Spring Day of Sharing

Yesterday was the Tennessee ICES chapter Day of Sharing. I went to one of these things years ago while I was still working in a bakery. Then motherhood happened, and I let my ICES membership lapse. When I started teaching more cake decorating classes I rejoined ICES, and since I don't teach Wilton classes on Sunday afternoons anymore, now I'm free to attend these types of functions. Susan Carberry was there to demonstrate some advanced cake decorating skills, and she actually taught several classes leading up to the Day of Sharing, but sadly none of them worked with my schedule.

However, I got to see the cake from her Garden Critters class, as it was on display. Pretty cool!

For the demonstration on Sunday, she built this Easter-themed stacked chick cake, and to go along with it she made a rabbit in a motorized carrot car.

To construct a cake like this, you need to get supplies and materials from the hardware and/or pet supply store. The stand is made from PVC pipes. That's how the whole thing is supported. Water squirts out of the bottom chick's mouth, and to make that happen she used a fish tank pump and plastic tubing. The top chick rocks back and forth, and it was built on the insides of a kid's toy.

The bunny is modeled from rolled fondant, and his car is a large carrot shape made from rice cereal treats on top of what was once a remote-controlled jeep toy. And no, none of that is real cake. She used styrofoam (much of it she had to hand carve to get the right shape) to make anything that isn't rice krispies treats. But you could conceivably make this with real cake, if you're up for a project.

So if you're not already a member, join ICES and participate in events organized by your local chapter because there's always more to learn.

Amazing Wedding Cakes

It's not often I envy people with thousands of television channels because most of the time there's nothing worth watching on any of them. However, recently a show called Amazing Wedding Cakes was brought to my attention, and after watching the video clips posted on the website, I started wishing I had access to the WE tv channel so I could watch the full-length episodes.

Each episode of Amazing Wedding Cakes follows the life of three different cakes, each one made by a different designer bakery, from the initial order to the final delivery. As a cake decorating enthusiast, this is the kind of stuff I love to watch. I know a lot of techniques and have enough skills to replicate just about anything, but creativity is one thing I struggle with, so for me watching how these talented cake decorators come up with such elaborate designs is fascinating. I must admit, I also like watching the mishaps. It's comforting to know that even the experts get it wrong from time to time.

If you're lucky enough to have a cable/satellite TV package that includes the WE tv channel, then you can check out the Amazing Wedding Cakes show. The 4th season starts on Sunday, March 27th at 8:00 p.m. central time. These are all new episodes, featuring the White Flower Cake Shoppe, The Cake Artist (this bakery is owned and run by a very talented 21 year-old!), Gateaux, and Christopher Garren's Cakes.

If, like me, you don't have access to the We tv channel, you can still watch video clips from the show on their website. While there, surf around and learn more about the bakeries featured, and be sure to check out the recipes page. There are also more video clips from the show that fans have uploaded on YouTube, just do a search for Amazing Wedding Cakes. In the meantime, I'm going to see what I can do about getting this show on DVD.