Spring wedding cake

hello everyone, i feel like spring is finally here when we made this cake, even though its rainy and 19 degrees outside. This cake will be the final one for this year unfortunately since i'm off to europe and elective until next february. Exciting for me but so many cakes had to be rejected.

So i actually learnt alot making this cake, which has been the source of alot of stress for the last few months. It is a massive cake with 4 tiers, 15", 12", 9" and 6". The 15" was the biggest cake i had ever covered in fondant! I couldn't have done it without Joseph who drilled the boards, Amy, Gen and Jenny for helping me with the sugar roses and Warren and Mat who moved it for me (it weighed about 30kg).
The lessons i learnt were how to make sugar roses (which still look a little like gardenias but thats ok cause i still love gardenias). The sugar roses took us about 4 nights since each layer of petals had to dry overnight before another layer could be added. The second lesson was in regards to my airbrusher, i knew i wanted a hot pink filler flower however i couldn't find the colour anywhere. So thanks to the lovely people at cake decorating central (castle hill and campbelltown) plus a few blogs, i learnt you could make your own, by mixing cake decorators alcohol with wilton colour gel pastes. The risk is, it clogging up your airbrusher however this is easily fixed by passing hot water though it. Anyways i didn't have any problems and the result was perfect since i could get the colour to match the band on the bottom tier. I must also credit planet cake since this was designed based on one of their creations.
So this cake is caramel mud and choc mud with dark choc ganache and fondant. I really hope the bride and groom like it, its so hard since when other clients pick up the cake i can gage their reaction but when i have to drop it off at a venue, i don't know what they think! Let me know what you guys think...




Finally this cake was a small project for my cousin Gen's brother in law's engagement. It was inspired by a faye cahill cake, however i must say the faye cahill cake is 100 times better than mine. But all in all i have learnt from my mistakes in this cake and i hope i can improve on it in the future. Liam and shannon were still very happy with it, which is the main thing. The theme of the engagement was pink paris so i thought this cake fulfilled the brief to a T.



In study land, i have an exam on thursday which is a little stressful since all i can think about in europe! I can't concentrate on any study, so i really hope i pass, otherwise i will be on a jet plane back to remediate (that would really suck). But after that i'm free as a bird, eating macarons in paris, shopping in london and skiing in austria. Just 3 more days...

But i will miss blogging about cakes while i'm gone! So if anyone tries to contact me and i'm MIA, its ok, i'll be back in February hopefully with more cake stories and more cakes to do (oh and passing my degree complaints).
xoxo

1 week 3 cakes

Hello everyone, well the mammoth cake week is over and i have serious withdrawals. I found i got really possessive over the cakes, more than normal!
The cake week started wednesday and finished on friday when all the cakes were delivered.
This cake was for Jenny's sons baptism, it was a banana cake with chocolate ganache finished with a thin layer of fondant. The cube was 8 inches made from 2x 8 inch square banana cakes.


This cake was for my friend Jacki's sister Cath's engagement on the central coast, the eiffel tower is significant to the couple since this was were they got engaged. This was a carrot cake with white chocolate ganache and a thin layer of fondant. THe flower is my terrible attempt at a peony, i really need to learn how to make this flower, its my favourite and it always looks great as a statement flower.


Finally the american flag cake made for Jenny's friend Mez's 30th birthday, which had an americana theme. This cake was a chocolate mud cake with chocolate mud ganache and fondant.


Over all the week was a big success, however i couldn't have done it without my trusty helper Gen who was there every night, and of course my partner in crime jenny who helped on the friday night.
I would also like to say that we have a facebook page called 'i heart cake' so if you haven't already had a look, please check it out and say you like it!
Well in other news i'm doing a psychiatry block at uni which has been a lovely break after the exams. SO this was the planned time to make all these cakes and desserts!
Furthermore europe is only 5 weeks away. I cant wait to eat macarons in paris and pastry's in austria. I tried to book some cooking classes but the timing was never right, which was a shame. However i thought i'd share some good classes which i would have liked to do...
Paris- lenotre school do desserts and macaron classes and they have a very good reputation
London- squires kitchen is the ultimate cake decorating school, i really wanted to go to this kitchen, Eddy Spence who is the ultimate piper (he piped on lady dianna's wedding cake) teaches here, even anna maria at planet cake looks up to eddy spence since he's such a good piper
London- Peggy Porschen's cakes and schools also looks amazing!

i think i may have to come back to europe to attend all these classes. I also saw the Le cordon bleu class in paris which has a professional baking and pastry class. I really think i want to take a year off to learn to bake from the best (and live in paris).

I also booked into planet cake classes for next year which are out. It's better to book early since there is a 10% discount on some of the courses. I can't wait for the springtime cake which i've been talking about for 2 years, and the time has finally come when i get to attend the class! I feel very nervous since this is the class where students have cried, it may be me (crying from excitement).
Anyways more cakes to come, please email me if you want a cake for a special occasion.
xoxo

alice in wonderland cupcakes

hello everyone, i thought i'd share these cupcakes which i made today. They are for my cousin in law's sister's bridal shower which has an alice in wonderland theme. I actually got the designs from planet cake's class called alice in wonderland cupcakes http://www.planetcake.com.au/courses/classes.php.
I would definitely recommend this class since it is soooo fun and you get to take home 20 amazing cupcakes! Not quite Nigella did this class and you can read all about her experience on her webpage:
http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/05/05/alice-in-wonderland-cupcakes-10-tips-for-cupcake-decorating-from-planet-cake/
The different cupcakes are:
- alice falling into the hole
- white rabbit
- clock
- mad hatters hat
- teapot
- love hearts
- eat me cupcake
- toadstool
I hope you like them! I used planet cake's vanilla cupcake recipe with white chocolate ganache and bakels fondant.
Well the exciting cake week is coming up, i'm so excited but so nervous at the same time. I will post the results next week, if i'm still able to look at cake.

Well my life is finally back to normal now that exams are over and i hope to be posting alot more frequently (because i hope to be making a lot more cakes). Thanks for reading my blog and i hope you like the pictures! (i really need my boyfriend to start taking the photo's, my old iphone takes pretty bad pictures)
xoxo

its been too long...

hello everyone, everyone? anyone? since its been so long i hope there is still at least someone who reads my blog.
Well life is so good at the moment, i passed my exams and i can finally bake and decorate again, since these activities have been put on hold for ummm about 6 MONTHS.
So to get everyone up to speed here are a few cakes Jenny, Gen and I have made. Oh i forgot to mention in the time when i was away i started a business with Jenny and Gen, called "I heart cake"
So here is what we have done so far...



















Just a note about this cake, its an engagement cake for 2 keen snowboarders and Jenny and I had never made figurines that stand before so it was a challenge! I think they turned out well, go team!

So as soon as the exams finished, my life changed for the better, i went to the snow, the hunter valley for s spa retreat, saw friends again, went shopping, saw movies etc etc
I finally got to do the things that make me happy. I was in such a bubble of exam land, i remember thinking where are all these people going, shouldn't they be studying? oh wait not everyone is studying!
Anyways enough exam talk... more cake talk!

We have 3 cakes coming up which are amazing! An engagement cake for a great friend's sister, Jenny's son Jasper's christening cake and the mighty 4 tiered wedding cake in november with a cascade of sugar roses! I'm actually scared of this cake and i really hope i can do it justice, since the client is an old school friend.

Anyways I will be back soon, since there are so many challenges that face me... croquembouche tower, snow egg and macaroon tower, all this before the 2nd of december when i go to europe!
See you all soon (really soon i hope) xoxo

warren's- pretty vintage cupcakes

hello everyone, hope all is well. So much is happening today- first mat and i are going to yum cha (zilver in chinatown) this is one of my favourite yum cha resturants. Then i have my hoc mai interview! Hoc mai is a foundation that works between vietnam and australia to provide medical learning between the two countries. They offer scholarships for students, allied health and doctors to travel between these two countries for medical training. I really hope i get a scholarship to do my elective in vietnam, so anyways thats what the hoc mai schorlarship interview is today! Finally my day will end with a drive back to lithgow for more GP learning. But in more interesting news- i made cupcakes last night with gen for her boyfriend warren!
We hope the ladies at ING direct like them! let me know what you think...
I always love making pretty cupcake and i think the gold really saved these cupcakes because before we made them gold they didnt pop. Furthermore the lace piping was a nightmare! it was so time consuming and they didnt look nice until we painted it gold. anyways until next time, i wonder what i can make next?

wine bottle cake

hello everyone, well there was sucess, we made a 3D wine bottle cake! before anything more is said, i must thank my trusty cousin and excellent helper genevieve, and my new found cake buddy sharon wee (from sharon wee creations http://www.sharonwee.com.au/) who is an amazing commercial cake decorator.

Here's the story of how the wine bottle cake almost gave me a heart attack...

The first difficult decision was how big the cake was going to be, in the end the cake stood 20 inches high and 5 inches wide. this was very difficult for transportation from earlwood to helensburgh!
I ended using 2x choc mud and 2x orange blossom cake to make the bulk of the bottle, the top was carved out of styro. Each cake was ganached individually then stacked with a centre pole and dowels then reganached to smooth any rough edges. Black fondant was used (which i officially hate, no more cakes in black or red, i know how many times have i said that?) which was then airbrushed black and glazed with tart glaze. Then the label was printed on edible paper with edible ink and the cap was made from red fondant also.

The cake was for my boyfriend mat's brother michael and dad- fred's birthdays. It was a hit, everyone loved the cake and i was pretty pleased with all the hard work gen and i had put in (9 hours in total from bake to finish).

Let me know what you think...



until next time... i'm making some cupcake this weekend, so lets see how they turn out!

xoxo

My dream come true and a toolbox cake

Hello everyone! well so much cake and so little time, really there is not enough hours in the day to make cakes and study, so i always chose make cakes! Over the last 2 weeks i've made 2 cakes- a toolbox and toolbelt for a carpenter and a twilight cake for mat's nieces (twins).

The toolbox cake was designed for my friend kylee who i haven't spoken or seen since high school, but thanks to facebook she was able to track me down and look at previous cakes i'd made. Her brother's 30th was the occasion for the toolbox cake. All the tools were made out of chocolate then painted silver and red fondant was used to create handles.

I actually really wish i could make kylee's wedding cake but she's getting married in bali, which will be beautiful!

The biggest challenge with this cake was creating a wood look with the fondant. It's very effective and i found if you marble the fondant first then brush it over with brown, it really looks like wood.

The other challenge with this cake was the red colour, i promised after this cake i would only ever make white or ivory cakes since i think i hurt my shoulder kneading all that icing. Furthermore the icing was then very soft and hard to manage. To make red or black i actually make it a few days before i need to use it, this gives it some time to harden and even after i did this, the icing was still very soft and difficult to manage. I used 50% bakels RTR fondant mixed with 50% cake art colour sausages plus wilton colour paste and icing sugar to get the bright red and black colours. There is a lot of kneading. But i must admit, red does look amazing. So after swearing to never colour icing again, my next challenge was a twilight cake which was black!

The day mat's sister asked me to make the twins birthday cake was the day my dreams came true. I am a twi hard looking for an occasion to make a twilight cake! what better occasion than a 14th birthday party for twins!

I love this cake, the inspiration came from the twilight book covers, the apple from twilight, the parrot tulip from new moon, broken ribbon from eclipse and the board and chess pieces from breaking dawn. I really enjoyed making this cake and i really wish i could make it for my birthday but i think it's more age appropriate for a 14th birthday rather than a 25th birthday!

Once again colouring icing hurt my shoulder- this time i had to take nurofen. I really hate dark colours! At least i always have help- my trusty helper genevieve. I really couldn't have made these cakes without her. I've decided decorating is much more fun with a friend, even if it's just for moral support.

I also got to use my airbrusher for this cake (on the parrot tulips) and i just love airbrushing!

So apart from making cakes, i also talk about cakes. Today i went to a planet cake focus group to provide feedback on their courses. All i could say was how much i loved their courses and they are the best decorating school i've been to. I always love going to PC even if i'm not in a course. I am looking forward to my next course, i want to do the novelty castle. I'm also waiting to do springtime- i love this cake. Check out the PC website for course details, you wont regret it!

So apart from making and talking about cakes, i've been feeling very guilty about study. So i better go and try and do some before bed... oh what a lie i'm going to bed, i'll do some study tomorrow!

Next cake challenge is next week, i wonder if i can make a 3D wine bottle... stay tuned (and wish me luck)

xoxo

planet cake lace piping and basics 104

hello everyone, well so much has happened in the world of cake decorating for me in the past few weeks. Firstly i attended planet cake's basics 104 which as always was the best day of my life! We made the 3 tiered cake with orchids and a twist. It was a great class since we learnt so much such as how to set up a centre pole and how to make sugar orchids. Here is my cake...

A few weeks later i was back at PC for specialty lace piping. This was by far the best course i have taken at PC. I learnt so much and definitely left, feeling like i could pipe on a wedding cake! So if anyone needs a wedding cake with piping, please let me know, cause i really really want to make one now!

We worked on many skills in this course such as transferring an image to a cake, brush embroidery, pressure piping, colouring and making royal icing, covering styrofoam (the cake is actually styro), making a monogram but above all the most valuable lesson was confidence in myself that i could do it!

Here are a few things i piped. Let me know which one is your favourite.

All in all i had such a great time, the last photo is of my class, everyone's cake was amazing! It was so much fun and i really love piping. I always thought piping is a skill which only practice can make prefect. I also think it separates good cake decorators from amazing cake decorators. There are so many tricks to avoid piping, but in the end piping makes for such a nice cake. I can definitely do with more practice but maybe in about 30 years (time for loads of practice but before the geriatric shakes come) i can be as good as anna maria (my PC teacher and piping goddess).

More cakes, more clothes and 3 birthday's

Hi everyone, well so much has happened since i am so lazy and update this blog every 2 months! I wish i was like liebe and updated every few days, but med doesn't permit it (oh who am i kidding, it's not like i'm studying, instead i've been baking and shopping!)

So this first cake was a carrot cake with white chocolate ganache, made for my friend annaleise for her 30th birthday. I wanted to make a contemporary but pretty cake, so i opted to attempt hand painted swirls. The effect was nice however i still need to find a way to make it look neater and more like a printed finish rather than clumsy.

These birthday cupcakes were for my cousin and best friend amy. The 50's inspired ice cream parlor cupcakes with fondant cherry's were inspired by hello naomi's designs which are very girly and retro. Hello Naomi is a company out of newcastle who make really cute cupcakes for all occasions, i highly recommend her, her designs are like no other and very cute.

The third birthday is my own! These pictures were taken at high tea at the observatory hotel, kent st sydney. The observatory high tea was the best high tea i've had in sydney. It beats the tea room in QVB and the victoria room in darlinghurst. I loved the atmosphere, the staff but the best thing were the sandwiches, i even asked for more! For $49 per person, high tea was served with 3 finger sandwiches, fruit and plain scones, cupcakes, pannacotta, chocolate layer cake, fruit tart the list goes on. Furthermore i asked for an iced tea (since it was a very hot day) and got the best iced tea ever, the lady made it for me (it wasnt even on the menu) but it was amazing.

Finally there are these 2 dresses which i love. Both are 3.1 phillip lim, i ended up getting them from the LA store since they are ridiculously expensive in sydney. I love the sequins on this dress and the style was very flattering, it actually looks much better on a person than on the rack.

The first one will be worn at my birthday party this weekend, i will post up more pics and cake pics then, since i am doing planet cake 104 this weekend. I am so excited, i feel like i haven't been to PC in ages. The second dress was just for work and weekends, i love the scalloped edging on the sleeves, they remind me of when chloe did scalloped shorts and blouses. I love phillip lim but sorry phil chloe is still my favourite designer. If only i could afford it...

Anyways just a quick post since i have a sticky date pudding in the oven and some butterscotch sauce won't make itself.

Until next time,

xoxo

ps do people read my blog?

Jenny's baby shower cake

hello everyone, yesterday was my cake buddy jenny's baby shower and i had the privilege of making her baby shower cake. We decided to go for a 2 tiered (9" round and 6" round) orange and poppyseed cake with dark chocolate ganache covered in a thin layer of fondant. The design was inspired by my favourite cake decorator- faye cahill (http://www.fayecahill.com.au/Childrens/childrens.htm). If you haven't seen her website yet, i definitely recommend it, she has the most amazing cakes and classes also. I want my wedding cake from faye. Anyways here is my attempt (which is no were near as good as what you can buy from faye cahill), but i was happy with it and i know jenny loved it- which is most important.

I've decided the thing i love most about cake decorating is people's reactions towards the cake. I love making them also but it's the people who i share the cake with, which make me enjoy it the most.

In total the cake took me 7 hours to decorate (not including baking time).

The lesson i learnt from this cake were the polka dots. I always thought polka dots were randomly dotted onto a cake, however even randomness needs planning. To get the polka dot effect i marked where the dots would go with my quilting ruler (which marks out 1 inch squares). It was really important to do this to get the polka dots looking nice and in the right place.

I have 2 more cakes coming up which i am very excited about- one for my cousin's girlfriend which is a tiffany box cake and the other for my friend annaleise's 30th birthday. There is just so much happening in the land of cake decorating!