Okay, l’ll be honest. I can bake a cake. A really, realllly simple cake. I can follow directions on a box cake package and spread frosting from a can. I have even managed to create a simple carrot cake. But I’ve never made a fancy decorated cake from scratch. Bakeries and Buffoonery is set in a town that holds a very serious cake competition once a year. I would lose. I would be so far in last place I’d be a half a block down the street. 

The good news is that I have friends who bake! I even have one friend who makes amazing wedding and birthday cakes. These folks were kind enough to read through my descriptions and repair some fine points that would have made the professionals in my books sound like bumbling amateurs.  

I also spent plenty of time on YouTube, Pinterest, and Google, watching cake baking videos and baking contests. I even tried my hand on some pretty frosted cupcakes. An interesting, although somewhat crumbly endeavor.  

Between guidance from my friends, the ever-helpful internet, and a bit of hit-and-miss experiments in the kitchen, I managed to create a baking contest that my experienced friends swear sounds real and authentic. I also was able to describe some delicious-sounding cakes that some baker somewhere made at a dinner party to rave reviews (or so says their blog.) So cheers to all you fantastic cake-bakers! I hope you enjoy the creations in the town of Frosting’s annual cutthroat cake-baking contest.