Spring 2013 - Edible Artists Network Magazine

S p r i n g

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edibleartistsnetwork M A G A Z I N E

THE Information Source for Home Bakers & Sugar Artists

Exclusive Interview with

Kerry Vincent SPECIAL SECTION

From This Cake Forward

Make your business thrive happily ever after

Shoebox Cake Tutorial from the Cakegirls

Learn the Importance of Wedding Cakes to Your Cake Business from Alan Budiman

w w w . e d i b l e a r t i s t s n e t w o r k . c o m

Table of Contents F E AT U R E S 30 From This Cake Forward…

Tips, tutorials, and articles to help make your business thrive happily ever after!

37 5 Strategies for Sweet Success in the Wedding Cake Business - By Stephanie Padovani Five innovative ways to market your wedding cake business.

52 The Importance of Wedding Cakes to Your Cake Business –

By Alan Budiman Alan will help you learn how to increase your profits.

55 Supply Guide Looking for that perfect ingredient or tool? These companies can help!

62 7 Common Small Business Tax Misperceptions By Luce & Associates Learn the truth about deductions, payments, and more.

82 Cake Holidays Learn cake decorating while on holiday in France.

D E P A R T M E N T S (in every issue) 2 3 12 16 22 23 70 78 80 89 92

From the Director Cakegirls – Mary & Brenda Maher Janine Eshelbrenner Facebook Tips from Ken Quincella Geiger Industry Interview with Kerry Vincent Cake Office - Julie Gibson Edible Artist on the Rise What’s New and What’s Hot! Facebook Contest Winners Edible Art of the Day

TUTORIALS

On the cover The cover photo is provided courtesy of Nine Network.

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Shoebox Cake Super Hero Cake Pops Cute Dog Tutorial - By Chef Nick Ang Love Honor Cherish Cake Tutorial – By Robin Martin Bride and Groom Cake Topper – By Rouvelee Ilagan Summer of Love Bride – By Trina Thomson Houndstooth Cake – By Sidney Galpern Dad Rocks Cake - By Mama Rhu Wild Rose made with a Tear Drop Cutter - By Shaile Socher

From the Director edibleartists NETWORK

Editorial Joanne Prainito Creative Director joanne@edibleartistsnetwork.com Cheryl Naughton Editor cheryl@edibleartistsnetwork.com Mary & Brenda Maher – Cakegirls Contributors

Janine Eshelbrenner Contributor

Michelle Burden Writer

info@edibleartistsnetwork.com Contributors Chef Nick Ang Ken Fehner Sidney Galpern Quincella C. Geiger Julie Gibson Rouvelee Ilagan Jennifer Luce Robin Martin Stephanie Padovani Gracie Prainito Mama Rhu Shaile Socher Trina Thomson Editorial Offices P.O. Box 870614 Stone Mountain, GA 30087 Advertising Cheryl Naughton 404/838-8375 cheryl@edibleartistsnetwork.com Subscription Services To subscribe to the magazine please visit http://www.edibleartistsnetwork.com/ magazine/subscribe.

Edible Artists Network Magazine is published 4 times per year by Edible Artists Network, LLC., P. O. Box 870614, Stone Mountain, GA, 30087.

Copyright 2013 by Edible Artists Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Materials may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission. For reprints of any article please contact the editor.

Production

Dawn Lewandowski Partners Image Coordinators • partnrz@mac.com

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Welcome to the May issue – our wedding issue and our featured industry interview with the one and only Kerry Vincent. Wow, did I really just say that? We’ve come such a long way in such a very short time. A year ago, I would have never imagined spending two hours on the phone with Kerry! Boy, I love what I do!!

I love our community and everyone I’ve been fortunate enough to meet along the way. Earlier this month, Cheryl and I attended the National Capital Area Cake Show in Virginia and we had a fantastic adventure! From our rental car breaking down, getting lost at the airport, to hauling 10lb buckets of Fondx across the high school there was never a dull moment for sure! I enjoyed meeting the people that I’ve spoke with over the phone and finally putting faces with names, being starstruck and tongue tied by most of those I met, and LOVED being approached by readers, stating that the LOVE our magazine (loved this part the most). The show was very busy and the competition was fierce. Found some awesome new products and was blessed to attend classes with some of the best in the business. Sidney of Simi Cakes was so wonderful during our sugar class, and for such a young woman has the patience’s of a saint. I learned a lot about sugar and was anxious to come back home and teach Gracie everything I learned, she’s now hooked on sugar and is running through isomalt quicker than I can order. (You’ll have to read her article in this issue – Edible Artists on the Rise and her sugar experience). Sidney will be coming to Chicago later this year to teach several classes and we’re delighted to be their host, and looking forward to spending more time with Mike and Michelle (her very supportive parents).

The fun didn’t stop there. I was able to be a part of Icing Images unveiling party for their new embossing machine Sweet Accents Cake Decorating System from Icing Images by Spellbinders. And was able to meet even more amazing people and see this fantastic machine in action (just received mine, and I’ll share more about that later).

This brings me to an article I read not too long ago regarding how you feel about your job? The article asked “if asked the question ‘Why do you love your job’ how would you answer?” I had to laugh at some of the comments posted. There were many diverse answers but not one of them actually stated, “Because, I love what I do.” If this question was asked of me, here is how I would respond. I love my job because it doesn’t feel like a job and no day is ever the same. Each day I am presented with new challenges and situations which help me stay focused and excited. I enjoy being creative, and take on each new project with great expectations.

In honor of this posting we have posted this very same question to all of you… Why do you love your job? Please share your answers with us at http://tinyurl.com/eanlove.

Remember, live each day as if it were your last, love what you do, be kind, be helpful, and if you can’t say something positive, something negative is never the answer. Please continue to share and encourage each other and be proud of everything you accomplish and look forward to the future with great anticipation.

Shoebox Cake

Ingredients: • 12” Square Single Layer Cake • Pink Candy Coating • Swiss Meringue Buttercream • Tylose Powder • White Fondant

• Gold Luster Dust

• Dark Pink Fondant

• Clear Extract or Vodka

• Ivory Royal Icing

• Ivory Edible Pearls

by Mary & Brenda Maher - Cakegirls

Supplies: • 14” Square Support Board • Spatula

• 2 Sided High Heel Chocolate Mold • Large Office Binder Clips

• Paint Brushes • Scissors

• X-acto Knife

• Damask Side Stencil • Removable Painter’s Tape

• Pencil • Wax Paper

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

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Shoebox Cake

STEP 1: CUT AND ICE CAKE

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Place the cake layers on the board and fill with buttercream. Press on the top of the cake to make sure it’s level.

Level your cake so that the top is flat. Cut the 12” square evenly in half.

STEP 2: COVER IN FONDANT

3 Ice the cake in a thin layer of buttercream. Take time to make the corners sharp. When finished it should look like this.

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4 Roll out white fondant 1/8” thick and large enough to cover the shoebox. Roll and drape the fondant over the cake.

5 Gather the excess fondant in each corner.

6 Use scissors to trim some of the excess off each corner.

7 Use a paintbrush to brush water inside the fondant, close to the edge of the cake. Then use your fingers to seal the fondant together.

8 Trim the corners again, this time close to the edge of the cake, creating the final corner.

When you are finished, it should look like this.

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Shoebox Cake

STEP 3: STENCIL PATTERN AND ADD LID

10 Lay the stencil against the side of the cake and use removable painter’s tape to mask off the top and side of the stencil to create the same size as the cake side (this will give you a cleaner pattern). Next, hold the stencil steady and spread the ivory royal icing on with a spatula.

12 Remove the stencil to reveal the pattern. Repeat this process on the back of the cake. Remove tape, wash and dry stencil and then repeat the process on the sides.

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11 Next, use your spatula to remove most of the icing evenly, leaving a thin coating. (You should be able to see the stencil more clearly now).

13 Next, to create the lid, start by measuring the top of your cake. You will need a piece of fondant 2” wider and longer that the top of your cake. Roll the dark pink fondant 1/8” thick and cut a rectangle the correct size.

14 Center the pink piece of fondant on top of the cake to make sure it’s evenly placed. Then gently lift parts of the fondant and brush water underneath to adhere. Continue the lid in the same manner as the white fondant; brushing and trimming the corners.

Because the lid can be challenging, you may need to use an x-acto knife to do some additional trimming of the fondant once it’s on the cake.

15 When you are done, your cake should look like this.

STEP 4: CREATE FLOWER

17 16 Take a small handful of excess white fondant and mix in a rough 1/4 tsp. of Tylose Powder (this will turn the fondant into a gumpaste consistency).

Roll the fondant out as thinly as possible and use a blossom cutter to cut a few blossoms. (You will not need all the blossoms, but I always make a few extra for breakage).

Take the blossom in your hand and pinch the edge of the petals with your fingertips to to soften and ruffle the flowers. Place in a former to dry. (I used small squares of aluminum foil that I bent to make and instant flower former. This way I could make them dry as flat or as cupped as I want.)

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STEP 5: CREATE CHOCOLATE SHOE

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18 Melt 6 oz. of the pink candy coating in a microwaveable bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Remove when 3/4 melted and stir until completely melted. Pour into one side of the high heel mold.

20 Remove the shoe from the mold.

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Place the second mold on top of the first and line them up exactly. Use the office binder clips to clip the two molds together. Lift and rotate the mold in the air until the entire mold is coated with pink.

(Make sure there are no air bubbles trapped in the mold. If you see any air pockets, tap and shake the mold until they fill in.) Gently rotate the mold in the air for 5 minutes. This will allow the coating to slowly cool down and evenly coat the inside of the mold. After 5 minutes, place the mold in the freezer for 20 minutes, making sure to ip the mold onto the opposite side every 4-5 minutes.

21 Use an x-acto knife to trim any overhanging coating if necessary

22 Let the shoe come to room temperature and for the condensation to dry before adhering to the cake. Once dry, add some melted coating under the ball and the heel of the shoe and attach to the cake.

24 23 Use a piece of wax paper to gently trace the instep of the shoe (do not put a lot of pressure on the shoe when doing this, you don’t want to break it.

Cut the template out, roll out a small thin layer of white fondant and use the template to cut the shape. Apply to the shoe with a light coating of water.

STEP 6: DETAIL IN GOLD AND ATTACH FLOWER

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Prepare your gold luster dust by Use the luster dust to paint parts of Next, trim the edge of the pink box mixing with some clear extract (or the royal icing pattern on the sides lid in gold. vodka). The consistency should be of the cake. similar to heavy cream. (Note: as you paint, the mixture may become thicker because the alcohol is evaporating. Occasionally add a few more drops of extract) www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 9

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Paint the edge of the instep of the Attach the flower to the shoe using Pipe or dab some of the royal icing shoe. a little melted coating. Paint the into the center of the flower. flower gold, leaving the center unpainted.

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Use a piece of wax paper to gently trace the instep of the shoe (do not put a lot of pressure on the shoe when doing this, you don’t want to break it.

Cut the template out, roll out a small thin layer of white fondant and use the template to cut the shape.

Apply to the shoe with a light coating of water.

Cakegirls is an online D.I.Y. cake supply where you can find easy modern how-to’s, products and inspiration to “make the cake and throw the party”.

All the products/instructions seen in the project can be found at http://thecakegirls.com/projects.html

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Super Hero Cake Pops

By Janine EshelbrennerUnited States

What is it about Father’s Day that makes finding the perfect gift such a challenge?

This year instead of another patterned tie or pair of slippers, melt your super Dad’s heart with these Super Hero Cake Pops made especially for him!

You will need: • Cake pops on sticks, made from your favorite cake pop recipe • Blue candy melts • Red soft eating liquorice or Fruit Roll Ups • Red disco dust • Meringue powder DOWNLOAD THE PDF

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• A small, food-safe paint brush • A styrofoam block or cake pop stand

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How to Make Super Hero Cake Pops Start by cutting your Fruit Roll Ups or liquorice into the shapes of super hero capes and chest emblems. Fold the narrower edge of the cape upward so that it will attach to your cake pops. (If you are using liquorice, you will need to atten the candy with a rolling pin before cutting your shapes.)

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Create a mixture of half meringue powder and half water. Use a small food-safe paint brush to apply a light coating of the mixture to your capes and chest emblems. Before the coating dries, sprinkle the shapes with disco dust to add some super hero sparkle. After the coating dries, gently shake off any excess disco dust and get ready to dip your cake pops.

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Start by microwaving your blue candy melts in a bowl on low power for 30-seconds at a time. Stop and stir after each 30-second interval then repeat until the coating is completely melted.

Dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melted coating and then into a cake ball, gently pushing until the stick is about half way through the cake ball. Stand the cake pops upright in a styrofoam block or cake pop stand until the coating hardens.

Once the coating has hardened, securing your cake balls on the sticks, you can begin dipping. If your blue coating has cooled or thickened, repeat the microwave heating process.

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Dip each cake pop straight down into the coating until the cake ball is completely covered and sealed. If you need to angle the cake pop, gently tilt it in one direction and then another. Do not stir the coating with the cake pop or it may fall off of the stick. Remove the cake pop from the melted coating by pulling it straight up.

Then, turn the cake pop at an angle and gently tap off any excess coating. Turn the cake pop upright.

Working quickly while the coating is still wet, attach a cape to the back of your cake pop and a chest emblem to the front. If you have trouble getting the shapes to stay, let your coating cool a little so that it is thicker and acts more like glue.

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Janine Eshelbrenner is the creator and author of the blog sugarkissed.net, where creative sweets are made simple! She has a passion for creating sugary treats that are easy to bake and decorate.

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INCREASE YOUR SOCIAL REACH WITH EMAIL / GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST WITH SOCIAL MEDIA PART 1 When you combine email and social media, you get one of the most cost-effective and powerful marketing combinations for business.

I know it’s a long title; but, when you combine email and social media, you get one of the most cost-effective and powerful marketing combinations for business I know of.

Your business may be using one or the other or maybe you are using both email and social media. However, to really be effective you need to combine them. If you are having trouble growing your social media, make sure everyone using your company email includes the company’s social media links in their email signature.

This could place your social media links in front of hundreds or thousands of people each month. If you currently aren’t using an email marketing service like Constant Contact, Vertical Response or MailChimp, I would recommend you look into it. That being said, let me disclose that I’m a Solution Provider

and Authorized Local Expert for Constant Contact, so I will be discussing Constant Contact features in this article.

You may be asking yourself...why do I need an email marketing service? Can’t I just use my Outlook account to market my business? Well, let me ask... can you track who opens your emails, who clicks on a link, or who has forwarded or shared your email with a friend? To sum it up: measurable results and tracking are the key reasons to use an email marketing service. After all, don’t you want results you can measure? Plus, services like Constant Contact have hundreds of templates you can customize to brand your emails, easily add photos, create coupons, manage several email lists and more. You can’t do this with Outlook, Gmail or other email providers. So, if you want to get serious about your online marketing, look into using an email marketing service.

Now that you’ve selected an email service, here is how you can grow your social media presence. First, create an invitation and invite your contacts to follow and like your business sites. Be sure to make it simple for them by including your social media links.

Your next step should be to create a good offer for your email readers and then make an exclusive offer, if they like your Facebook page. You can do this very simply with Constant Contact’s Social Campaigns which will hide the exclusive offer until they like the Facebook page. Once it is revealed, they can print out the offer to redeem in-store or online. I’ve worked with accounts that have used this technique and have been very successful increasing the likes to their Facebook page. Please remember that you should use this technique sparingly and the offer should be of real value.

Next time, we will cover how you can grow your email list using social media.

Ken is the owner of The Social Gloo, a new media marketing company specializing in social media management for business. Visit Ken at http://www.thesocialgloo.com.

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Cute Bear in Dog Costume

by Chef Nick Ang - Singapore Cake Over Heels

• Corn flour (for dusting) • Wooden toothpicks • Small knife

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

Tools & Equipment

• Small brushes • Edible glue • Foam Block

Gumpaste: Grey, White, Black, Brown, Blue 18 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

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Roll a piece of brown gumpaste into a small teardrop shape.

Insert a toothpick down the center of the teardrop, into a foam block as shown, to form the body.

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To form the hat, shape a piece of brown gumpaste between you thumb and index finger as shown to form a flat, mushroom-like shape.

Gently flatten two oval balls of brown gumpaste to form the feet.

Attach the feet to the body with some edible glue.

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Roll a piece of grey gumpaste into a ball, just slightly smaller than the height of the body.

Attach this to the top end of the toothpick to form the head. Shape a piece of white gumpaste into a ball, then flatten it on one side, then gently shape the flattened side into a concave, so that it fits nicely to the front of the head as shown, to form the mouth. Attach two small balls of black gumpaste for the eyes and a ball of blue gumpaste for the nose as shown.

Attach all pieces to each other with edible glue.

Attach the hat to the head as shown with edible glue.

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Flatten two teardrop shaped pieces of black gumpaste to form the two ears.

8 Attach the ears to the side of the hat as shown. Use the same techniques of the bear’s face to create the face of the dog on the hat.

9 To create the bear’s arms, start with a long teardrop shaped piece of brown gumpaste. Flatten the wider rounded end and attach a small ball of grey gumpaste to it with edible glue. Make two identical arms using this technique.

Front view of completed figurine.

Attach the arms to the body in any position you desire with edible glue.

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Top view of completed figurine.

Back view of completed figurine. Attach a small grey ball of gumpaste to the back of the body, towards the bottom, to form the bear’s tail.

Chef Nick is the executive chef and owner of Cake Over Heels (Singapore) and has been creating beautiful customized cakes for the last 5yrs.

You can view more of his work at www.cakeoverheels. com.

Allow the figurine to dry completely before handling. The toothpick may be left in or removed as desired before attaching to finished cake or cupcakes. The same technique may be used to dress up the bear in any other kind of costume just by modifying a few details and colors. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 21

Pricing Your Products By: Quincella C. Geiger

One of the most frequently asked questions when starting a business is…How do I set prices for my products/services? Further…Is there a simple formula that I use to help with pricing? If these questions were asked of 10 different bakers, chances are 6-8 answers would be different. Why? Because there are no forumlas guaranteed to work for everyone. There are no absolutes. When it comes to putting a price on what you make/create, you should do so based on research, thought and careful consideration of information gathered.

If you’re interested in getting started, here are some of the important things that should be considered: • The Type of Product(s) That You Offer – Are your baked goods created with the help of some type of pre-mixed ingredients OR are they made-from-scratch with fresh quality ingredients? Made-from-scratch products done the right way can usually fetch a higher price than products made from pre-mixed ingredients.

• Your Market – Where will you sell the products? Will you sell at farmer’s markets, food fairs, special events or from home only? Are your potential customers low-to-middle income or mid-to-upper income. In other words, do you anticipate a customer base that’s more likely to pay $20.00 OR $40.00 for a madefrom-scratch Pound Cake?

• The Competition – Are there bakers in your area selling products comparable to yours? If so, what are their prices? Do they offer discounts on quantity purchases? Can you price and sell your products to compete with theirs?

• Ingredient Cost – Taking the time to calculate the exact cost of each ingredient/item involved in producing your baked goods isn’t the most fun thing to do; but it’s necessary.

It’s important that you know exactly how much you’re investing in each product. The cost of packaging (cake boards, boxes, bags, etc.) should also be included.

• Labor – How long does it take to make a pound cake, a dozen cookies, a dozen cupcakes, or a specialty birthday cake from start (preping ingredients) to finish (cleaning up the baking area)? Time the process. Now give some thought to what your time is worth.

If this sounds like too much work, you can bypass all of it and simply charge what other bakers in your area charge for products similar to yours.

It’s quick and easy; but Not Recommended.

Copying someone else’s prices is simple but gives you no idea as to how much you’re investing in each of your products. Which means, you have limited knowledge of what’s really required to operate your business and generate a profit.

Need more help? The SBA (Small Business Administration) offers in depth step-by-step help, States with Cottage Food Laws sometimes offer tips on pricing. Additionally, there are self-help sources like books and websites.

With more than 20 years of experience, Quincella is an expert in home baking ventures. Her book “Bringing Home the Baking” deals specifically with Commercial Kitchen start-ups and operation. For information on Cottage Food Laws and Cottage Food Kitchen operations please visit her at http://www.bringinghomethebaking.com.

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Sugar & Spice

Kerry Vincent: the trailblazing, tough love champion for the sugar art industry.

Kerry Vincent didn’t get where she is today being a pushover.

If she was predictable, passive or as pliable as a well-made fondant, it’s doubtful that she would have earned the respect of millions in the sugar art world, or that she would have landed integral roles on television programs in the U.S. and Australia.

Rest assured, though, Kerry’s straightforward critiques, unswerving candor and seemingly infallible self-confidence aren’t feigned for a persona she adopted to get on TV. They’re part of who she is and has been long before producers came calling. And while she does have a softer side that her closest friends and family know well, her passion, dedication and commitment to the sugar arts would never let her be anything but honest and outspoken about the industry she loves and those within it.

“I think that people in the industry – both past and present – need to have a bit of a watchdog that notices things, and I’m okay with being that watchdog,” she says. “I’m not here to sugarcoat things; it’s not my style.”

Kerry and her father shopping for her birthday present after WWII

Kerry’s pragmatism and self-reliance were developed early when, as a young child growing up in Western Australia, she was tasked with helping her mum feed local shearers three meals and two teas each day. At a time when many little girls were pouring imaginary tea for their teddy bears, Kerry was serving real food to grown men. The years weren’t easy, but they instilled fortitude in Kerry and taught her to make really good cake.

As Kerry grew older, she began earning money via modeling jobs, and her beauty and poise took her to the state finals of the 1964 Miss Australia contest.

Then, in her late 20s, she left home for adventures abroad.

Over the next several years, Kerry traveled extensively and everywhere she went, from Singapore to Switzerland, she took cooking and baking courses.

While she was living in the United Kingdom, she met her husband, who worked in the oil business. His job took him around the world and while he was gone, 24 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Kerry looked for things to do.

“We had an apartment in London that was so tiny, I could clean and organize it in about 40 minutes, so I had plenty of time on my hands,” she says. Though small, her apartment was conveniently located near the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu, and Kerry Kerry Modeling in the 1960’s took advantage by enrolling in courses there.

“I’d always liked to decorate desserts, but most of what I did was patisserie style,” she comments.

“Tortes and cakes were part of it, but my focus was never on wedding cakes.”

Wedding cakes didn’t come into play until years later, after Kerry and her husband had settled in the United States. “I’d become friends with a lady named Chris, and she invited my husband and I to her son’s wedding,” Kerry recalls. “About two weeks before the wedding, she called me in a panic. The bride’s foster parents had withdrawn from the wedding arrangements and while she was already up to her eyeballs in planning the rehearsal dinner, she now had wedding details to organize as well.”

Remembering past conversations they’d had about baking, Chris asked Kerry if she could bake the wedding cake. “I told her that I could make good tasting cake and that I’d become good at piping through my courses at Le Cordon Bleu, but I said that I’d never

Immortalized in Lego!

stacked a cake, so I didn’t know if I could make a wedding cake,” remembers Kerry. “She asked me if I’d look into it, though, so off I went.”

Vincent Marquetry

Kerry visited a local cake decorating store and had a chat with the shopkeeper, who told her how to stack a cake, and showed her how to pipe a rose. “I bought some equipment, went home and made some roses that were as good as the ones I’d been shown,” says Kerry. “I thought I was a quick enough study to handle the job, so I called Chris and told her I would make the cake.”

The result was a cake so lovely and delicious, each of the bride’s six bridesmaids asked that Kerry make her wedding cake as well. The independent Aussie wouldn’t be swayed by others’ pleas, however.

“I wasn’t in the mood to be in the cake business because someone else wanted me to,” she says. “I wanted to think about it, so I told them that I had done that cake to help a friend and while I was glad to have had the experience, I wasn’t getting into the business of making cakes.”

One by one, Kerry sent each begging bride-to-be on her way, but the last one was particularly persistent. “She kept on about it for 18 months and I finally thought, ‘Oh, God, she really feels driven that I should do this,’” she recalls. “And so I told her I would do the cake, but I said, ‘If you tell anyone I did it, I will cut your tongue out, because I do not intend for this to be a full time business.’”

Of course, when asked by admirers at her wedding who had made her incredible cake, the bride didn’t keep quiet and before Kerry knew it, she had another group of bridesmaids asking for wedding cakes. “At this stage, I was planning a trip back to Australia and I decided to see what was going on in cake decorating over there,” she says. “I knew I didn’t want to do buttercream in the American way, because everybody and his dog was doing that. I decided that if I was going to do this, I would do it with rolled fondant and gum paste, which is what I’d grown up with.”

After a successful trip shopping in her native country, Kerry returned to the U.S. carrying a suitcase filled with books and equipment, and set out teaching herself how to decorate cakes with fondant and gum paste. “It was tedious, to say the least, because it’s

not so easy to learn from a book,” she comments. “It took quite a while to teach myself, but when I showed my first cake at a convention, an editor from the UK put it on her cover.”

Media focus on fondant and gum paste didn’t happen nearly so quickly in the U.S., but that didn’t discourage Kerry. She enjoyed the competition circuit, gathering hundreds of blue ribbons and Best of Show awards throughout the country. It was her desire to compete closer to her home in Tulsa that drove her and the late Maxine Boyington to start the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show in 1993.

“Maxine and I were sitting at my kitchen table one day, talking about how it would be nice to be able to compete without traveling thousands of miles from home,” she recalls. “The show in Oklahoma City had disappeared a couple of years prior and there was one in Kansas City that had kind of evaporated after that, and then there was nothing.”

After scouting out locations, the friends decided to launch their event at the Tulsa Promenade, a busy www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 25

gum paste have been the mediums of choice amongst competitors, even in a country where buttercream has reigned supreme. “These are such amazing, malleable substances, and you can create such huge showpieces with them,” Kerry comments. “The reality of the result, whether it’s people or flowers or some kind of figures, is that it’s hard to beat.”

Kerry on the set of The Great Australian Bake Off. Back to front left to right: Shane Jacobson and Anna Gare Hosts. Kerry Vincent and Dan Lepard Judges.

shopping mall. “We drew thousands and thousands of people but before long, the mall got savvy to the fact that vendor stalls were a great way to generate more income,” Kerry says. “We only came one weekend a year, and the mall couldn’t tell the stall holders they had to go that weekend, so while interest in the show was growing, we had less and less space to work with.” The next location search landed the show at its current location – the Tulsa State Fair.

While interest in the show was growing rapidly and space was no longer a concern, Maxine decided that her heart was still in competing in the show circuit rather than organizing a sizable annual event, so she left the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show in Kerry’s capable hands. In 1996, Kerry made the decision to add a wedding cake competition to the show, and the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition was born.

It was this competition that would open the door to television for Kerry.

“Food Network came to the 2002 show to film a special on the wedding cake competition,” she explains.

“During that time, they were also putting together Food Network Challenge.” The producers liked Kerry’s style and thought she was great in front of the camera, so they asked her to host the four sugar art shows they did, and be a judge on Food Network Challenge, a role she retains to this day.

Since the first show aired in 2003 rolled fondant and 26 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

As more and more Americans have discovered the endless possibilities fondant and gum paste present, the pendulum has swung this way for custom designs. “Bakeries still churn out more buttercream because time is of the essence for them,” Kerry comments. “But as the public becomes more aware and educated about what’s available, demand for rolled fondant and gum paste will continue to grow. I’ve advised bakeries who feel they don’t have time for fondant to spend slow times making gum paste flowers that they can later use on buttercream cakes.

There are no rules that say you can’t mix it up.”

So what advice would Kerry give to beginning sugar artists? “Anyone just starting out should take some Wilton classes for an immediate kick start,” she says.

“They just need to make sure that whoever they choose, that the instructor has some credentials, and has been teaching for at least a year or two. It’s not good for a beginner to be teaching a beginner.”

Next, Kerry advises to network with others who have similar interests. “This will help you grow faster,” she says. “I didn’t do this, but I think it’s a good idea to.”

She also suggests advanced Wilton classes for those wanting to expand beyond the beginner level, and then, she says, “if you want to get really involved in work that is more intricate and tedious, you need to teach yourself or find a class that fits what you’re looking for.”

A big warning she has, though, is to carefully assess the lesson and who’s giving it. “There’s a million video tutorials out there, and I see people claiming to be experts and teaching techniques that are absolutely wrong all the time,” she says. “I’ve seen some that actually make me want to throw up, because not only are they wrong, but they’re dangerous. There are some people teaching things like color application, and they’re using materials that aren’t even food approved.

They shouldn’t be getting away with it but they are, and as a leader in my community, I believe I have a responsibility for speaking out against it, become somebody is going to be harmed.” Editor’s note: Edible Artists Network will be featuring insights from Kerry and other industry leaders in an article on food safety in the next issue.

Also disturbing to Kerry are those who take credit for techniques that aren’t theirs. She believes (and rightfully so) that her predecessors deserve the respect and accolades they earned, and up-and-coming sugar artists should not only be learning correct techniques from knowledgeable instructors, they should know the truth about the origins of those techniques. “I see people on the internet claiming that they invented this technique or that technique and I have to ask, ‘Are you crazy?’ I have books proving that these techniques have been around before some of these people were even born!”

One technique others have claimed credit for is Kerry’s own. Her “inlay in sugar” technique, known in Australia & the United Kingdom and elsewhere as Vincent Marquetry, was actually invented by www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 27

Kerry quite accidentally in her kitchen. “I was working with a piece of paste one day when somebody rang me, and we talked a bit too long,” she recalls.

“I thought the paste was beyond using, and I found myself sitting there, still talking on the phone, while I was doodling with a cutter in the way people doodle with pencils on paper. I was cutting and cutting and wasn’t even watching what I was doing when suddenly, a piece dropped and I realized that I could make layers and layers of cutwork to give designs real depth and dimension, and I couldn’t wait to get off the phone and get to work! I did not invent inlay, the Greeks and Romans took care of that, in stone millennia ago, I simply did it in sugar!” “The rest, she says, “is history.”

And what does the future hold for Kerry? “I’ll do more TV; there’s no question about that,” she says.

In addition to Food Network Challenge, Kerry will be lending her judging talents to The Great Australian Bake Off, a network television show premiering in her homeland this year. “This is the very first time a cake artist has moved into mainstream TV,” she notes. “Everything else has been done on cable so far, so this is opening a door for others who have the ambition and inclination to walk through.”

While cake art, she says, is in its “teething stages,” this passionate, outspoken and dedicated trailblazer is optimistic about its future. She believes the industry is on the right path to becoming a universally respected art form, earning its place in museums, and she’s more than happy to help pave the way.

Kerry with fellow judge Dan Lepard on the set of The Great Australian Bake Off.

28 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Once a reluctant wedding cake designer, Kerry Vincent is now one of the cake industry’s leading advocates, vehemently honoring its history while helping to secure its future. Via television appearances and her annual Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show, Kerry educates the masses and attracts generations of artists, enthusiasts and consumers to the craft. She might not sugarcoat her words, but she says what she believes and fortunately for the industry, her expertise and razor-sharp candor has people listening.

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 29

Edible Artists Network Requests the honor of your presence‌

From This Cake Forward Welcome to our special wedding section featuring step-by-step tutorials, enlightening articles, informative product information, an exclusive buying guide, and more...

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Love Honor Cherish Screen Printing On Fondant

Tutorial

By Robin Martin Gateaux-Inc

DOWNLOAD THE PDF www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 31

1 Cut a ribbon to the diameter of the cake.

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2 Roll out a strip of fondant that is slightly longer than the ribbon.

It is important to only spread the Icing away from your hand to keep the Screen laying at.

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6 Brush the front and back of the fondant with cornstarch or powdered sugar.

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Lay the Silk Screen over the fondant. Hold the screen on one end and use an offset spatula to spread piping-consistency Royal Icing over the Screen.

32 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Using the thin side of a bowl scraper, scrape the Royal Icing off to the level of the screen. Be sure to scrape in the same direction that you spread the Icing. Do not push too hard on the bowl scraper, or it will stretch the fondant beneath the screen, causing the pattern to smear.

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There shouldn’t be any thickness to the royal icing remaining on the Screen.

Screen printing is sharpest when the only Royal Icing that is on the fondant is what was pressed through the screen. It should not be raised print. Be sure not to scrape the Royal Icing beyond the far edge of the screen.

Cover the fondant loosely with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. Rinse the screen with cool water, blotting any excess water off of the Screen with a lint free towel. Using a hair dryer on cool setting, or with a box fan aimed at the screen, make sure the screen is completely dry. It should only take 2-3 minutes.

Line up the clean Screen with the screen print on the fondant band, overlapping one pattern.

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You will be able to see the pattern through the clean screen to assure that you have lined the Screen up properly.

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12 Immediately remove the Screen from the fondant.

Use Masking tape to tape off the portion of the Screen that is over the already printed fondant. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 33

13 17 14 Screen print the remaining length of the fondant.

Line up a second ruler with the bottom edge of the parchment template.

Remove the parchment, and trim the bottom edge with a pizza cutter.

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Trim a piece of parchment paper to 1 ¾” wide. Center the parchment template on the printed fondant to determine where to trim the edge of the fondant ribbon.

16 Use a pizza cutter to trim the top edge of the fondant ribbon.

34 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Place the fondant covered cake on a low turn table.

Using the parchment template as a guide, brush the bottom 1 ¾” of the cake with water.

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Screen print two more fondant ribbons. Cut one to 11” and the other to 8” long.

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Attach the printed fondant ribbon to the bottom of the cake, letting the rest of the ribbon gently slope from the surface of the table onto the low turntable.

Notch the bottom of the 8” ribbon into a “V” with a paring knife, then brush the back side of the ribbon with water.

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Attach the ribbon to the cake, being sure to cover the seam of the fondant band with the longest part of the ribbon. Trim the excess ribbon off the top edge of the tier.

Gently smooth the printed fondant ribbon onto the cake and trim off any excess length with a paring knife.

Repeat this process using the “Honor” and “Cherish” Silk Screens on the middle and bottom tiers of cake.

24 Brush the top 2” of the back side of the 11” ribbon with water. Then, fold over the ribbon to form a loop www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 35

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Brush the back side of the loop with water, and attach it to the notched ribbon. Use plastic wrap to hold the notched ribbon tails away from the tier.

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Once all three tiers have their ribbon bands, dowel and stack the tiers. Then, repeat the bow loop process for the “Honor” and “Cherish” tiers, trimming the loops even with the tier above them.

Use Royal Icing to attach the flowers to the cake. You make three pink flowers and use the third one as the cake topper. Otherwise, look for the tutorial for the topper flower on our Shop Gateaux Page accessible through our Facebook Page or the home page of Gateaux web site. www.gateaux-inc.com

Robin Martin, owner of Gateaux Inc., has been creating unique cakes for seventeen years. With no formal training, she enjoys experimenting with non-traditional methods of cake decorating.

You can visit Robin at www.gateaux-inc.com.

36 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

5 Strategies for Sweet Success in the Wedding Cake Business The wedding market is extremely competitive, with good reason. With over 2 million weddings annually, the wedding industry generates over $53 billion each year.

them. Be sure to leave a blank space on the back.

As tempting as it is to break into the wedding cake market, you’ll need your smarts to beat your competition to the wedding cake payday.

You immediately stand out, get remembered and eventually referred.

Here are six strategies you can use to break into the wedding market.

Every time you go to a networking event or deliver a cake, send your clients and the wedding vendors you meet a postcard with a personal handwritten note.

3. Go for the bag instead of the booth at a bridal show.

Networking is the fastest way to get leads.

Just one relationship with another wedding business can generate hundreds of referrals.

Bridal shows are a guaranteed way to meet brides, but they can also be expensive. Instead of paying anywhere from $500 - $1,000 or more for a booth, have your brochure added to the gift bag each bride gets when registering. You’ll get in front of those coveted bridal show leads for a fraction of the cost.

Here’s how it works:

4. Give the gift of engagement cupcakes.

Identify five wedding venues or caterers that DON’T have an in house baker. Make sure they specialize in mid to high end weddings.

Find the announcements of newly engaged couples in the newspaper. Look up the bride’s name on Facebook and message her with an offer for a free “engagement celebration” cupcake.

1. Use the “Sweet Talk” networking strategy.

Bake an especially delectable batch of cupcakes and deliver them in person.

While they gobble up your goodies, offer to volunteer your services for their next tasting or bridal event.

When you identify the right networking targets, providing these delicious freebies is an investment that wins fans and generates referrals.

2. Send an Unforgettable Postcard.

We used this strategy to break into the wedding business when we were newbies.

Print some postcards (get them super cheap from Vistaprint.com) with your smiling face on

When the couple redeems their engagement cupcake coupon, get their email or mailing address and permission to follow up. You’ll be their number one choice when it’s time to order the cake.

5. Start a referral rewards program.

Give your customers a free cupcake or credit towards their next order for each person they refer. Build this into your regular email, Facebook page or direct mail promotion and watch the referrals roll in.

If you want a thriving wedding cake business, channel your creativity and your culinary talents into your marketing. Follow these strategies and you’ll make a big splash in your local wedding market in no time.

Stephanie Padovani shares oodles of free wedding marketing strategies like these at BookMoreBrides.com. She and her husband empower wedding business professionals with low cost, effective marketing strategies and powerful “anti-price shopper” communication techniques so they can book more weddings at higher prices...without resorting to sleazy, high-pressure sales tactics or competing on price. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 37

Bride and Groom Tutorial

By Rouvelee Ilagan – Australia Rouvelee’s Creations

Equipment:

Materials:

• pasta machine • weighing scale • 2 mm ball tool • 6 mm ball tool • piping tip 4 • piping tip 11 • paintbrush • knife or blade • plastic knife • scissors • straw • texture mat • 15 mm oval cutter • frilling tool

• modelling paste • tylose glue • cornflour • colours: black, red, green, brown • flesh coloured petal dust • toothpicks • bamboo skewers

Modelling Paste Portions:

DOWNLOAD THE PDF 38 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

PART GROOM: Head Eyes Eyebrows Nose Ears Body Neck Pants Shoes Jacket Arms Hands Hair BRIDE: Head Eyes Eyebrows Nose Ears Body Skirt Top Sash Roses Leaves Arms Hair

COLOUR

AMOUNT (G)

Ivory Brown Brown Ivory Ivory White Ivory Black Black Black Black Ivory Brown

50 g roll on 4, tip 4 small piece small piece roll on 1, tip 11 10 g 3g 10 g 4g medium piece, roll on 4 5g pea size medium piece

Ivory Brown Brown Ivory Ivory Ivory White White Black Red Green Ivory Brown

50 g roll on 4, tip 4 small piece small piece roll on 1, tip 11 10 g 40 g roll on 5 with mat roll on 6 roll on 6, oval cutter roll on 6, oval cutter pea size x 2 medium piece

Recipes: Modelling Paste • 1/2 tsp tylose/cmc • 250g fondant/rtr icing Knead the tylose into the icing until all the powder has been incorporated. Only use the amount you need to work with at a given time and keep the rest in a zip lock bag when not in use.

Tylose Glue • 1/4 tsp tylose/cmc • 2 tbspn warm water Mix the tylose and water together. Leave overnight to allow the tylose powder to melt.

Store in the refrigerator when not in use.

Prep Work • Colour modelling paste according to chart.

• Portion modelling paste according to chart.

Groom’s Jacket Pattern 7.5 cm

4 cm

7 cm

Groom 1. HEAD - Roll head into a crack-free ball, then into a rounded square shape.

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2. Use your finger to indent the face halfway across.

3. Indent eye sockets with a 2 mm ball tool. Mark an opening for the mouth with a straw.

4. EYEBROWS - Roll a small piece of brown paste, tapered to a point on both ends. Cut the ends with a knife and use these ends for eyebrows.

Position eyebrows above the eye sockets and stick with glue.

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5. NOSE - Roll a small piece of ivory paste for nose.

EYES – Roll brown paste through the pasta 4 machine on setting 1.

Use a piping tip 4 to punch out two small disks (see portion chart).

Roll these small disks into balls and attach to eye sockets with glue.

EARS (see portion chart) 5 - Roll the ears into egg shapes. Stick each egg shape to the side of the head. Align top of ears with eyes. Use the end of a paintbrush to push down and elongate the ears. Bride’s head is done in a similar way as the groom’s. Insert a toothpick through the heads and leave to dry overnight. Dust some flesh coloured dust on the cheeks of the bride. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 39

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6. BODY – Roll body into a rounded square shape. Mark a line through the centre.

7. Roll a piece of flesh paste into log for neck and attach to body. Add a strip of white paste around neck for collar.

Put a skewer through the body and neck to predefine a hole.

8. PANTS – Roll paste into a log and cut in half. Use a 6mm ball tool to indent holes at the bottom of each leg pant.

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9. SHOES – Roll paste into a slightly elongated shape.

10. Cut in half and shape each half into a rounded back with a pointed front.

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11. Stick legs to shoes and put a skewer through each leg.

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12. Stick body onto legs and put a skewer through the neck.

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13. JACKET – Roll black paste (see portion chart). Using the pattern provided, cut out a piece and wrap it around the body, starting from the front and ending at the front. Fold the upper corners diagonally for collar, and pinch the excess paste at the shoulders.

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14. Cut off the excess paste with scissors.

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15. BOW TIE – Cut out a strip of black icing.

Cut in half. Fold each strip onto itself and pinch at the centre.

16. Position the bow on the groom’s collar.

Finish off with a round piece of paste for the centre of the bow.

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Bride 17. BODY - Roll the paste into a cone.

Tapered end will be the waist.

18. Use your finger and indent halfway.

Flatten the lower part leaving the upper half rounded for the breast area.

19. Pinch the top and roll out the paste to create a neck and define the shoulders.

Use the handle of a paintbrush to mark breasts. Use your fingers to soften the breasts and keep them rounded.

20. Trim the waist and put a skewer through the neck and body.

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21. SKIRT - Roll paste into a cone shape.

Trim off the top and bottom so you have 25 a flat base and top. Use the handle of a paintbrush to mark folds on the skirt. Use a plastic knife to mark fine lines on the skirt.

22. TOP - Roll paste in pasta machine with a texture mat. Cut the paste so it is big enough to wrap around the body. Trim a ‘v’ at the centre of the top and curve 26 towards the sides to create a ‘sweetheart’ style to the top.

23. Wrap this piece around the body and stick with glue. Attach body to the skirt.

24. SASH & BOW - Roll and cut a strip of black paste long enough to wrap around the waist. Cut another strip and trim 2 27 tails. Shape 2 bows from another strip of black paste, similar to how you did the groom’s bow.

25. Attach the tails and bow to the right side of the waist. Finish off bow with a tiny round ball in the centre.

26. ROSES – Roll out the red paste and cut out some oval shapes using a small oval cutter. Roll each oval shape onto itself so you have a spiral cone.

27. LEAVES – Roll out the green paste and cut out some oval shapes using the oval cutter. Fold the oval shape in half and, squeeze and roll the bottom half for stem. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 41

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28. Arrange the roses in a bunch and add some leaves.

29. Position bride next to the groom. Put on their heads to check the spacing of the figures, but do not glue the heads yet.

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30. GROOM’S ARMS – Roll out paste into a log and cut in half.

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31. RIGHT ARM - Check the length of the arm against the body and trim any excess.

Trim from the top and cut in a diagonal angle.

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32. Use the end of a paintbrush or a frilling tool, to create a hole at the base of the arm to hold the hand.

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33. LEFT ARM – Trim the left arm the same way as you did the right arm. Use a plastic knife to indent a crease halfway on the arm.

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34. Attach arms to body. Slightly bend the left arm outward. Attach a single rose on the left collar jacket.

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35. HANDS – Roll paste into a small log and cut in half.

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36. Elongate each half into a log. Flatten one end, and this will be the hand. From the base of the hand, continue to roll and thin out the paste to create wrist and the connecting arm.

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37. Use a knife and trim out excess paste to separate a thumb from the hand. Don’t bother creating fingers as the hand is quite small. Do this for both hands.

38. For cuffs, cut out a strip of white paste and wrap it around the wrist of both hands.

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39. Trim arms off the hands as necessary and insert hands into arms. Attach with glue.

40. BRIDE’S ARMS – Roll paste into logs.

Check the length of the log against the body and trim if necessary.

41. Position your little finger close to the end of the log and roll to create a wrist. Flatten the rounded end for the hands. Position your finger midway along the log and roll again to define the forearm and upper arm. Use a knife to trim off paste between the thumb and the finger section. Trim the thumb if necessary.

42. For the right arm, bend the arm midway.

Use the back of a knife to mark skin folds where the arm bends.

43. Attach left arm to the body and position the bouquet in the hand with glue. Attach right arm to the body, making her hand touch the groom’s hand.

44. HAIR – Do this for both heads. Roll out a piece of brown paste, big enough to wrap around a head.

45. Gather ends of the paste around the head to cover the back, sides, and top of the head. Make them join to create a hair part. For the groom, it’s on one side. For the bride, it’s on the centre. Trim excess paste with scissors.

46. Roll pieces of brown paste to create fringe and attach to head.

47. Roll pieces of brown paste for loose hair strands and curl in a spiral. Attach to the sides of the bride’s face.

48. HAIRBUN – Roll a piece of brown paste into a ball and flatten the bottom. Attach hair bun to the top of the head. Texture hair of both heads with the back of a knife. Glue head to skewers. Add some earrings to the bride if you wish by rolling tiny white balls, and attach them to the bride’s earlobes.

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Rouvelee Ilagan is the owner of Rouvelee’s Creations, a business located in Victoria, Australia, specializing in cakes and toppers for all occasions.

Rouvelee is also one of the artists at Cake Masters, a new learning site for cake decorating www.cakemasters. com or https://www.facebook. com/cakemastersdotcom.

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 43

Learn from Cake Decorating from The Masters!

Near Addison, IL Queen Of Hearts Couture Cakes – London Award Winning Masters of Buttercream Art Valeri Valeriano and Christina Ong are coming to the Chicagoland area in September!

Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from these masters!

Valeri and Christina will teach you how to turn your cakes into masterpieces of edible art!

Wednesday September, 18th – 10am to 4pm Flower Pots Master Class • Tuition: $360 Featuring: • Making best buttercream recipe with the right consistency perfect for piping • Tinting techniques for buttercream • Techniques to achieve flat-top cupcakes • How to achieve perfectly smooth cake/cupcake finish • Principles of piping • How to pipe 6-7 different kinds of flowers and learn how to pipe directly on the cake as well as techniques in lifting a Rose

Thursday September, 19th - 10am to 4pm Animal Print + Rose Flower Piping Buttercream Master Class Tuition: $360 Featuring: • Making best buttercream using our secret recipe with the right consistency perfect for piping • Learning to do fashionable animal print - Snake Skin and Leopard Print - using our very own special technique. TAKE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT JUST PIPED AND EMBOSSED, IT IS IMPRINTED IN BUTTERCREAM. • Tinting techniques for buttercream • Vital principles of piping • How to achieve perfectly smooth cake/cupcake finish • Free-hand piping/drawing • Pattern transfer techniques • Rose flower piping and lifting technique • Cakes will be done in 2-tiered round dummy cake 6in and 4in Tuition includes all materials, handouts, signature recipes, lunch, refreshments, and certificate.

Classes are limited to 20 seats per class so BOOK YOUR SEAT NOW! Please visit http://www.edibleartistsnetwork.com/queen-of-hearts for more details and to register!

Or call Cheryl at 404/838-8375.

The West Tennessee Sugar Artists are proud to announce our

Second Annual Sugar Arts Show and Competition being held in

Memphis, TN Sept. 6th,7th and 8th, 2013 Jay Qualls, Celebrity Cake Designer, and Dana Herbert, of Desserts by Dana and winner of the Next Great Baker Series, Season One, will be our guest judges. They will each teach classes, along with the President of our organization, assisted by our members.

For more information, go to:

www.westtnsugarartists.org JAY QUALLS

DANA HERBERT

Class and competition registrations are limited so enroll now!

Specializing in…

• Sugar Art Instruction • Cake Decorating Tools • Ready-To-Use Isomalt Tiles

Wedding Fads

Coming to Chicago in October 2013…

More Details to Follow For design ideas, tips, free tutorials, and class schedule please visit www.simicakes.com.

Simi Cakes & Confections, LLC

Contact us today at info@simicakes.com or (321) 543-3492 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 45

Summer of Love Bride

By Trina Thomson – Sweet Ruby Cakes

DOWNLOAD THE PDF 46 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Material List: • White RTR Fondant Icing • Small amount of Black fondant icing • CMC powder or Tylose • Ivory , Pink, Black, Brown and Yellow Gel Paste or food colour.

• Small amount of coloured fondant for eye colour.

• Pink petal dust • Small polystyrene cone • Skewers • Toothpicks • edible glue • Crisco or Piping Gel • Balling tool • Foam flower pad • Modelling tool • Small flower cutter • Paring knife • Small paintbrush • Small piece of tulle or netting • Polystyrene block to support the model

TUTOR TIP

This character is modelled entirely in fondant. It is important to use firm paste, so add a pinch of CMC powder to the paste before you begin to achieve extra strength.

1. Colour your icing with Ivory and a tiny amount of pink till you achieve a soft skin tone. Roll a ball about the size of a ping pong ball. Be sure to add a pinch of CMC powder for strength. Slightly elongate it so it is more of an oval shape.

Make a hole for the O of the mouth. Form a small oval ball for the nose. To make the eyes, make a small white pea sized ball and squash it flat on to the face to create a round shape. To make the iris, continue with the coloured fondant, making the circle smaller. Place a very small circle of black for the pupil and flatten out.

To make the eyelids, roll out a thin piece of flesh coloured fondant and cut out a circle with the large end of a piping tip. Cut a strip out of the middle to create two half moon shapes. Stick over the eyes. Roll a very small sausage of black fondant and make it finer at one end. Apply along the edge of the eyelid to create eyelashes.

To make the lips, form a small pink ball and elongate it to a ‘tic tac’ shape. Apply over mouth hole and score across to seperate the lips.

Accentuate the hole in the centre to give her a pout.

Paint or draw on eyebrows in a soft brown.

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2. For the hair, roll some pale yellow fondant into a teardrop shape and glue it to the back of the head and up to the hairline with a little edible glue. Make a few marks using a modelling tool or skewer to create hair strands. Place two sausages of fondant on the hairline to create a fringe. Score to create hair lines and taper at the ends.

For the bun, make a yellow ball and score with hair lines. Place on a toothpick and sit separately.

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3. Roll a ball of flesh fondant with some CMC powder into a sausage and stroke the paste halfway along to create the back of the knee. Roll one end into a long bottle-neck shape to create the calf, leaving a little at the end for the foot. Flatten the foot at an angle and pinch the end to tip up the toes. Make a second leg the same way. To bend the leg, press the back of a knife into the back of the knee and bend the paste to the angle required.

Place a toothpick in each end and leave to dry flat as pictured.

4. Place a strong skewer into a polystyrene cone.

Snip the sharp end off so there is a flat area for the neck. Cover the cone in piping gel or Crisco.

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5. Roll out white fondant thinly and cut into strips long enough to go around the cone. Using your balling tool, frill one edge of the strip. Starting from the bottom, place around the edge of the cone.

Continue to lay frills over each other till you reach the top of the cone.

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6. Roll some esh fondant into a sausage and divide in half. Stroke the paste at one end to make a wrist, leaving a tiny piece of paste at the end for the hand.

Flatten the hand and cut a V shape into it to create the thumb. Trim the remaining portion into an angle to give shape to the hand. Repeat to make the other arm, making sure the thumb is on the other side.

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7. Apply a little edible glue to the shoulder area of the body and apply the arms. Bend to adjust them so she is holding her arms against her chest.

Add a little CMC to a small sausage of esh coloured fondant and place on the top to create the neck.

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8. Roll out some white fondant and punch out 15 small flowers. Place a centre of yellow fondant in each flower.

8 9. Make a small ball of fondant and place on a toothpick. Place the toothpick into the foam body and stick the flowers around the ball to shape the bouquet.

10. Cut a small rectangular piece of netting or tulle.

Gather at one end and place on head with some edible glue. Place the toothpick with the ball of hair over the top and secure with some more edible glue.

Hold in place for a minute or so till it sets.

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Place a ring of flowers around the bun line to hide the join.

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11. To make the shoes, flatten a small oval of white fondant and stick to the bottom of the foot. Make a small strip of fondant to create a strap over the toes.

Create a small cone shape and glue to the bottom of the sole for a heel.

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12. To create the garter belt, roll out a thin strip of fondant. Cut out a small rectangle and frill both sides. Attach to either leg. Cut out another very thin strip and stick in the middle as the garter band.

12 13. Once the figure has dried a little, push the legs into place, using the toothpicks to secure them into the foam body. Try to cover up the main skewer with the back leg so it is not visible. Attach the head with some edible glue and support to dry.

Trina graduated with a Fine Arts Diploma. After leaving school she used her experience in drawing and sculpting and applied it to the sugar arts. After studying at confectionary college in Toronto, she returned to Australia where she started a cake design business, Sweet Ruby Cakes. Trina also teaches her figurines and specialty cakes through Whimsical Cakehouse in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

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The Importance of Wedding Cakes to Your Cake Business For centuries, wedding cakes have been the main centerpiece at every wedding ceremony. The first three thoughts when visualizing a wedding usually starts with the Dress, of course a Wedding Ring, & the Wedding Cake. The groom at times, may even seem to be a minor detail. Some weddings may even choose not to serve a full meal, or may not have music & dancing, but sure enough there will always be a wedding cake. History tells us, the wedding cake is a symbol of the unity between two people in marriage & by eating the cake, the

newlyweds will be blessed with good fortune. Some additional symbolism includes its traditional white color, symbolic of the bride’s virginity & purity. As well as, several years ago wedding cakes were traditionally made with fruitcake to symbolize fertility. All weddings alike, whether it is a crazy million-dollar event or a small & quaint ceremony at the local park, the wedding cake is a necessary symbolic piece of the ceremony.

In a study conducted by TheKnot.com, most American couples spent an average of $28,500 to tie the knot in 2012, not including the honeymoon.

That’s an increase of $1,400 from 2011. In expensive cities such as New York, Chicago, & Los Angeles, weddings have an average cost of $75,000$65,000. The average cost of a wedding dress was about $1,200 & the average number of guests was 139 in 2012.

With these fun facts in mind, let’s take a look at the opportunity for an available budget for a wedding cake. Traditionally to most brides, the wedding cake is the 2nd most important element of a wedding following the dress. With the average dress costing about $1,200, approximately 5% of the average budget, then conservatively we can assume that an available average budget for a wedding cake would be about the same. As business owners we must recognize the fabulous opportunity to make a beautiful cake for a special occasion & still have the opportunity to remain profitable.

Along with a healthy available budget, from my own experience of supplying cake artists in the baking

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industry, I have found in the past several years that the standard “Wedding Season” seems to be lengthening. In the past, traditionally, wedding season was structured around the months of good weather such as June, August, September, & October. However, in recent years, I have noticed more weddings are being scheduled in less popular months such as March, April, May & November stretching the available opportunity to sell a wedding cake by 3-4 extra months. From a small business perspective, what another fantastic opportunity for steady business! I believe that the lengthening of the season is due to the recession, and that couples are now exploring their wedding dates during less expensive months to be able to save on all expenses. This change in climate is great for any wedding cake business because now the busy season is healthier 9 months out of the year, whereas the past season was only 4-5 months of the year.

Wedding Cakes vs Custom Cakes

Artist will be able to more accurately deduce how much time & ingredients will be needed to complete a traditional wedding cake design. Offering wedding cakes will allow for providing a high margin product with more accurate costing, now that’s good business. I believe that offering custom cakes is a great asset to any cake business & should continued to be offered, but wedding cakes are a more sustainable product line which will lead to more predictable & consistent business.

Increasing Profitability in Your Cakes Designing cakes is a very profitable business, & as a Cake Artist an important practice to keep in mind when doing the wedding cake consultation is “stick to your strengths.” If for example, your specialty is fondant work, then try to showcase your fondant designs to persuade your clients to order a fondant cake. Sticking to your specialties allows you to sell a more familiar design, decorating process, & also allows you to know better how much time will be

In recent years, with the extreme cakes shown on popular cake television shows, the emergence of custom cakes has been in great demand.

“Everyone” wants a unique custom design & cake artists love the refreshing challenge of a new design to master. However, the risks involved with custom cakes are the uncertainty of time & materials needed to complete the cake, which could potentially lead to improper costing of the cake itself. A custom cake could take a few short hours to complete, or even all night depending on difficulty & unforeseen obstacles.

Using time effectively is the most important asset that a cake artist must manage; as the saying goes in the workplace, “time is money.” Wedding cakes, with their more traditional “template” of a tiered cake & classic style, are far more predictable to plan out. With repetition, the Cake www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 53

needed to complete the cake. Hopefully this results in proper pricing with a healthy margin & an increased opportunity to sell more cakes. As a business owner & cake artist (whether professional or hobbyist), your time is NOT free, so please don’t give it away on cakes that will occupy your available time to complete other cakes. Your hours have a cost, whether it is an hourly dollar amount or an opportunity to spend time with your family. Misbudgeting your time could result in a loss of opportunity to complete more cake orders which results in loss of profit, or the missing of precious family moments. Another effective way to help increase profitability is to find ingredients & cake decorations that you believe in that will save you time. There are a lot of sources that provide high quality cake ingredients that take much less time & work to prepare & still taste delicious.

Making gumpaste flowers by hand involves a great deal of time, whether you are an expert or beginner. Sourcing readymade gumpaste flowers & decorations is another great way to save several hours of your time per cake. By sourcing affordable readymade sugar flowers & décor, the cake artist can save hours, & as I mentioned before “time is money” so saving time is saving money.

Why Working with Fondant Will Help Improve Your Business Harnessing & being comfortable working with fondant is an essential skill for a cake artist to become profitable. For many, fondant is a scary thing, & an even tougher cake sale at times because many clients may not prefer fondant cakes, but lets not ignore the facts.

If for example the standard market price per slice of a buttercream cake is $3 per slice, a fondant cake demands a $2-$7 markup in price because fondant work is a specialty skill, & the cake could be priced $5-$10 per fondant slice. Offering fondant cakes creates an opportunity to make double the money of a buttercream cake, while relatively taking the same amount of time to complete the cake. What a deal! A fair way to double your profits instantly.

So, I encourage you to find a brand of readymade rolled fondant that you are comfortable working with & continue to educate yourself by taking classes with experienced cake instructors or even searching the internet & YouTube for free tutorials.

Developing your fondant skills will only result in added value to your cakes & increased profitability.

In conclusion I honestly believe that being a Cake Artist & having a cake business can be very profitable & is a great way to practice ethical business. Few people have the option to pursue their passion as a profession.

It is very important to understand that your time is important & must be properly budgeted.

Sometimes the blessing of being able to do what you love everyday as a career can make you feel as if “It’s ok if a cake takes me all night to complete, because I genuinely love it.” True, you may love decorating, but in the end, cakes are still a business & family still needs time dedicated. Finding a healthy balance will result in a long lasting healthy business. Hopefully, some of my tips & suggestions will be able to help you & your business along the way. Cake on!

Alan was born into the bakery business by growing up in his parents successful Southern California full service bakery turned specialty wedding cake studio. As a child, Alan could be found either sleeping on the flour sacks or making a Marble Cake & Custard sandwich while hiding in the walk-in freezer to escape the California heat. Through his family’s journey, Alan recognized the large amount of time, effort, & dedication needed to put into a successful bakery. The amount of sacrifice given by his parents has inspired Alan to help other cake businesses work more efficiently while still increasing profitability. “The beauty about the cake industry is the opportunity for artists to pursue their passion as a profession.” Alan now works with Caljava International, the largest source for Sweet Inspiration readymade Gumpaste Flowers & home of FondX Rolled Fondant. Caljava aims to provide beautiful cake decor to amazing cake artists. www.CaljavaOnline.com or www.facebook.com/Caljava.

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Beryl’s Cake Dec & Pastry Supplies

Supply Guide

Beryl Loveland 5520 Hempstead Way Springfield, VA 22151 800-488-2749 Fax: 703-750-3779 beryls@beryls.com www.beryls.com Exciting and unique decorating supplies.

Tags: chocolate transfer sheets, cupcake papers, colors, sprinkles, cutters

Cake Connection Diane Simmons 1948 Lansing Ave • Jackson, MI 49202 517-990-0880 • info@cakeconnection.com www.cakeconnection.com • www.facebook.com/CakeConnection Offering supplies for cake, candy & cookie decorating, including all your gelatin flower & bow supplies. Brands include CK Products, Wilton, FMM, PME, JEM Cutters, Designer Stencils, Fondarific, Satin Ice, Bakery Craft, DecoPac and soooo much more!

Tags: cake decorating supplies, gelatin, sugar dippers

CakeSafe Juli or Scott Chapin 21 Blooming Place • Wakefield, RI 02879 401-533-3636 • CakeSafe@gmail.com www.CakeSafe.com CakeSafe makes the famous CakeSafe transportation box for tiered cakes of almost any size. We also make an air brush spray booth which eliminates the typical over spray problem.

And we make an affordable sugar box for sugar artists.

Tags: Cake decorating supplies

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The Cookie Cutter Company offers low cost, high quality cookie cutters in a hundreds upon hundreds of styles. Our pricing, combined with our wide selection of designs and fast shipping, makes The Cookie Cutter Company a leading provider of unique bakeware items.

Created with the idea that baking should be fun and easy, The Cookie Cutter Company seeks to offer buyers a one-stop site for their design needs. Our knowledgeable staff is eager to assist you with everything from decorating ideas and tips to product care and recipe suggestions.

Visit us today!

www.cookiecuttercompany.com

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Gateaux Inc.

Photo Frost

Robin Martin 15705 35th Ave. N. Plymouth, MN 55447 763-577-9815 • gateaux-

Tricia Holas 21051 NE Highway 27 • Williston, FL 32696 352-528-9292 • Fax: 352-528-7680 sales@photofrost.com •www.photofrost.com www.facebook.com/photofrost

inc@msn.com www.gateaux-inc.com Facebook URL https://apps.facebook.com/ecwid-shopstore/331154735494 Gateaux Inc.’s online store selling Silk Screens, Stencils, and other unique products for cake decorators.

Tags: Silk Screens for Cake Decorating, Cake Stencils, Cake Decorating Equipment, Aprons, Silk Screens, Stencils, tutorials

Icing Images Debbie Coughlin 161 Prosperity Ave Suite 106 • Winchester, VA 22602 540-869-5511 • sales@icingimages.com www.icingimages.com • www.facebook.com/IcingImages Icing Images is a one stop shop for edible printing and edible paper art supplies. We offer edible printing systems, edible ink, icing sheets, electronic cutters, food safe die cutting machines and more!

Tags: cake decorating supplies, edible printing, icing sheets, edible image, iiDesigns, frosting sheet

With 15 years experience PhotoFrost, offers top quality icing sheets and edible inks. PhotoFrost is currently the only USA manufacturer producing both Icing Sheets and edible ink cartridges in-house. The PhotoFrost name equates with high quality personal photos on cakes backed with top shelf customer service and support.

Tags: Icing Sheets, Edible Inks, Made in USA

Simi Cakes & Confections, LLC Sidney Galpern 1609 N Wickham Road • Melbourne, FL 32934 321-543-3492 • info@simicakes.com www.simicakes.com hwww.facebook.com/pages/Simi-Cakes-Confections/1214 35164568456?ref=hl Crystal Clear Isomalt, Designer Silicone Molds, & Sugar Tools. Cake Decorating, Isomalt, & Chocolate Classes with International Instructor, Cert. Professional Chocolatier, and Sugar Artist Sidney Galpern www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 57

Tasty Prints Amanda • hello@tastyprintsllc.com www.tastyprints.com • www.facebook.com/tastyprints Tasty Prints offers a wide array of edible printed products including: Precision cut prints, cake wraps, cookie tops, cupcake decorations and more! We also make custom printed decorative cupcake wrappers.

Tags: cupcake toppers, cake toppers, edible peacock feathers, cupcake wrappers, cupcake wraps, cookie toppers, edible print, custom, logos, edible, edible decorations, cake wrap, cake decoration

WeddingCakeStand.net Brandi PO Box 242 • Bee Branch, AR 72013 • 501-654-8886 • info@weddingfads. com www.weddingcakestand.net • www.facebook.com/pages/ WeddingFads/155445147803526 We supply an exclusive line of Wedding Cake Stands that are unique as well as stylish and affordable.

Tags: wedding cake stands, wedding cake pedestals, diamond bouquet cuff, crystal cake toppers, diamond ribbon, crystal ribbon, diamond cake stand, crystal cake stand

Weddingcuts.com Aaron Ellsworth 2700 E. Lanark St. • Meridian Idaho, 83642 877-292-0646 • Fax 208-846-9445 sales@weddingcuts.com • www.weddingcuts.com We custom manufacture monogram cake toppers in many different fonts, sizes, material types, paint colors, and crystal colors. Each is custom made to your specifications.

Tags: cake toppers 58 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Connect with resources to advance your art and grow your small business … visit our online community for more great information… www.edibleartistsnetwork.com

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After several months in development we are excited to announce the launch of our new social pinboard

Edible Artists Network Pinboard!

The EAN Pinboard is the ONLY social pinboard exclusively for home bakers & sugar artists.

Start sharing your pins … it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 ……

1. Go to www.edibleartistsnetwork.com and click on the menu item called “Pinboard.” Once you land on the EAN Pinboard site click on the register button in the upper right corner and create an account.

2. Go to the “About Us” button in the upper right corner and click “Pin It EAN.”

3. Drag the “Pin It” button to your bookmarks bar.

And start pinning!

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The “Pin It” button allows you to pin images and videos from around the web and add them to your EAN Pinboard boards. Just click the button when you see something you want to pin!

Provide us with your feedback/questions/comments etc. by sending an email to cheryl@edibleartistsnetwork.com.

November 15 ~ 1 7, 2013 Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Centre Hotel SCHAUMBURG, ILLINOIS

All Your Cake Decorating Needs Under One Roof a n a h T e Mor w o h S g n i Bak EXPLORE • DISCOVER • SHOP For exhibitor information:

info@americasbakingandsweetsshow.com

www.americasbakingandsweetsshow.com www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 61

7 Common Small Business Tax Misperceptions

By Luce & Associates

One of the biggest hurdles you’ll face in running your own business is staying on top of your numerous obligations to federal, state, and local tax agencies. Tax codes seem to be in a constant state of flux making the Internal Revenue Code barely understandable to most people.

The old legal saying that “ignorance of the law is no excuse” is perhaps most often applied in tax settings and it is safe to assume that a tax auditor presenting an assessment of additional taxes, penalties, and interest will not look kindly on an “I didn’t know I was required to do that” claim. On the flip side, it is surprising how many small businesses actually overpay their taxes, neglecting to take deductions they’re legally entitled to that can help them lower their tax bill.

Preparing your taxes and strategizing as to how to keep more of your hard-earned dollars in your pocket becomes increasingly difficult with each passing year. Your best course of action to save time, frustration, money, and an auditor knocking on your door, is to have a professional accountant handle your taxes.

Tax professionals have years of experience with tax preparation, religiously attend tax seminars, read scores of journals, magazines, and monthly tax tips, among other things, to correctly interpret the changing tax code.

When it comes to tax planning for small businesses, the complexity of tax law generates a lot of folklore and misinformation that also leads to costly mistakes. With that in mind, here is a look at some of the more common small business tax misperceptions.

1. All Start-Up Costs Are Immediately Deductible Business start-up costs refer to expenses incurred before you actually begin operating your business.

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Business start-up costs include both start up and organizational costs and vary depending on the type of business. Examples of these types of costs include advertising, travel, surveys, and training. These start up and organizational costs are generally called capital expenditures.

Costs for a particular asset (such as machinery or office equipment) are recovered through depreciation or Section 179 expensing. When you start a business, you can elect to deduct or amortize certain business start-up costs.

Business start-up and organizational costs are generally capital expenditures. However, you can elect to deduct up to $5,000 of business start-up and $5,000 of organizational costs paid or incurred after October 22, 2004. The $5,000 deduction is reduced (but not below zero) by the amount your total startup or organizational costs exceed $50,000. Any remaining costs must be amortized.

2. Overpaying The IRS Makes You “Audit Proof” The IRS doesn’t care if you pay the right amount of taxes or overpay your taxes. They do care if you pay less than you owe and you can’t substantiate your deductions. Even if you overpay in one area, the IRS will still hit you with interest and penalties if you underpay in another. It is never a good idea to knowingly or unknowingly overpay the IRS. The best way to “Audit Proof” yourself is to properly document your expenses and make sure you are getting good advice from your tax accountant.

3. Being incorporated enables you to take more deductions.

Self-employed individuals (sole proprietors and S Corps) qualify for many of the same deductions that incorporated businesses do, and for many small businesses, being incorporated is an unnecessary

6. Requesting an extension on your taxes is an extension to pay taxes.

Extensions enable you to extend your filing date only. Penalties and interest begin accruing from the date your taxes are due.

7. Part-time business owners cannot set up self-employed pensions. expense and burden. Start-ups can spend thousands of dollars in legal and accounting fees to set up a corporation, only to discover soon thereafter that they need to change their name or move the company in a different direction. In addition, plenty of small business owners who incorporate don’t make money for the first few years and find themselves saddled with minimum corporate tax payments and no income.

4. The home office deduction is a red flag for an audit.

While it used to be a red flag, this is no longer true-as long as you keep excellent records that satisfy IRS requirements. Because of the proliferation of home offices, tax officials cannot possibly audit all tax returns containing the home office deduction. In other words, there is no need to fear an audit just because you take the home office deduction. A high deduction-to-income ratio however, may raise a red flag and lead to an audit.

5. If you don’t take the home office deduction, business expenses are not deductible.

You are still eligible to take deductions for business supplies, business-related phone bills, travel expenses, printing, wages paid to employees or contract workers, depreciation of equipment used for your business, and other expenses related to running a home-based business, whether or not you take the home office deduction.

If you start up a company while you have a salaried position complete with a 401K plan, you can still set up a SEP-IRA for your business and take the deduction.

A tax headache is only one mistake away, be it a missed payment or filing deadline, an improperly claimed deduction, or incomplete records and understanding how the tax system works is beneficial to any business owner, whether you run a small to medium sized business or are a sole proprietor.

And, even if you delegate the tax preparation to someone else, you are still liable for the accuracy of your tax returns

Luce & Associates offers a broad range of services for business owners, executives and independent professionals. Their services encompass nearly every aspect of financial life. If you have any questions please contact them today at (404)298-6687 or www. luceaccounting.com. Your initial consultation is free.

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Houndstooth Cake

By Sidney Galpern

iiDesigns is an online subscription program designed by Icing Images as a unique creative printing tool. iiDesigns allows you to choose from hundreds of beautiful designs and patterns to print out sheets that can be used with paper cutters, as covering for cakes, and many other fantastic, quick, and easy techniques. The patterns are printed out onto Premium Icing Sheets using the edible image printer and edible ink. The easy to use layout makes it the perfect tool for beginners and professionals alike!

TIP: When you purchase the iiDesigns subscription on icingimages.com it also gives you access to the iiPrint program which allows users to upload their own photos and edit them into varying shapes, with different frames, and even add your own text! There is also a very convenient option to either print one large photo or crop it to fit perfectly on circular cakes and various sizes of cupcakes!

Today, I am going to use iiDesigns to create two designs. First is a beautiful wedding cake.

TIP: You need to download FireFox web browser to use with iiDesigns and iiPrint programs.

For this cake I want to use black and white patterns. After signing into in, you can choose either iiDesigns or iiPrint.

Choose iiDesigns and a screen will come up with dozens of patterns and categories to browse through. The categories range from animal prints, to special occasions, holidays, and colors. To match my color scheme I choose the “Black� category to look for patterns. When I find one I like, I can click on it to see a full sheet preview.

TIP: If you love a pattern you can save it to your favorites for faster viewing. Just click the heart underneath the pattern!

DOWNLOAD THE PDF 64 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

1. Before I print, I can choose different options for my pattern including size. I can choose to add “Cut Lines” which are guides for cake paneling. I can rotate the page or I can choose the “Extending Tiles” option which brings the pattern to the edges of the sheet. If I don’t extend the tiles then the patterns will match up end to end for seamless patterns. Once everything is set up, I click print.

1 2. Clicking print will bring up my browsers options for printing. Select the normal printing settings (in this case paper type: matte and print quality: standard). I click print to bring up my Icing Images Cannon printer’s window for printing.

TIP: The iiDesigns and iiPrint tutorial on icingimages.com lists all the proper settings for edible printing. It also has many helpful instructions and FAQ’s to help you use the program.

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3. Time to assemble my cake! I cover 3 round tiers in fondant; 6 inch, 8 inch, and 10 inch round. For the bottom tier I am going to attach strips of my printed icing sheets. I cut strips with a regular paper cutter in straight and uniform strips. I chose to use the Cut Lines feature with the iiDesign to give me a perfect cutting guide fore even, straight lines.

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4. To place them symmetrically I use a dividing mat underneath the cake and apply them using a little bit of water on a paint brush.

For the middle tier, I am going to quilt the fondant. I want this cake to have a very fabric-oriented theme to match the houndstooth pattern I chose. I have a guide that I made out of cardstock to use with my quilting tool to get even, straight lines at a 45 degree angle.

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TIP: I also used my cake dividing mat under the cake to make sure my quilted lines were even. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 65

5. I am placing the printed icing sheet layered on top of the quilted fondant. I cut out a template of a curved edge out of more cardstock to trace onto my icing paper.

I trace the design onto the un-printed side of my icing sheet, and then cut it out with an exacto knife.

I apply the pattern onto the black fondant with water.

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TIP: Make sure the ends of the paper template match up so that you can repeat the pattern for the next piece.

6 I make beads and the flowers to place on the middle and top tiers out of Icing Images suspended in isomalt. Isomalt works really well with Icing Images Premium Icing Sheets, the paper won’t melt or break down from the heat, and the isomalt magnifies the print and makes the colors and design pop!

To make the beads: First I will punch out my pattern. With my particular bead mold, a regular single hole punch is the perfect size to fit with the beads. Peel off the plastic backing and punch out several circles.

TIP: Save your plastic acetate backing for chocolate work. You can pipe chocolate onto it or spread the chocolate onto strips to create elegant bows.)

6. Next I am going to heat up my isomalt in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then 15 second intervals until it is melted. (The molds are also my design and you can find them on the website as well).

TIP: The isomalt that I’m using is my own brand I manufacture, Crystal Clear Isomalt Tiles, at simicakes.com, it is pre-cooked and ready to use.

Once my isomalt is liquid I will pour it into my silicone mold. The silicone mold is made specifically for independent beads for projects like this, and since it is made from silicone it doesn’t need to be greased or powdered, the isomalt will not stick once it’s cool. I fill up each cavity with the clear isomalt, and then I will lay the punch out of Icing Image on the back making sure the pattern side is down touching the isomalt. TipI will only pour 3-4 beads at a time and then lay the icing image onto the backs, followed by pouring my next 3-4. This makes sure that the first beads in the row I poured don’t harden too much for the image to stick.

CAUTION: When isomalt is liquid it is VERY HOT!! It reaches temperatures of 300 degrees F so you do not want to touch it because it can cause burns!! Wear gloves (Thick cotton glove with a rubber or latex glove layered on top) to buffer the heat.

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7. The isomalt flowers are made similarly to the beads.

I fill my flower mold with isomalt and lay the flower petal punched icing paper face down. This paper punch is from the craft store, it is for making rolled up 3D flowers, but I instead cut them apart and lay them on top of my isomalt.

8. As a finishing touch, I use an extruder to pipe out a fondant border for the printed stripes, the curvy piece on the middle tier, and also for the base boarders. It adds to the fabric effect, and it makes it look very finished. I glue the fondant tubes on with piping gel.

I used a total of four sheets of paper to decorate this entire cake. iiDesigns is the perfect tool for creating beautiful cakes. By cutting the icing sheets into designs, or printing out plaques and photos to create toppers and focal points with the numerous borders, text options, and shapes you can create completely unique pieces. I also like to use iiDesigns to create beautiful structures and centerpieces by encasing them in chocolate and isomalt. When you have a great tool like iiDesigns combined with the vast supply of cutters, templates, and dies that are available, there is no limit to what your imagination can create!

See Sidebar on Next Page!

Sidney Galpern is a Certified Professional Chocolatier, Cake Designer, Sugar Artist, and International Instructor. Sidney teaches and demonstrates sugar and cake decorating to professionals and amateurs. She designs and manufactures her own line of sugar art tools and her own brand of isomalt. Sidney co-found the Brevard Cake Artist’s Club and her shop, Simi Cakes & Confections (Pronounced See-Me) is located in Melbourne, Fl. For more information please visit her at www.simicakes.com. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 67

A fabulous new way to punch out your icing sheets is the Sweet Accents Cake Decorating System from Icing Images by Spellbinders that has been created specifically for Icing Images Premium Icing Sheets. iiDesigns lends itself to the new decorating machine greatly. The variety of patterns match beautifully with the die templates that were created be used with the machine. The food safe, professional grade, stainless steel dies are the perfect way to cut shapes with clean edges and intricate details. It cuts and embosses the paper to create beautiful and unique shapes to attach to your cakes and use in molds with isomalt!

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I am going to punch out ower shapes with the Sweet Accents machine using various colorful iiDesign patterns I chose for my second cake to show how beautifully and easily this system works cutting the icing sheets.

TIP: You can cut multiple dies at the same time by filling up your base board with as many dies as will fit.

Cutting board C is first, lay icing sheet onto the board, plastic backing down and pattern up. Place the stainless steel food-safe dies on top of the paper, making sure the sharp edges are facing down toward the paper. Then place the cutting board A on top. Leave on the plastic backing of the icing paper for easier removal.

Now the sandwich of boards, dies, and icing paper are ready to be run through the machine. Push it gently into the machine as you crank the handle; when it catches the boards will glide easily through, applying pressure onto the dies and icing paper and cutting out the shapes.

Once it has run all the way through the machine lift off the top board and remove the dies and the icing paper.

TIP: If the icing paper sticks to the metal dies, use a small palate knife to gently separate the two.

Now all you have to do is peel the shapes off the plastic backing and voila! Your punched pieces are ready to be applied to your cake. Use water to apply to fondant.

I created depth for my owers on this cake by cutting various colors, patters, and shapes, and layering them with small pieces of fondant between each.

This raises the icing paper up and gives it dimension.

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Should I Start a Cake Business?

Five questions to ask yourself before you start out

By Julie Gibson – proprietor of Ice Maiden Cakes & founder of CakeOffice.com Somerset, England As you are reading Edible Artist Network’s magazine I think it’s pretty safe to assume that you love cake decorating, you find it fun, relaxing and you are probably pretty passionate about it. But does that mean you should take the next step and turn your beloved hobby in to a business? Having a good hard think about the questions below will give you a good idea if starting a cake business is right for you.

How hard am I willing to work?

Being self-employed is seriously hard work, I can honestly say I never worked as hard for my money as an employee as I do now I’m an entrepreneur so it’s really important to ask yourself just how committed you are to the idea of running your own business.

You must be realistic about the effort you will need to put in, particularly in those first few years when you are likely to be making little, if any, profit. For every fun hour you spend creating beautiful cakes you are likely to be spending two hours on tasks like promoting your new business, responding to customers, doing your accounts and keeping your kitchen up to code. Although this will ease as you find your natural business rhythm, or as you can afford to pay for extra help, there will always be lots of work to do that has nothing to do with baking.

I once read a quote which kind of sums things up for all small business owners; ‘An entrepreneur is someone who works 16 hours a day for themselves so they do not have to work 8 hours a day for someone else.’ Ask yourself if you are happy with this reality and if it really fits with your life goals.

Do I have the resilience?

Successful businesses don’t happen overnight and if you are going to survive you will need to be resilient and persistent. Many people will give up thinking they have ‘failed’ at business when in 70 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

fact they have probably just had an unsuccessful project or product. Even seasoned ‘successful’ entrepreneurs fail every now and again. The difference is that they know how to pick themselves up, learn from their failures and carry on with the next project.

I’m not saying that you can’t feel sorry for yourself for a bit – I have been known to have the occasional 1am sobbing session at the kitchen table when it all seems a bit too much for too little reward! However, the next day (or maybe the day after that) I am able to look at things objectively and work out what went wrong and what went well and take those lessons forward with me. Consider how resilient you are in your everyday life and how long it takes you to recover from failures or disappointments.

Can I let things go?

There are some things that happen in business that are really going to get up your nose. People will disappoint you and abuse your trust, try to undermine your business and even steal your photographs and pretend your work is their own.

Whilst this is all terrible behaviour and you will want to have endless rants about it on Twitter and Facebook or to your loved ones, ranting doesn’t really get you anywhere.

The first time a Facebook ‘business’ stole my photographs and claimed them as their own work I spent a good 2 hours on social media being indignant with my indignant and supportive cake friends. Whilst you would think this would make me feel better it really didn’t and it wasted time that would have been better spent working on my business. I now have a process for dealing with the issue which normally takes me no more than 10 minutes and I honestly do not get wound up about it anymore. I am only able to do this because I let go of my indignation by recognising how counter-

productive my earlier reaction had been.

Ask yourself how you would react to this sort of situation and if you can see yourself handling things calmly and maintaining focus on making your own business successful.

How well do I handle criticism?

Cake decorating is a highly creative industry and by putting our work out there as professionals we are inviting the world and his wife to comment on our abilities and our taste. And believe me, they will!

Can you accept that not everyone will love your work and that some may be very verbal in their dislike of it? Is criticism of your work likely to send your blood pressure rocketing or badly knock your confidence? If so then you may be better off keeping your creations for friends and family only.

you are measuring your success solely by the money in your bank account then this is probably not the industry for you. Of course there are exceptions to every rule but for every celebrity baker and cupcake store chain there are thousands of talented bakers just paying the bills doing something they love. Ask yourself, is money the driving force for you or do you feel that the art is its own reward?

Working through these questions, answering honestly, will give you a good foundation from which to make your decision. If your decision is that it’s not for you then relax and enjoy making your friends and family smile with your hobby. If your decision is yes, the cake industry is for me – congratulations and good luck with your adventures in cake, it is a rewarding job with it’s own warm and supportive

Do I want to be rich?

This may sound flippant but it is a serious question.

You can make a reasonable living out of cake given the right balance of talent and marketing skills but if

Julie Gibson is the proprietor of Ice Maiden Cakes & founder of CakeOffice.com. For more information please visit her blog at www.CakeOffice.com.

ICES The Only International Organization Dedicated To The Sugar Arts

International Cake Exploration Societé 38th Annual Convention & Show

August 8 – 11, 2013 • LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY Enjoy the largest gathering of Sugar Artists, from the hobbyists to world famous decorators from Around the Globe!

• Meet over 2,000 sugar artists from around the world • Demonstrations and Hand-On-Classes • Shop the “Trackside” Vendors • Live Cake Challenge • Sugar Arts Displays • Certification Testing • Business Solutions for the Professional Cake Decorator

TOURS Louisville Legacy Horses, Hooch & History Irish Acres CHARITY “Old Friends” Rescue for Thoroughbreds

http://ices.org/ www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 71

Dad Rocks

By Mama Rhu – United Kingdom

Materials:

DOWNLOAD THE PDF 72 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

• 12” cake drum • 6” x 3” deep cake • Buttercream • Green sugar paste - approx. 300g The following sugar paste should be prepared with cmc or similar • Grey sugar paste - approx. 150g • Flesh sugar paste - approx. 100g • Yellow /Gold sugar paste - approx. - 20g • Brown sugar paste - approx. 10g • Black sugar paste - approx. 20g • Stainless steel pan scourer or similar • Tool for scribing - dresden/scriber or similar • Small ball tool • Circle cutters / icing nozzles • Edible glue • Cocktail stick • Bamboo skewer • Spaghetti

1

2

Wording and Wheel Figures 1-3 If you are colouring the grey sugar paste yourself don’t worry about the colour mixing right through, this will give you a good ‘rock’ effect, also don’t worry if there are cracks in your sugar paste this will add to the effect.

3

Roll the grey sugar paste to about 1cm thick and roughly cut the letters out for ‘DAD’ they should be approximately 7cm high and 5cm wide, they are meant to be carved from rock so being a bit rough will be fine.

Score cracks into the sugar paste to give a rock effect.

4

Insert a cocktail stick into each letter and leave to dry.

Using a circle cutter cut a circle and remove the center with a smaller cutter, maybe an icing nozzle if you have nothing small enough, for the centre. Add in the cracks. Leave to dry.

Cake and Board Figures 4-11 Don’t worry about levelling the top of the cake it will add to the effect of the cave.

5

Split the cake diagonally and fill with buttercream, put the cake back together with both ‘high’ sides on top of each other.

On the high side of the cake, cut vertically to give a straight edge Apply a crumb coat of buttercream

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Cake and Board Figures 4-8

continued

Cover with the green sugar paste, covering the cake and the board. Don’t forget to dampen the board so that the sugar paste sticks.

With a stainless steel scourer apply texture to the sugar paste, including over the cake, this may cause dents and bulges, but that will add to the character.

Cut a circle of black sugar paste relevant to the size of the straight cut edge for the cake entrance.

Cut the bottom of the circle off and apply to the side of the cake.

7

8

Make a pile of pea sized rocks from the grey sugar paste and using edible glue apply them around the edge of the black circle.

Figure Figures 9-15 Using approximately 30g grams of grey sugar paste create a rock for your figure to sit on Body - Using 45g of flesh coloured sugar paste create the body. Start by rolling into a smooth round ball and then elongating that into a bean shape. Smooth with your finger across the front middle to make a tummy.

Use a pinhead size piece of flesh to make a belly button, apply a small amount of glue to the top of the bulge, pick up this with a pointed tool and press into the tummy where you have glued. Chest – two small pinhead size pieces of brown sugar paste for nipples and with an icing nozzle press gently into the chest area to create the chest – see picture.

Sit the body onto the rock and carefully twist a bamboo skewer through the body and into the rock.

Keep the skewer nice and straight to avoid the figure leaning back. Place onto the board where you want the figure to sit and cut the skewer so that you have approximately 3cm left.

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9

Figure Figures 9-15 continued

10

11

12

Legs - Make the legs by rolling 25g of flesh into a sausage. Try to avoid rolling the ends too much so that you have two bulges that will become the feet. Pinch and smooth these ends at a right angle to create the feet, use a dresden tool or similar to make a slight ‘V’ shaped cut into the back of the leg where the knee will be, bend here carefully, smoothing where necessary for the knee. Try the leg against the body and shorten if needed, insert a small piece of spaghetti into the end of the leg and using a small amount of glue stick to the body – see picture.

13

Loin Cloth – roll out the gold sugar paste and cut a strip approximately 15cm x 3cm, cut ‘V’s into one side and either apply random bits of brown sugar paste for the spots or use food colouring to paint spots on. Wrap this around the body and under the belly button, overlap or trim the excess.

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Figure Figures 9-18 continued

15 16

17

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Arms – Using 15g of flesh roll as you did for the legs. Smooth and flatten the ends of the sausage into paddle shaped hands, making sure you create a ‘pair’ of hands, cut a small ‘V’ into each hand to make the thumbs, smooth and soften the cut edges with your fingers. Mark in the fingers. As with the back of the knees, make a small ‘V’ to enable the arm to bend at the elbow. If you are not sure where to do this, hold the arm against the body to see where you need to do this. Put a small piece of spaghetti into the shoulder area of the body at a 45 degrees angle to help keep the arms in place.

Put the arms in place with a small amount of glue and arrange the arms to hold the wheel.

You can glue this in place at the same time.

Head – Use 20g of flesh and roll into a smooth ball, gently roll the ball across the front middle, similar to the body to create some cheeks. Use a small amount of flesh to make a nose, big or as little as you like, and glue to the upper edge of the cheeks, use a pointed tool to make the nostrils. Use either a small ball tool or a star shaped tool to create the eye sockets, roll two pinhead size black pieces of sugar paste and glue into these indents. Use either the edge of a piping nozzle or similar to create a lopsided smile. Make dimples by using a small ball tool at each end of the mouth. For the ears roll two small balls of flesh sugar paste, push a small ball tool into the side of this and glue to the side of the head, make sure they are on the side of the head and not too far forward. Gently put the head onto the body by inserting onto the skewer.

Roll small pieces of the brown sugar paste for the hair and glue to the top of the head. Use two pieces of brown to make the eyebrows and finally put a small dot of white into each eye to bring to life.

Finishing the Board Make a pile of very small grey rocks and paint the words ‘ You Rock’ in edible glue onto the board and place these small rocks onto that. You can use any left over rocks to scatter around the board.

Winning awards for her cakes and business, Rhu teaches in the UK and Internationally and has recently founded French Cake Breaks, cake decorating holidays in France. For more images and details visit Mama Rhu’s website - http://goo.gl/6x4Tj

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 77

y Gracie Prainito

Edible Artist on the Rise

By Gracie Prainito I’m the luckiest girl in the world for sure.

Mom went to the NCACS this week and brought home several very cool new toys, just gotta love her! She told me about a sugar class she took taught by Simi Cakes and the class was about stained glass art, doesn’t that sound amazing? Of course I was green with envy as I want nothing more than to learn everything my Mom knows, and sugar is new to for both of us.

We’ll let me tell you about my adventure! As you know I love all things cake and have pretty much burned out my Easy Bake Oven, and have graduated onto much cooler things.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love her, but now I’m making my own cakes from scratch and learning all about different flavors and ingredients – Thanks Mom A friend of my Mom’s – Diane Simmons from Cake Connection, has these wonderful new molds called “Sugar Dippers” which you can use with isomalt (yes another new word to add to my “sweet” vocabulary). I was able to get my hot little hands on the Sugar Dipper mold #7 – Bow loops 1 and Sugar Dippers #5 Large Butterflies (you can order them from www.cakeconnection.com - they have a ton to choose from).

First, I started out with some isomalt chips from Simi Cakes (thanks Michelle) http://simicakes.com.

They’re really cool pieces of pre-cooked isomalt in tiny cubes perfect for sugar work, 78 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

and they melt really fast. Put the isomalt in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds at a time until it’s melted.

We used a measuring cup but we will need to buy some silicone cups so I don’t ruin another measuring cup.

Be very careful as the sugar is VERY hot at almost 350 degrees.

I’ll try to keep this short as my Auntie Cheri has only given me two pages for my whole story . I’ll have to fight harder for more space in the next issue or learn how to keep it short and sweet.

Next, add your color. We used airbrush colors (a great tip from Sidney of Simi Cakes) and mixed it well and then poured it carefully into the molds.

Next, let the sugar set until its cool enough to touch so you can take out of the mold. Then

use some hot isomalt or a small chef torch to put on the wings (another great tip and a way to use a really cool tool). Here is my butterfly with the body. Isn’t it adorable?

Next we moved on to the bow molds. We cut apart each piece of the bow and used the same technique.

You will need to bend the bows into shape before the sugar gets hard. By the way, the full instructions are right on the molds – how cool is that?

My Mom showed me how to use these clips to hold the mold in place until it held its shape.

We made 18 pieces in many sizes to allow for extras just in case we broke one. My 21-year

old brother Frank always has to get in on whatever we’re doing and I promised him I wouldn’t make fun of him, but oh well, his butterfly turned out looking like an alien of some sort (tee hee). But, ya gotta love him!

Once we had all of our loops made we poured a round dot of sugar onto the mat to use as glue to hold the bow pieces in place. I’ve watched my Mom do this with fondant bows, and it’s the same idea. I arranged the pieces to make it look like a real bow and used more isomalt to place them where I wanted; thank goodness I made a few extras as I did break some by pushing too hard.

Now I added in my butterfly and have a beautiful piece to place on top of a cake or just about anywhere you’d like.

Mine of course is going to sit on my shelf for eternity. I’m so proud of my piece and I can’t believe how easy it was with these molds and Simi’s isomalt. What is even harder to believe, I’m 9 years old and my Mom let me play with Isomalt. Thanks Mom. Hope you enjoyed, and I look forward to what I can create for the next issue. Hopefully, I can convince my Mom to take me along to the ICES convention in August and get to meet some of you. Until then – “Stay Sweet”.

Gracie is our youngest Local Beat Reporter and is a third grader in Addison, IL. If you have any questions for her please email us at cheryl@edibleartistsnetwork.com and we will be sure to forward your questions to her. www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 79

Cake Safe www.cakesafe.com Cake Safe offers the original method for transporting any tiered cake, safely, securely, and without any stress.

We now offer a modular spray booth for air brush artists. No more overspray mess.

Successful Stacking DVDs SugarEd Productions www.sugaredproductions.com www.facebook.com/pages/ SugarEd-Productions/288797535998 Have trouble with stacking tiers? Our DVD will show you how to stack without all the stress, while preventing damage while doing so. You can stack without the need for a border to hide the cake board as well.

Spiral Edible Rose Cluster Kit PhotoFrost www.photofrost.com www.facebook.com/ photofrost

80 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Spiral Edible Rose Cluster Kit comes with: 2 size rose templates, (small and med), 2 leaf templates (small and med), 4 colored Cut-N-Frost icing sheets - and - a PhotoFrost DVD demonstrating 6 decorating techniques!

1/2” Wedding Drums Enjay Converters Ltd www.enjay.com Enjay Converters is a 30 Year old Bakery Packaging Manufacturer. Offerings include 1/2” Wedding Drums for Wedding Cakes. Available in Round, Squares and Sheet Sizes in Silver, Gold, White and Black Foil. FDA Approved Embossed Foil wrapped on 1/2” Ultra Strong Corrugate.

Available from Distributors across North America.

Caketrick Fondant Roller Caketrick LLC www.caketrick.com www.facebook.com/Caketrick?ref=hl Rolling pin made for the challenge of rolling out large amounts of fondant--perfect for wedding cake design.

It’s long, weighted, barrel and beveled ends make it the next best thing to a sheeter. For those who can’t afford a sheeter or don’t have room...this is the tool to have.

Cake Decorating Die Cutter And Embossing Machine Icing Images www.icingimages.com www.facebook.com/IcingImages The first food safe, professional grade cutting, embossing and stenciling system developed exclusively for cake decorators and the edible decorating industry.

The Cake Decorating System is completely portable and does not require a computer or electricity. Simply choose any one of Icing Images Premium Icing Sheets™, and your favorite food safe die or embossing folder.

Sandwich with the cutting plates and with a simple twist of a handle, you have amazing designs to decorate with!

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 81

Take a French Cake Break with Rhu Strand of Pimp my Cake!

By Michelle Burden

An exciting new venture by Rhu Strand of Pimp my Cake has been launched this year: cake decorating holidays in the Dordogne, Lot region of France.

Featuring courses suited to both the novice and those wanting to improve and build on their skills in a relaxed and informal environment, French Cake Breaks offers a unique opportunity to spend a week indulging in learning new cake decorating techniques. Attendees enjoy the beautiful French setting in an accommodating gite, fabulous food prepared by Claire, the gite’s owner, the camaraderie of fellow enthusiasts and the opportunity to chat with Rhu about her art and her business.

82 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

Beginner’s week classes teach the basics of covering cakes, making simple sugarpaste flowers, sugarpaste figures and even high heels. Advanced skills week classes include the standing bride and groom workshop, 3D cake carving and enclosed high heel.

Customized classes covering a wide range of topics and techniques can be developed for groups upon request.

All meals at the gite, accommodations, classes, tools, equipment and materials are included, as well as an exciting midweek trip to the medieval town of Sarlat to saviour the busy market. Attendees will be picked up from the airport, pampered from start to finish, and returned to the airport at the

end of the week. Packing assistance will even be provided, to ensure that each attendee’s creations travel safely home with her.

This is a ladies-only holiday, and is limited to four students per week. This ensures that every student has Rhu’s utmost attention to maximize her learning and entire holiday experience. Whether travelling alone or with a group of friends, a wonderful time is sure to be had.

About Rhu Rhu Strand is an experienced sugarpaste teacher who has won awards for her business, Pimp my Cake, and gold for her cake designs at Cake International. Rhu is fast becoming a travelling international teacher, with classes scheduled in France, Sweden, New York and Australia over the next year. With a relaxed, informal teaching manner, Rhu has glowing testimonials from her students, who return to her in the UK time and again, improving their skills to build their own successful businesses.

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 83

Wild Rose made with a Tear Drop cutter

By Shaile Socher, Huntington Beach, CA

Materials Needed: • Plain Tear drop cutter set by Ateco • Wires 28g 26g 24g, 20g • Small pair of Scissors • SK Great Impressions Leaf Veiner Rose - Ruscus • Cel sticks • Celpads • Celboard • Avocado or apple trays for formers (I find these useful for many flowers and leaves) • Yellow or Orange cotton thread (I use DMC cross stitching thread what I have available) • Pink gumpaste -soft pink gelpaste by AmeriColor • Pale Green gumpaste Moss green gelpaste by Wilton • Pliers • Wire Cutters • Egg white • Cornstarch • Flat Paint brushes • Petal dust Cosmos and Moss Green by Ck products • Rose leaf cutters by FMM • Rose calyx cutter set and large 55mm by FMM • Rose leaf cutter by FMM 3mm • Double sided rose petal veiner general Note: I sometimes make flowers using what tools and supplies I own. I find I am able to make different flowers this way and this is one of them. With the many varieties of one flower I think it is possible.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF 84 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 85

Center Figures 1-4 1

Wrap the thread around 2 fingers several times creating a full bunch.

Note-the amount of times you wrap depends on how full you want the stamens to look.

3

Take a hooked 20g wire leaving the hook slightly open and wrap around one end the thread, pinching the hook down tightly.

Cut the thread in half at the top and roll a tiny ball of green gumpaste into a teardrop for stamen center.

2

4

Attach the thick end with egg white onto the hooked wire pushing until it is secure. Make tiny snips around the center with scissors to add texture. Dust moss with green petal dust when dry.

Fluff stamen center arranging the cut threads to go around the whole center. Note – Trim tops to shorten or clean up uneven lengths.

Petals Figures 5-11

5

7

Roll out pale pink gumpaste on a grooved celboard cutting 5 petals with the tear drop cutter.

Hint-keep petals not working with under plastic to prevent drying out.

Note- I used the two smallest sized cutters in the set Insert 28g wire Cut out a piece of the petal off the top to create a heart shape using a small pair of scissors.

Vein the petal using the double sided rose petal veiner

6 8 86 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

With a medium celstick soften the edges adding a soft frill.

Petals Figures 5-11 continued Lay the petals to dry in a cupped form curving back the tops over the edge on some and inwards on others. This gives the petals some movement for a more natural look.

Add pink petal dust using a flat paint brush. Start from top edge brushing down toward the base to blend the color. Note – you just need to add the petal dust in small sections for highlights.

9

10

To make a calyx for the flower follow instructions for the bud steps 3-7 using appropriate size to match the flower.

Note- when attaching the calyx to the flower only add egg white inside the hallowed out center not to the tips. This will allow the calyx to dry separate not attached to the petals so you can move the petals freely.

11

Bud Figures 12-17 13

Inserting a 24g hooked wire in the wide end or a tear drop cone and dry.

Take a ball of green gumpaste rolling over the medium hole on the celpad Cut out the calyx, soften the tips rolling outward with a small celpin and then snip a few tiny cuts along the edges with scissors

12

14

Hallow out center with a small celpin by inserting it in center and turning. Hint- add cornstarch to the celpin to avoid sticking.

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Bud Figures 12-17 continued Add a small amount of egg white at base of bud plus a bit on each tip of the caylx. Slide calyx up bud molding it around the bud. Turn back tips slightly if desired and let dry.

16

Dust bud with moss green. Add a bit of darker green around the base then a touch of pink to the tips.

17

Leaves Figures 18-20 Roll out green gumpaste on grooved board. Cut 1 large and 4 small leaves.

Insert 28g wire, vein then soften the edges using a medium celtick. Push back edges on some.

18

Using a flat brush add pink petal dust along the edges on some areas of the leaves. Add moss green over the entire leaf and highlight with a darker green in some areas.

Wire in groups of 5 with 1 large petal at top and 4 small below.

19

20

Assembly Figure 21 Tape each petal to the stamen center overlapping slightly to give a flowing look. Note-Avoid attaching all the same shaped petals together for a more natural look.

21

I have always been artistic creating things with a lot of detail. By chance I ended up in cake decorating taking a class for fun. It was at an ICES convention I first saw sugar flowers which began my love of this sugar art. It took just one class to get me hooked then after a series of classes with Nicholas Lodge I continued practicing and learning what became my passion. I teach sugar flowers.

You can reach Shaile at http://www.shailesedibleart.com/, https://www.facebook.com/ShailesEdibleArt or http://shailesedibleart.blogspot.com/.

88 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

edibleartistsnetwork

Cake Connection Wedding Cake Challenge Thank you all for your entries in the Wedding Cake Challenge. We were delighted to view your incredible wedding creations from cakes, to cookies, to cake pops and so many other wonderful sweet treats. It took the judges a long day of deliberating to finally select the winners!

sheet, and a design catalog filled with brilliant designs from Cake Connection and a oneyear subscription to Edible Artists Network Magazine. The Cake Connection molds can be used with sugar, isomalt, or chocolate.

Our winners received a complete set of Sugar Dippers (Butterfly and Bug molds), instruction

And The Winners Are ....

A special thank you to our sponsor Cake Connection!!!

JUDGES CHOICE Mrs. Sweet’s Treats Here are some wedding cupcakes I made for a wedding present for a friend. They were made especially to match their colour scheme. I even made ivory sugarveil rather than white as my friends dress was ivory... Jessica from Mrs. Sweet’s Treats :-) www.facebook.com/jessica.r.sweet Her original entry can be viewed here: http://tinyurl.com/mrssweets Congratulations Jessica!

MOST VOTES Suzi Thomas of Spongecakes Suzebakes

This is the first ever wedding cake I have done and this was made for my sister’s wedding back in February this year. She put her full trust in me and told me I could do whatever I liked and she didn’t want to see or hear about the cake until she saw it on the big day! So after months of day dreaming this is what I came up with! The bottom tier is an 8” Vanilla sponge with buttercream and jam. The middle is a double 6” chocolate fudge cake and the top is a 6” lemon ball :) The details on the ball took me 8 hours to apply! They include blossoms of various sizes, (some are decorated with silver leaf), pearls and non pareils. www.facebook.com/SpongecakesSuzebakes Her original entry can be viewed here: http://tinyurl.com/spongesuze Congratulations Suzi! www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 89

THE FINALISTS

Nikki’s Cakes www.facebook.com/ CorpseQueen Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ nikkicake

Cedar Blossom Cakes www.facebook.com/pages/ Cedar-Blossom-Cakes/ 177176805717758? group_id=0

Cakes 4 U www.facebook.com/ cakes4u.net?group_id=0 Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/cakes4uean

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ cedarblossom

Cakes By Sherry The Baking Sheet

Julie Thomas

www.facebook.com/pages/ Cakes-By-Sherry/ 143067705798546? group_id=0

www.facebook.com/pages/ The-Baking-Sheet/ 210664827961?group_ id=0

www.facebook.com/ julie.thomas.3388

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ cakessherry

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ bakingsheetean

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Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ julie2ean

Scrumptious Buns www.facebook.com/ scrumptiousbunsfans Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ scrumpbun

Mon Cottage Cupcakes www.facebook.com/pages/ M%C3%B4nCottage-Cupcakes/ 203265723021322? group_id=0 Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ moncottage2

THE FINALISTS

Cookie Couture

Amanda Macleod

www.facebook.com/pages/ Cookie-Couture/ 276213722446044? group_id=0

www.facebook.com/ macleodcakeart

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ cookiecouture

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ amandaean

Yuma Couture Cakes

Emily Made a Wish

www.facebook.com/ YumaCoutureCakes

www.facebook.com/ emilymadeawish1

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ yumaean

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ emilywish

Julie Thomas

Mon Cottage Cupcakes

Steel Penny Cakes

Scrumptious Buns

www.facebook.com/pages/ M%C3%B4nCottage-Cupcakes/ 203265723021322? group_id=0

www.facebook.com/ steelpennycakes

www.facebook.com/ scrumptiousbunsfans

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ steelpenny

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ scrumbun2

www.facebook.com/ julie.thomas.3388 Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ julieean

Original entry: http://tinyurl.com/ moncottage www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 91

Edible Art of the Day Edible Art of the Day is dedicated to showcasing the best edible art from around the globe! We’re continuously inspired by the impressive talent of our members.

Here are a few recent favorites:

Michelle Pyper

Tatyana Angelova

Cup & Cakes www.facebook.com/cupandcakes11 East London, South Africa

Tatyana Cakes www.facebook.com/TatyanaCakes Sliven, Bulgaria

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Dianne Howells Custom Cake Designs www.customcakedesigns.com.au Perth, Australia

Lynette Horner Nice Icing www.facebook.com/niceicing Selby, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com 93

Minette Daylusan

Katie Mills

Minnie’s Sweet Creations www.facebook.com/Minniessweetcreations Sydney, Australia

Sweetie’s Cakery www.facebook.com/SweetiesCakery Trowbridge, Wilts, United Kingdom

94 www.EdibleArtistsNetwork.com

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However my favorite cake information was the heart cake. I thought it was interesting that cake that was cut into heart shape was placed in the batter. Thank you so much Cheryl for your time in putting together the magazine and blessing us with it. Take care.

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