Montréal's First Ever Baking Show!

After my friend told me that Montréal was hosting their very first Baking Show, I made sure to be able to go. After enjoying Toronto's Show so much, getting good advice see different things and get great ideas. Montréal's show, though on a smaller scale, offered much of the same opportunities. There were vendors selling their wares, demonstrators showing off their techniques, and a few bakeries showing some of their own cakes. I took some time to talk to Hilary the owner of Délices Delary Delights Bakery in St. Laurent and she was very encouraging and supportive! Thanks to her I'll be testing out some cacao butter to mix into my chocolate for decorating.

On top of all the practical reasons I went to the show I also got to see lots of beautifully decorated cakes in their cake competition. I always love looking at professional looking cakes and thinking... I could do that!

 This lovely cake was made by an under 8 year-old!!

 A shoe made out of sugar!

 The Queen Bee.

 I LOVE Cameo, so I picked this one for the "over-all show winner" cake, the people's choice.

 This cake was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.

 Of course, a Wellie made of cake!

 This made me think of little pumpkins.

 "The four seasons"

 I loved the "dirt" and the plants that were planted in this "dirt"!

 The lace drew me to this one. The decorator had put a piece of the lace that inspired the decoration.

 Time for tea!!

 An homage to Montréal including the metro system, part of the sky  line and of course traffic cones!!

 I loved the delicacy of this cake. I'm not into "heavy" looking cakes so I could really appreciate the lightness of this one.

 I can see a little boy being over the moon with this one, a real moment of childhood.

 The decorator said she was inspired by modern interior design, and that apparently this is where wedding cakes of 2013 are going.

 A lovely detail of one of the other wedding cakes. It made me think of the wedding ring design on quilts.

 This designer had taken aspects of the fabric from the wedding and made them edible.

This was a wedding cake.... a boy can dream!

Oh My Gourd!

The boyfriend and I were invited to a Hallowe'en party this year, so when asked what we were bringing what do you think I immediately thought of?? I didn't want to go down the "ghost and witch" route, and although "monsters" were tempting I went classic.... pumpkins. I kept it simple, no cartoon gourds just the real deal not even a carved face. I made truffle cakes instead of pops so I ended up making my very own pumpkin patch! I wonder if people will need to shift a gear with their pallet when they eat them. It's a sort of trick really because although they're pumpkins which evokes tastes of pumpkin pie, spices, whipping cream, etc., the cake inside is lemon (shockingly).

Happy Hallowe'en!!

Le Marché de Noel

It's coming up to that time of year again!! When school and church halls everywhere start turning themselves into Holiday Markets. Our church is no different. We are having our holiday themed sale in TWO weeks, November 3rd.

Check out the Church's website for details on how to find or contact us. Click HERE! (The "In Touch" tab has details of e sale about half way down the page.)

I will be there selling my cake pops of course, but I'll making extra special ones not just some Christmassy ones. This proceeds of this sale are going towards paying for the construction of an accessible bathroom in our church, which as you who know me well will know is very important to me! I will be making cake pops specifically for that cause on top of the seasonal ones.

Please come out and show your support not only for me but also for a wonderful cause!!

Hope to see you there!

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3RD 2012.

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH 9AM-2PM

Next sale will be at Edgewater School in Pincourt on November 17th. More details to follow!

Lemon Lego

From bright pink cake pops to another extreme today. I made a 7th birthday cake for Oscar, a little boy who was particularly enamoured with Ninja Lego sets... now my only hurtle to over come was how to incorporate that into fondant and icing! After a bit of Googleing, I came up with a plan and it involved fondant, gel colouring, and Google Images of Lego people. On top of the designs, the cake had to be 100% chocolate free (the birthday boy has no love for chocolate). Therefore, tangy lemon cake it is!!

I was pleased with how the Ninjas turned out and I was sure I had the Lego pieces right when after my boyfriend saw them, he wanted to both play with them and eat them!

Hopefully Oscar will be as pleased with the cake as I was!! 

20 Sweets for a Sweet 16

You may remember the Winnie the Pooh cake pops I did in August. Those particular pops were for a little newly two-year-old, but the birthday girl's big sister was at the house when I delivered the cake pops. When she saw all the Winnie the Poohs in their stand, she asked her Mother if she could have cake pops for her Sweet 16 birthday in October. These are the products of this request!

When I asked what sort of colours and styles should be included two words were key: hot pink and silver... okay, technically three words, but two elements nonetheless. From the chocolate to the ribbons, these cake pops were a wonderful combination of funky and girlie yet still being graphic and grown-up.

Hope they were a sweet cherry on top of a wonderful day for the Birthday girl. Sounds like they had an amazing day planned for everyone. right from getting pampered at Spa 2000, to a limo ride down town, and a meal out.

Happy Sweet 16 Nicole!

2 out of 7

At the beginning of the week my Mum asked if I could do a cake for her "Group of 7" meeting for today. They were celebrating two of their members' birthdays as well as listening to the son of one of their members giving a "Life Coach" mini-seminar.

Mum found a great looking yogurt lemon cake recipe from The Barefoot Contessa... it turned out beautifully! Moist and fluffy, yet still dense enough to give it body. The sugary-citrus glaze gave just enough sweetness too.

And I must say these were the most low-fat letters I've ever put on a cake (!)

When Life Gives you Lemons..... Make Cake!

Although nothing is particularly going wrong recently (in case you worried because of the title...) I couldn't really think of another saying involving lemons. Any suggestions, I'm all ears!!

Nonetheless, all this talk of lemons is because I have a lemon cake to make for this weekend, so in my quest to find the best cake recipe I of course had to make a few dry runs... needless to say, after 3 cakes I've found a good one!! (Now I have 3 lemon cakes to eat).

Here's what I did with the latest version: A four-layer cake iced with butter cream. Now to package up a few slices for our neighbours, my boyfriend, his family...etc....

Bring a Bit of Colour into Your Life

I went to meet a friend today, and as I put it, pick her "cake-brain". We met long ago at Play school... she was my teacher! But I also knew her as the lady who decorated those beautiful cakes I would see at our friend's parties, she even taught my Mother how to pipe butter cream! We had a lovely time not only chatting about cakes, but also about our families, our travels and our lives over the past few years. It was all very inspiring, and I've come away with some great ideas!

As a little hostess gift, I brought some of my creations for her to see!!

50 Reasons to Give Thanks

Hello again Faithful Followers!

Since coming back from the Baking and Sweet Show I have been keen to get stuck back into baking and decorating. I have a few orders for mid-October, but before that how could I miss the opportunity to make sweet treats for Thanksgiving?! Last year I was so worried about Christmas that I didn't really get the chance to test out some of the other designs around this time of year, apart from the odd pumpkin. So naturally I was really excited about making these delicious turkeys for the first time.

This rafter of turkeys is not only to offer to our hostess tomorrow for Thanks Giving dinner, they're also to celebrate my 50th post on this blog!!! That's 50 posts you all have loyally read, and responded to and enjoyed.

Happy Thanksgiving all, may your bellies be full and your hearts be satisfied. Have a great long weekend!!