About my blog

Jazz Does Chocolate

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:44:11 +1000

Every little girl’s fantasy ... Jasmine did a chocolate/candy making workshop last night. They melted, molded and created beautiful little chocolate candies.

She’s taken some pictures, so I’ll get those uploaded when I can.

She was able to bring home the molds. They reminded me of when Nanny Fowler and I used to make the peppermint candies at Christmas time. Yum!!

Jazz Does Karaoke

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:56:30 +1000

During the school holidays, Jazz and I wandered around the local shopping mall one day. Down in the centre court, we noticed kids lining up to get on stage, so went to have a look. They were doing karaoke. Some genius came up with a great get rich quick scheme and had set up the stage with a microphone and two speakers. He was recording them doing karaoke for $10 per child and sending them home w/ a cd he made on his lil netbook. Brilliant, really!

Anyway, Jazz decided she wanted to give it a go. She’s tried singing in public before and tends to get stage fright, but she did it! I was really proud of her for giving it a shot. She got tongue tied in the middle trying to read the screen (which was a bit funny, cause she knows all the words by heart already). Here it is though.

Course 1 - Week 1

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:48:41 +1000

This morning I awoke, super excited and after a cup of coffee and a bowl of Special K, headed off to the centre.

There were six students in the class, two of whom had previously taken decorating courses before and are brushing up their skills and four novices, like myself.

This first class wasn’t very hands on. We learned some of the basics - tips on baking the cake, how to level the cake once baked, how to fill the cake, how to make butter cream, the different consistencies of buttercream and in which instances you would want to use the different consistencies, assembling/filling a piping bag, how to use the piping bag and a couple of different piping techniques. For two hours, it was actually a lot to take in - I’ve never even held a piping bag. The class was fantastic though and our teacher Lee was very patient with us all.

We each left with homework, a supplies list for next week and two cute little cupcakes which we practiced on (above). Jasmine, was quite eager to test the cupcakes when I arrived home and gave hers two thumbs up!

During the week, I’ll go over my homework, practicing more piping skills onto my practice board, as well as practice making a parchment paper piping bag.

Next week’s course will see us bringing home a fully decorated Rainbow Cake. I’m already nervous after having looked at a photo of what it should look like haha! I sure do hope the office staff like cake :)

The Beginning

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:13:43 +1000

A few weeks ago I was talking to my Nanny on the phone. We were reminiscing about how we used to enjoy doing arts and crafts together and the different craft shows we went to when I was younger. We always had lots of fun doing this stuff. Nanny mentioned that she’d always wanted to do a cake decorating class and I thought, “Gee, it’d be nice to know how to do that!” A Google search and a few emails later and I was signed up for my first course. Susan, the owner of Greensborough Cake Decorating Centre assured me that her Wilton Way of Cake Decorating Course One was a good place to start for the true beginner.

There is a bit of a dilemma however. I am also in the midst of attempting to lose weight and become a bit healthier. I’ve been following the Weight Watchers plan for a little over 7 months now and have lost 53 pounds so far. I’m eating healthier than ever and am attempting to make exercise a part of my everyday life.

Trying to juggle weight loss and cake decorating might not be the wisest idea in the world, but we shall see :) I am wanting to learn to decorate for the sake of the art - because I think beautifully made cakes are just gorgeous to look at and the act of making something like that would be almost therapeutic in a way - not in order to eat all of my efforts.

My goal with these classes is to be able to create a cake for my husband’s birthday and a cake for my daughter’s birthday, that they both will enjoy. For David, I’m thinking a golf themed cake of some description. For Jasmine, perhaps a Smurf cake or a bunch psychedelic flower cupcakes .. who knows. I’m starting at the very beginning (a very good place to start!) so I have no grand delusions of being a master cake decorator at the end of the 5 week course. If I can however, create a cake that both tastes nice and makes me smile a little, I will have succeeded.

I will also be coming back home and teaching Jasmine some of the stuff I have learnt in the course, so that shall be interesting! She’s 11 and very keen on cooking. At school, she’s doing her “Passion Project” this term on cupcakes, so we both have a lot to learn in order for her to make good marks.

Here’s hoping I find lots of people who enjoy eating cakes to pass my creations off to haha!

I start on July 13th.