"Love at the Beach" Cake (first place winner at my county fair)

This is the cake I entered into the Open-Class division at our county fair. I was never in 4-H and I've never done a project for open-class so this was a new and exciting experience for me. It was a last minute decision and I didn't really have an idea in mind, but once I got started this is what I came up with.

I started with a heart shaped cake pan. I used a french vanilla cake mix and vanilla icing. After the cake had cooled I placed it on a 12 inch cake board. Using "Royal Blue" and "Teal" Wilton food coloring gel, I tinted the icing. Using a small spatula, I swirled on the royal blue icing and then over the top of it swirled on the teal icing towards the "shore line." Then I swirled some plain white icing in various spots to create waves. I frosted the rest of the cake and cake board with plain white icing and using a food processor ground up graham crackers and brown sugar together and sprinkled that on the cake and cake board to make the sand. I applied the chocolate shells with a dab of icing. Using a sculpting tool, I drew a heart and then dipped a toothpick in water and went around the heart again (this takes up some of the crumbs and makes the heart shape more prominent). Then lastly, I piped "A + C" in the middle of the heart.
(Mine and my husband's initials).

When we arrived at the fair, I was shocked and excited when we walked into the "projects building" and I saw my cake in the glass display case next to a first place ribbon. The judges said they had a lot of fun with this cake and this is a division that I will be sure to enter every year because I had so much fun! It has also inspired me to enter other divisions as well.