Tanya and Wayne's Wedding Cake

I worked with Tanya and Wayne in Doha, Qatar, Middle East in 2006. And honestly if it wasn't for these 2 (and all the other awesome team out there) we would not have all survived it together. We worked with some characters that still make me laugh out loud when I think of them.


Would still love one of us to write memoirs of that particular time of all our lives and what we all went through and the people that we met. Way too many hours of stories.


Wayne and Tanya were in my Operations Team so there were many laughs ahead of us before the seriousness of what we were all actually doing over that side of the world hit us big time.


One night in particular about 4 weeks into the 8 months, a few of us were at that big shopping centre (The Big Trolley) and it started bucketing down with rain (yes in the desert in June in 45 degrees (feels like your head is in an oven).


Very rarely do I spit the dummy but I had it - we couldnt find a taxi, was water everywhere (they don't have drainage in Doha), the locals drive all like learners at over 120kms per hour so you are constantly on edge that this is the last time you will ever be in a car and after Jules, Blebs and I witnessing a local step out in front of a car and not ending up a happy tale, I was already full of confidence.


Anyway, Wayne and Tanya took me to Johnny Rockets Diner on the way back and my love affair with this place began. Never have I experienced such lovely hamburgers and thick shakes (yes its the little things) ....This became a regular outing on our rare days off.


So bring it back to real time now 6 years later and when I found out that Wayne and Tanya were getting married, I put my hand up right away to make their cake.


When I walked into their venue, there was such a lovely feeling about the room.  Alot of love!!! I know I well up quite easily these days (especially when the baby penguins get eaten by some big animal on the David Attenborough Frozen Planet doco) but this was different .... happy tears for them both and the life that they will continue to share and build together!!!


Gorgeous cake - classic and style and the photo doesn't do the deep violet colour justice at all!!! I very much wish Tanya and Wayne such a lovely life side by side with eachother and love it that 2006 will be with us ALWAYS!!!. Even Boofhead should get a mention too ....wouldn't be right otherwise ....


xxxxxxx

The Little People

I had been waiting over one and half years to do this course and was very very excited that the weekend in February finally arrived.

I already knew how to make little people in icing but now I was to learn how to make them with FOAM and icing. Bring it on!!!

We had 12 people in our course and we literally were from all around Australia. Margie Carter was our teacher who is literally one of Australia's top cake decorators and fabulous!!! Was absolutely inspired. Margie was even kind enough to answer all my nonsense questions.

Step one ... to use one of these saw things (once again I was imagining my trip to Bunnings to play charades with trying to describe what I was looking for)

Step 2 - arts and craft. My favourite time of the day ... getting the outline to prep for sawing the foam.

Looks quite easy.... but stand by callers ....

What you can't see in the pics is those little pieces of bloody foam going everywhere!! And I mean everywhere ....

Yep you guessed it .... another tool I was going to have learn the name of .... wonder if they do a Bunnings course for girls just to name tools ....

Looking alright - wish I made mine to look they they had eaten a few more burgers but you learn as you go ...

Another excuse to go to Spotlight ... like I really need another one ....

Mr Groom getting dressed .... had to do patterns on his tie to make him stand out a little ....

Miss Bridie getting frocked up for her big day .... no wonder they are smiling!!!

Right we are dressed, smiling, got arms (finally), hair is done, just need some eyes maybe??? The eyes were one of the hardest parts to do as you have such a steady hand .... good thing I have been painting my nails all my life ....

Ahh look the happy couple .... check out the sparkles too .... had to restrain myself from going over the top .... as I learnt "Less is More'' ...

These were everyone elses in the class and they all looked AWESOME!!! Even though we all started out with the same 2 cut outs at the start of the course .... it was amazing how everyones unique styles came out with their little people.

Welcome to the world Whitney (named after our dear Whitney Houston who passed away in the middle of my course) and Brad. (Just for you Suse...)

The Kate Moss Look A Like Cake

An email arrived from Tammy and Matt. An Aussie couple who live over in San Francisco but who were getting married on Sat 28 April down at the Bathers Pavilion in Balmoral. Turns out that as this world is way too small ... I knew Matt the groom through Shelley.


Anyway .... Tammy the Bride requested the cake to look like Kate Moss's wedding cake from her marriage last year ... I thought why not .... no worries ... this was going to be my biggest challenges yet (the cake was also baked and designed by one of my favourite decorators Peggy Porchen over in the UK)!!!

Have a look ... looks easy right .... but each of those little flowers are all piped on and check out the size of the tiers. That is alot of rolling out of fondant with my lucky rolling pin.


Cue the family help ... awesome coincedence that Al (thanks Al) (in our family who is the best sign artist ever and helps me with my arty cakes) was going to be down from Proserpine for the week staying with Mum .... baggsed him in for Thursday and Friday night, Mum cooked lasagna and steak and everyone's a winner.

The sheer size of this cake meant that I was not confident for all 6 tiers to be cake as its too heavy. So I did the top tier as a fruit cake, 2nd tier as choccie mud, 3rd tier as FOAM (love it), 4th and 5th tier as choccie mud and the 6th tier which was a whopping 16 inch as a FOAM cake .... you try rolling out enough fondant for that ....

Back to basics for you all ... getting the fondant ready in position to be rolled out ....its actually quite relaxing at the same time .... 

There's Al just doing the old DC to make sure I rolled out enough fondant .... that time I actually did

Al starting to stamp out over 200 flowers and me somewhere in background multitasking with cupcakes at the same time

Slowly starting to take shape .... forgot to take more pics after this point as it was past midnight, my back and legs were aching from standing and we still had 4 more layers to prep even though I am one of the most patient people in this world ... even I was slowly starting to say a few choice words ....

The Lovely Cake

This cake has actually been one of my favourite and memorable cakes to create. We were going through a particularly busy time in the World of Television and a few things were going on in my life to just make me 'take a moment'.


The bride phoned me 3 weeks before their wedding day as her cake decorator had to cancel due to sickness....


The Bride and Groom are English and were getting married on a ferry on the harbour and the first thing the Bride asked me was if I had heard of Edward Monkton who is an artist in the UK.


My answer was a most definite YES!! Between 2 of my besties Sareybear and Els, I have many of his cards and phrases hanging up in my home.


The couple were having an Edward Monkton themed wedding and were looking for a wedding cake with the 2 x dinosaur figurines on top ... The cake was titled after 'A Lovely Love Story'.

As time was getting close I needed help with this cake. The baking angle wasn't a worry as it was only a choccie mud and white choccie mud but I needed help with the actual dinosaurs and the text that I wanted to write on my cake ...

Bring on Cousin Kylie who is my Director of Figurines. Ky is the creative one out of us and she gets me started on the shapes of the figurines. We kept swapping the dinosaurs back and forth to give them the same look and I think we got them looking quite authentic. They both looked like they had a big mac meal before the wedding, nice and plump. PS: the wooden table Ky and I are working on has been in the family for years and years (literally) and can tell many stories .... 

Now it was time to actually prep the cakes ....

Okay the cakes are ready ... time to take a car trip over Northbridge to the Morcos Home for Michele to work her artistic magic and it was a good chance to have a natter at the same time  and to 'borrow' some lavender that I usually take ...Thanks Jan!! Check out the pic of Michele's work space ..... very envious of all the fun art stuff.

''And that my friends, is how it is with love'' ..... such a simple few words that mean a lot!!!

Was very happy there was no one to help me drop this cake off as I had to get on and off a ferry docked at a wharf (in a skirt with style) which was wobbling quite a bit ... when the cake was settled (but my nerves were not)  I was just looking at the sky begging for the cake not to roll off the table ...

The Bride and Groom must have really liked the cake too as they texted me at 11.43pm that night to say thank you ....

2012 Sydney Royal Easter Show Cake

Each year I like to have a little list of 'activities to complete' and on the top of that list for a few years has been to enter a cake into the Sydney Royal Easter Show.


Step 1 is to get an idea of what sort of cake I would like to create. Several ideas and several changes of mind later, it came down to The Boy From The Hood calling me 'a bit precious' (not in a good way) in December 2010 (when he didn't really know me and I was actually a bit speechless) so I thought of doing The Princess and the Pea as my theme.


Step 2 is to work out how long its going to take from beginning to end. I thought lets not get little events like Xmas, 2 x wedding cakes, The Tour Down Under in Adelaide, The Tracks Worlds in Melbourne and having a life get in the way....its all do able ....


My besties know one of my theories in life ... if there's no time ... just make time and when I get an idea, I don't usually give up ....


Went and spent a small fortune (even after the 30% off discount sale, gotta love that) at Spotlight and Lincraft to purchase materials, sparkles and bedazzles. After growing up with my Mum and Auntie at the Shop, there was never really any doubt that craft stores are in our blood. 


Anyway I knew I could never compete with the regulars who have been entering every year since the 1960's but I had to give it a go ... maybe next year I will get a blue or red ribbon ... the ideas are already there ...


Must also make a special mention to the Tradies that helped me in Bunnings when I really had idea what I was trying to purchase. They would be very good at playing charades or pictionary with me as they knew what I was trying to describe .... was just timber, that's all.

1. Cousin Dave and Olive with the saw thingy cutting out the bed boards for the cake. Look at the concentration on Olive's face .... 

2. Mum and I sharing her kitchen, she's painting ... the 3 x round heads are the figurines drying in the sun.

3. Sorting through which material I wanted to use for the mattresses.

4. The mattresses drying outside - changing the order of them oohh about 15 times. Was really happy with the colours of the materials .... they looked great.

5. Prince William, Princess Mary and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth slowly getting dressed. I modelled the Prince after Prince William and his wedding outfit for last year. (how could you not ...) 

6. Woohoo!!! Got the mattresses in order ....the fluffliness of the pillows were ideal too ...

7. Slowly getting there with the Royals ... my original thoughts for what they would wear changed alot but was happy in the end

8. Nearly have lift off ... everyone is in position

9. Right we have the Royals, the mattresses, the peas, a rug on the floor and a cat on the bed (behind the princess)

After a very wobbily car trip which went from Brookvale to Mosman (all the figurines fell over) to Arndell Park to being behind a bingle on the M4,  a few choice swear words and having 15 mins to get to Homebush, I finally made it to registration. 

The best part was being behind the scenes at the Royal Easter Show and having a sneaky peak at everyones work. You were not allowed to be left alone with the cakes .... not quite sure why, maybe if its you were going to wreck someone elses work .... crikey knows .... but it was all quite official and they don't really have a sense of humour .... I learnt that day not to question the art of quilting ....people dont find it funny ...

10. In the car just after Prince William took a stack, had to prop him back up ... super glue works wonders and handy hint, when your fingers start sticking together, PULL THEM APART QUICKLY!!! DON'T WAIT!!! SUPER GLUE WAITS FOR NO-ONE!!

10. And there we go ... in position and ready to be judged.