you would be surprised how many people do not. In any open class that I have judged, you do not know the person who made the item, the name should be covered. In many areas, they no longer encourage the tasting of the product, due to not knowing how food is being handled. (In 4-H, it is not unusual for the youth to also be handling livestock and hand washing facilities can be sketchy.)
#2 is the cake level and is the crumb of the cake uniform? Is, frosting even, without crumbs?
#3 display, some competitions it matters and some it does not (see #1)
#4 it should be about improving your skills
#5 one of things I tell my 4-Hers, is convince me this is the best project, I will see all day. In 4-H, it is 50% youth and 50% project, I want to know want went right. Personal dislike, and this happens particularity with girls, don't tell me what is wrong with the project, that is my job to find and decide if it needs to be addressed. This is a self-esteem issue. I love judging 4-H!
#6 a judge does not need to award top ribbons and I sometimes do not
#7 the area that I am very particular is with food preservation. It must meet the criteria and USDA food preservation guidelines, this includes the time and how processed, jars and lids used and fill amounts.
#8 enjoy the process and encourage others to compete. We need people willing to enter.

Here is something that may be of assistance to you: https://sugargeekshow.com/news/dos-d...e-competition/

https://wickedgoodkitchen.com/white-...e-buttercream/
White velvet cake with raspberry marscapone frosting. It is one of my favorite cakes.

Wonderful advice. Thanks!

~ C

Oohhhh...that cake sounds Good!

~ C

I would make my own favorite cake...We do best at what we know works!

I used to make a double caramel cake. You made caramelized sugar - part went in the cake and part in the frosting. I think the frosting had cream cheese, too. It was wonderful. I may still have the recipe. Pretty color, nice crumb and yummy flavor.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, we had a house full of family and friends. They all agreed to taste my first attempt at the strawberry cake mentioned above and give back criticism. So, I made the cake and focused on the basics such as taste, color, crumb, etc. and not so much the presentation. I just frosted it like a typical, homemade cake...no fancy stuff. I made the cake exactly as the recipe said, except for adding some strawberry jam in between the 2 layers.

The result was good, but I would not say that it was competition worthy. The freeze-dried strawberries in the cream cheese frosting really gave it a strawberry taste, but they made it a weird, "pepto bismal pink," color that I wasn't too keen on. The cake was a beautiful texture...very moist and velvety, but it could have risen just a bit higher and in spite of adding a drop of red, gel, food coloring, it still came out an unappealing, tan color. (There were many people in the comments section on the recipe page that had the same problem.)

Everyone agreed that adding the layer of strawberry jam was a good idea. There were lots of other constructive criticisms, and suggestions such as adding fresh strawberries to the center layer and on top, adding less dried strawberry powder to the frosting and adding more food color to the batter.

All said and done, I'm not sure if this is the cake recipe for the county fair. I'm looking into other recipes such as a different type of strawberry cake, or possibly a Root Beer Cake, Key Lime-Coconut Cake, Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake, or going back and trying to improve on my Hummingbird Cake, which I've made many times.

~C

That recipe sounds delicious!

~ C

make your favorite cake and hope ofr the best