Saturday, March 27, 2010

Sugarpaste Flower Topper Class at Custom Cakes: (September 12 - 14, 2010)

I'm so excited to announce that I will be teaching a 3-day class at Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah, Georgia!

Dates: September 12th - 14th (Sunday through Tuesday)

Topic: Sugarpaste Flower Cake Topper

We will be creating a sugarpaste flower bouquet cake topper. Flowers will include a large, open peony, hydrangea and filler flowers, with corresponding buds and leaves. The first part of the class we will be making the focal flower (peony), and many hydrangea, filler flowers, buds and leaves. Once we have made all of the flowers, the emphasis of the remainder of the class will be dusting and coloring them - and then arranging all of your pieces to create a bouquet topper.

Here is an example of the project students will be working on in class:



I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to teach at Minette's shop - she is such a wonderful and gracious host, and Savannah is a beautiful city!

For more information, please visit Minette's Sugar Seminars site!

Hope to see you there! I can't wait!

Copyright © 2010 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler. Please feel free to use the ideas and concepts discussed on this blog, but please do not claim any of it as your own work. Thank you!
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ron Ben Israel Classes - The Follow-Up!

I promised I would post a few additional photos from Ron Ben-Israel's classes as soon as I received them...and the fabulous Kate Essenberg did not disappoint! Not only is she a great friend and fab cake decorator, but also an amazing opera singer, wonderful mom, and incredible photographer!! Thank you, Kate, for sharing so many great photos with me!

The lovely Kate and Ron:



I mentioned in my previous posts that I was too busy watching and listening to Ron during his demonstrations, and forgot to take photos of him in action! Kate captured his kind and whimsical spirit so well - I just had to post a few of my favorites...

Ron starting one of his flower demos:



Posing with his beautiful gardenia:



That's me getting a lesson from Ron about adding "bling" to a cake:



And Kate took this photo of me working on my "bling-less" cake...obviously I didn't learn Ron's lesson very well!



Here are a few more photos of completed cakes from Ron's Bling and Custom Silicone Molds Class - created by three of my fabulous and talented classmates!

By Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth's Cake Emporium:



By Callie Stingel of Callie's Confections:



By Dianna Tornow of Dianna Tornow Cakes:



Gorgeous work...thanks to everyone for letting me share your wonderful talent!

Copyright © 2010 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler. Please feel free to use the ideas and concepts discussed on this blog, but please do not claim any of it as your own work. Thank you!
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Friday, March 12, 2010

Custom Silicone Molds with Ron Ben Israel 2010

I have to be honest...the real title of this class was "Bring on the Bling"!! But, as you can tell from the lack of sparkly decor on my cakes, I am admittedly not much of a bling girl. It's not that I don't like bling...I absolutely do! It's just that I haven't really learned how to incorporate it into my design style yet. So what better opportunity than working with Ron Ben Israel to figure it out, right?!

This second class also took place at Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah, Georgia. Be sure to check out her Sugar Seminars site for all the great classes she offers through her studio!

We began our class learning the properties of silicone and the fundamentals for using it to make molds. Ron gave some great demonstrations, and then we were off to our work stations to create multiple molds of little acrylic jewels.

Here are some photos from our first project...

Carefully placing and sticking our jewels to our boards...a painstaking process:



Silicone poured over the gems:



And the result of our labor:



When we filled these molds with sugarpaste...we ended up with these great little pieces:



Our next project was to take the individual gems we made and create a compound mold to be used on our cake! I struggled for a while putting the little pieces together until I finally came up with a piece that looked like a jeweled medallion. We poured silicone a second time, and I ended up with a mold to make the piece in the left of the photo:



Ron did a great demo on how to use the molds with melted Isomalt, and created some beautiful little candy gems:



We stopped working with the molds long enough to cover our Styrofoam dummies with fondant, and to construct and "bling" our sugarpaste poppies:



Our final project was to create a cake design using our newly created bling molds and flowers! We were also given gorgeous sparkle dusts in gold, silver, platinum and pearl to paint to our heart's content!

I need to let you know that I tend to work S-L-O-W-L-Y...and this class was no exception. I had GRAND plans to place my medallions on the cake, and paint them with pearl centers and antique silver details...and then add my poppies accordingly. What I ended up with is the following (no laughing, please!!):



And here's a photo of it after I had outlined the entire design with royal icing dots...thanks to the lovely Kate Essenberg for the wonderful photo:



I totally ran out of time...but fortunately, Ron really liked the design in white on white...and I actually did too. So much for trying out my first "bling" - sorry Ron!

My wonderful friend Sharon Alexander from Sweet Sensations was kind enough to take the unfinished cake back to her shoppe in Atlanta, and will treat it to the "bling-ing" it deserves!

Here are a few of the finished cakes from class...

My friend Lisa from Flour Confections...I loved the little square-shaped molds she made and how she put them all together:



My friend Tandra who is Pastry Sous Chef at The Capitol Hotel...I loved how her design had a Parisian feel to it:



My friend Blanca's gorgeous cake...I loved her molded pieces and how she styled her poppies:



And no surprise that my friend Kate and I get along so well...she loved the look of the white on white too! I loved her medallions and overall design:



There were so many beautiful designs in class...everyone did an amazing job! I'm hoping I'll have even more photos soon to write an additional post!

Thank you, Minette, for your wonderful hospitality and for taking such amazing care of all of us!

And thank you, Ron, for your time, patience and expertise, and for sharing your incredible talent!

Copyright © 2010 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler. Please feel free to use the ideas and concepts discussed on this blog, but please do not claim any of it as your own work. Thank you!
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Southern Flowers with Ron Ben Israel 2010

I'm just getting back from two wonderful classes at Custom Cakes in Savannah, Georgia...both taught by the fun and fabulously talented Ron Ben Israel! Working with Ron was an amazing opportunity - he truly is a creative genius - and he happily shared so many of his great ideas and techniques. Thank you so much Ron, for your time, patience and expertise!

I also had the chance to meet some lovely and very talented people from all over the country...and made a wonderful new friend who traveled all the way from London!

Minette Rushing, owner of Custom Cakes, took great care of all of us with her generosity, grace and incredible southern hospitality. Thank you so much, Minette...and thank you to your incredible staff and interns as well!

The first class covered sugarpaste Southern Flowers including gardenias, tulip magnolias, camellias, dogwood, and jasmine. We worked for three full days to construct our flowers and corresponding buds and leaves, and ended up with a box full of beautiful blossoms to take home!

Here are some photos from our class...enjoy!

My work station:



My first attempt at a camellia flower:



We had an entire baker's rack of camellias drying...everyone's flowers were gorgeous:



Beginning stage of the jasmine flowers - and a photo for inspiration:



The gardenia center:



Dogwood and gardenias drying:



My magnolia petals taped together:



Starting the coloring process:



Jasmine flowers and buds dusted:



One of my favorites from the week - the gardenia - with a touch of yellow-green at the center and pearl dust for a beautiful sheen:



My box of completed flowers:



Here are Ron's beautiful flowers...they all have his special touch - and are absolutely stunning:



And to give us an idea how the flowers would look on a cake, Ron arranged them all to create a gorgeous, over-the-top floral design:



I was so focused and busy during class that I did not take any photos of Ron while he was teaching! But I know several of my classmates took some amazing pictures throughout the week - as soon as they share them with me I will definitely add some of them here.

Please stay tuned for my post about our second class - more details and photos coming soon...

Copyright © 2010 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler. Please feel free to use the ideas and concepts discussed on this blog, but please do not claim any of it as your own work. Thank you!
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