Wednesday 15 August 2012

Cake Decorating: Not just for the Professionals

Cake Decorating: Not just for the Professionals...or just for adults for that matter! Even though the art of cake decorating has been around for hundreds of years, it's only been in the last 10 years that this artform has really made a lasting impression on people around the world. From Fondant covered cakes, handmade sugar flowers and blown sugar work, to cakes that are upside down or look like they're about to fall over. With the sudden boom in the cake industry, came an overwhelming number of cake decorating reality shows. Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Food Network Challenge, TLC Ultimate Cake Off, and our favourite Canadian program of course, Cake Walk: Wedding Cake Edition :) We all watched them, either by yourself, your spouse, friends and even children. It's the last point (children) that I want to talk about today on our Blog.

When I was young, I remember making cakes all the time; however, the extent of my cakes were from-the-box Betty Crocker cake mix and Ready-Made Frosting. I would make 2 8" rounds, then simply stack them on top of each other with a thick layer of icing in the middle, then plaster the outsides and top with the rest of the icing, and finally cover the entire thing in as many sprinkles as I possibly could. That was my masterpiece - I was always so proud of these cakes :) Now that people have seen on TV what can be done with cakes, the "new" cakes are the kind that the kids want to make. Not your Betty Crocker Box, Ready-Made Icing - they want the fondant, the moulds, the cutters, the flowers, etc. SO, here at Country Girl Cakes, we decided to let the kids give it a shot!

It's been almost a year since we started our Kids Cake Decorating Birthday Parties, and they are more popular now than ever before! Our Decorating Parties, give kids a chance to come on into a professional cake decorating shop and really get an indepth look at what it takes to make these cakes. They each get their own personal 6" round cake, which has been previously torted, filled and crumb coated. Before they get started, I always give a demonstration on a dummy cake, how to kneed and roll out fondant, how to cover your cake in the fondant, and how to use all of our tools (moulds, cutters, plungers, crimpers, rolling pins, smoothers, etc.). Once the demonstration is done, they get their own bit of fondant to start rolling out. As many of the participants have never touched fondant, this is usually the part of the party that takes the longest. Figuring out how to keep it in a circular shape, how to figure out the correct pressure of the rolling pin, and how to know when to stop at the correct thickness before putting it on the cake. Once the cakes are covered, each participant starts the decorating - and this is where the chaos fun begins! We use pre-coloured fondant for our parties, so we don't waste a lot of white fondant trying to colour it for each person. They get their colours, their supplies and go to town! This is my favourite part of the whole party! Each persons personality and creativity starts to fly, and the cakes go from looking all the same to looking all completely different! Once the cakes are done, I take each participant over to the airbrush booth and they put that final touch of pearl lustre spray on their cakes - which when people see how it makes their cake sparkle and shine, they go crazy. I get so much pride and happiness out of seeing the happy faces on everyone when their cakes are done! Everyone then gets their own box to take their personal cakes home.














These birthday parties aren't just for kids though! We've had a number of bachelorette parties in the shop as well, with participants in their 20's and 30's  having just as much fun, if not more fun, than the 10 and 12 year olds have!










Everyone wants their chance to make that "cake boss" cake like they've seen on TV, and here at Country Girl Cakes, we want to give them that opportunity! Some people leave the shop with their cake thinking it was so much harder than they thought it would be, while others think it wasn't too bad at all. Then we get the odd few who are bound and determined to come back when they're old enough and work here at the shop, as they have decided they want to be a cake decorator when they get old! How cute :) As long as everyone leaves here with a finished cake, happy face, and new found respect for the art of cake decorating, we're always happy!

So if you and your friends, or your daughter/son and their friends want to try out cake decorating, WITHOUT the mess at YOUR house, give us a call and book your next party! You will not be disappointed :)

Here at Country Girl Cakes, we hope everyone has a wonderful week full of fun, laughter, happiness and of course, cake! Stay Tuned next week, for more Cakes From The Country!

Miranda xoxo
www.countrygirlcakes.org




**For more information on available dates, pricing, etc., don't hesitate to call us at 613-341-7074 or email at countrygirlcakes@hotmail.com **

Tuesday 7 August 2012

The Importance of Continued Education and Mentors

Hey everyone! Sorry we missed the Blog last week, but it was an INSANE week here at Country Girl Cakes - which we can't complain about, right? :) This week for our blog I wanted to touch on a subject that I believe is extremely important when running a successful business. In the cake industry especially, trends are constantly changing and new tips, tricks and techniques are forever coming out of the woodworks. Sure, you can go onto google and youtube to check out these trends or to try and teach yourself from videos, but there's something about having that hands-on experience with a trained professional that you just can't find on any google site or youtube channel. Yes, classes, especially cake decorating classes can be extremely expensive, but if you look at them as an investment to your business and career, you'll look at it differently.

Although I'm not a trained pastry chef, and I didn't go to a cake design specific school, I have taken dozens of individual cake decorating classes in order to get to where I am today in my business. Like a lot of decorators, these classes started with the basic Wilton classes at my local Michaels. Fortunately, I had an amazing instructor who pushed me to continue after I had finished all the classes, and I left knowing the basics of cake decorating. From there, I started taking 5-6 classes a year at Icing Inspirations, a cake supply shop and school, in Kitchener, Ontario. The owner, Chrissie Boon, and her husband Justin, are the most amazing class hosts that you will ever meet. Chrissie works her butt off, trying to get the best-of-the-best in cake decorating into her shop to teach the newest trends, or to teach a specialized form of decorating. I have taken many classes at Icing Inspirations, from some incredible cake decorators, from Courtney Clark, Michelle Bommarito,  Carrie Biggers and The Sweet Southern Ladies, to James Rosselle, Marina Sousa, Diane Katsuyoshi-Phillis and Karen Portaleo. All INCREDIBLE designers in their own ways. The one person I've taken a class from however (2 classes now actually), who's tips, tricks and techniques I continue to use on a weekly basis, is Rick Reichart, of Cakelava in Hawaii.

Rick's classes are titled appropriataly, "Discover Your Inner Artist" 1 and 2. The reason I say that these titles are appropriate, is because Discovering Your Inner Artist, is exactly what you do in his classes. Rick has a way of making you think outside the box, in fact, Rick convinces you that sometimes it's best not to think at all...sometimes it's best, to "just do it".  When you start to overthink a design, colour, or a pattern, that's when you start to make mistakes. Going outside the lines isn't the worst thing in the world - in fact, that could be what takes your cake from good, to GREAT.

A big part of Rick's classes are the painting/airbrushing of the cakes and/or objects that go on the cake. This was the biggest challenge for me! My mind was set on the idea that once that paintbrush or airbrush touched the cake, it was game over. Now, after learning proper techniques and tricks that Rick uses, I paint 80% of my cakes and flowers. If you ever get a chance to take class from Rick, do it, you won't be disappointed! Not only is Rick an incredible cake designer, but Rick and his wife Sasha are wonderful people! Very kind, courteous and are always asking about YOU, and how YOU are doing. Always willing to help where help is needed and encourage when that look of frustration appears on your face.

The reason I wanted to touch on Rick's classes, is because this past weekend, I had one of the most challenging wedding cakes I've ever booked. Had it not been for the classes I took with Rick, I either would have: 1) refused to do the cake, or 2) ended up in tears on the floor with a CakeWreck on my hands. Neither happened - We booked the cake AND ended up in smiles :)

The couple came to me last year with their request, shortly after I took Rick's first class. When I first saw the picture of their cake design I got really excited and really scared all at the same time. This cake was nothing like anything I had ever attempted before and was far from the traditional tiered wedding cakes were used to here at the shop. BUT, here at Country Girl Cakes, we love a good Challenge, and I was good friends with the Bride from school, so I couldn't say "no" :) A few weeks ago, knowing the date was coming up, I started looking at the design, once again getting excited and nervous at the same time. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I was going to pull off this cake. This is where the importance of Business Mentors come in. I mentioned earlier about Chrissie Boon, the owner of Icing Inspirations where I take classes. I've known Chrissie now for over 3 years, and actually worked with her at her shop for about 6 months before leaving the Kitchener/Waterloo area to move back home. We kept in close touch after I left, and are great friends. In addition to being great friends, Chrissie is also my mentor when it comes to cake decorating. I know that if I EVER have a question with a cake design, I can call/text chrissie, and she walks me through it. I needed Chrissie on this cake. I texted her the picture, and after a big "wow", she walked me through what SHE would do had it been her making the cake. All of a sudden, a lightbulb moment happened, and I knew exactly what I was going to do to make my friends wedding cake dreams come true! Mentors are a great asset to any business, and I am constantly grateful to have a mentor like Chrissie.

Back to the cake. Above you can see the picture that Shane and Stephanie (bride and groom) gave me for their cake design - pretty eh? The time came to start putting this cake together. This cake was a crazy process from start to finish. We first torted and filled 4 red velvet cakes with cream cheese, put them in the fridge to set and chill, then brought them out and stacked them one on top of the other (with supports and dowels of course). We put another couple of crumb coat layers on the cake as a whole to keep it together, chilled it, and then carved out the top of the broken pillar. Once set, I started adding definition to the cake with modelling chocolate, putting it all the details before the layer of fondant went overtop - this was going to give me the long indentations that pillars/columns have. Then with my husband, because I couldn't do it myself, we rolled out 1 piece of fondant, laid it over the top of the column and quickly started working the fondant down the cake and in and out of the long indents made underneath by the modelling chocolate. Soon enough came time to paint this monster cake! I made a few different colour combinations mixing Americolor Airbrush Colours and Lemon extract, testing them on pieces of fondant, and soon enough came out with one that I loved. After hesitating for just a minute, I remember what Rick was always saying in his classes "just do it"! So that's what I did! I applied the colour to the whole of the cake, and accented with some black. The couple really wanted the column to look antiqued and old, so that was the look we were going for, and we were really happy with the final results! The flowers were added at the venue, which were left by their flourist - so pretty :)





Had it not been for my mentor Chrissie, the classes taken from Rick and the confidence achieved in those classes, this cake would not have turned out the same. So, continue taking classes and continue learning new things! The world of cake decorating will keep surprising us with new and fun ideas, and you will only expand your business by knowing how to work with the growing trends. Get yourself a mentor, this will be a huge benefit to you. Having someone that you know you can ask for help with anything, anywhere, is something you can't take for granted. If you already have one, GREAT, don't be afraid to ask them for help, they WANT to help you, and they WANT to see you succeed.

Have a great week, stay out of the heat, and catch us next week with more Cake from the Country!

Miranda xoxo
www.countrygirlcakes.org