Sugar by Winz

2011 and into 2012

2012-01-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a year it's been!

2012 is definately going to be a very exciting year! More about that later, but let's catch you up on the cakes over the last month or so.

This 2 tiered Hoot cake for Issac's 2nd birthday featured, the apple trees from the show and a Hoot with lots of presents. I'm getting quite a lot of requests for Hoot... so now I know him quite well!

A more exciting theme for Jarrad's 4th birthday. Spiderman! Not the easiet superhero character to make...so I thought I would do a sort of 'cartooned' version - as long as he's recognisable..... how do you think I went?

Little Jarrad and his friends seemed to like the cake!

Pic from Elaine via facebook

Happy birthday Jarrad!

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We love getting requests for interesting cakes. There is nothing like cakes that showcase personality and are meaningful to the people who receive them. Here are some great examples.

What do you think this became?

A yummy white velvet cake with rose infused white chocolate ganache huge enough to serve 60 people as a replica Royal Albert teapot for a surprise 80th birthday. A real team effort on this one, with artist Vicki stepping in to painstakingly paint the English country rose design on the scuplted cake (by yours truly)

We adored it and it was so hard to part with this one! Rebecca who commissioned the cake had this to say " Thank you Winnie and Vicki for the fantastic teapot! Nanna didn't believe it was cake to start off with, you blew everyone away with the replication. And taste- devine!"

We're delighted!

And then there was this cute surprise groom's cake

A present from the bride, it débuted at the rehearsal dinner. For a rugby loving groom and his beautiful bride who loves singing.

On the topic of singing, there was also this one for Scot's 40th birthday.

An antique book trader and talented opera singer by night. This cake was to showcase his greatest loves.

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And then because summer wedding season is not over yet,

This elegant cake for Maria & Gino, who's engagement cake I made last year. A gorgeously transformed venue at the convention centre, with chandliers and magnificient lights. The design originally inspired by Sharon Wee, sat proudly centre stage.

Then this positively dreamy setting for Veronika & Beau at the Sandalford Winery

and these cute cupcakes for Jess & Chris at the Pagoda in South Perth.

We adored the cheeky customised toppers with their impressive likeness. A beautifully styled event by Blissful Affair, complete with a lolly bar (all the rave this year) and a photobooth.

When you are making Italian meringue buttercream and fresh out of the oven cupcakes (in vanilla, chocolate and red velvet), well.......let me tell you it is simply irresistable!!

Nom.. Nom nom nom......Slurp slurp....drool drool...... Deep breaths......!

Last out of the kitchens before Christmas break, was this divine design for Stephanie and Alan.

For the lovely Caversham house in the Swan Valley. This cake inspired by a renowned Faye Cahill design, with pure silver leaf, pearl lustre and stencilling detail. The sugar flower was lovingly handcrafted by our flower artist, Lyn.

And that concluded the year for 2011. For the new year we have so many exciting plans and some really fabulous cakes coming up! I look forward to sharing with you the adventures of the new year, in the meantime, it's time to sit on a beach somewhere (Margaret River to be precise) to recharge!!

Happy new year and all the best for 2012!!

Love,

Beaufort Street Festival 2011

2011-12-09T00:05:00.001-08:00

The thing about Asian families, is that all projects are conducted as a village. Everyone pitches in and has to have a say, welcome or not. It can be a great thing, more brains on the project can mean extra creativity....or there is that thing about too many chefs....?

Well for my brother's new project, it was ironically, about needing plenty of chefs on hand!

You see, he had come up with a great concept of a restaurant. An Asian Diner, no fuss, old school Chinese food. Retro even. You can read about his antics and adventures at that blog:

Fat Dragon Diner blog

So, that was how I was roped into spending a day in the sun on Beaufort Street for the Beaufort Street Festival.

It was so strange to be standing in the middle of Beaufort Street at 7am.... and silence. The road was closed off at midnight.

Our tent goes up, on the Clarence St corner.

Performance art setting up directly opposite us. Oh! The suspense!!

Our balloon brigade.....yeah, not so fun after 200 balloons! Thanks dudes! We couldn't have done it without you!

And here are some awesome pics of all the cool stuff that made the event so successful.

70,000 people in one day.... it was amazing!

More amazing pics on the Beaufort Street Facebook page.

See you there next year!!

Love,

Trains, Figurines and Macarons....with friands.....

2011-11-30T22:12:00.001-08:00

I am so behind with my postings... my cake mojo has taken a serious battering lately and I'm just coming up for air now, so please bear with me whilst I take a few deep breaths.

First up, some really cute circus trains with Handi.

A great pic by Diana via facebook - so adorable, dont you think?

Even cuter all finished!!

Handi's cake with the help of ToyBox International, went to the Ronald McDonald house for families with littlies receiving treatment at PMH. We're delighted that they enjoyed a special weekend treat.

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Next up of course were the beautiful couture figurines from our advanced class.

And look at them....just so cute all lined up.

And some close ups of the stunning details. As in any work of art, the small details are always going to be what makes the work far more interesting and unique.

Even the queen seemed to make an appearance.

And because this is a food blog of sorts, food has to make an appearance!

Over CHOGM weekend we had resident head chef Nik Duncan (who's worked with the likes of Steve Szabo and Greg Doyle) multi tasking in the background.

and even let us be the first to taste this yummy chowder. Nik must really be used to a crowd of delighted girls making all the right noises around his food.

Not to be outdone, our faciliator Rebecca, who is a vegan showed us how exciting vegan food can be with these amazing morsels.

Vegan cream cheese on garlic French baugette with pear, rocket & balsamic. Oh boy! I now only eat Tofutti.... dont knock it, till you've tried it!

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Enough for the distraction, moving onto our Marvellous macaron class that turned out rather interesting.

I also had Handi who was also enjoying class until it was time for his plane to take off. So, MY teacher and world class cake artist (who I immensely respect) = no pressure, whatsoever.........

Perth was struck with one of those freak humid weeks, when the water just seems to hang in the air...another perfect day for making macarons...NOT!

Aha! The minute it all went pear shaped...... too much egg whites into the batter....and none left for meringue.....whoops!!

So, what does a girl do? Make friands of course. A quick check of an online recipe, thank you Apple. And we split up into groups making macarons...and groups making friands.

Team macaron got things moving with perfectly fine caramel and chocolate macarons and team friand, hacked into the butter and made green tea and blueberry firands!

Who would've thought we'd be so happy to see a batch of friands???

At the end of the day, we stuffed our tummies full of freshly baked goodies (and some properly matured macarons) and we all had fun - which is more important than any macaron....even if it's French.

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Later that same afternoon, after all the excitement had started to wear off, we launched into our last cupcake teaser class of the year.

The cupcakes turned out superbly and we had lots of giggles. It certainly helped that trainee Jason was dared to don a chicken costume.

Photographic evidence that he did it and there's nothing like a bunch of hot chicks!!!

Love,

Handi hits town

2011-11-16T23:53:00.001-08:00

Handi arrived an hour ahead of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. What were the chances of having the a real Queen in town....and our very own Queen of cakes?

No sooner had we settled him into the trendy surrounds of Leederville, we were off with classes!

Peering into the fridge, this is what it looked like

Full of the yummy brownie chocolate cakes that Sous chef Carl had baked.

First up with the very elegant Double barrel and beautiful peonies to go with it's flawless pearl finish.

Stunning aren't they?

It also happened to be Handi's birthday as well as a long weekend so of course we had to have some sort of cake for him to cut ;) and a flower for the birthday boy.

On top of that, the chefs at Panorama were busily preparing food for the Maltese prime minister (here for CHOGM) and we got to sample some of those yummy dishes!!

Including this divine panacotta with pomegranate molasses and salted white chocolate. Mmmm... totally passed the boobie wobble test.

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Then over the long weekend we made Madhatters! Now, a madhatter is made in shape that no cake can ever be baked in. So, its a long and precise technique to get a cake to defy gravity and yet look wonky, but in a way symetrical.

The carving begins........

We were delighted with the design elements that our students had obviously spent a lot of time on, and the preparations done before class to add those great original touches.

The cakes were completely awesome and Handi was so impressed. See! Perth fares pretty well for creative talent!

Amazing work!! Not a bad way to spend a long weekend at all!

Stay posted for the even more amazing figurines and circus train, as well as the Marvellous macaron class that kinda took an interesting turn. :)

Love,

Pure joy

2011-10-27T01:54:00.000-07:00

A bit of an absense from this blog of mine..... but when your table looks like this.....

There really isnt time for much else! Oh...and plus about 100 cupcakes not in the photo ;)

So little time in fact, that when I got two of these cakes on time to their venue, I didn't even manage to get photos of them. *sad face* Including a massive 5 tiered cake that went to the Convention centre over Telethon weekend.

Anyways, I got some really lovely responses from the last few cakes. It's always lovely to see reactions and cake enjoyed as it should.

This French inspired cake for Nuansiree. Pretty blossoms and an Effiel tower keepsake for the birthday girl who's dream is to visit France.

Pic courtesy of friends via facebook

I'd say she liked her cake.

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Another wonderful cake I was commissioned to make, was from doting mum Liza who was working away and couldn't make it to Perth for her daughter's birthday. Planning a surprise party long distance is no easy task, and I was delighted to be able to help out with the cake in the birthday girl's favourite colour.

this original Planet Cake inspired design along with cake pops and macarons. Lucky girl!

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Then I had of course darling Isaac's first birthday with a massive 3 tiered cake.

and his favourite soft toy, Beru from Peru.

I hope he looks back on his photos when he's all grown up and know the love that went into his very first cake!

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Next on the list was bright coloured personalised macarons for Noon.

Beautifully styled and photographed by Beam. Happy birthday Noon - hope it was a wonderful sweetness filled day.

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Then more cupcakes and macarons for Grace who turned a fabulous forty, and celebrated in style on the Etro roof top bar on King Street.

I can't wait to hear how the guests received the cakes, and whether they all got eaten that evening ;)
Thank you Glenda for stepping in and sorting out the cupcakes. xxoo

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And of course, still more cupcakes.....

In class this time. With our students producing mini works of art, simply too cute to be eaten!

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And I'm signing off this post with a really cute photo of little Isaac. Sometimes, in our busy life, we forget what it is like to experience pure joy. It's not cake related, but it is joy that I saw in this little one's face and it sure is nice to be reminded to look at things with the innocence of a child's eye.

Have a wonderful long weekend. And I'll be updating on all the wonderful cakes that we are producing in class with Handi (who touched down ahead of the Queen - the real one) over the next 2 weeks!

Love,

Blue ribbon

2011-10-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

When you were little, did the adults tell you that if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again?

A famous quote by William E. Hickson. What would he know - he only wrote parts of the British national anthem.... ;) Perhaps these days, it's more likely to be “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point in being a damn fool about it.” W. C. Fields

So, when the fabulous Glenda goaded me into entering the Royal show again....I was really not a happy little camper. The idea of spending another weekend unable to lift my arms wasn't really high on my list of to dos.

My arms felt like they no longer belonged to me after this marathon effort in 2009 when I covered these 3 cakes (plus a miniature not in the pic) all in one day for my then Royal show entries. Definately not the most intelligent thing I've done.......and probably why I refused to enter last year.

Still, the voice of my Aunt pops up at times like this "if you don't compete, how will you know how good you are?" Yes, Asian relatives are good that way...........

So, off to work. This year I entered the Open section of the Celebration cake and was delighted with a win for the fantasy carousel cake.

At the start and the design process

Panels for the centre pole - these were stencilled before being joined together by royal icing

A whole heap of Peggy Porschen inspired roses that never got used.

The beautiful silicon mold that kept giving me horses with broken legs.

Adding the fine details to the carousel horses

Painting the gold accents on the hand piped column details

Viola!!

And closer up:

And the blue ribbon!!

Glenda's amazing Peggy Porschen meets Ben Ron Israel wedding cake also came in with an award. Such an gorgeous cake, with so many beautiful details!

The moral of the story:

If at first you don't suceed, try again.

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As part of exhibiting at the Royal show, I was also excited to be asked to run a demonstration on the first weekend. Bright on a Sunday morning, I headed to the Cookery Pavilion and made a whole heap of bright coloured chickies and gave them to excited littlies who were interested enough to sit and watch.

I can just imagine the poor parents that had to hold onto a little sugar bird (so it didnt break) after the novelty had worn off, whilst these kids went off to enjoy the rest of the show. I hope they all made the trip home safely!

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Bittersweet

2011-09-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

I think my friends are all going to disown me soon. I have become this crazy person obsessed with all things sweet and have no time for them anymore.

Well my darlings, I will, just give me a couple of weeks to catch up and you shall have my undivided attention...well, at least until the craziness starts up again. ;)

So, to keep you updated on the going ons over the last week or so;

First off was out evening cupcake teaser class. I think Glenda & I are going to be held accountable for turning a whole new group of lovely ladies into Cake decorating crazies......yeah, you don't really need the money for retirement, or new clothes...or food...just spend it all the fancy cake decorating toys!

We looved our cosy little class, huddled up over a batch of freshly baked cupcakes.

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Moving on to our weekend Marvellous Macaron classes. Amazingly the spring rain came down in buckets outside us, but even with all that humidity, the stars alined and our macarons all behaved themselves.

So, what do you do when you are waiting around for macarons to cool?

Gather around and drink pink Champagne of course.... We are pretty responsible teachers - so this was in fact, one of our private classes.

After you've drunk all the Champagne, you start to find all sorts of shapes in your macarons. Mickey Mouse is in the house!

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And now to the cakes of the week....

A gorgeously styled wedding at the Royal Freshwater Yacht club for Sarah and Matt, as you can see, the theme was a very regal purple. According to Matt, it rained all day, but the sun came out just as they were married. Isnt it wonderful when that happens!

And this very pretty cake for lovely Betty who turned a very sprightly 85. Design inspired by Handi Mulyana.

and last but not least, this little cake for Langdon.

He is a beautiful, happy child with such doting parents. It was a special birthday and I feel very honoured to be able to make his cake. The bittersweet part is of course, that Langdon's twin, passed away several weeks ago - like a little angel that was here for too short a time. As heartbreaking as it was for all of us who knew them and were there when they entered the world, his family thought that his birthday should be happily celebrated with those that he loved. I am so glad that he got a great birthday and I hope he has many beautiful memories of his day!

I hope you all had a adventurous week and stayed tuned for the tears and tantrums of the Royal show!!

Love,

That mad week in September

2011-09-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

Every year, without fail, September is the busiest month. Its heading into Wedding season and lots of people are born this month.

So, as a cake artist, well, September can be a busy, busy time.

This year, I even (for reasons unknown) had the brainwave of scheduling a string of classes as well.

Here are some highlights for the month so far;

Sesame Street themed cake with the toppers provided by yummy mummy Audrey.

Hoot Mark II for Kaeden's first birthday. I made the cupcakes for Kaeden's first month....seemed just like yesterday.

And the Ladybird Cake Mark II, this time for little Sophie.

(Sorry about the bad lighting and pics...but it can be a bit like that when you're working late into the night and can't wait for daylight to take decent pictures.)

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Oh, and of course the best group of students this month. It's immensely rewarding to see their progress as they become increasingly confident and creative.

Starting with our beginner class -

To the Classic 102

And even more wonderful was that our cakes ended up at PMH in the Starlight Childen's Foundation Club Ado room. We hope the kids enjoyed their treat and many thanks to ToyBox International for organising and delivering the cakes.

And of course, this weekend's fabulous Classic 104, 3 tiered cake!

All those cakes - as the day progressed. In all their pretty colours!

And the sugar started getting to us........

Such pretty cakes and gorgeous magnolias. It takes a lot of love, time and effort - not to mention plenty of yummy things, to go into a big cake like these. So for the lucky ones that got to sample them, I'm sure they tasted amazing with all the work that went into these masterpieces!

Love,

Slowly catching up.....

2011-08-15T01:48:00.000-07:00

I know I keep saying this, but I just have no idea where the year went!!

It seems like it's been an incredibly busy winter and spring is just around the corner. I'm slowly catching my breath after a month with no weekends - with the teaching and the cakes and life in general. On top of that, I've been cajoled into entering the Perth Royal show....again!!

I was so adamant that I was not going to place an entry this year...so sure up until 2 weeks ago when entries were closing. Sigh, and yet again, I've entered myself into 4 catergories - enough to make me lose my hair! So, if I get a little slack in the blogging department...you will all know what's happened to me!

So here are some catching up pics of the goings on inside the sugar filled half of my life.

A Marie Antionette inspired cake. White chocolate & mango, with macrons and Persian fairy floss.

Tiffany coloured mini lamingtons for a gorgeously styled 21st, and of course a Tiffany box & key to match.

I hope Yvonne had an amazingly memorable birthday and perhaps got a little blue box in her present pile as well!! ;-)

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Our Classic 103 class also went off without a hitch, and our students produced the most beautifully romantic cakes. It's amazing to watch the creative process take over and how the same design can lend itself to so many different interpretations. That, I suppose, is what artistic expression is all about.

I simply adore the basis of this design, textured wraps, lace appliques and simplistic but beautiful flowers. I can't wait to run the next workshop again!

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And some updated news in the world of cake and all things sweet.

Seung Yun from Savour is headed to Paris to compete in the World Chocolate Master final. Wishing her a safe trip and all the moral support I can muster ;) I miss Savour so much. I still dream of those petite fours & entremets!

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Even more exciting news that the ultra talented Margie Carter (co author on both Planet Cake books) is to be joining Handi's Cakes on a part time basis.

Being able to watch Margie at work is one of the most amazing experiences, and certainly one that added to my desire to pursue cake decorating as more than a hobby. I can't wait to invite her to Perth. 3D cakes that defy gravity....here we go!!!

Love,

Winter sweets and tweets

2011-08-02T02:35:00.000-07:00

I love winter. I love the cold. I should move to New Zealand where the weather is nice and cool 9 months of the year.....maybe one day I will be able to afford a lovely apartment on the shores of a lake in Nelson or Wellington and just sit and stare at the beautiful view all day! I cannot believe we are in the middle of winter, where on earth did the year go???

Anyways, it's been pretty busy around the place lately, orders, classes, logistics and of course finally the confirmation of Handi's classes in October/ Novemeber. I can hardly wait for spring now!!

- here he is with Adriano and his National Cake Decorator of the Year award -

Handi will be arriving 27 October for back to back intermediate and advanced classes. Registrations are now open through the Cake Love Couture Cakes website.

Classes include :

The timelessly elegant double barrel (intermediate / advanced)

The technical and stunning Mad Hatter (Advanced)

The adorable Circus train (Beginner / Intermediate)

Gravity defying Figurines (intermediate / advanced)

Naturally, Glenda and myself will be hosting the Beginner and Intermediate classes leading up to Handi's workshops between now and October.

There are only a few spots left on a few classes, so don't wait too long!

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Show case of cakes over the last couple of weeks.

A special thank you delivery to the Burswood Events team for the recent Western Force ball. (the boys got cupcakes too.....but we aren't allowed to show photos of them eating them)

An adorable cake for Isabella's first birthday. Hoot from ABC's Giggle & Hoot, who she adores.

A beautiful stylish cake with a art deco feel designed by the birthday girl - who said she didn't want a birthday party, and then got so excited planning it. Happy birthday Tracey - Fabulous at Forty!!

Another milestone birthday for Kamal, turning the big 5 Oh. As the construction engineer of the very impressive Lotus Temple in Delhi, India, the cake makes reference to the design and construction masterpiece.

And lastly some cute lovebirds for the Slaters. Celebrating 10 happy and wonderful years!

Congatulations!

Love bird production......

And the finished products. Tweet Tweet (the sound birds make...)

pics courtesy of friends via facebook

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And lastly French macaron class at the DKA Showroom

Yes, you know your students are serious when they BYO aprons!!

I hope everyone enjoyed the sweetness in their lives this week!

Winter babies

2011-07-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

It seems that a lot of people I know have birthdays in July, August and September. I read somewhere that it has something to do with which seasons we are more likely to make babies.... ;) and hence a lot of winter babies.

I had a great time this week making adorable cakes for some littlies turning 1. Firstly an adorable tiger cake for Jensen. Jensen is was born in the year of the tiger - which naturally makes him a born leader!

A yummy white chocolate & raspberry cake was made for a lovely family lunch.

Too cute to eat? Luckily he's made for keeping and not for eating ;)

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Enough blue? Well how about some pink?

Well........more like a whole LOT of pink!

This massive cake was made for little Ayda at a big birthday celebration. And there was enough malted marble cake to feed 50 people!

A lot of pretty girly details and hand painted to match the theme of the garden party, along with astro turf placemats. The little ladybird was a bit lonely, so I added some friends for her.

It sure was hard to part with the cake! But yummy mummy Donna, who was so excited about the cake, told us that Ayda loved eating it. Which really, if you ask me....is what it is all about!

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What is so great about being able to make special cakes is seeing how different we all are. I love making cakes that show personality and are meaningful to the people who receive them. We may not always know what we're passionate about, but it is important to have passion in life, be it cooking, singing, reading, dancing, travelling and the list goes on. It gets us through the day and makes life far more interesting.

So, on that note, it was really interesting to make a Poker inspired cake for Nimitr.

A small cake for a family gathering. This cake sure had a lot of interesting things on it!

For me who has never played poker, or smoked a cigar, it was kinda fun to do some research on what would be most meaningful for someone who loves the game.

I hope all the cakes were eaten with much laughter and the birthday boys and girl were surrounded and spoilt by the people they love.

One year ago.......

2011-07-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

What were you doing one year ago today?

Maybe its the cold weather....maybe its age slowly creeping up on me, maybe a combination of the two? But the lovely Clare posted comment on facebook last week and once the thought got in my head....well, it was kinda hard to shake it.

So, here it is, what I was up to a year ago, with never before publicly seen photos!! Heeheee.
Photos courtesy of Linda Harden.

So here I am, July 2010, at Planet Cake headquarters, in the Basic Series Masterclass along with some really, really cool cake artists. (I don't look so great in this pic.......um....a bit out of my depth....?)

The beautiful Linda & Anna Maria. A year later, Anna Maria is still teaching a whole new line up of cake enthusiasts and Linda is still jetting around the world as well as teaching in between exotic locations.

Taa daaa! My topsy turvy cake that ended up in the display window of Alex & Alex Shoes in Sydney.

A year on, what we're all up to....

Mary is making the most beautiful & romantic cakes under her own label Couture Cakes in Sydney and Leonie is being kept very busy with making cakes for family and friends.

Effie is making bold and beautiful cakes under her own label Designer Cakes by Effie as well as joining forces with the very talented Fran at the soon to be up and running Cake School in Melbourne.

Sharon is making pretty and elegant cakes under her own label Sharon Wee Creations in Sydney. (Yes, we were very stressed out making hundreds of sugar petals!)

Sam is still ultra passionate about her cakes and makes them under her own label Sweet Sovaria.

Lesley's landed a dream job and is now a permanent fixture at Planet Cake Sydney.

Clare has also realised her dream of a opening a studio in the gorgeously breathtaking town of Wanaka in the south island of New Zealand- aptly called Cakes of Wanaka

Kanissa, along with little Amerah is making fabulous cakes under her own label The Sweet Design Company in Wellington New Zealand.

And me, well, you all know what I get up to........

What I remember most about this class, are the great friends we made, how we all still keep in touch (thanks to social networking).

....and all the food that we ate during the 4 day sugarfest!!

Yep..... cake is VERY good for you!!

Love,

Lots of pink

2011-06-29T02:20:00.000-07:00

Boy! It's been a busy week!

Last week I had the great pleasure of making a really happy cake for Deanna, who was celebrating her 21st birthday. As a graphic design student, she was very keen to design the cake for her milestone birthday.

The brief was simple. Lots of pink, some bling and lots of flying hearts. I was a little concerned that we might have too much pink.....but as I added the bits of bling, the cake really looked amazing. Very happy and bright.........a lot like Deanna!

The lovely 21st pin was supplied by the birthday girl and I hope she had a really memorable night! As you should when you're turning 21!!

Moving onto another lovely pink cake, this one for little Monica's christening.

We had a few bumps organising this cake, but, we finally made it to the church =)

And then there were some cupcakes for a few lucky recipients.

Seems like my cheeky little monkeys are getting a real reputation!

And then, between all of that.....we hosted out Classic 102 class!

Lots of smiles and really beautiful cakes! Our cake went to ToyBox International for Tina & her friends at the Centre for Celebral Palsy! I hope they enjoyed eating it as much as we did making it.

Lego at any age

2011-06-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the week, I received a call from a very panicked newly wed bride who needed a cake for her hubby's 40th. "I know I'm running out of time...." she says. Naturally, she wanted it to be meaningful and a bit of a surprise, as you do. So, as he was a big fan of lego, it was an easy choice!

I'm a huge fan of lego too. When my sister, the UAA, spent hours dressing and re dressing her barbie dolls, I spent hours teaching myself to build little lego houses, with doors and windows on lovely green lego boards...complete with those little pine lego trees out the front. Ah, life is a lot better when you're young and easily satisfied!

Here is Lego-ised Derrick with his big 4-0h sign and some of his favourite building blocks. The cake was a real hit, especially with the birthday boy. Yes, I definately aim to please!

I hope Derrick forgives me for giving him great 70's hair!!

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Cake Love was also very excited to be at Epicurious again for our winter classes. Our Classic 101 - Buzzy Bees and Designer Cupcake classes were filled with cheerful cake enthusiasts. Amongst them, lawyers, dieticians, auditors, mum to be....and the list goes on.

Our weekend in pictures.

Such beautiful cakes. Makes me sooo happy!!

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Moving onto cupcakes!

The designs UNVEILED......! Such interesting responses captured! Beware of the candid camera......

*Contented sigh* Such beautiful cupcakes! What a great way to spend a weekend!

And lastly, a special shout out to Kate

3 days to due date.....and still cake decorating! What a champion! I hope by the time this is published Kate will have her hands full with her gorgeous new bundle of joy!

The Story of an Air Bubble......

2011-06-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

As a cake decorator, an air bubble is your worst enemy. It is something that easily slips in between layers of fondant or between fondant and cake. If you knead it badly- you get an air bubble, if you roll the out the icing with too much cornflour - you get and air bubble, if you moisten your cake any less than perfectly - you get an air bubble, if you smooth the fondant down badly - you get air bubbles. Basically, you will always get an air bubble regardless of how careful you might be. Oh, and I forgot to mention, air bubbles in RTR fondant, are generally only clearly visible in daylight.....

So if you are a hard working cake decorator - like most of us are....working late into the night to make a cake that is both freshly delicious and pretty for the next day, well, air bubbles are an added hazard.

As was the the drama of last weekend..

I arrived early in the morning to a very domed cake..... 3 hours to scheduled delivery....this air bubble had literally expanded to bursting point. This is what happens when you make a cake (along with the air bubble) when its 4°C outside and then leave it there overnight and the weather warms to 20°C..........

Oh! Woe is me! All that work for nothing.... I was certainly not a happy chappy at this point.

Well, I certainly wasn't going to tell Peter & Jain - "er, by the way, do you mind cutting your cake at 8pm instead of 5.30pm?"

So, mad dash to reconstruct the cake. Re-ganache, re cover and decorate. Still you would never have known, if I hadn't told you......*wink wink*

It scrubbed up good, and got to the venue on time.

Whilst this was happening, I was also putting the finishing touches on two cute cakes for two little boys turning 5 and having a combined birthday party. The thought of 50 children in one place, well, that sure sounds like an interesting morning. (You can tell that I don't have any little ones of my own by that comment alone!)

For Declan, a Chinese lion dance themed cake. Something his dad, a former Kung Fu Champion very obviously passed onto him! Nothing like a sugar model of his favourite lion on an Italian meringue buttercream frosted cake!

And for Ben, Spiderman! Loved hand piping spiderman and watching him come to life.

I hope the boys had many happy memories of their birthdays and got to eat lots of cake!

~~~~~

And a quick sneak peek and some of the classes we are scheduling for the next couple of months. I am looking forward to seeing how our designs are going to be implemented by our creative students!

Classic Starter - Cameo mini cake

Classic 102 - Present box

Novelty Start - Box of popcorn

More designs to come soon as we work up to Handi's advanced classes in October.

Class registrations through the Cake Love website.

Exploring the cakelet

2011-06-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

The Americans truly come up with the coolest stuff sometimes.

Joining the Flickr community (photo sharing site) a few years ago, I came across a really fantastic tag line of Amy Eilert who starting making cakes pretty much the same time that I did. Amy calls her company - Cupcake Envy, and her tag line is "my cupcakes are better than your cupcakes". Taking single serve cakes to a whole new level of creativity, her creations are now known in the cake world as cakelets.

Once upon a time, cupcakes were all I made, and I adored them. But apart from the occasional foray into a pot of flowers, I haven't experimented much with cakelets. Until this one.

A life sized cricket ball took care of that. It was such fun to make and so enjoyable to see something recreated in sugar that looks remarkably like the real thing.

Cakelet was 8cm in diameter and made from lemon cake and white chocolate ganache.

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Whilst on the topic of making cakes for fun, I also ticked off finally making something from my new book.

Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented

The Aunt Sassy cake really took my fancy. The Americans have a palate that enjoys a lot of sweet/savoury combinations. Like peanut butter and chocolate, chocolate coated pretzels to name a few as well as heavily spiced things like cinnamon chewing gum. So in general, very different flavour combinations to what we are used to. The Aunt Sassy cake is a pistachio cake paired with a honey buttercream. The buttercream in the book has a base of a type of milk custard/roux which is then whipped into the butter. The cake, was made with a combination of butter and shortening. Another ingredient seldomly used in Australia. All in all, it seemed like an interesting one to try.

The cake was easy enough to put together. The buttercream came together in the end. Does it look like the cake from the book?

Close enough. (you can see it in the big picture along with the authors of the book)

Verdict? Because we are not used to the taste of shortening, I found the cake had a slight 'stick to the roof of your mouth' aftertaste typical of shortening. It was however, very light and had a lovely texture. The buttercream was lovely fresh, but split after a couple of days in the fridge. Delicious cold, but has a slight floury taste due to the large amount of flour in the custard.

Interesting to make, but I'll probably stick to baking with recipes by Warren Brown or Rose Levy Beranbaum.

~~~~

A short reminder that our Classic 101 - Buzzy Bees class and Designer cupcakes classes are running 11 & 12 June weekend from Epicurious in Subiaco.

A couple of spots are still available for Buzzy Bees, so we'd love to see you there!!

and a look at our new and improved Novelty 101 - Ted's Pillow

The new courses inlcuding French macaron classes will be listed on the Cake Love website in the next week or so!

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And I'll leave you with the pic of the first full rainbow of this season that I've seen.

Hope you all have a marvelous weekend!

Caking it in London

2011-05-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

London is one of the great cake capitals, it is home to Wilton - the cake decorating powerhouse and grand daddy of modern cake decorating. It is also a country obsessed with the elegant afternoon tea (aka high tea).

In the last decade several big names have emerged, such as Eric Lanlard of Cake boy, Peggy Porschen, Mitch Turner and cupcake powerhouses such as Primrose and Hummingbird. All of them with famous fans, between them, these artists and patissiers bake for the likes of Elton John, Madonna, Liz Hurley, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Pierce Brosnan and the Queen, just to name a few.

So whilst in London, what better to do than to sample some of their delights.

First off the mark - the crazily busy Portobello markets on a cold dreary Saturday morning. I had no idea there could be so many tourists in one street!!

What is at Portobello you might ask....well the original Hummingbird Bakery of course!

So pretty in pink inside and so many delicious choices.

I was however, on a curiosity mission. My dear friend Amanda claims that the red velvet cake simply melts in your mouth and raved about it for weeks afterwards. So, naturally, that is what one has to purchase......

I loved my cupcake, snug in its little American Chinese takeaway container, along with the environmentally friendly wooden forks.

Verdict? Yes it was light and fluffy and the cream cheese butter icing was sinful and delicious. A perfectly fine cupcake, though I prefer the Magnolia Bakery red velvet cupcakes (which I actually consumed in Dubai)

Next destination : Primrose bakery

We visited the Delectable Jo, who is currently managing the stores during her sabbatical year in London. We chose the Convent Garden store - as it was close to that evenings entertainment of Legally Blonde - the musical (big cities are great that way!). Cute as a button and only seating about 12 people, it was not difficult to pack out this place.

A cup of tea, and a carrot cupcake (that you can just make out in the foreground, and we were on our way.

Of course that is not all we had....... the real test, was the Primrose vs Hummingbird challenge.

Verdict: Carrot cake - Primrose won. Hummingbird black bottom vs Primrose Cookies & cream - Hummingbird won.

The Primrose lemon drizzle cake (Jude Law's favourite) is divine, as is the subtle flavours of the earl grey cupcake. Overall, a lot of fun in a blind tasting and no clear winner.

Next on the list, Cake Boy.

Liz Hurley says that Eric Lanlard makes the world's yummiest cakes, for a someone super slim to say that, well, I wasn't really convinced. The fabulous Ms G is a huge Eric Lanlard fan, his followers of his show Glamour Pud on Lifestyle food channel will understand why.

I actually had no idea of who he was....no, I do not have pay TV....other than I had a book of his that I found interesting but not exactly life changing. Finding the studio took us 2 hours as the trains were not running and the buses took forever!

On arrival though, it seemed all worth it when we were greeted with a front counter filled with these beautiful creations.

It was so hard to narrow the selection down!!

Jo had a hard time choosing which of the books to buy.... I of course had to add my two cents...seeing as I already had the other one, it wouldn't be hard to guess which one went home with me that day.

Yay!! Glamorous afternoon tea!

Our final decision of Raspberry & white chocolate tart, Silky chocolate tart, Citron tart and a slice of cheesecake. We also ended up taking away a selection of macarons, a raspberry swirl cupcake and a loaf of carrot cake!

The cakes presented on a porcelain tile with chocolate coated popping candy and freeze dried raspberries. How delightful! The highlight was definately the raspberry tart that was filled with the most amazing silky white chocolate pastry cream that was like nothing I've eaten before.

It turned out that the 2 hour trip was an aligning of the forces of fate, as within 5 minutes of us arriving, Eric turns up to pick up some papers. Had we been 15 minutes earlier or later, we would have missed the chance to meet him completely! Some things are just meant to be.

So, to the fabulous Ms G....eat your heart out!!

A mellow week

2011-05-18T01:10:00.000-07:00

It can sometimes be nice to have a little bit of a quiet week. After all the excitement of our teaching week, it was a real relief to have a bit of a mellow week. It helps to be able to refuel once in a while.

So, just a short post this week with a couple of cakes I managed to sneak into the long periods planked on the couch, catching up on all my food network challenge shows (American cake artists vying for the most outlandish cake creations!)

Dubious chocolate mess......

Getting closer......do you know what it's going to be?

I apologise for the dreadful photo.....but you get the idea....is it just me, but it looks more like something out of Disney's Cars....than a mini cooper?

And of course this little cutie.

A cake for a lovely girl nicknamed Banana.

I'm trying to decide if he looks curious, hungry or just confused!

I've been craving a huge slice of white cake filled with vanilla swiss buttercream, fresh raspberries and jam......yet I can't seem to find the motivation to make it! Perhaps dreaming about it makes it all the more tempting.

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead and take time to smell the roses too.

Teaching and Learning

2011-05-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

The truly wonderful thing about being involved with the teaching process, is that you always learn something new. Seeing Handi work is such a pleasure, and working with students who are all creative in their own ways is very inspiring. I am so proud to say that I've been trained by him and now I'm delighted that the Cake Love students have had this opportunity too.

Congratulations are in order this week also, as Handi was awarded Australia's Cake Decorator of the Year at a gala dinner in Brisbane with the National Bakers Association.

I'm so proud I could burst! Here he is with the lovely Kirsten (post from my time at Savour) Tibballs and Mr Zumbo himself.

This past week, teaching alongside Handi has been exhausting but also very rewarding!!

Here are our adventures for the week.....

Starting off with the beautiful cakes from the Beginner 1 class. Present boxes and big smiles!

Moving onto the gorgeous results of Beginner Flowers workshop. Just divine!!

The foundations for the massive Designer Double Barrel Cake.

A stunning sugar peony to adorn these masterpieces.

Watching the master at work.....

and of course the simply stunning results!! Well done team!

Hardly time to take a breath and straight onto the Designer Handbag Workshop

I cant decide which one I love more!!

Last of the week....

The fine art of piping. Anyone fancy replicating the latest Royal wedding cake??

Many thanks to all our students who shared our enthusiasm and gave Handi such a warm welcome. We were blown away by all the creativity and talent in such a little room. It was truly inspirational. Thanks to Prontos for providing our delicious lunches when we got tired and hungry. Thanks to all at the Cooking Professor that put up with us filling every corner with all our gear. Many thanks to Handi for making the long journey over and your commitment to passing on all that you know. And lastly, thanks to my family and the lovely Glenda, without whom, none of this would have been possible!

For those of you who missed out on this lot of courses, Handi will be back in October and December. In the meantime, Cake Love Couture will be scheduling the beginner and intermediate classes leading up to Handi's advanced courses in October.

Watch this space!

And the winner is.......

2011-05-07T02:15:00.000-07:00

After much debate, we have decided on Kerry-anne's lovely entry as the winner of our mother's day cake.

Kerry-anne Andrew said...

I have a beautiful son in Grade One.
In Term 1, they studied Weddings and Fairytales in honour of the then upcoming Royal Wedding.
I had promised the teacher I would make an (amateur) 'wedding cake' for the class to see and the teachers to enjoy at morning tea. Problem is she forgot to tell me when she wanted it and only gave me 1 days notice !! Hence it didn't happen.
Handi's work is amazing and I only wish I could have made it to his classes this week.
I would love to win the cake so its pure artistry could be shown to the children and then shared by the many teachers of this school of 700 kids !!
We put so much trust in the teachers to care for our children, that they sometimes are like a 2nd mother figure.

This cake was made with much love and we hope that it is enjoyed by all the little ones that will get to share it!!

We've been very touched by the wonderful comments we've received and look forward to giving more cakes out in the future!

Hope you all have a marvelous weekend and a Happy Mothers Day!

Lets eat cake!

2011-04-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Cake makes me happy.

This cake could make you and your family and or friends VERY happy!!

This cake is over 30cm tall and will serve a lot people!

Delectable chocolate mud cake with dark couverture chocolate ganache, flawlessly pearlised and hand piped and topped with a delicate sugar peony, handcrafted by the ultra talented Handi Mulyana.

Handi is a finalist in the 2011 Best Cake Decorator in Australia (watch this space....award will be announced Tuesday next week!)

Imagine surprising your mum / grandmother/ wife on Mothers' Day with this beautiful cake!!

To win this cake, visit Cake Love's facebook page, share the link (and like us if you don't already...) then comment on this post telling us who you are going to share this cake with and why.

A winner will be chosen for our favourite entry.

Entries are welcome for Perth, Western Australian residents only. Entries close midnight Friday 6 May 2010. Make sure you check your facebook mail then!

Good luck!!

the small print

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You are providing your information to Cake Love Couture Cakes and Sugar by Winz and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for our records. To win, you must like the Cake Love facebook page and comment on this post.

Entries for Perth metro residents only. Winners will be published on Saturday 6 May 2010 (WST) and contacted by facebook mail. Cake will be available for pick up Sunday 8 May by arrangement.

Picture of cake is for reference only, finished cake may vary slightly in design.

Easter and a busy week!

2011-04-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

So after a fabulous time away....feeling a little penniless.....it was time to put the head down and get on with the lead up to Easter.

The amazing Ms G and I ran our first macaron classes and our kids cupcake workshops.

Such creative & talented students. They even invented a totally different technique for making a sugar rose!

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Let's do the Macaroner....!!

Making macarons is great fun when you know how....especially if you're making 300 of them! Don't they look adorable all lined up and drying happily?

~~~~

And of course the cakes for the week.

A cherry cake for Cherry.

photo courtesy of Noon via facebook

A sweet christening cake for baby Matilda, along with matching cupcakes

A dream fishing boat and the dream catch (a massive marlin) for Gus' 30th birthday!

I hope Gus got to go fishing over Easter break!

A Cannon EOS 5D Mark II camera with zoom lens for a special hubby's 38th birthday. The lens needed to be longer....for those of you who know what its supposed to look like....little oops.

A Hermes gift box for Beam. Seems like he had a whole birthday weekend and was really spoilt!

And lastly, this beautiful Irish Indian wedding at the beautiful Sitellas vineyard in the Swan Valley.

The venue looked amazing with the heady smell of fresh jasmines. Beautiful bride Rhatha was right when she said she wanted her guests to remember the special day when they smelt jasmines.

Simply gorgeous old world charm. I just adore jasmines!

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Hope you all had a simply wonderful Easter break. Nothing like a 5 day holiday!

Here is my international Easter stash! There is never enough chocolate!

Pearls from Artisan du Chocolate - London, praline speckled eggs and Madagascar single origin 64% from the newly opened Koko Black Perth, Saduharu Aoki's chocolate cookies and truffles - Paris (including flavours like bamboo and wasabi!). Truffles from Ganache Melbourne and the Margaret River Chocolate factory..and then chocolate berries from Haighs Sydney.

Hope you all slept off your chocolate hazes with a leisurely afternoon snooze....like I did!!

In the name of research

2011-04-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

As someone who is obsessed with all things sweet and or delicious, it is little wonder that one naturally goes a little loopy in the land of gastronomy!

Eating my way through Paris, turned out to be a really amazing experience.

Hidden treasures around every corner, and too much interesting food, with too little time!

Starting the morning with a typical French breakfast, an egg, a baguette, some butter and jam, a croissant, some ham, some cheese, some yoghurt and some tea.

Next, head to a Creperie

Crispy on the edges, lathered with full fat butter, filled with chicken and oozy French cheese..... or, filled with ripe strawberries and lashings of nutella.......definately drool worthy!

Off to the markets for some fresh fruit and curious vegetables from all over Europe.

Something more substanial?

You can't get more French than Foie Gras & Escargots.

Well, actually, you can....some Champagne, two steps away from where the grapes are grown.

And then of course we would need something sweet. The award winning Raspberry iced souffle, melt in the mouth creation of fresh raspberries, finely crushed meringue and whipped cream.

And then of course the chocolatiers and master patissiers.

Master Chocolatier Jean Charles Rochoux with his windows full of perfectly tempered chocolate babies and minature animals, that just seem too adorable to eat.

Inside the chocolate and pastry cabinets of La maison du chocolat....the LV of chocolates!

Poilane with her beautiful shortbread cookies, delightful sourdough and lovely bread themed oil paintings

Inside the cabinet of Pierre Marcolini - the studio in Brussels even more impressive!

Saduharu Aoki, Japanese born, French trained patissier. An amazing accomplishment to have several studios in a country that is generally rather conservative to its approach to foreigners. The Aoki Millefeuille should be on everyone list of to try in a lifetime. Millefeuille means 1000 leaves in French, and is all the rave at the moment in Paris.

Monsieur Pierre Herme aka the Picasso of Pastry and the insides of his store counter - how hard it was to get permission to take these photos with limited high school French.....

You cannot but help admiring a patissier with a conscience, for one whole day (19 March) Monsieur Herme opened his doors to all 6 of his Paris studios for the Autour Des Williams - a local childrens' charity. Anyone who was happy to make a donation to the charity would receive their pick of 3 free macarons from his Spring range.....and you could line up as many times as you like at any of the stores.

Its no wonder the line went around the block.

After Herme, naturally one must do some comparisons....

Powerhouses Lenotre and Laduree of course. Never made it to Dalloyau, and Gerard Mulot was closed the day we were there. So naturally, more research to undertake for the next visit!

Back to reality with our goings on back in Perth, I will share the London pics once I get those organised!

Galavanting through France

2011-04-15T01:32:00.000-07:00

Where to start?

As I am writing this post, I can't decide whether to share the beautiful places of France with you first, or the gorgeous foods first! This is after all, a blog about the sweet things in life.

Well, let's do beautiful places first then.....

Admitedly there are many more photos of stunning Architectural masterpieces than the selection below, but these would have to be some of my favorites.

The charming streets of St Germain des Pres - 6th arrondissement

Sunday mass at St Sulpice......da Vinci code anyone?

The terribly charming Luxembourg Gardens whilst the sun was out.

Tulleries Gardens beside the Musee du Lourve with the Effiel Tower in the background. (please read with French accent)

Even outlet shopping looks chic. All the big names at La Vallee Village. Every label is housed in its own little building.

The amazing ceilings and opulent gilding inside the Chateau de Versailles

Some champagne? World famous houses side by side, separated only by a name marker.

Oh, and Moet et Chandon just on the other side of the road......

Unesco listed Cathederal Notre Dame - Reims, celebrating 800 years.

Louis Vuitton headquarters on the Avenue Champs des Elysees.

Appearing like a fairytale, perched on an island surrounded by the sea. None other than the Le Mont St Michel.

The impressive expanse overlooking the coast of Normandy.

and of course, the Eiffel Tower. The French are so stylish and chic that I couldn't help but take photos of good looking strangers.

last but not least, my favourite snap - on Rue de Rivoli beside the Tulleries Gardens at dawn.

**Sigh**

Next post.....

The food and the famous patisseries of Paris

Beautiful "Autumn" Weddings

2011-03-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

Bonjour from Paris!

I am writing this post to you from the home of Patisserie! Fresh baking bread, butter, cream and fresh raspberries like you wouldn't believe waft deliciously around every corner! I think I am likely to gain weight simply by inhaling!

Anyways, as I'm away for a few weeks, I thought I had better update quickly on the cakes we put together for our first Autumn brides! (though it did feel much more like summer than autumn).

Traditional fruit cake for Priscilla & Derek's Kings Park afternoon wedding. Decorated with frest hyandreas to match the wedding bouquet.

This modern and gorgeous cake for Charmaine & Alister's wedding. The cake fit in perfectly with the rustic and artistic mood of the wedding! A double barrel and extended top tier....all in chocolate mud cake and dark chocolate ganache to feed 110!

Design by Chris @ Cake Occassions

Charmaine via emai; said : What can I say ... the cake was absolutely perfect! We were both a little bit stunned when we walked in, and both said ... it's exactly like the picture! Thanks so much for making it extra special, the style of the cake worked perfectly with the venue, and the rest of our decorations, flowers etc.

And it tasted fantastic!

A more traditional themed wedding cake for Caroline & Tommy in the Burswood Botanical rooms.

Picture courtesy of Caroline via email:

Thank you so much for everything, the cake looked so good and taste so nice as well. We're so glad we have left over cake :)

And of course this end result of the this charming and romantic cake for Kristy and Kris.

As you probably remember, this cake took the long journey down to Margaret River, and happily stayed in one piece!

Pics courtesy of |Kristy via email, who said: Thank you for the beautiful (delicious) cake ! It was such a hit and there was even enough for morning tea the next day - result !

A big thank you to my special brides (and grooms) who sent such lovely notes! Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your very special day - it was a great honour!

Pictures from Paris and Europe soon...once I get my photos organised!

Au revoir mon cheri

All for the love of cake

2011-03-08T00:36:00.000-08:00

There are certain things that we all do for love. We may not all love our day jobs, or our families and friends ALL of the time, but there are sometimes when we can do extraordinary things in the name of love.

All I can say is that this weekend truly tested my love for my cakes.

This is the massive cake for Kris and Kirsty's Soutwest long weekend getaway wedding. It was such a pretty colour to work and one that matched the invitations. For an events planner, Kirsty was really a dream bride to work with, relaxed and oh so lovely.

This cake, left my hands on an unusually humid Perth morning . As a result, I fretted about as it sweated the 3.5 hour trip down south to Margaret River. Luckily the pastry chef at the venue was kind enough to rescue it and fanned it down overnight. By the time of the wedding, with a little touch up by a reliable sidekick, the cake was ready for center stage. I will upload the photos from the venue as soon as I have them.

Talk about the stress of providing dessert for 100 people!

~~~~

The second cake of the weekend, was a magical theme for Hugo's 5th birthday. Mum Venus had grand plans on the design of the cake along with the colours to match the theme, complete with a magician and 35 little friends.

I adored making the 2 tiered chocolate cake with a cheeky bunny coming out of the magician's top hat.

The little family arrived early to pick up the cake, along with the birthday boy. Doting Dad, with the camera at the ready....to capture the look of little Hugo's first encounter with his cake, thinking that we would get something like this.....

(Cake by Sharon Wee Creations - Sydney)

What a great response we got when Sharon & I delivered this awesome cake last year!!

But instead, little Hugo hid behind is mum and wiped away a stray tear..... I guess there is a first time for everything. **Sigh** Very definitely a downward turn on that little mouth!

In consolation, Hugo's little 3 year old brother happily danced around the cake while we tried to get him to tell us what was wrong with his cake.....

Thankfully, Mum reported the next day that by the time he got home, he had cheered up enough to be a fantastic party host and even ate half the bunny.

photos courtesy of Venus via Facebook

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And lastly, this pretty in pink cake for little Anna.

Commissioned by her adoring Uncle, fairies, butterflies and flowers were the order of the day. Her favourite colours? Pink, red, purple, white....depending on the day - is the information I had to work with.

Gladly, Anna was happy with her cake - so the weekend wasn't a total loss.....

photo courtesy of Annie via iphone

I hope Anna had an amazing birthday and certainly one with lots of lovely memories!

Extreme Cake Decorating

2011-02-27T23:21:00.000-08:00

Every cake decorator knows the challenges of working under extreme pressure. Working long into the wee hours of the morning, expanding air bubbles, difficult clients and of course, the weather.

This weekend we had the most marvelous group of ladies, one who even made the trip up from Busselton for our Buzzy Bees workshop. At the end of 6 hours hard work, everyone went home with an impressive cake. What was more impressive though, is producing these cakes in extreme weather conditions. Perth's world record of 22 hot days.... with the weekend being 38°C. If you can produce a chocolate cake in this weather, you can pretty much make a cake in any situation....that my dears, is Extreme Cake Decorating!

Oh chocolate, glorious chocolate!! Every girls' second best friend!

Sugar bee production - guaranteed to make you smile!

And this little one, just looked so adorable next to his beehive.

Viola! Classic 101 completed!

Well done class it, you really inspired us!

~~~~

Daring Bakers February Challenge

It's been a while since I've posted a Daring bakers challenge. There have been so many wonderful challenges and they really are challenging - which is the idea of the group, that between Christmas and new year, I couldn't find the time to complete them.

Anyways, without the excuses, this month's challenge of Panacotta just fit in fine with the summer we've been having!

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to manage the florentine cookies that were part of the challenge, though they look positively divine in this months results.

I chose a mango gelee as the fruit component to accompany the panna cotta. The pannacotta itself, sweetened with honey had just the right amount of jiggle and smoothness, for me, it was a tad on the sweet side and the honey a little overpowering, but it did impart a lovely homely sort of dimension to the dessert.

Visit Mallory's blog for the recipe and check out the results of the other Daring bakers!

The big 40

2011-02-22T00:57:00.000-08:00

I haven't quite got to the milestone yet, but I've always viewed 40 just over halfway to the top of the hill... and then naturally the aim is to get up there and then stay up there for as long as possible!!

This week was a lovely week to be able to make 2 cakes for some lovely people hitting the Fabulous Forty.

Firstly a chocolate collared, strawberry covered cake for Carmel's Irish pub event.

Carmel was so sure that she wanted a really yummy chocolate cake....with berries, and so this is what we came up with. Filled with a generous layer of chocolate buttercream and lavender strawberry confiture, then all topped with chocolate dipped strawberries.

Carmel said via sms: 'the cake was delicious and looked great, everyone loved it. I had a really great night....40 IS Fabulous!'

Awww.... how sweet! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

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The other 40 cake was made for Julian. Julian's dad, Gordon, flew all the way over from Queensland and organised the cake as a surprise. Gordon in fact celebrates his birthday on the same day and turned a spritely 75.

We thought it would be cheeky to add him onto the birthday message as an afterthought.

Gordon was lovely enough to call to personally thank me this morning and to let me know how much they enjoyed the cake and how surprised Julian was. I wonder who got to eat all the hardware...?

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Also just a short note that classes for June are up on the Cake Love website.

We've got pillows and popcorn and even the odd Macaron or two.

Let us know what you want to learn!

Transformers and Valentines

2011-02-15T23:00:00.000-08:00

For all you lovebirds out there,

Hope you had a wonderful Valentines' Day that was romantic and sweet or if you're like one of my favourite clients...had a bit of an inside joke.

Apparently this adorable couple are known as the "black sheep" amongst their friends...and hence, they have to stick together. What better gift than to have one you can laugh about!

This is the true love in my life.....my godson Isaac. He is going to grow up to be an international lawyer/playboy.....we might be a tad biased though!

~~~~

Without revealing my age....yes, I am at that age that I have to start lying about it........ I remember Transformers when it was first popular in the 80s. I endured many a weekend of my brother flying around the house with his transforming cars. So with a whole new generation of children who are discovering Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, it brings back so many fond memories of my brother at age 5. (Not to mention the standing ovation he and his friends apparently gave the movie preview when it screened a couple of years ago- boys will be boys)

Doting Dad Tommy wanted a edible version of Bumblebee for little Nathan's 4th birthday. Many thanks to darling James for lending me his beloved Bumblebee to be a model.

What do you think?

More than meets the eye..............??

and now I can't get the tune out of my head!!!

~~~~

and these photos just in,

The professional shots of Carolyn and Ezra's cake last month. Much thanks to Evermore Photography for taking such lovely shots of the cake!

Hoppy New Year of the Rabbit!

2011-02-07T00:54:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all good health, good wealth and sweetness in everything you attempt this New Year of the Rabbit!

First duty of the New Year is to take a walk in my grand aunt's most auspicious garden.

The peach tree laden with ripening peaches, signifying long life and good health.

A Cereus flower bud getting ready to bloom. This is a very very auspicious occasion, as poets, emperors and concubines throughout China's imperial history lament how this precious flower blooms only for a few hours by moonlight and then dies as the sun rises. It is said that concubines would lure the emperor to their imperial residences with the promise of a cereus flower ready to bloom.

And what is this I wonder......

Ripening and flowering wolfberries!! Otherwise known as the wonderfruit Goji Berry!

All this garden wandering, before the tea ceremony too!

When the unmarried people and children are given red packets for luck.
Then onto lunch......

Lunch at my favourite aunt's is our family's tradition. This year with a spread that included pork rib noodles, roast pork with the most amazing crackling and for dessert some toffee pudding - which wishes us promotions and success in the new year. *phew* and there is more eating for the next 10 days!

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Back onto the caking!

This cribbage board cake for Paul. Commissioned by Paul's best mate Scott, and naturally, Cribbage opponent I assume. I had a great time making this cake....researching it, made me almost want to learn how to play the game correctly!

I heard the cake was a great hit and after being a perfect model for photos, it also is floating around online somewhere being cut and eaten! It just gives me such a nice fuzzy feeling when you get rave feedback like that! I hope Paul had a marvellous birthday!!

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And a sneak peak at Cake Love's photo shoot last weekend

Touching up our gorgeous show cake.

Sometimes, you just can't take yourself too seriously! Glenda and I had a blast!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend too!!

Macaroon or Macaron?

2011-01-31T22:45:00.000-08:00

Chef Paul Kennedy - World Chocolate Masters Champion, told us when teaching us the fine art of the French Macaron, (yes it needs a capital letter!) that he divides his friends into Macaron friends and non Macaron friends. You see, after you've had a few attempts at making this incredibly finicky biscuit, you'll understand why you will only offer them to people who know to appreciate them. To those that think 'its only a biscuit' ....well, then they probably wouldn't really miss it.

Growing up, a macaroon was one of these things,

Recipe here at Elena's pantry

Sweet and moist with lots of coconut, they were consumed and savored on our way home from school in the family car. I remember them to be large piped confections that we almost the size of my hand that I nibbled whilst wondering why my mother liked them so much....

Then whilst foodblog surfing in 2004, I discovered the French Macaron on a la cuisine (one of the first online recipes for the macaron) and then everyone seemed to be attempting them and singing its praises - well, back then, I couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about.

The first ever attempt worked fine.... hence the incomprehension of what all the fuss was about.... the second attempt failed, as did the 3rd and 4th. I even had my sister ferry them back from Laduree in London in order to compare them to my attempts. Over the years though, I've been quite content to have my fill of them every time I visited Adriano Zumbo's in Sydney - (before he was THAT famous) Still, making that perfect macaron shell was high on my list of to dos, so last year, the trip to Savour Melbourne took care of that.

This weekend I was delighted to share it with a lovely group of Macaron enthusiasts.

On arriving in the lovely home, I was greeted with a giant bowl of curious looking nuts. (pardon me for going off track here)

I felt that closer inspection was required......

They are actually raw macadamia nuts. I would never have known that was what they looked like growing on a tree! And strangely, they have a texture like fresh coconut, firm but slightly sweet and crunchy. I learnt something new that day too!

Back on to the French Macarons.....

Demonstrating the Macaroner

Piping the shells with the help of a template

And finally assembling the biscuits.

We made Green tea, White chocolate & Raspberry and Lemon macarons.

The girls had fun and went away thinking about which friends were going to be Macaron friends. So I told them, don't get too pretentious about French patisserie..... you probably don't need to go around correcting people of their pronunciation to the correct MAC-A-RON, as long as you know its spelled with one O, you're ok,
you can keep calling them MAC-A-ROONS.

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And some more photos of the dessert table for Carol & Doug at Kings Park a couple weeks ago.

Photos courtesy of Jess who did the beautiful flowers

Celebrate with cake

2011-01-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Having a public holiday in the middle of the working week feels surreal. Wednesday all of sudden feels like Saturday and Thursday feels like Monday.....rather strange and disorienting.

Wednesday was of course, Australia Day. A day to spend reflecting on how lucky we are to be living in Australia, good food with good friends and of course, in Perth, our once a year Australia Day skyshow.

Over on the other side of the country, the Dream Team at Planet Cake headquarters spent the week neck deep in ganache attempting the world record of reproducing a 1:50 scale version of the Opera House - in chocolate cake!

The cake was unveiled yesterday on the steps of the opera house for sale to the public with proceeds going towards the Queensland flood appeal.

Sunrise was on hand to capture the moment the cake was cut!

And for those of you who haven't been following the dramas of the making of this cake, here are some pics from the week of the giant opera house cake....

Day 1 : Here's Handi, helping and getting into the chocolate

Day 3 : All ganached. Woohoo

Day 4: Go Dee!

Day 5: The artists getting into the finer detail of things

(there is always time for a slice of cake!!)

photos courtesy of Planet Cake via facebook

Well done to all the volunteers and the team at PC! A great achievement and all for a wonderful cause!

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Last week the much anticipated Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure screened over 3 nights.
We were particularly excited to see the Melbourne episode as Handi was asked to provide a cake for the surprise baby shower. In case you missed it, here it is!

Photo from Sharnel at My Life - My Loves who styled the party at Bebe

photo courtesy of Handi's Cakes

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This last week I also had the pleasure of making cupcakes to celebrate Jue's graduation.

A monkey with her graduation cap as well as Tiffany blue themed mini cupcakes

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More cupcakes for Amelia, to celebrate her soon to arrive bundle of joy!

and last but not least,

A huge chocolate cake for Josh's Australia Day 20th birthday. Complete with his favorite pokemon characters.

Don't they look like they're poised for action??

For those of you in Australia, hope you enjoyed the mid week holiday with those you love in this great country of ours!

Outdoor Summer Celebrations

2011-01-17T00:46:00.000-08:00

For those of you following my adventures in the pursuit of the sweet things in life - will know the dramatic lead up to this weekends orders. But as I stepped away from the table after placing the last macaron on the plate and looked at my first dessert table, I forgot all stresses of the past week.

You may wonder, the pains and dramas of producing something beautiful only to have it devoured and gone in a matter of minutes - is it all worth it?

Well....yes, I think so. To me, beauty is fleeting. So for me, making a difference, no matter how fleeting, as long as it is memorable - it's enough for me.

Carol & Doug had a beautiful morning wedding at Kings Park in the Rotunda. The bride chose macarons to match the colours of her bouquet by florist extraordinaire Jessie Anne, cake pops flavoured with tia maria and cointreau, an orange blossom cupcake tower and cranberry and white chocolate shortbread cookies. All by the beautiful view of the Swan River on a perfect summer day!

Green - Matcha with white chocolate, Pink - Raspberry, Ivory - Lychee and Yellow - Lemon

The display from another angle!

I'm sure that Carol & Doug's big day sparkled brightly and was absolutely memorable!

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And on the other side of the Swan river.....

There were Chanel cupcakes and more macarons to celebrate Stephanie's 21st birthday on the South Perth foreshore.

Stephanie is a budding fashion designer with awards under her belt at such a tender age. I thought Chanel cupcakes were very fitting for the birthday girl!

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Last on this week's program was Katie's bridal shower. A private cupcake class was requested for 25 of Katie's closest friends.

The ladies were taught how to pipe buttercream and make fondant roses and penguin figurines.

Hard at work!

The bride to be made this cupcake without taking her veil and gloves off..... impressive!!

and the other results?

and the winner of the best cupcake creation......

Glenna with her penguins in love creation!

Well done to all the lovely ladies. Congratulations to the beautiful bride to be. Many thanks to the wonderful Amanda and Lisa for organising the tea party and Liz for opening her gorgeous home to host us all!

Patissier or Decorateur??

2011-01-12T00:26:00.000-08:00

We're only a few days into the new year, and things have started taking off!

With some expert advice from the lovely Juliann of Sweet Petite Treats aka macaron master, I've been grinding through a mountain of almond meal (unground Australian almond meal produce inferior macarons - or so the French say.....) and trying to master the Macaroner... (the pastry technique and not the dance!) Sigh! I think I have to charge more for my macarons! So, this week I am feeling more like a stressed out patissier, than stressed out cake decorateur.

I will share the photos when the morsels are finally displayed this weekend.

In the meantime, some cute monkey cuppies for those of you returning to work after Christmas break!

Ahhh....eating and sleeping.... well, that sounds pretty good to me right now!!

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As you may know, Cake Love - Couture Cakes is the coming together of Glenda of Sweet Unique, Jo of Delectable and me.

We are so excited to announce a series of classes for the first half of the year at the Cooking Professor in North Perth.

We are running a series of cupcake workshops for those curious about cake decorating as an introduction to the world of cake, as well as weekend workshops producing beautiful designer cakes.

Classic 1 Beginners - Buzzy Bees

Novelty 1 - Pillow

As well as series of themed cupcake evening workshops at The Cooking Professor and at Epicurious Subiaco (soon to be announced.)

We're also delighted to invite Handi Mulyana, one of Australia's leading cake artists to run a series of specialty courses in May.

Handi designed this gorgeous cake especially for our classes.

Handi's classes also include

Sugar flowers for beginners

Piping techniques for beginners

My little fairy

Novelty Handbag

More information and class registrations are now open through the Cooking Professor and the Cake Love websites.

Courses start 27 February 2011

Classes are filling quickly, and we would be absolutely delighted to see you there!!

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-04T23:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Another year and a brand new decade! I'm looking forward to a busy 2011!!

Wishing you all had a marvellous Christmas and an even better New Year! Time to revise the bucket list again!

I had an amazingly lazy Christmas. With temperatures in Perth near 40 degrees Celsius, it really is too hot to do very much. It is however, great to spend time on the beach, especially at sunset!

I could not resist baking for Boxing Day breakfast though as there are few things comparable to the smell of freshly baked croissants. The house smells amazing all morning, and that first bite into a warm croissant lathered in Danish butter and raspberry jam.....well, you'll just have to try it for yourselves. If you're lazy to make them from scratch, ask your favourite local patissier to sell them to you raw and frozen. The rest is self explanatory!

After the novelty of not doing very much started to wear off, I decided to attempt a recipe I've wanted to try for some time from the Tartine cookbook.

Tartine

Gourgeres - or otherwise known as savoury choux.

I added a pinch of pink Murray River salt and a some ground black pepper to the batter and topped it a generous sprinkle of gruyere cheese.

It is such a versatile pastry and if you make them bite sized, the perfect elegant party snack! Or as the Tartine Bakery suggests, make big ones and fill them with meats and salad for a light meal.

The recipe I used is in the book, but if you want to give it a go, the fabulously talented Bea of La tartine gourmande has a wonderful recipe online with lots of helpful flavour combinations.

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And of course my last cake of 2010 was this adorable one for little Elisa who turned 4.

I heard it was a big hit and that poor Miffy only lasted 30 minutes after being unveiled with the birthday girl promptly biting into Miffy's ear.

I hope Elisa had a memorable birthday!

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High on my list of to dos this year, is of course, to do more good. Part of the reason why I love making cakes, is seeing how happy it makes people, and how nice it is to be a part of that.

I first heard about Icing Smiles through Pink Cake Box. The idea of providing a sick child with a beautiful birthday cake was one that really struck a chord with me. Although it is an American group that is making a difference in their part of the world, us decorators here in Australia have been inspired to start one of our own. Thanks to the lovely Lacey who is spearheading the movement,

Throw a little sugar on is on Facebook and soon a website too. So if you know someone who is need of a sugaring, you can nominate them by posting on the wall. We provide a free not for profit service to brighten the day of those sincerely deserving. Is there someone in your live that you'd like to throw some sugar on?

Let us know, or even better, join us!

Cupcakes everywhere!

2010-12-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a crazy season. We're all so busy with our usual lives that for some strange reason, the impending approach of the end of the year seems to signal some sort of "Gee, I've got to catch up with so and so, before Christmas!" and all of a sudden you have a whole score of people you haven't spent enough quality time with during the year!

I am in the exact same position. When my supplier accidentally delivered 10kgs of almond meal instead of the 2kgs that I had ordered, I set about making an insane number of flourless chocolate cakes......hopefully my friends will like me better if they get chocolate cake......

So, if you to have quality time with friends debt, be like my client Nuong, and gift cupcakes to your friends!

Cupcakes for a couple one who is a mechanic and along with their 3 pets.

Some cupcakes for her friend Niyaz who's birthday is on Christmas day.

For a family who just celebrated the arrival of a baby girl.

and then mini cupcakes to share for a cocktail party!

I was seeing cupcakes everywhere!!

Also congratulations are in order for Ling getting her new shop up and running before Christmas.

AEC specialises in Education consultancy, advising hundreds of students each year on the best courses suited to their interest and talents. These were gifted to some current students. The mini books are printed in edible ink on rice paper. Computer science, business management and quantum physics featured as the covers.

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And then of course there was the 'big cake' of the week.

This was made for the wonderful Gino and Maria. The cake is missing a giant ring that is to sit atop the cake - hopefully Maria will share a pic. The wording is replicated from the invitations and cut from fondant.

The filligree design and flowers were inspired by the placecards.

I hope they had a lovely day and maybe I'll get to make the wedding cake next year!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas and look forward to seeing you all next year!

Inspirations

2010-12-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Inspirations can come from the strangest places. Only 10 days to Christmas and I am finding my inspiration is running low. So, I thought I'd share with you some images that have inspired me this year, just in case yours is running low too!

Beautiful images

Wall painting by Shona Heath at Twig and thistle

The deligthful work of Dazey Chic

This "So very happy" card really made me smile!

Illustrations and all sorts of pretty things by JooJoo

Stunning dusk photos of the family Fuji orchard in Japan by She who eats

Beautiful shots by Jacinta at Bawkbawk

Beautiful places

Laurent winery, Margaret River

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Morning fog in Oslo, Norway. Photographer unknown

I don't know where this is, but its the sort of place that I'd imagine where all the stresses of life would cease to exist. If you know where it is, please let me know!!

Beautiful Sweets

Vogue Korea

The Picasso of pastry - Pierre Herme Collection

The Dalloyau Christmas Catalogue

with over 200 years of pastry making experience!

Lenoire Christmas Collection, Paris

and of course the hallowed macaron

The store pictures are from the famous Laduree in Paris. The macarons and macaron trees are from Bobbette & Belle, and the beautiful dessert displays are from Amy Atlas. Collage by Cookie Creatives.

and of course, beautiful cakes

Ben Ron Israel

Cake Opera

I dream of cake creations, collage by Something old, something new

Couture cakes by Faye Cahill.
Collage by Petitmode

I hope you enjoy looking at these pretty things, as much as I enjoyed putting this post together.