By Vicki Clark
OKC FRIDAY
During the next two weeks a Fridayland bakery owner will appear on national television in two different reality shows, decorating cakes.
“I want to be a rock star,” said Ruth Rickey, owner of Ruth’s Sweet Justice.
Next Monday night, Sept. 14, Ruth will be piping on icing for all she’s worth on a new TLC (Channel 40) series called Ultimate Cake Off, filmed in LA in July.
Then on Sunday, Sept. 20, Ruth will be on WE TV (Channel 172 on Cox) competing in WE TV's first ever Wedding Cake Wars, held in Maryland in May.
“We used to just be cake decorators, standing in the background, Ruth told FRIDAY. “Now with these TV shows, we are ‘sugar artists’ and becoming rock stars.”
Before she was a cake decorator; before she was an administrative judge in an Oklahoma State Court; before she was a lawyer; Ruth was a drama major at Henderson State University.
“I’m perfect material to be a rock star,” Ruth laughed.
Monday night, Ruth will host a “watch party” at her shop at Grand Blvd. and N. May. A $10 donation to the Leukemia Society (Ruth’s battle with cancer is another story) will buy you an evening with a star and refreshments. Ruth cannot tell who won, so the suspense will be as tasty as the goodies served.
Ruth was asked by a friend, Pat Jacoby, Highland, IL, to assist her in Ultimate Cake Wars. Ruth found out later that she had been “on the board” to be the lead but TLC thought she had signed an exclusive with WE TV.
Ruth traveled to Los Angeles for the show, while Pat drove the cakes from Illinois.
There was only 9 hours to complete a 5-foot-tall real cake to be served at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, under the wings of Air Force One.
“The time pressure on the show is really different” said Ruth. “Normally you have time to fix you mistakes, not here. And the show is hoping you make some mistakes so they can film it.”
During the competition, the judges pick winners of a tasting and a piping component. The winner selects another team to “sit out” for 30 minutes. Pat won the piping challenge and sidelined the team she thought was their biggest competitor. But another team won the second challenge and Ruth’s team had to sit and do nothing for 30 minutes.
“The other teams thought there was no way we were going to finish that cake.”
When the bell rang for the finish, Ruth and Pat wished they had that 30 minutes back, but finished just as they yelled stop..
The three judges advised and commented but the winner was selected by the party host, the Reagan Library representative.
For Ruth's first television competition, which airs second, Ruth was one of 12 decorators chosen for Wedding Cake Wars.
The decorators were allowed to choose an assistant and had three days notice of the theme of the competition to design, bake and transport the cakes to the competition site.
Once there, they had nine hours to complete a three-tier wedding cake with a “Location” theme and they had to include a moving part on their cake!
Ruth drove 21 hours across country with her cakes to compete! Ruth loved the experience.
“I want to be famous someday. I enjoy TV and it’s a great way to get young people interested in cake decorating.”