Inspiration Can Come In Many Forms

  WARNING: This blog contains photos of cakes Not Made by the Cake Girl! Where possible I have given reference to the decorator involved.
  I was reading a post on Facebook the other day and it was from a fellow cake decorator asking "You Know you're a Cake Decorator when..." and I found myself agreeing with the response by so many followers...unfortunately when I tried to go back and find the story to post the link, I couldn't find it.
It's a huge world out there but with tools like Facebook and google at your fingertips, there is no limit.
There are many cake decorators out there...so many wonderful creations being made every minute...and they just keep on coming!
  The amount of brilliant cakers' I am linked to on social networking is amazing. Watching what they do every week keeps me making cakes. We could never have dreamed of doing this years ago. The fact that they are welcoming and happy to share what they do each week is even more amazing when you think that in so many areas, hospitality closes it's doors to the 'competition' in case ideas are stolen.

  There are people like Karen Portaleo (https://www.facebook.com/karen.portaleo?fref=ts) - a genius by any other name! Seeing her cakes makes me smile in awe and hope that one day I can be as good as her. Craftsmanship that belongs with the classic artists like Rembrandt and Michelangelo yet households around the world don't recognise her name unless they are interested in cakes.
Her talents are extraordinary and could rival any sculpture out there when you realise that her art is edible!
The Mermaid on the left is just one of her many cake creations and as you can see, she is breathtaking!






  What about Mikes' Amazing Cakes (https://www.facebook.com/MikesAmazingCakes)...phew! There are no words to describe the cakes I have seen by him. Details of extraordinary ability like the Alice In Wonderland inspired cake on the right.
The icing is perfect and the figurines faultless! I could sit and look at every minuscule millimeter and don't think I would find anything out of place.









  Debbie Brown cakes, Rosebud Cakes,  Davids Cakes, Michelle SugarArt, Cakes by Molly, Richards' Cakes and the list goes on and on and on....
All around the world, they gather in their studios and work their butts off (excuse the Aussie colloquialism) and show us the extraordinary world of cake decorating.
Traveling to the UK and Italy last May was unbelievable and made me realise I need to take time out every once in a while just to meet some of these fantastic inspirations in the flesh. With a group of established Brisbane/Toowoomba cakers like Cakes by Simone, Celebrity Cakes, Contemporary Cakes, Your Cake Kitchen and Merivale Cakes with students who were undertaking classes in cake decorating we set off to explore and meet some of our idols. This is our photo below on the last day with two of the leading ladies of the British Sugarcraft Guild.

  With two days to spend in London, four of us took in as many sights as we could. This included the newly opened Choccywoccydoodah (knew we couldn't make it to Brighton in time)! So I was ecstatic we could go there! Upstairs we settled in to a warm cup of hot chocolate and polished off the dessert plates between us.
four of us set off towards Birmingham and our major stop - the British Sugar Guilds Cake Convention via Wales. I must say that the late sunset really threw off my body clock!

  In amongst many little pit stops we got to try places like a small tea room near Covent Garden and see the sweets and goodies at Fortnum & Mason.
But it was time to leave for Telford so we gathered into our hired car.












  First stop - Eric Lanlards' boutique in Battersea: "the cake boy"! ...and for those of you who think I used the female version of the name - Not at all! I came up with my business name when I saw a car with the licence plate: CKE 80Y in Sydney approximately 14 years ago. I was watching Lifestyle food channel and saw Eric Lanlards show for the first time about two years ago when I heard of his nickname!
But anyway, his quaint patisserie had the most extraordinary desserts! We all dug in and swapped and shared...that seemed to be the best way for all of us to try everything we could without having too much! Pity he wasn't in but apparently was in London filming a special that day :(

  With quite a bit of sightseeing thrown in - including Bath and Cardiff (me - huge Doctor Who/Torchwood fan!) we arrived exhausted in Birmingham!
The next day saw us thrown into tutorials with a class group mixed from all around the world. We learnt flooded royal icing and brushwork embroidery with Elaine MacGregor. This was followed by sugar flowers with Alan Dunn. Phenomenal man! He just seems to speak to his flower creations and they grow before your very eyes! A small tweak here and another there, the finished sprays were beautiful.

  Lots of chatting and exchanging of details, opening up our network of cake decorators. Even down to our famous USA/Canadian counterparts: Mary-Sue, Barb, Mary-Jo & Barry.
On the weekend, we all had the British Sugarcraft Guild Convention with loads of small demonstrations booked in by people like Debbie Brown, Karen Davies, Francis McNaughton & Dawn Butler
Then there were the people who I have only heard of like Tomby Peck, Marion Frost or had books on my shelves from Lindy Smith, Stephen Benison, Peggy Porschen & Mitch Turner.

As you can well imagine, the days were full of learning, fun and continuous talk of who we had met and what we had learnt.


  The last few days Lesley from Celebrity Cakes and myself left the group to drive up towards Scotland. We stopped off at Richards' Cakes and Slattery's in Manchester and then David's Cakes near Liverpool.
  So much enthusiasm and willingness to show and share their knowledge and passion.
  We're very fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet and liaise with people like this and it's what make my life all the more interesting.
  I've said it before and I'll say it again. cake decorating can be a stimulating rewarding career if you put the time and effort in!

   And who knows, this could take me elsewhere around the world sooner than I think!

Still Alive and Kicking

   My clients certainly bring out the best in me. This cake was made for a lady who loooves the Tasmanian Devil. She has everything from license plates and kitchen ware to collectibles so when it came time to decide what she wanted for a cake - there could be nothing else. Sure, I vamped him up a little and personified him to be more like her eg. the jewellery, the long nails and the wine glass but who doesn't want to see their favourite character made like them? It's the best time to make a cake when you're pretty much allowed to do whatever you want along the theme.

  I love it when I can still bring a tear to the eye - a happy one that is!!

This following car cake was a child's favourite toy brought to life. I was hoping he wouldn't notice that it was gone from his collection in the week after the order was confirmed and I needed the toy to give me the three dimensionality to make the cake correct. Because of this cake I have another lady who has brought me her childs' favourite toy to copy. So life goes on!

With Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton hitting DVD's, a lot of fans have commented on creating theme birthday cakes around the dark movie concept. Of course Johnny Depp was involved with Burton's wife - Helena Bonham Carter and with both of them being favourites of myself who could possibly turn down this project? 

  I had to include the Mad Hatters' hat with the cheshire cat, one of the cakes from the tea party, the teapot Alice hides in - with Alice climbing up in her curtain frock, and the mushroom with Absolom smoking his pipe. For the evil character I used one of the red queens' playing cards hiding around the back of the cake. I wanted to make the Rabbit too but time was against me so I placed his fob watch on the board instead. Sometimes I need to know when to stop!

 

  Funnily enough my neighbour across the road was given my number by a friend of hers. She was having a arty for her partner and wanted to incorporate the football team he loves - so Brisbane Bronco's also get a mention in this post with this football cake. His name was signed on the top as if he was the star of the day.

My uncle and his grandson also had their birthday party together this last month. So I tried to incorporate the two ideas together. My Uncle Giuseppe is a formworker by trade and so I used some images of a layout as the base on a wooden floor with two stacked bricks as the actual cake - made of 'Brick cake" too. Then scribbled Isaac's name across them as if he'd been playing near his Uncle causing mischief. I also used cake to create the beer as it was time to relax and not work!

Another customer asked me to create a pirates treasure chest for her little boy. Having only ever made a simple one before I thought that it was time to go to town on the decorations. I added the pirates map, his birthday note as well as lolly jewels and iced jewels to create an over the top effect. She was very happy.

With Debbie Brown in town giving lessons, I had to book myself in. I have all her books and fell in love with her work from many years ago. She's so fast and such a great teacher, the smile on my face says it all. I chose her Ganesh figurine class for two reasons: the first being that it was the most difficult and I love a challenge. The second, for time - it was on a Monday which is my quietest day. Also, I'm glad to see many more cakes made with a distinctly Indian flavour in the design. 

  Many years ago, I had created a dummy cake for the shop I decorated for which i absolutely loved. Unfortunately, orange was definitely not a colour most brides would choose and the design disappeared. I must have been ahead of my time!

  The Ganesh figurine has inspired me to make more cakes with interesting themes.

Well that's all I have time for - but I'll be intouch as soon as I can. A.