28th May, 2011

In comparison with some of the seriously epic cakes of late, this week has been getting a little quieter. With wedding season well and truly behind us, our focus turns once again to our third annual Basics Marathon. Each year in June we run the entire Basics series back to back, followed by the Novelty Marathon in August. Those students who complete all ten workshops in the Basics series are awarded with a very special Planet Cake certification and some of our greatest teachers and decorators began life here as humble Basics 101 students. Before we jump head first into said marathon on Tuesday, we wound up our week with a very special workshop in aid of the Japan Relief Appeal. A very big thank you to Ritzy, who was the brains behind the concept, and to all of those who helped make the day so very special.

Now I would never leave you hanging without a sneak peak into the kitchen, so here's a look at what the guys have been cooking up. Not too shabby for a quiet week.

As someone whose birth date falls just between the cracks of Gen-X and Y, I must admit, I have a very soft spot for the rubix cube. I fell in love with this one in the show room this morning.



It's a Wrap

It is officially a wrap. With the wonderful film crew from Freehand no longer documenting our every brush-stroke, ganache manoeuvre and (let's be honest) occasional whoopy na-na, it's feeling eerily quiet in here. It's been an unbelievable ride, and, amazingly the entire filming process has brought the team even closer together than ever. We celebrated the end of the eight weeks of filming on Monday with, youy guessed it, another oppurtunity to get into fancy dress. Thank you to the crew at Freehand for putting on such a great spread, and  in particular, the Fantales, which are powering me through today!

Like most of those in the artistic field, we like a little healthy competition here and there, and last week Paris put forth a new challenge to the team:  design the new online bestseller cake.

This mission certainly got the creative juices flowing, have a look at some of our entries so far...

Well, I love them all, but we would love to hear what you guys think?

Be sure keep an eye out on our online cake store, where our entries will be appearing soon.

This week's treasure trove

I have to say, Saturday morning is fast becoming the favorite part of my week. Despite my years here, I never loose that sense of amazement as I walk through the doors to discover the treasures of the week. With a life-sized orangutan, two-metre tall mad-hatters, high fashion replicas, various parts of the anatomy and glitter as far as the eye can see; one might think that I would be immune by now? Not so. This morning I was confronted with an absolute visual feast.

  

Anna Maria gets to work with the glue gun to create this realistic replica of the baths at Dee Why. We were thrilled to help the guys at Dee Why Ice Picks celebrate their 50th anniversary. The guys were fabulous hosts to Paris and tellie crew who headed to the northern beaches, one very chilly day during the week to meet the club members.

 

Antony's solution catering for a boy/girl twin christening.

On a completely unrelated note, I am just in love with this mug that found its way into the office, and have considered stealing it from Ant's desk on several occasions this morning!





Update 07.05.11

It's been a while since we've made a graffiti cake, so I was really excited when we were asked to make this 21st cake this week. I wonder though, how the birthday boy will feel to see himself and his legally 'sensitive' activities immortalised in sugar?!

Next up, we helped Australian lingerie brand, Lula Starr celebrate with this fab corset cake.

Those of you who read the blog regularly will know that I just a love a wedding cake with a difference, and this couple chose to celebrate their special day with one of Margie's ultra-realistic 3D animals. Unfortunately I don't have a pic from the front, the eyes on this cake follow you, just like the Mona Lisa!

A big congratulations to our intern Neen, who made this absolutely beautiful cake this week. Just stunning. Also, a big congratulations to our newest intern Shell (below) who was totally under the pump this weekend with the cakes from our online store. Those of you who thought the intern role was all about coffee runs and anwering phones...think again!