Petalsweet Classes - Sydney 2012

It's hard to believe it's already been a year since I visited and taught in Australia...but I'm happily back in Sydney and just finished my first round of flower classes at the lovely Whimsical Cakehouse studio! Three different classes in a beautiful setting (check out the photos below)...and filled with truly amazing and talented students...what a wonderful way to start my trip!

The views from the studio:

(Most of the photos below are courtesy of Guy Harden...thanks Guy!! )

The first class covered some of my favorite Southern flowers...the magnolia and gardenia. Little bits and pieces of flowers...

Dusting buds...

A bit of silliness at the end of a busy day!

Fabulous class photo...thank you ladies!! xo

And then it was time to teach a few of my favorites with lots and lots of petals....the peony and parrot tulip:

Explaining how the peony gets put together:

Taping peony petals:

 Another wonderful class photo...beautiful students and flowers:

Me with the fun and fabulous Betty Lakkis from Glasshouse Cakes and Supplies...Betty has become such a dear friend and treated me to a visit to her beautiful shop AND a footy game (rugby)!! Thank you Betty!

Hi Mel...thanks so much for coming to both classes... I loved your parrot tulip!

The lovely Hilary...x

And finally...the last class I taught at Whimsical Cakehouse was a three day intensive in making sugar flowers and then arranging them in a sugar vase!

The pretty Petalsweet color palette and my first of several coffees for the day...

Some one-on-one lessons in arranging sugar flowers...

Lovely Madeleine!

Holly working intently...

Jayne completed two of my courses and fell in love with making sugar flowers...yay Jayne!

Thivi and her gorgeous flowers...

Class photo (we are missing Rebecca here as she had to catch a flight home...see below)

Hi Rebecca!! We missed you in the class photo...thanks so much for coming to class! x

My lovely host Linda and her beautiful work...thank you so much for the really wonderful visit! x

Many, many thanks to all of my students for coming to class and sharing your wonderful selves with me! I hope you are loving your flowers and are already practicing your new skills! It was such a pleasure to meet you and work with you...xo

And my deepest gratitude to my hosts Linda and Guy Harden at Whimsical Cakehouse...thank you for the opportunity to teach at your wonderful venue and for taking such good care of me...it was such a wonderful 10 days! I hope to be back soon! xx

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Copyright © 2012 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 Classes - Sydney 2012

Petalsweet Spring 2012 Classes Part Two

After a fabulous trip to Toronto, I was home in San Diego just over 24 hours...long enough to do some laundry, re-pack my bags and then get myself to San Francisco! Once there, I met up with my amazingly talented and very lovely friends Viola Doyle and Mav Georgeson from Faye Cahill Cake Design in Sydney, Australia and we finished our last bit of prep for The Wedding Cake Class at Richard Festen's amazing studio at Baking Arts.

Viola, Mav and I taught this same wonderful class last year...4 days to create a two-tier wedding cake using the beautiful Australian techniques of chocolate ganache and fondant, as well as completing the tiers with an exquisite pearl finish and beautiful stenciling. Decorations for the cake included an open peony, hydrangea, buds and leaves...all in soft tones to complement Faye's beautiful original design:

After having so much fun last year and seeing the beautiful results from our students, we just couldn't wait to get back together to teach the class for a second time...and once again, we had a truly wonderful weekend. Here are some favorite photos...

Mud cakes covered with chocolate ganache:

A single tier covered with fondant...beautiful!

All of the tiers covered with fondant and stacked...ready for their finishing touches:

Teaching hydrangea, buds and leaves:

All set up for flower making:

Working on buds, filler flowers, and peonies:

Students putting the gorgeous pearl finish on their cakes:

Lovely Mav helping with the stenciling process:

Fabulous Viola and Mav helping me dust flowers to arrange on our demo cake:

Arranging sugar flowers:

And the gorgeous class with their amazing work:

Many, many thanks to all of our fabulous, kind and very talented students for the wonderful weekend! It was such a pleasure to meet all of you and work with you!! Your cakes and flowers were stunning...we are so proud!

And thank you to my lovely colleagues and very dear friends...Mav and Viola...could NOT have done it without you both - I so love working with you and spending time with you!

Thank you so much to the wonderfully talented Faye Cahill for your beautiful cake design and allowing us to share it with the students. And I am so honored to use my flowers as a finishing touch!

And we are all grateful to the ever fabulous Richard Festen for hosting us and making us all feel so very well cared for...we love teaching in your beautiful studio Richard - thank you again for having us!

Mav, Viola and Richard:

Thank you for stopping by...x

If you are interested in receiving updates about future classes and workshops in your inbox, please subscribe to our Petalsweet Newsletter below...

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Copyright © 2012 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 Spring 2012 Classes Part Two

Petalsweet Spring 2012 Classes Part One

It has been a busy but wonderful Spring...lots of traveling to fabulous locations to teach some of my favorite sugar flowers to the most lovely students! Truly a special time.

First stop was in late April when I taught a three day class at the amazing Flour Confections studio in Pickering, outside Toronto. My wonderful friend and colleague Lisa Bugeja and her husband Scott hosted me at their beautiful shop and studio where I taught 12 fabulous students how to make open peonies, hydrangea, filler flowers, ranunculus flowers, buds and leaves as well as how to arrange them in a sweet sugar vase! Lots of photos to share courtesy of my host Lisa, who was so gracious to quietly capture some wonderful moments during class - thank you Lisa!

Teaching under the amazing camera and television screen in the Flour Confections classroom:

Buds and filler flowers drying:

Hydrangea and peony petals drying:

Buds, hydrangea and ranunculus flowers:

Dusting demonstration:

Putting together the peony flower:

Demonstrating how to arrange flowers:

Students working hard to arrange all of their flowers and buds:

OK...well when we weren't working really hard we were laughing...a lot!

Beautiful student work:

Class photo with all of their gorgeous work...wow!!

Many, many thanks to all of my wonderful, kind and very talented students for sharing your time with me and for working so hard to create your fabulous vases. I'm so very proud of all of your work...and what a pleasure to meet you and work with you! 

I'm also so grateful to Lisa and Scott for hosting me and taking such good care of all of us during class! What an incredible space and environment for learning...and let's not forget the amazing lunches too! We were VERY well fed and treated to some of Lisa's amazing sweet treats each day...

I hope to be back next year for more flower workshops...thank you, thank you all for such a wonderful first trip and experience in Toronto...I can't wait to come back!

Thanks for stopping by...more class updates soon from my recent trip to San Francisco for The Wedding Cake Class...and I've got lots of fun projects to share soon...

If you are interested in receiving updates about future classes and workshops in your inbox, please subscribe to our Petalsweet Newsletter below...

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Copyright © 2012 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 Spring 2012 Classes Part One