Dirty little secret

Well... maybe not so secret. Or dirty for that matter. Unless I'm decorating and OMG watch out. I sometimes look like I have butchered a pig or something. But I love to decorate with red colouring!!


So this morning I have had to use my co worker to pay for even MORE cake decorating stuff. This is seriously turning into an addiction. I'm hiding all of this from my husband although if he happens to find this blog, I am well and truly stuffed!!!

So now, I have coming in the mail;

baking strips and assorted ESSENTIALS from cornpuffs ebay store.

mould and some other ESSENTIAL items that Yana has ordered from First Impression

the Stacking DVD by sugarshack and other ESSENTIAL tools (thanks Cheryl!!)

So I guess at the end of the day, if it's all ESSENTIAL, then it's ok...

Right??????????????????????

happy caking!

ps, just discovered flickr... WOW!!

Shopping for more equipment

Today I happened to be in Niddrie so I popped into Susie Q cake decorating shop in Keilor Rd.
OMG, what fun. Sooo many thing to see and hold and touch. I would LOVE to own a shop like that.

I'd change the flooring (that's the renovator in me!), but other than that, it was like and Aladdin's cave of fun fun fun. I could spend the entire day in there and forget to have lunch!!

Apparently Cake Deco in the city is even better. OMG is that even possible???? I HAVE to get my butt in there soon. But first I need to save up some $$. I have been going a wee bit too crazy on stocking up. I have to stop!!!

Post Script

I went mad and shopped up a storm on Saturday. Tins, chocolate colour pastes, moulds....
OMG I could go on and on and on just buying stuff for cake decorating.
it's like an illness. Even if i dont know how it's used I want it.

HELP ME!!!!!!

hehehehe
pps- dont tell my husband!

Chocolate chocolate chocolate!

Well this past weekend, I had 2 cakes to make.

A white choc mud triple covered in ganache with a chocolate bow. I had loads of dramas getting a smooth covering. It was only later I realised I had poured it close to an open window and in these artic Melbourne nights, one side was hardening up too fast!! DOH DOH DOH. In the end it looked ok, but next time I will remember. CLOSE THE BLOODY WINDOW!!

I have decided that chocolate is my favorite medium to decorate. It's so much fun and the possibilites are endless. I just need to practise MUCH MORE!!

The other cake was a choc mud cake, filled with strawberry buttercream and decorated with two chocolate horse for a joint birthday party. Lots of fun, it was a girly cake so I got to use my edible glitter for a bit of extra pizzazz!!

I am doing some workshops at Greensborough Cake Decorating centre. At the moment, i am in the middle of Royal Icing. Very fiddly and time consuming and quite frankly a pain in the arse but the end results are really worth it. I actually have homework for next weeks class which should be fun. Heather is a great teacher, very passionate about royal icing and to be prefectly honest, I have NO idea what the hell brush work is. I only just worked out what lace work and extension work is... sorta. I was too emabressed to ask because everyone else just nodded seriously. Okkkkkk so I'm dumb! I'll admit it. I HAVE NO FREAKIN CLUE about Royal Icing but I'll learn!!

Happy caking to all.

Starting to get orders

I'm very excited!!!

I've started getting paid orders. I had 3 cakes this last weekend and they all proved to be a hit. It's nice to get great feedback and even nicer when you get enquiries from people who saw and ate your cake.

I made a snake cake for a friends son. Never made a snake cake before and I have to admit the face was a challenge but I think I pulled it off. I tried to re-create the scaley skin my using the #104 tip. My god it took forever to finish but it was well worth it!!

Also made an Elmo cake for a 1st Birthday using the pattern transfer technique... finally my lessons are paying off!!

Lastly I made my nephew a Hawthorn AFL club inspired cake. Was very delicious.

I love experimenting with fillings. Chocolate cake can get a bit boring after you have churned out several hundred. So I made a nice lemon cake and filled it with passionfruit infused cream cheese filling. YUMMO!!! It proved a hit with everyone, including my very fussy husband.

So this week I have 2 orders, a chocolate bow cake and a birthday cake for two 12 year old girls who love horses. Cant wait to decorate these!

I will try and post the pics of these cakes at some stage. I'm still learning the whole posting process!

happy caking everyone!

3 Cakes to do tonight

I'm filling 2 cakes tonight and getting the snake onto the board. Sounds rude doesn't it?? hahaha
It's all above board I promise.

I have been sussing out some great cupcake sites and blogs. There is an entire movement on the little buggers. They are truly adorable and fun to eat, however baking and decorating them is another thing altogether. But I do love them still. I just want to keep trying new methods of decorating.

Sometimes I wonder if I have the vision or the eye to be a decorator. Some people have such amazing concepts for their cakes. This website in particular I am loving at the moment.

http://howtoeatacupcake.blogspot.com/

In the meantime, I will continue to add to my ever growing stash of cake decorating goodies. i just wish we had access to some of the cool stuff they can readily get in the US and UK.

Happy baking!

Busy Busy Busy

Well, things have been happening!!!

This week I have 3 orders to complete.

I have a snake cake, an Elmo cake and a hawthorn guernsey cake to make. It's all exciting for me!

I'm also doing some great workshops and classes in the next few months that will hopefully see my skills grow in leaps and bounds. I just love to learn new things, and I'm a regular member of the Cakes and More forum. If anyone out there is actually reading this blog (you never know!!) go and take a look. The address is;

http://www.cakesandmore.org/

There is a wealth of knowledge on there from Australia and from various places overseas. We have suppliers and amazing cake artists sharing their lives and talent with us cake obsessed people.

This week i have been busy sourcing supplies such as cake boxes, cake boards etc. very boring to the uninitiated but lots of fun for me! I've also been trialling new recipes and have made a batch of very yummy coffee buttercream infused with Baileys. OMG delish

And Voila, here they are. Devils food cupcakes with Baileys coffee buttercream icing with a sprinkling of hearts... perfect for Mothers Day!

I also made a handbag cake for Mothers Day but alas, the handle was broken in 3 pieces by my darling dad. Never mind. It was good for a practise run!! I have to confess that I made this in a bit of a rush, it took me about 1 hour to decorate. it didn't turn out too bad! But I really need to get into fondant decorating a bit more I think. Maybe next week!!

Happy caking everyone!