A Day with Susan Carberry

This past Sunday along with a couple members of the Sweet Arts of Orange County Cake Club, we spent a special afternoon with Susan Carberry at her store in Murrieta called, The Cake Cottage.

Usually closed on a Sunday, she opened up her doors just for us and gave us 2 demos plus some of her delicious, jumbo-sized and delicious cupcakes to savor...Ya-um!

If you ever get a chance to make it down to Southern California, be sure to stop by her store.  It's small but every corner is packed with a bit of everything a cake decorator would love to get their hands on plus more!

The first demo was on how to make a Pansy and an assortment of filler flowers and leaves.

And the second demo was on how to make an assortment of Petit Fours (cutting, dipping and decorating)

It was a fun afternoon spent learning something new, buying a couple new cake decorating goodies I've been wanting to get my hands on, and of course, having a photo op with Susan!

Susan Carberry and me =)

Some little facts about Susan:

- She made the Show Cake for the 2010 ICES Convention in San Diego

- 2 time contestant of TLC's "Ultimate Cake Off" coming in 2nd place on one and winning one.

- Winner of the Food Networks "Top Five" for her 3D Cookies

She travels internationally teaching classes so check out her website for details:  www.thecakecottage.net

Chili Pepper Class

Gumpaste Chili Pepper Plant

This month, at the Sweet Arts of Orange County Cake Club, we had a hands on class on how to make a Chili Pepper Plant in celebration of Cinco De Mayo.  The class was taught by John Jennison who is an amazing sugar artist in making realistic and botanically correct flowers.  I was really excited about this since it was also my very first class!

As eager as I was, before we could get started, John showed us how to knead the gumpaste into the right consistency and how to roll out and shape a chili pepper...

John Jennison showing us how to roll and shape a Chili Pepper

Ta-da! The chili pepper

My 2 chili peppers  and 3 little leaves waiting for their next step

Calyx added to the base of each pepper

John showing us how to lightly brush the leaves and peppers with petal dust

After each piece was dusted we assembled them together using floral tape.

And finished them off with a light spray of edible lacquer

The edible lacquer we used is by Albert Uster Imports and called, Lacquer Spray.  It only took a very light spritz of the spray, dried instantly and left a nice glossy finish on the chili peppers - amazing stuff!  

What a fun class and hopefully, if time permits, I'll get an opportunity to take more of John's classes and finally learn how to make some real looking flowers.  At least for now, I have some chili peppers.

Kai-Lan Figurine Workshop

This morning I held my first workshop on creating a Kai-Lan figurine using modeling chocolate and rice krispy treats (RKT).  What fun creating sugar art together with others and teaching them my technique.

The lesson plan:
1) How to make modeling chocolate
2) How to prepare and make RKT
3) How to make a Kai-Lan figurine

Adding the little details

 A modeling chocolate figurine on the left, the toy model on the right - perfect!

SugarSweet Students (the 2nd, tiny, figurine from the left is a toy used as a model)

They all did a marvelous job and 3 hours later, I had 3 happy girls each with a Kai-Lan figurine to take home and use as a cake topper...or to just eat up.

Thank you girls!

Workshop: How to Make a Kai-Lan Cake Topper

I'll be teaching my 1st class/workshop on how to make a Kai-Lan cake topper out of modeling chocolate.

When: 9:00-11:00 am on Sat, March 19th, 2011

Where: Aliso Viejo, CA (exact address will be provided with RSVP)

Cost: $45 includes all supplies - all you need to bring is a box to bring her home in.

How to sign up:

1) through Facebook, it's posted as an event under www.facebook.com/sugarsweetcakesandtreats

(http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188344201198610)

2) by emailing me at: sugarsweetcakesandtreats@gmail.com

Space is limited - RSVP due Thursday, March 11th.