Dave was made for the Spatula Sisterhood, click on Dave and pop over to the Spatula Sisters to find a tutorial on how to make Dave :)
Happy Baking
Rhu x
Friday, 26 April 2013
Monday, 15 April 2013
A few of my favourites from Cake International ~ London 2013
Amanda Macleod - 1st in Category - Decorative class
Zee Chik Cakes
Nick Smith - www.thepukkacakeparlour.co.uk
Friday, 12 April 2013
Marissa ~ daughter of the sea
Stop Press
Marissa ~ wins a GOLD at Cake International London 2013
Meet Marissa, my entry for Cake International in London April 2013.
She sits about 12" high and is on a 15" board, made completely from sugarpaste without the use of any moulds, all sculpted, crafted and painstakingly created by hand.
Moving on from creating Cherry I knew there were some area's I wanted to improve on, particularly the hands and I wanted to work on a torso, but without the pressure of creating the legs at this point. So a mermaid was the ideal choice, after much research I found an image of a mermaid enticing the sailors from the sea with her conch shell and that was my starting point of inspiration.
The board is decorated, again with sugarpaste, with rock pools and nooks and crannies hiding hidden gems. With her raggedy tail, toned torso and shimmering tail, I am have loved every minute of making Marissa, who in total has taken me about 60 hours to complete.
I hope by the time you read this she is safely installed at Excel in London, without any damage and in her element to entice her audience in ...... enjoy .....
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Dressmakers Dummy Tutorial
As seen in the Summer 2013 edition of Cake Decoration Heaven magazine ~ a tutorial to show you how to to recreate this funky vintage tailors dummy. Use the following link ...
http://www.pimpmycake.co.uk/tailors-dummy
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Chicky Chick Tutorial
Click on the image to visit the Spatula Sisterhood Blog where I have posted the tutorial for this cute little Easter chick .... share your pics on our Facebook page if you make her.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Cherry
Having never been to any of the cake international, or any other show cake related I decided that 2013 would be the year to put that to right. And if I was going to be attending those shows then I should take the deep breath, be brave and enter one of the categories. Manchester Cake International being the first one in March I submitted my entry form for the decorative class and put my thinking hat on.
It's funny when you aren't looking for idea's they come to you thick and fast, but when you want something you can never find it. Then I saw an image on Yarn bomb Consortium on Facebook that hooked me, Harajuku girls from Japan, colorful, eclectic, imaginative and lots of fun, research under way..... I was mesmerized by their style, wild hair in stunning rainbow of colours, they would be my subject.
Spending the weekend before the show, teaching at The Enchanted Cake School, Heather the owner kindly offered me a chance to stay up there to create my competition piece. So Monday morning I began.
The decorative class means that cake does not have to be involved the piece and can include internal support and structure, but not external. I wanted to challenge myself by making a standing figure, I knew that would need to be substantial to support the rest of the body so by using steel supports bolted into the base I had enough rigidity to build the rest of the body onto. Not having to use cake allowed me to use a polystyrene dummy for the skirt to be dressed onto.
Starting at the bottom with the legs and shoes I worked my way up methodically, building the body and head then back to the skirt to make ruffles for the underskirt, then the top skirt and pleats. Once these were in place I could work on the torso, layering up, a blouse and handpainting the cherries onto this, the bodice of the dress, the main body of the cardigan and lastly the collar of the blouse. Positioning the arms building those up and dressing those could then be completed. Lastly working on the face and hair to add the finishing touches.
I have been overwhelmed at the response I have had from Cherry, my facebook page hasn’t stopped having comments and new likes. I have posts and messages on my page from so many lovely people and some that I had the pleasure to meet at the show.
The world of cake decorating can sometimes be a hard place to work in, but this weekend I have found nothing but pleasure in everyone I met.
I was very protective at the show and stunned to find the pulled sugar exhibit next to her had been knocked over at one point. How she escaped any damage I'll never know, but so thankful that she did.
Oh and how did I do ... I was awarded Gold, very proud.
Thank you to Heather at The Enchanted Cake School for putting me up and allowing me to take over the school to make Cherry, to Marie of Marie’s Bakehouse in Manchester for taking custody of Cherry until my good friends Andy and Kathy collect her ready for her journey home at Easter.
So …. next ? Well there is a show in London in April !!!! …. watch this space …..
Happy Baking
Rhu x
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Top 5 tips to creating a successful caking business
There are a few things I have found that help to contribute towards running a successful and popular business these are just some which I hope will help you on your way to a happy and fruitful future in the caking world.
1. Always engage with your customers and potential customers
2. Create an engaging website
3. Create your own signature style or range
4. Give more than the customer expects
5. Create a good working ethic with other bakers
Always engage with your customers and potential customers
Answer voicemails, emails, texts any other way someone may have contacted you. Ignoring a customer, or potential customer is going to give you negative recommendations. Always be friendly and professional in your replies and correspondence. This will often be your first point of contact with many potential customers and either being slow in responding to them will send them in the direction of another baker, if you are snowed under and struggling with your correspondence, at least send them a short rely to acknowledge that you have received their request and give a time-scale in which you will reply, but ensure that you do keep to this.
Create an engaging website
Building a successful website will not happen overnight, it will take time to grow and evolve. Use plenty of good quality images to ensure your site is visually pleasing , but do not be tempted to use other cake makers pictures as examples of cakes you could make. This is a real no-no in the cake decorating world (in fact in any field) and you will soon find yourself being targeted with lawyers letters - even digital imagery on the internet is copyrighted and the intellectual property of the owner. In fact it is blatantly obvious to anyone looking at your site that you are not the creator of the 'borrowed' cakes. Make it easy to navigate, the fewer clicks needed to get to the information needed the better. - Watch out for a blog on this in the near future.
Create your own signature style or range
Creating you own signature style or even a range of cakes will catch the attention of, not only customers, but also other cake makers. With the increasing interest in baking and decorating cakes you need to stand out from your competition, maybe your website will reflect your style too, taken a tour around Google, Flickr, pinterest and other media and note what it is that always catches your eye, what makes it stand out, do you have a favourite genre, are you drawn more towards novelty cakes or pretty floral cakes, do you like Retro and vintage, or more of a country style. All these things can influence you in your design for a cake. Make a few sketches of some designs in styles that influence you and if you have a customer who is stuck for ideas try one of these out them .... again watch out for another future blog on this subject.
Give more than the customer expects
What could be better than a customer coming to collect their cake, than for their jaw to drop at the value they have had for their money, again customer satisfaction, this will bring them back and have them recommending you to everyone else. So think about what you can do to get this reaction from them, what can you do to the cake visually to make it stand out, make use of the board and if possible include a few decorations on there. Putting a Teddy on the top or a similar decoration consider the size of the cake and the proportions, a little 2" Teddy sitting on top of the vastness of a 12" cake is not going to give the customer the WOW factor they were hoping for .... again it looks like another blog in the making :-)
Create a good working ethic with other bakers
Creating a network of contacts with other local and possibly other national bakers is not always a bad thing. What happens when you are unwell and have an order to get out, don't always think of them as competition but as a friend.
Happy Baking and sugarpasting
see you soon
Rhu
1. Always engage with your customers and potential customers
2. Create an engaging website
3. Create your own signature style or range
4. Give more than the customer expects
5. Create a good working ethic with other bakers
Always engage with your customers and potential customers
Answer voicemails, emails, texts any other way someone may have contacted you. Ignoring a customer, or potential customer is going to give you negative recommendations. Always be friendly and professional in your replies and correspondence. This will often be your first point of contact with many potential customers and either being slow in responding to them will send them in the direction of another baker, if you are snowed under and struggling with your correspondence, at least send them a short rely to acknowledge that you have received their request and give a time-scale in which you will reply, but ensure that you do keep to this.
Create an engaging website
Building a successful website will not happen overnight, it will take time to grow and evolve. Use plenty of good quality images to ensure your site is visually pleasing , but do not be tempted to use other cake makers pictures as examples of cakes you could make. This is a real no-no in the cake decorating world (in fact in any field) and you will soon find yourself being targeted with lawyers letters - even digital imagery on the internet is copyrighted and the intellectual property of the owner. In fact it is blatantly obvious to anyone looking at your site that you are not the creator of the 'borrowed' cakes. Make it easy to navigate, the fewer clicks needed to get to the information needed the better. - Watch out for a blog on this in the near future.
Create your own signature style or range
Creating you own signature style or even a range of cakes will catch the attention of, not only customers, but also other cake makers. With the increasing interest in baking and decorating cakes you need to stand out from your competition, maybe your website will reflect your style too, taken a tour around Google, Flickr, pinterest and other media and note what it is that always catches your eye, what makes it stand out, do you have a favourite genre, are you drawn more towards novelty cakes or pretty floral cakes, do you like Retro and vintage, or more of a country style. All these things can influence you in your design for a cake. Make a few sketches of some designs in styles that influence you and if you have a customer who is stuck for ideas try one of these out them .... again watch out for another future blog on this subject.
Give more than the customer expects
What could be better than a customer coming to collect their cake, than for their jaw to drop at the value they have had for their money, again customer satisfaction, this will bring them back and have them recommending you to everyone else. So think about what you can do to get this reaction from them, what can you do to the cake visually to make it stand out, make use of the board and if possible include a few decorations on there. Putting a Teddy on the top or a similar decoration consider the size of the cake and the proportions, a little 2" Teddy sitting on top of the vastness of a 12" cake is not going to give the customer the WOW factor they were hoping for .... again it looks like another blog in the making :-)
Create a good working ethic with other bakers
Creating a network of contacts with other local and possibly other national bakers is not always a bad thing. What happens when you are unwell and have an order to get out, don't always think of them as competition but as a friend.
Happy Baking and sugarpasting
see you soon
Rhu
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