Meet Team "Soprano"

Quite frankly I'm a little sick of all these photo's of us and I'm sure you guys are too, so today it is with great pleasure that I present to you, our fabulous volunteers!

First up, let me introduce to some of the gals from group 1, 'Team Soprano'.

http://www.sopranofamily.com/sopranos_wallpaper.html

Meet Kate, Amanda and Belinda. While chatting to them this morning, I learned that these three QLD babes met via the social cake network (including our own Tea Party forum) and have since become firm friends. In fact Kate and Amanda were great mates before they even clapped eyes on each other! Stories like this absolutely thrill this little vegemite...let's stick together fellow cake-lovers!

AMANDA EISING (middle)

Where are you from? Boyne Island, Central QLD

What possessed you to volunteer with our crazy lot? After completing several courses with Planet Cake I was just so excited to have the oppurtunity to work alongside such a talented group of decorators.

How long have you been decorating cakes? Actually I'm relatively new to cake decorating and only began about 12 months ago after enrolling in Cupcake Bootcamp in Brisbane. After three days of cupcakes I knew this was exactly where I wanted to be and enrolled in the Basics Foundation and Intermediate quick-smart! I now run my own decorating business on Boyne Island, Cake Delish (sorry I couldn't help myself from a bit of shameless self-promotion!)

What has been the most challenging part of this week so far? To be honest I think I'm still in the honeymoon phase and just so excited about being here that I feel completely relaxed about the whole thing (although that could be because I know if I get lost you guys will tell me what to do!)

KATE JORDAN (left)

What's been the biggest challenge for you this week? There's just no room for nerves this week and to be totally honest we're just so pumped to be here! But that said I have to admit I found working with styrofoam for the first time really difficult, who knew sawing through even just squares of styro was such hard work?!

Claim to Fame: Kate came up with the team name (love it) and labelled our store room the 'Styro Cave' (very apt I must say...I know my locker is in there somewhere!)

Day 2 - Get Your Ganache On!

Our volunteers get a glimpse of what is to come... these fab PC recruits literally spent hours today making the ganache for the Opera House Cake which weighed roughly the same amount as 5 Kylie Minogue's!

Adam, Margie, Betty, Stuart and Anna Maria enjoy what could possibly be their last glimpse of sunlight for the week!

It is highly possible Adam and Paris are actually sleeping on their feet behind those glasses...

Day One - Kick Off!

We've been talking the talk for months now and today was the day to walk that walk! Dressed kill and ready for action (well as ready as we will ever be) the official Opera House team met our 20 fab volunteers today whom have flown in from all over the country to be part of the project.

We were mega excited to meet our group of uber-talented volunteers, all of whom have been painstakingly, hand-selected by team leader, Betty (above). After an initial meet and greet, thankfully, during which no one ran screaming from the building (and yes we were prepared it) we surprised the guys with a field trip to the Opera House itself. While we're all familiar with iconic landmark, to actually visit it is truly something spectacular. Our aim, besides an oppurtunity to sing bus songs, was to get the guys to really appreciate just how epic this project is and get a sense of the absolute magic of this architectural masterpiece.

 

With our mission accomplished it was back to PC to really get cracking on the nuts and bolts of how the next week is going to go...that said, we still have absolutely no idea ourselves!

It was definately one long, red bull fuelled day, only the first of many, and I know for a fact there are more than a couple of staff members at home this very minute quietly sipping a strong drink or two, but I for one know I will sleep well tonight knowing that our coolest, craziest, by-far-the-most-ambitious project to date has begun!

Meet the team !

In an effort to keep herself sane, Cat dons Margie's latest souvenir from NZ (yep they are what you think they are...AND they're made fromp possum fur)

1 Sleep to Go!

Adam & Ritzy get a first look at the size of the cake boards for the Opera House cake. Did we mention it's going to be BIG?!

 

 Wallpapering our office

Even my desk has turned into a bit of a tribute

 Yep...this is actually the floor plan

Margie and Talin get busy

The Project Opera House seems to have snuck up on us a little bit the way Christmas tends to, one day it's three months off and before you know it there's only one sleep to go! Here is the first sneak peek at what's to come! I. Am. So. Excited!!!!

 Basics Foundation Day 1

You know those weeks that come along every now and again that literally knock you sideways and leave you grasping for the pinot? Sound familiar? Well, even we of the cake world have weeks such as these, with this one being the shining example. Not that anything went wrong, or even got close, it was just one of those times when the fruits of much labour all seemed to culminate at once in an almighty bang! But if you follow us regularly you'll know that this is pretty much how we roll and we wouldn't have it any other way (okay maybe not ALL the time!) I see weeks like these as a great example of just how tight our team is, and I love watching the magic that can all too often come from chaos...not too unlike the Big Bang Theory really.

Amid the madness of deadlines and  melting cake (this humidity is pretty much cake kryptonite) we also held our first Basics Foundation for the year, with one of the lovliest groups I have had the pleasure of meeting. I have a love-hate relationship with our foundation course, in that I love the oppurtunity to get to know our students a little more over the course of a week, but I then hate it when they go! This super-talented bunch were treated to lessons from Stuart and Adam and produced some truly great work. Can't wait to see you guys again soon!

  

Day 2 with Stuart

Day 5 and the Magnolia Cake with Adam (looking at this photo we all realised just how tall Adam is!) 

...And someone not so vertically blesed - Ritzy and her larger-than-life cake

As always however, the Dream Team came through with their usual brilliance. I am in love with this Elvis cake!

No we're not employing minors, the fabulous Betty's youngest stopped by this week for a lesson from Adam

Seven Sleeps to Go...

There's only seven sleeps to go until commencement on the world's biggest Opera House Cake. Nervous excitement is rising and we're all a little curious about just how this thing is going to go, but with some of the world's finest decorators, a staff 'Dream Team' and twenty enthusiastic volunteers, how can we go wrong...right?!

2011 - Bring. It. On!

Well 12th night has been and gone, the tree is down, the choccie's eaten, the wine drunk, and we've said goodbye to all things Christmas and hello to 2011! The year has started in much the same way we left 2010, with a bang (and a slight sense of rising panic) and it looks set to be even more exciting and ground-breaking than ever.

In PC School news, classes resumed today with Stuart and Lesley taking our first Basics 101 for the year -it's so lovely to have the halls filled with students again, I have to say it's felt a little quiet without them the last couple of weeks! For those of you who weren't aware, we have decided not to hold any further courses interstate this year, while we focus on the Sydney school, but that said we have more classes than ever...the slightly scary, larger than life calendar before me is testiment to that. Even more exciting is the fact that we are already booked up until April (I know, I can barely belive it myself!)

The PC calendar!!!

Like a lot of places this time of year, we're down to skeleton staff at the moment, but unlike a lot of places, we are just as busy as always. Check out what the guys managed to rustle up this week:

Jess's hand-piped extravaganza

 

Just another standard day at the office for Margie 

These LV logo's were meticulously hand-painted by Ritzy over an entire day

We finished off last year with a book signing and cupcake demo at Dymocks in the city and I would like to take a quick moment to thank everyone who stopped by. I know I say it all the time but it truly is a pleasure to have the chance to meet our fans face to face and have the oppurtunity to have a chat with each of you. It was a really fun day and I must say we were thrilled with the number of blokes purchasing the book. Like I always say: real men do cupcakes!

The next BIG event on the PC calendar is the mucho-exciting Operation Opera House (as I have come to refer to it in my head). 20 volunteers will be taking part in one of the biggest and most ambitious projects we have ever embarked on: to make the biggest Opera House cake ever attempted. Are we a little bit nervous? You betcha, but hey it wouldn't be a challenge otherwise would it? I can't wait for things to get started on the 18th, so stay tuned for all the updates and the final reveal on Australia Day.

Paris on the cover of 'Dynamic Business' December 2010

Christmas Cupcakes

We're getting into the spirit of things here this week by combining the ever-growing power of the humble cupcake with our love of all things festive - I can't think of a better mish mash!