Being passionate

At the great risk of sounding like Oprah...... you have to have passion in your life.  Whether it be love, sports, shopping, fast cars or, perhaps, Sugar, spice & all things nice.

I've always had a sweet tooth.  Ever since I was toddler......

Yes, sweets always made me very happy!  (that is a lolly in mum's hand...)

So, how important is it to have passion for what you do?  I belong to GenX, we were brought up by our parents to have a steady job, work hard and that someone was always watching.  If you were willing to work hard, you could afford the nice things in life.  There wasnt all that much about creativity or 'living the dream', let alone being passionate about what you do.

Gladly, the world has changed somewhat since then.  The likes of Steve Jobs, Jerry Yang, and Bill Gates and a whole horde of Hollywood actors that gained overnight success and fame, lectured on the importance of following your passion.  So now, instead of just plain working hard, I work hard at doing something I love.  Although the money has yet to follow - it's not always easy to hold down a regular job that pays the bills as well as finding the energy to follow your passion!  Its rewards are great, so I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Here are the passionately made cakes and classes over the last couple of weeks.

Starting off with some cupcakes, footy themed...already!  Gee, I wouldn't mind some footy weather right about now!

pic ourtesy of Naei via FB

And these cuties headed off to a birthday party...in Bangkok.

As did this topper for an 80th birthday celebration. 

Fabulously done by Lauren.

A big cake for Alana's Grecian inspired 21st at the beautiful surrounds of the Claremont Yacht club.

White, gold, drapes columns and laurels to fit in with the theme.  21 exploding hearts and the Effiel tower (Alana's dream destination) in purple (her favourite colour).  Alana had a great time and  loved her cake, which was the most important thing.

Another very popular Giggle & Hoot cake for little Luke's first birthday

Many thanks to Vicki for doing a lot of the hard work :)

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Moving onto the bigger cakes, is this romantic wedding cake for Jess.  Delicate princess stencilling and sugar pearls, resulted in a timelessly elegant design.

Jess was delighted that the cake turned out as she envisioned, but only got to look at it fleetingly.  She must have been a busy girl that night.  I hope the photographer took some lovely pictures for her to look over when she's not socialising with 120 people.

Something a little more modern for Sarah,

With dogwood blossoms and pretty ribbon.  This cake travelled down to Margaret River with the father of the bride, with strict instructions to keep it nice and cool - and no stopping for lunch!

Lastly, this understated but classic cake for Kim. 

There is a little bit of excitement in regards to what happened to this cake, but I will keep that a secret for now and upload the pics when I have them.

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And then of course the start to our Cake Love classes for 2012.

Classic 101

and Marvellous Macarons, and they really were marvellous!

 And then there was cupcake teaser thrown into the mix for a bit of variety

our May classes will be listed soon.  And dont forget all the great classes when Handi comes to town to do the amazing stiletto, advanced figurines and teapots!

At the end of the day, working hard at what you are passionate about beats just plain working hard!

So, as someone once said to me, if you had a spare sunday to do what you want, what would that be?  That is more likely to be what you're passionate about!

Me and my darling sis, the UAA, drooling away at a box of goodies (circa late 70s)

Mwah!

Teaching and Learning

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.......

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!

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. 

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!!