Bittersweet

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,

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

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!

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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.

Hoppy New Year of the Rabbit!

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.

 ©Lela Bouse-McCracken
The Cereus flower shortly after full 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!!

Patissier or Decorateur??

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!! 

Cake Love Cupcake Classes

It is with much pride and joy, that we announce the creation of Cake Love - Couture Cake Classes. 

Cake Love is the happy creation between Sweet Unique, Sugar by Winz and Delectable. 

We're also very excited to be invited by the Cooking Professor in North Perth to run a series of classes this year as guest teachers.

So here it is!

Introducing:

Cupcake Classes

Cupcake Techniques - Basic

Courses Thursday 25 & Friday 26 November 2010

$220.00

10am - 4pm

Christmas Cupcakes

Sunday 5 December 2010

$220.00

10am - 4pm

Junior Cupcakes (ages 8 -12)

Monday 6 December 2010

10am - 12 noon

$95.00

Suitable for any skill level.  Learn how to use fondant and turn any cupcake into a work of art.

Let Glenda and I show you in a fun and relaxed class!  

All equipment and lunch is provided (excluding Junior classes) so just bring yourselves and be ready to impress your family with your cupcake creations!

Thanks to all our flickr friends for design inspirations.  Credits to PiaMariane, Fran, Paige, Naomi, and of course PC!

So get onto the Cooking Professor's site and reserve your spot.  We look forward to seeing you all there!!