Petalsweet at The San Diego Cake Show 2011

The San Diego Cake Club puts on a wonderful cake show every year in early March. The show is a great fundraiser, and this year the money raised was donated to the incredible Ronald McDonald House which is part of Rady Children's Hospital here in San Diego. The event runs for the whole weekend and includes a judged cake competition for all levels of decorators, lots of different demonstrations, a huge raffle for some fun prizes, and a cupcake decorating table for kids of all ages! I love being able to give back to the local community, and it's always a wonderful opportunity to meet so many amazingly talented people who love the same things I do!

Over the past several years I have not been able to participate in the show, but this year I had the weekend reserved on my calendar, and I was very happy to work on my entry! The month of March is always so pretty here in San Diego and I love seeing all of the flowers as they start to bloom. They were definitely my inspiration this year... I envisioned Spring flowers, something pretty and delicate, and you know how much I love greens mixed with white and a touch of some other color...how about pink?

Here are some photos of the design in progress...

I wanted to use hydrangea...and those always start with lots of tiny centers:



Arranging flowers and buds (my mess!):



The bouquet on the lower tier:



And some images of the topper...

Close-up of some of the pink buds and filler flowers I added:



The parrot tulips from the top:



From the front - where the ranunculus flowers were more prominent:



And the completed design:



It was a lot of fun to see all of the other amazing entries, and such a pleasure to participate...I was very honored to bring home second place in the Professional Division this year! Thank you so much to the kind judges, and congratulations to all of the other winners!



Looking forward to next year...

Thanks for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Petalsweet at The San Diego Cake Show 2011

Petalsweet Class Photos - *February*

I finally have a few moments to share some great photos from recent classes! It has been such a pleasure to have the opportunity to teach at the wonderful Ro Z's Sweet Art Studio here in San Diego, as well as at the fabulous Minette Rushing's Custom Cakes in Savannah. With classes filled with such talented, kind and fun students, I am feeling very blessed indeed!

The first group of photos were taken by one of my lovely students from the Savannah classes, Yoshiko Santoso. She was a student in my Ranunculus and Peony Topper classes, and this was her first time making sugar flowers! As you will see in the photos, not only is she a very talented photographer, but she is also now a wonderful sugar artist as well! She was gracious to share these with me and let me post them here...thank you Yoshiko!!

Pink Ranunculus flowers I made as an example for class:



Dusting the pretty green centers:



Demonstrating and working on flowers:











Yoshiko and our wonderful host, Minette Rushing of Custom Cakes:



Putting a peony flower together:



All of the components for the topper...ready to put together:



Starting the arranging process:



Adding more flowers:



Filling openings with buds:



The completed topper I made as an example for class:



A great photo with Yoshiko:



Class photo with their gorgeous toppers:



Yoshiko took this great photo of her beautiful topper once she got it home...and you can find more of Yoshiko's beautiful photography on her website here!



I also have a few great photos from my recent Peony class here in San Diego! Here is one at the end of the first day with everyone's peony petals drying:



Our completed flowers at the end of class, with the fun pop of yellow stamens in the center:



Fabulous students and their gorgeous peonies:



Many thanks to all of my wonderful students for coming to class and being your fun and fabulously talented selves! It was great to meet you and work with you! And thank you to my hosts, Minette Rushing and Ro Zinniger - I'm so grateful for the opportunity to teach in your studios!

Thanks for stopping by!

Copyright © 2011 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler - please respect copyright laws. If you want to link to my blog, or post any of my photos, please contact me - it would be great to have the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you!

Petalsweet Class Photos - *February*