Fancymolasses

London - Day 13

2012-02-16T16:29:00.000-05:00

There isn't much to say about today, because we've started a series of classes dedicated to making flower bouquets - something which takes days of work, a little at a time, then letting them dry, then adding stuff... fun to do, but boring to watch I'm sure. Sooo much work, but the results, I'm sure will be amazing.

After that I took another walk, actually this was quite a long walk, from Covent Garden (where I ate another pot pie or "pasty" as they call them here, and tried to barter for a cool looking bag, which didn't work :P) to Green Park. It was a very touristy walk, packed with people.

On the way I visited a shop called Fortnum and Mason, which has lots of yummy confections and it was all very British. I bought myself some jam and lemon curd :)

London Day 12

2012-02-15T16:00:00.000-05:00

Today was all about extravagance!

Extravagant lacework on cakes:

Then we got to finally try some of the cake - mmmmmm!

Then my classmate Yujin took me for a walk around the most expensive parts of London!

Extravagant bread!

Extravagant streets with extravagant cars!

Extravagant... stuff!

This is the most expensive building in London!

Which was right near this place! A store so extravagant I couldn't even take pictures in fear of all the scary looking security people watching my every move. But let me tell you, it was... extravagant!

My feet are tired!

London - Day 11

2012-02-14T17:01:00.001-05:00

Today was all about piping! Dots, ribbons, overpiping.... it's all so challenging but really, it's my favourite part of cake decorating. When it's done well it looks so awesome, and it makes me all giddy! And then when it's time to give them away it's like saying goodbye to children, haha.

After class I still had a few blank ones to finish before giving the box away. So I did a bit of practicing in my room, lol.

Pretty hardcore eh?

I ended up giving the mini cakes to the hostel as well! They were totally happy with that!

London - Day 10

2012-02-14T14:51:00.001-05:00

Today in class we made lots of flowers!

Then after class I was joined by my 2 friends and fellow comic makers, Fehed and Faye!

I must say, they've been taking good care of me while I've been here. Taking me to various restaurants and general hanging out and keeping me distracted from the fact that I'm so far away from loved ones. They really deserve a cake... which I gave them. A big chocolate one!

We went to eat Thai!

And then we went to this really fancy mall with lots of super expensive/bizarre stuff and walked around. I was even told not to take pictures, but for you, I didn't listen!

Isn't this exciting?!?!

London - Day 9

2012-02-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

Today belonged to Baker Street!

I wasn't feeling too well today, so I took it easy, and Baker St is a really quick trip from where I'm staying. For those who don't know, I've been a huge Sherlockian (that's a Sherlock Holmes fanatic) since I was 16. That's right, before Robert Downey Jr. Seeing the station alone makes me smile! Even the Holmes heads are made up of little teeny Holmes heads! :P

My favourite statue!

The Emporium nearby has lots of lame souvenirs, and this giant wall of teddy bears.

That's right, you know where I'm going...

No, I didn't buy a Holmes hat, cause I already have one ;) This place is pretty kitschy, I'm not sure the real Sherlock would approve! (Jeremy Brett is my favourite :))

Still, I found this Police Bear in there, just looking at me, and I had to take him home to keep me company. Just look at him!

He even has a name and a little badge! Soooo cuuuuute!

Can't wait to be back in class tomorrow!

London - Day 8

2012-02-11T15:49:00.000-05:00

Today was all about clothes. Cause I did some laundry and then went shopping!

This was the path I took (some of it on the Tube, some walking), in case you're curious. Trust me my feet were really tired at the end! Here are some of the fun things I saw:

(thought John and Leah might like this one ;))

You may or may not know this, but cake-making isn't my full time job. By day, I'm an animator and illustrator, so when I saw these dolls, it piqued my interest.

I guess they're inspired by Glen Keane... cool!

Now here are some random street photos, in the Covent Garden area:

Oh yeah! Living statue!

Yes, that is a man, dressed as a dog, under a table...

Found this restaurant that makes nothing but hot piping pies! OMG I LOVE pies!!!

I had one with sweet potato and cheese, they even gave me a vegetarian gravy to go with it! (I'm not vegetarian, but I try to be some days ;)) I'm going there again for sure!

I've noticed owls are a popular motif here. And as I work for a company called RocketOwl, I just had to snap this pic, for my co-workers :D

London - Day 7

2012-02-11T03:32:00.001-05:00

Today was like a casual Friday in class! What with finally assembling all of our work. So I took the opportunity to ~~sneak~~ take lots of pictures, bahahaha!

We made roses and it was so fun! Her method of making them is pretty awesome. It still takes practice to do, but so much less cumbersome than the methods I've learned so far. Plus, look how adorable they are!

Blank canvasses! (Shh they're sleeping!)

Learning to decorate our wedding cakes:

Everyone's so focused!

My gift box cake with the carrot cake inside. Looks like a nice one for a baby shower. Here they call it a "Christening" cake. I ended up giving this one to the people at the hostel. The guy at the reception desk was SO happy! I've never seen anyone so happy to get a cake, and he said "no one's ever given me a CAKE before!!!" It was hilarious! I don't even know if he ended up sharing it with the other people, hahaha.

And these mini Victoria sponge cakes are just so cute that I took a billion pics of them. I have them with me still, I couldn't bring myself to give them to anyone. Wish I could bring them home to share with people!

On with the food porn...

My finished wedding cake. Betcha can't guess which one is the dummy cake, hahaha!

So I had to carry 2 boxes of cakes home (the gift and the minis), and the Tube was absolute chaos! I was just kinda being shoved around for awhile, cause I was a bit shocked, lol.

Did I mention that I cut myself in class? Well I did. I managed to have a cold, injure my wrist, AND cut myself in the first week! It was so embarrassing! I had to get a big blue band-aid and wash every thing and throw out fondant that had blood on it, and I just wanted to cry and give up, but I didn't. Good thing it's the weekend.

Near where I'm staying there's a sushi place, with a bar, so I had me some sushi and Corona for dinner, cause damn it, I deserved it after this week.

And cake for dessert!

London - Day 6

2012-02-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

Today's post won't be so long. Unfortunately, I kept waking up during the night with my wrist making popping sounds every time I moved my hand, then my wrist was hurting and causing shooting pain up to my elbow...

...It's not the first time this has happened. Years of drawing I guess. And it doesn't stop me from doing stuff, it's just more annoying than anything. So I bought myself a wrist brace, and kept going. In class we covered our cakes with fondant. Lots of kneading involved. Ouch >_<

I also woke up with soreness in that place that's sort of in between my nose and throat. Someone in my class recommended Lemsip. So I'm gonna go back to the hostel and sip this tonight. We are not allowed to miss any classes, so this kinda sucks. I even got a flu shot before I came! Boo :(

G'night!

London - Day 5

2012-02-08T16:12:00.000-05:00

This post is all about blending in...

...and cutting corners.

And disobedience!!

Just kidding about the last one. But I did get permission before I took these pics!

Our cake dummies (large) and fruitcakes (small) which we learned how to nicely disguise under marzipan. The one the arrow is pointing at is mine. :D I realized the wonders of marzipan today, something we don't really use in North American cake making. I've never even tasted marzipan! Marzipan is sold in a really small package in my local supermarket in Ottawa, and it costs a lot for what you get. Can't imagine how much enough to cover a cake would cost. But I LOVED using it! I want to use more of this - it's soooo much easier to work with than fondant! We learned how to blend it all together and we had these corner makers that made all the edges nice and perfect, and when I was done I was all like, BAM! LOOK AT MAH CAKE! Awwww yea (I didn't really say that XD)... That's it I'm gonna find out if I can bring some back home...

These were our chocolate cakes with chocolate ganache which we also covered in marzipan later on. I couldn't recall which one is mine, they all look the same lol.

On a side note, I realized today that my accent must sound really awful to people. I asked Peggy for some more marzipan and I said it like, MARRRRRRZIPAAAAAAYAN, and as I was saying it, it was like time slowed down a bit and I realized how dumb I sound. Everyone else here sounds classy. :P

That is all.

London - Day 4

2012-02-07T17:56:00.001-05:00

So we've been outlawed from taking pictures during class! Only before or after classes, which is understandable I guess... space is limited, everyone is really busy bustling around trying to get their cakes done, and then there's that thing about hygiene... :P

But I can tell you that Peggy showed us some amazing demonstrations of icing cakes, and I learned a lot of technical things that will make me amazing in the future. I was pretty floored watching her smooth chocolate ganache to perfection, and I mean, it was perfect! A solid cylinder of chocolate cake. All it takes is a palette knife and practice.

So after making Victoria Sponge cakes we iced yesterday's cakes with our ganache and various buttercreams. Oh, and of course, we learned some leveling tips, which resulted in lots of leftover cake, which we were free to eat for lunch... or not...

See those covered bowls? That's all cake! Oh yeah, and something called fruit in the middle...

After class I decided to be a tourist and wander a bit.

I know it says look right, but I still automatically want to look the other way...

So I hopped on a bus, which, isn't really a good decision without sort of having an idea of where it goes. The bus I took went sort of back to where I came from then off to some neighbourhood by the Thames, but not a recognizable part of the Thames. It was Pimlico.

So after snapping this pic of boys playing ~~soccer~~ football I found my way to a tube station and went to somewhere recognizable:

They don't call it a circus for nothing... (I would've had the perfect pic for this, cause there was actually a guy dressed as a clown standing outside, but I didn't take the pic - arg!)

I found a lovely little Indian restaurant, called Indian Brasserie, the people there were so wonderful!

And the food was really great, could've been a bit spicier, but still tasted awesome! Really, can you go wrong with butter chicken and naan bread? Probably not.

I know my peeps at RocketOwl are jealous riiiight now. ;)

After find a novelty shop which turned into this arcade mall...

I went to one of those big lame tourist shops and looked at lame tourist stuff:

And there were hats! Tons of hats!

And with that, I'm off to bed, another full day tomorrow ~

London - Day 3

2012-02-06T15:03:00.000-05:00

I am now part of the London commute!

Today was pretty exhausting! We made 3 different kinds of cakes today! 3!! Fruit cake, carrot cake and chocolate. We also did sugar syrup and chocolate ganache. Everyone in the class is really awesome! Peggy is super cute and I wanted to cry when I met her :P C'mon, she's like a rock star of cakes! Like a big clumsy Canadian I wanted to give her a big hug, but then she did that kiss on both cheeks thing, lol - so Euro!

We did a little meet and greet in the morning, where we also had breakfast! Coffee, croissants, and jam, all made at the bakery! Have I mentioned that people eat a lot of croissants here? Cause they do. If you're gluten free you don't stand a chance in London...

Once we got our workbooks we headed to the studio...

Lots of cakes on display and a store full of goodies!

Our workstations. Trust me, it doesn't stay this tidy for long...

We learned the old school way of lining a cake pan! I like this method. It doesn't cost a lot and makes me feel like I know what I'm doing!

Don't I look all pro and stuff?!
At the end of the day we were all exhausted and I just wanted to go back to my bed and sleep. I don't think there will be any sightseeing tonight!

London - Day 2

2012-02-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

So I'm in London, and I'm starting on day 2, cause day 1 pretty much sucked: Overnight flight that I got no sleep on, check. Sitting next to weirdo, check. Screen on the seat that doesn't work, check. Tons of turbulence, check. Also, being a hostel is not the most comfortable. You get what you pay for I guess...

Are we confused yet?

I decided to make my way to the Academy today to make sure I knew where I would be going tomorrow. It took a while to get there, lots of walking through sloppy slush, but I finally found it!

This is what I came ALL this way for!

Complete with nice menus!

And cute displays!

It's so cozy here, so I stayed for a while to warm up and have my own little tea party with a red velvet cupcake and vanilla tea. And as if to welcome me, they were playing some Canadian music; Michael Bubl :P

So cute, even the receipts are pink!

First day of class is tomorrow, we'll see what happens!

Sweet Valentine's Day Wedding Cake

2012-02-03T08:21:00.004-05:00

A Valentine's Day themed cake! Chocolate and vanilla layers with almond buttercream icing. The only fondant are the roses, and the cake board :).

Vanilla

2012-01-28T11:02:00.000-05:00

Made some quick cupcakes today for an afternoon get together. The recipe for these vanilla cupcakes are from Cakejournal, and they're so simple and quick to make, and turned out just right! I think this will be my go-to recipe for a while. If you think cupcakes are hard, I dare you to try them!

I souped these up with some peanut butter filling and whipped chocolate ganache on top! Yum!

Modern vintage sweet 16 birthday cake

2012-01-14T17:20:00.001-05:00

Or, For Those Who Hate Fondant

This was a sweet 16 birthday cake with a special request: They didn't want the cake covered in fondant! Actually I know quite a few people who don't like fondant and wonder if it's possible to make a cake without it, or maybe just with normal icing and fondant decorations. Well, apparently it can be done! All the white part is buttercream icing.

I'm not a huge fan of fondant myself, so making buttercream that's just as smooth as fondant is something I really want to get better at. Here are some detailed pics:

It was also requested that the cake have lots of pink, so I went crazy with it :D I also was inspired by Marie Antoinette (I love that movie from a few years back), and Laura Ashley

Beginnings...

2012-01-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning of a large sugar rose I'm working on for a sweet 16 birthday cake.
Making flowers is a lesson in patience. I have to apply each petal, one at a time, then wait for it to dry before I can do more. Gah!

Can't wait till it's done! XD

Cake School!

2012-01-04T20:22:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

This has been in the works for a little while, but in just 1 month, I'll be taking the Peggy Porschen Academy's Cake Diploma course, in London England!!!!

Wait, that needs more exclamations!!!!!!!!!

Everything's finally arranged. London is my favourite city in the world, and Peggy is one of my biggest cake heroes, so it's really a dream come true. It'll be an exciting month of cake decorating madness, and I have no idea what's in store, but I will be blogging about it every step of the way. Right here. So stay tuned!

But first, I have a few cake orders to finish! :D

Squeeeeee!

Now on Facebook!

2012-01-01T19:12:00.000-05:00

I've yet to add a link to the sidebar, but for now click below to join my Facebook page!

Rock stars baking cookies!

2011-12-22T12:59:00.000-05:00

Cookies are metal.

Holiday fun!

2011-12-18T14:48:00.003-05:00

More gingerbread cookies for Christmas giveaways to friends and family! They were ALOT of work, but worth it in the end.
Here's to another year of baking fun! Next year is already shaping up to be pretty interesting!

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate - make it awesome!

Cinnamon and Spice...

2011-12-11T15:13:00.001-05:00

For a Christmas party. Baileys caramel filled cinnamon spice cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache, and drizzled with more caramel.

These were fun to make. The cupcakes aren't too sweet, so the caramel makes a nice contrast. Aaaaand foil wrappers rule. XD

I would take a picture of the filling for you, but I made exactly 12 of these, and I didn't have the heart to sacrifice one just to prove there is filling inside, so for now you're just gonna hafta trust me ;)

If you would like to see more photos, please check out the flickr dump!

Gingerbread cookies

2011-11-27T21:11:00.001-05:00

This is my very first batch of gingerbread cookies! They were a lot of work, but so much fun to make!

When life gives you lemons...

2011-11-27T21:07:00.001-05:00

...make lemon tarts!

Macarons 2

2011-11-13T09:48:00.001-05:00

I've been making a study of macarons for some time now. I found a pretty nice book; Macarons by Annie Rigg, which has a lot of helpful information, plus some great troubleshooting tips.

These are vanilla bean macarons with chocolate ganache. My favourite part was taking the photos, macarons are so photogenic. :D

Sugar Decoration Class @ Le Cordon Bleu

2011-11-06T09:20:00.000-05:00

I took a sugar decoration class on Saturday! It was a crazy, fun, awesome experience! It was my first time being in a commercial kitchen, which was a bit overwhelming, but once we got into it, it was pretty cool.

First we started with a demonstration. Here's our teacher, Chef Cyril, doing stuff.

Chef Cyril's sculpture.

Then we had the practical part of the course. Commercial kitchen - whoa! So much Chaos!

Here's part of my workstation. There was also a stove behind me. You can see some of the pre-made sugar (the red and white circles) under the heating lamp at the top. We also made our own sugar for the molds. It was also my first time using Silpat (believe it or not), man I need to buy me some of that!

Everyone hard at work. Most of what we did involved molding the sugar under a hot lamp. And it wasn't just warm, it was HOT! At the end I felt like my fingers were burnt. we also worked with gas torches and hot glue guns. Sugar sculpting is dangerous work!

Here's me with my finished sculpture!

Here's a nice pic of all my gear! Can you believe I took this thing home on the bus and actually made it! That was an adventure in itself...