Cake School Is IN!

  With a few classes under my belt, I thought I should at least do a blog - as promised to my students - about the time spent teaching and some of the wonderful people I've met through this experience.
Lets start with a lovely girl - Suzy - who has a real passion for making cakes. Obsessed with cake shows on television and wanting to learn more, her Mum booked in a beginners' class for her
We completed her 'Fathers' Day" dedicated cake by the time her Mum arrived and she was so proud of her work! And who wouldn't be when she had never made an iced figurine prior to this.
During a six hour day, she managed to try her hand at piping, using cutters and making a figurine! Wow!

  With this hand-bag class held at "Your Cake Kitchen" in Ormiston, the kids took over the experience. The students were allowed to make their bags in the colours they wanted using the bag I had created to inspire them. Each one reflects their own personality.
I like to encourage the students to open themselves to their creative side. If I tell them exactly the colours and style of what they need to make, it may not be what they wanted to make.
Along with the bag was the shoes...now of course, ladies love high heels but the boys in the class were obviuosly not interested.
So the boys had a little extra attention and made sneakers to match their gym bags. Very bright and funky.

  Over the Xmas period, Jenny held another class for me to teach. This time a Christmas theme was the order of the day and you can't get more festive then "The 12 days of Christmas". I had focused on the items in the poem and researched on google the cakes other poeple had made. Sketching out some ideas, I used these to create my inital cupcakes for the class and had them copy mine from start to finish. We started with the hardest ones that required setting time and moved on to easier ones.
At the end of the day, everyone has 12 cupcakes to take home and share with their loved ones.

  A follow-on to this class, one of the ladies who had completed "The 12 days of Christmas" course - Trish - booked herself in for a basics personal class.
Wanting to be able to make home-made cupcakes was Trish's main objective for her family on special occasions so we covered the basics in fondant and buttercream.

  Signed on to work for a large Supermarket chain in their bakery section, Colleen needed an express class in piping. She was really good at following my instruction and by the end of the day Colleen was more than capable of taking on piping in a hospitality environment.

  Coming from overseas to study in Australia is not an easy prospect and many of our apprentices need to find jobs here whilst studying in their field too. Going to TAFE & learning to become a pastry chef is not an easy prospect and the classes don't cover most of cake decorating.
  Linh works in her boyfriends' bread bakery and was hoping to expand his business to include her specialty cakes...Great thinking! Check out her fabulous cake!

  So if you're interested in a cake decorating class - just give me a call or shoot me an email and we can discuss your experience and what you would like to accomplish with your cake decorating! It's one on one so no hassles competing with other students.
  Happy Baking.

Delectable Dedication

 Five minutes to sit and down and give you all a quick update on 'the cake girl' world... between emails and quote requests I feel like I spend too much time on the computer of late. For a piece of technology which was created to apparently keep us all in touch and keep us up to date, the PC can feel like a cage at times - keeping us all apart -locked away in our towers and behind schedules with the amount of glitches.
  For the past few weeks, creating cakes has certainly taken a turn. I keep trying to find time to design more cakes but only seem to manage a quick sketch here and there. My mind plagues me with more and I dream of working in the kitchen continuously - or should I say I have nightmares? It never stops and I wake up feeling as if the cakes should already be made considering I was just there!
Chocolate goodies and sweets to tantalise the senses - just like "Chocolat" the movie...cones of wafer with a chocolate coating within then kirsch cherry swirl decorated with fresh strawberries and chocolate filigree. Accompanied by cones filled with gianduia cream and a candied heart make a great wedding cake with all the trimmings and best of all - your guests can help themselves!

One cupcake standing alone rather than a multitude - these cakes have become very popular of late...I wonder if the trend will stop? I've made them for young and old, male or female and everyone seems to love them. They're a classic!   There are shops and on-line places selling moulds to make these at home now - but I still enjoy making my novelty cakes from scratch. This way I can make them large or small according to the amount of guests you need to feed without constricting the serve.

For little girls, Tinkerbell is fashionable. Although her story has been around since days of Peter Pan, having her own movie I suppose has helped. The little girl whom I made this particular cake for, apparently pulled Tinkerbell straight off the cake after her exclamation of delight. It always makes this job the best in the world when stories like this come back to me.   I think I enjoyed making it as much as they enjoyed eating it.

A close-up detail of a cake for a surprise party at the races was a hit. The horses race each other around the cake on all sides with no end in sight. The horses were hand-painted with piped detail on the jockeys to add extra dimension.

  For a slight variation on the usual Dolly Varden cake, I attached a cake to look like a stepped floor in Barbie's bedroom. All dressed up after the ball, she had her change clothes in hand and make-up, hand-bags, mirror etc strewn across the floor - just like any young girls' bedroom before Mum's come in to clean.            

Down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland! With Tim Burtons' latest edition, Alice had been insppiring to say the least. This cake was a recent creation and I've posted it today to dedicate it to two of my favourite clients and family who unfortunately had a dearly loved member pass away recently. I barely knew her but of the little I spoke to her - she was a wonderful lady, taken away far too soon. I hope the rabbit hole shows her wonders she had never seen and treats her well.

And on that sad note - I bid you all farewell for another time.