Sunday, October 30, 2011

In the Jungle...

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have one of those days that really make it all worth while. While this joint collaboration from Ritzi and Naoko was certainly my pick of the week, there is never any guarantee the client is going to feel the same way, and believe me; I have had some very awkward moments. To my great relief yesterday morning, the tears that sprung to this client’s eye upon seeing her cake were those of joy, and not disappointment! It's easy for us to forget sometimes just how much a cake can mean to a person, and I like to think this one will live on through cherished photos in the family album. Most importantly, I hope it ends up the way all good first birthday and christening cakes should - completely smeared all over the face of this special little person!




Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Just 6 Sleeps To Go!!!!

After months of cake craziness, bright lights and cameras, late nights and moments that left us wondering what on earth we had gotten ourselves into (!) the fruits of our efforts is just around the corner. With only a week to go until we invade your lounge room for thirty minutes every Wednesday night, we are pretty damn excited, and fingers crossed you guys are too.


While we had to keep mum about the eight enormous cake projects for the show’s media launch a couple of weeks back, I am thrilled to be able to share the photos with you now. These "couch potato" themed cakes were on display to hundreds of TV and media officials at the fabulous event held at iconic Sydney MCA, in the Rocks. As always, it was completely down to the wire getting these finished in time, and while it was a great touch to have the girls add finishing touches to the giant Foxtel remote at the event, it was also an entirely necessary touch! Each one of them was a serious feat of engineering, but the TV definitely took the cake (sorry) when it came to sheer size and wow factor. It took eight of us and more than a couple of less than glamorous words, to pick this baby up and transfer it to trusty Maz’s truck for delivery.









Paris and Lifestyle Channel General Manager, Nicole Sheffield get a piece of the action





Cat and Ant prove there is only one new black... and it's black






From left to right: Paris, Anna Maria, Shell, Naoko, Ritzi, Emma and Antony

For extra show bibs and bobs including articles, bio's, recipes, tips and programed show reminders, don't forget to "like" the Lifestyle Food Channel on their website: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/shows/planet-cake/

It's funny how relative things get in here, that a pink pearlised, three-tier wedding cake, 1.5m long iPhone and realistic 'Masters Voice' can become just part of a days work is pretty ridiculous, but testament, I think, to how talented these guys are.









CC adds the finishing touches to the new 3D Car Workshop cake design



Anna Maria puts the iPhone cake to scale





Although slightly less glam than the world of cakes, television and media functions, we are VERY excited, at last to have our new website up and running. There have been a few hiccups since its launch two weeks ago and we are still making some final tweaks here and there, but we hope you love our new 'baby' as much as we do. Our school page has been fixed of all its bugs, and all workshops can now be booked online: http://www.planetcake.com.au/PLC/client/Courses/c_courseList.jsp

Last weekends Cookies and Cake Pops with Libby



Bride and Groom Figurines with Anna Maria



Speaking of the website, Antony has been busy designing new cakes for our online store, we'd love to hear your thoughts?





Saturday, October 8, 2011

Ah, the humble cupcake - the power these teeny weeny parcels of cakey goodness pack never ceases to amaze me. A couple of years ago we introduced our three day Cupcake Boot Camp workshop, which has since gone on to become one of our most popular courses on the market. Kudos to Luigi and Debbi-Lee who both took the class for the first time this week. Judging by the volume of the laughter erupting from the classroom all week, it looks like our students think they did a pretty ace job too!





Meanwhile in the kitchen, it was definitely a case of big is better this week, and with ten larger than large than life prop cakes made for a special event,  in our kitchen there was barely room to swing a cat...

Unfortunately there's nothing in this photo to show the scale of this thing, but think Harry Potter's Hagrid on a cold night - and check out this size of this gorgeous castle cake (which went to a real life castle this morning) next to Ant.




Saturday, October 1, 2011

For the Young At Heart

Ah, the Labour Day long weekend. While for some it heralds sleep-ins, boozy afternoons and LOTS of football, for many of us, it means something entirely different: The School Holidays.

Personally, I love the school holidays, for one thing it means loads of great kids movies - I'm not ashamed to admit it - and there is just something great about the energy that kids bring to a city, although I'm sure many public transport commuters may not agree! Regardless, I thought we would celebrate all things kids and take a look at some of the best of our children's party cakes from the last few weeks, which are often overshadowed by the more impressive, grand-scale wedding cakes.

When designing cakes for little ones, our resident designer Antony's advice is to keep things simple and clean, cute but never cutesy, and always with just a hint of quirky.