'Twas a Sweet & Starry Night in the Jet City

I've been looking forward to posting this since Saturday. [rubbing hands together gleefully] So let's get to it!

The setup: What do you think would happen if two bakeries received the exact same phone order, but interpreted in two very different ways? That was the inspiration Paul of Jet City Cakes had when he and Matt from Starry Nights Catering got together to provide the cakey goodness for our signing at Third Place Books in Seattle.

First, here's Matt's order form:

And his gorgeous cake:

(It tasted heavenly, too. Raspberry cream - yum!)

Next, here's Paul's order form. Do you see the tiny difference?

No? Well, maybe you will when you see his creation:

Wait for it, waaaiit for it...

(Four "tears", purple iris, and fancy piping: Check, check, and check!)

Here Matt and Paul ponder their order forms:

And then size up each other's creations:

(I love this photo.)

The fabulous thing about this collaboration is that it allowed Paul and Matt to work to their strengths. As you can see, Starry Nights does more elegant, traditional work, whereas Jet City really shines with the crazy, sculpted designs.

By the way, both of these guys are up for The Best of Western Washington awards in the Evening Magazine. Click here to vote for Jet City, which is up for best cake shop, and click here to vote for Starry Nights, which is up for best caterer (login required).

[announcer voice] But wait, there's MORE!! How about some cupcake Wreckplicas?

Our grand prize winner:

(Her lap, her lap, her lap is on FI-YUR!)

And our other top two "winners":

(It's a Dalek. Obviously.)

Plus a few more of my favs:

You can view all of the entries on the CW Facebook page here.

Thanks to all of you who came out, the Third Place Books staff, our fantastic driver William, and of course Paul and Matt! John and I had a fantastic time in Seattle thanks to all of you!