Class Create a Fondant Baby /DOS in New York

This past Saturday I had the most wonderful day taking classes in the city. I belong to the New York City Cake Decorators Meet up group and every year we have an event called "Day Of Sharing" (DOS). We spend the day taking classes, networking and chatting about what we love to do, cakes! I loved just being with such enthusiastic and  nice people who all share the same passion as me. This year a took a class where we learned how to make a baby sleeping. The class was wonderful. The instructor, Ximena,provided hands on - almost one-on-one - assistance with everyone, which was awesome.

This is the baby boy I made.

For the head board we used a template, which you can buy at Ximena's website. I didn't buy any because I decided to make a paper template with it instead of buying it.  They had a lot of vendors and

 I wanted to spend a little money buying other "toys".

We also used a head mold for the baby's head, and yes I did got the one. I figure I will use it more often.

This is us working "hard".

My friend Mariela and our teacher with out final babies. We still needed it to attach the head boards but they were still soft, so that's something I will be doing this week at home.  

Here are some pictures of finished baby items that Ximena had on display. She sells the cutters for all of these. Too many choices...so little money to spend. Well I hope you enjoy the pictures.

 Have a great week everyone!

A class with Ann Heap from Pink Cake Box

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending one of Ann Heap's cake decorating classes. As many of you know, Ann is the owner of Pink Cake Box, TLC Cake Crew Member , a frequent competitor on Food Network's cake Challenges and winner of TLC Ultimate Cake Off. Ann and her assistant Beverly were  amazing teachers, they answered all my questions, most of them unrelated to the cake class we were taking! If any of you at some point have the opportunity to take a class with her, do so, it would be a great experience for you.  The class was on sculpting a hand bag and was organized by the New York City Cake Decorators Meet Up. Here are some pictures of Ann working on her cake and teaching us some techniques.

After Ann covered the cake in fondant, she used a Diamond Impression Mat to Create the pattern on the "purse".

The class lasted 2 1/2 hours and I most of us weren't able to finish our cakes, but before going home I wanted to make sure to air brush my cake. Of course , I couldn't go home without asking Ann for a picture.

And this is my finished purse cake. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

 

And totally unrelated to this post, I wanted to show you what has been happening lately at my house with all my kitchen towels.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Sneak Peak at my class and a little giveaway

Today was my "clear my mind day". I left home early and I went to the city to take one of my gumpaste classes with Chef Ruth Drennan.
My original idea was to go to my class and then walk around Manhattan and take some pictures to share with you, lately I have been having an obsession with apertures, exposure and taking pics of everything I can. ( As you can imagine I have a cool camera and I am having lots of fun with her). Well, to make the story short, after being lost in the middle of Chinatown for almost 45 minutes and of course with all the rain I wasn't able to get a cab! I arrived at my classroom almost having a nervous breakdown

After my wonderful class and my brain not quite yet in place I took these poor sad pictures of people on the street, please keep in mind that I was holding a camera, an umbrella, and two big bags and yes, using only two hands. I just pointed and shoot! by the time I got to NJ it was snowing. I love the snow, but I love her more when I am under my blankets watching TV and drinking hot chocolate.

The Beautiful Cattleya Orchid


Hopefully one day, I will be able to make one as good as the real ones.

Ruth is very nice and she let us take a lot of pictures, unfortunately I can't share them all but here are just a few:

GIVEAWAY

I got this really cute Martha Stewart treat boxes for one of you, just a little something to kick the holidays off. I really need your help, I need ideas. ..I have to get a Christmas gift to Cami's teachers and I don't know what to get. They are 5 and I don't have a big budget.

ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN

Just leave a comment on this post and let me know:

-What do you think I should get them?

-Please, leave your comment with a way for me to contact you if you win.

-Deadline to enter is Friday, December 11,2009 at noon.

-The winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday night.

-I almost forgot, Santa is not included with the boxes, he is just hanging out !

In another note..today is my one year anniversary of my blog!! Thank you so much for following me, for your sweet comments and just for be there. Laura, you brought me luck!

Kathia

Yes, you can make fun of me!!

I thought you might wanted to have a good laugh at my expense, so I just want to share some pics with you. This is me, here all I am thinking is ...how am I going to take this cake with me?

And yes, this is the cake that I took to Pennstation, NY and have it on my lap for 45 minutes, maybe more, no wonder my legs were numb! Cake is far from over, it is sitting in my refrigerator!

Brush Embroidery Class with Chef Toba Garrett

I can't begin to tell you how happy I was taking this class. Brush embroidery resembles the fine embroidery seen on table linen and napkins. brush embroidery piping adds elegance and style to any cake with a rolled iced fondant surface.For those who do not know Chef Toba, she is a noted cake decorating book author, cake show judge and the foremost authority on precise and intricate piping. Here are some pics of my step by step work.

Chef Toba kept telling us that we should keep the dignity in every petal, well, mine lost their dignity since I piped the first petal and the royal icing wasn't stiff enough.

This is Chefs' Toba's work.

RICE KRISPY FIGURE DEMONSTRATION WITH ISABEL (ISA) SANCHEZ

This is one of the classes that I took. Isabel (Isa) is an outstanding sugar artist and the lead instructor of the NYC Cake Decorators Meetup. She gave us step-by-step instructions on how to create a stunning rice krispy figure. The technique observed is easily modified to other designs .

A pic of some of us at the end of the class.

Isn't this cake just adorable?