My Time at the Good Food and Wine Show

The following thoughts passed through my head last Thursday as I was setting up my tiny stand at the Good Food and Wine Expo:

- Oh my god, have I done the right thing?

- I'm not ready!

- What if no one stops to look at my cakes?

- What if no one likes my cupcakes?

- Have I forgotten to fill out a form?

- Will my cakes be safe at the stand over night?

Turns out, I was just being a big worry wort! The expo was a great experience and I'm so grateful my friends and cousins were on hand to help me out. 

 

The cakes did get some good attention and you won't believe the number of times someone asked me if my topsy turvy cake was meant to be 'wonky'. Or they'd approach me with a real look of concern on their face and say 'um, do you know your cake is leaning?' 

But the best would have to be the girl who walked past with her boyfriend and had a look of shock and what I can only describe as disgust and said 'urgh, that cake is wonky' before rolling her eyes and walking off. Or maybe the drunk English girl who wouldn't stop talking (or trying to get close) to my friend and musing about how one should get a discount for the cake because it wasn't straight - poor guy.

My cakes did manage to stay safe over night at the expo but on the last day as we were packing up, someone stole my foldable table! :( It was nothing special but I did just buy it a couple of days ago!

It was also so exciting that lots of people were interested in my workshops... it was more popular than I anticipated! So please hang in there all of you because I now have to re-juggle the workshop schedules and potentially look at a venue that will hold more people. It will be ready soon I promise!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hi and to let me know they read the blog :) Makes me feel a little special because I don't get to meet many people who read or comment on my blog very often! A super thank you also goes out to Phuoc for donating some of her time to help me decorate the cupcakes and to Simon for the awesome award! I'm touched :)

So after the craziness of last week... I'm now preparing for my trip home to Singapore and my cousin's wedding. As I type, I can hear styrofoam being packed and heavy boxes of icing getting shifted. I also have to start organising + packing all my cake tools once I finish my orders this week. 

The wedding figurines. Now fingers crossed they survive the plane trip home!

See you all in Singapore :)

Sydney Good Food and Wine Show Week

This weekend I'll be exhibiting at the Sydney Good Food and Wine Show! Although I am very excited, I am well aware that it's the week of the show and I'm still running around like a mad person trying to finalise everything before the show opens on Friday.

There will be cupcakes for sale in their own cute little carry box and of course my creations will be on display too.  Cupcakes are $10 per carry box and there will only be a limited number on sale each day, so make sure to visit early!

There will also be a handful of new creations on show. In fact I'm working on them this afternoon, so don't miss it ;) Details below...

The Good Food and Wine Show is on at Darling Harbour from the 16th - 18th of July - this weekend - and it's a fantastic show for those passionate about food and eating :) There are lots of samples from different vendors and I will be there with cake for all to try too!

So make sure you try and visit me this weekend! I would love to meet all of you - I'll be at stand H14.

More than 'just cake'

My heart always breaks a little when someone says 'it's just cake' when referring to what I do.

I know what is under the sugar works of art is deliciously moist cake, but it is what's on top that I am the most passionate about.

This week I made a cake for the cutest little boy. He loves playing Mario Kart and his mum wanted to surprise him with a cake of his favourite character and kart for his birthday. 

The bullet bike is balancing on the two wheels by the way! This was a structurally challenging cake but I'm so happy to have had the honour of making it. Why? Because when I delivered it, the little boy came down stairs with his mum and I wish I had a picture of his face as I took the cake out from my car. He had an initial look of shock which then quickly turned into pure joy when he realised that I was holding his cake. 

'Is THAT my cake?! Oh wooooow! I was just playing that game this morning mum!'

I don't think I have EVER felt so rewarded when delivering a cake. It was just so touching to see his excitement and eagerness as he stared at the cake. And the look on the mum's face as she saw her son really made my heart melt - it really confirmed that I did not deliver 'just cake' ;)

Last week I also attended Planet Cake's master class and it was truly an intensive 4 days. I was mentally and physically exhausted each day when I got home but it was the most fun I've had. I made lots of awesome new friends and got to learn and experience from some of the most talented people in the world.

Almost 30 hours of work went into creating this cake. Yes that's right... 30 hours - over 4 days. The sugar flowers are the most time consuming - every single petal and leaf you will see on the cake was created individually by hand, assembled and painted and dusted with colour. 

All the orchid petals hanging out to dry.

 The roses getting their drying time before the next round of petals are added on.

The cake assembly itself takes a long time.

All the flowers then need to be carefully attached to the cake.

 Don't forget the little details!

And TA-DA....

The finished cake!

The cake was nearly half my size! A big thank you to AM and Linda for all their wonderful help. I learned heaps over the 4 days :) and a super thank you to my new friend Winnie who was generous enough to help me with some of my sugar flowers (even though she had tonne to do!), I don't think I would have been able to finish on time if it wasn't for her!