FONDANT CAKE DECORATING CLASS ON 13TH MARCH 2010

Six students attended our Fondant Cake Decor class on 13th March - Marina, Salasiah, Dzuliyana, Farah, Kak Fatimah and Christine. Azza registered for this course but unfortunately could not make it as she she was not feeling well. it's ok Azza, there will be other similar classes and i look forward to meet you there. In this class, they learned how to make fondant from scratch. Thay were also taught how to make a new, hassle-free type of royal icing - suitable to use in cake decorating. Different decorating techniques were taught but could not be applied entirely as it would over-crowd their cakes. Although most of them have not worked with gumpaste flowers before, they were able to make some decent roses and calla lillies. After these all they have to do is to practice making flowers frequently until they can get them correct; botanically. Personally, I do not like to put ready-made sugarpaste flowers on my cakes as it makes the cake look artificial and their huge size often overwhelms the cake. It is my opinion only and hope does not offend anybody. It is in my character to add some personal touches to my creations and i believe a cake decorator should not always rely on ready-made sugar flowers. As i told my students, sometimes a client might come with a unique colour theme and the ready-made flowers might not be available in that particular colour. Moreover, most baking supply shops in Penang do not sell a variety of ready-made sugarpaste flowers coz probably we Penangites are a creative lot..lol. My good friend Jamilah (kak Chik)told me that most baking supply shops in Butterworth and mainland areas sell a wide range of ready-made sugarpaste flowers from Indonesia. Anyway. since these flowers are not available in Penang, we have to learn to make them. As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of all creations", we Penangites have to create our own sugar flowers whenever it is necessary.

I'm also thankful to Christine (who attended my Fancy Cookies class last week) for coming to this class eventhough she was having a bout of diarrhoea. Unfortunately, she had to leave before the class ended as she had to go to the airport. Christine, is PME trained in sugarpaste and on her way to do PME Masters in Sugarpaste. She wanted to learn to make my fondant as she had heard good remarks about it from her friends. Her verdict was that my fondant was more pliable & easy to work with for decorating purpose.Thank you Christine for the vote of confidence but all praises must go to my 'sifu', Chef Bruce Lee (CAC,Penang) for teaching me to make fondant 10 years ago. I've been using his recipe in all my fondant classes and it has never failed me.

I've also asked Christine to conduct classes on Sugarpaste flowers and Bride & Groom figurines at my centre. She is a free lance sugarpaste instructor and I hope she'll find the time to conduct the classes soon. If anyone is interested to learn Sugarpaste Flowers & Figurines from a qualified PME instructor, please send me an email.

this cake was created by Dzuliyana (Telekom) who had no prior experience working with fondant. she chose baby purple and pink as her colour theme. all the flowers were hand-made by her and dusted with edible disco dust to add glitter effect.

this cake was created by Marina who has attended a couple of my classes. she has improved tremendrously and made this decor with minimum supervision fr me. her colour theme was ivory and orange which worked perfectly well. all flowers were hand-made by her and dusted with edible gold dust and disco dust to add glitter effect.

this cake was created by Salasiah (USM). she chose light green and baby yellow as her colour theme. Salasiah is a very resourceful woman and did her work quietly with minimum supervision from me. all flowers are hand-made by her and dusted with edible disco dust to add glitter efect.

this cake was created by a young mom, Farah who had no prior experience working with fondant. she chose golden yellow and brown as it was the colour theme of her sister's engagement ceremony on Sunday (14/3).this was was to be given as a 'hantaran cake' from her family. Farah killed 2 birds with one stone by learning how to decorate a cake and use it for hantaran purpose. isn't she charming or what? all flowers are hand-made by her and dusted with edible shimmering gold, gold dust and disco dust to add glitter effect.

this cake was created by kak Fatimah who does not know anything about fondant. being a buttercream decorater, she found it was easier to work with fondant. a very jovial lady & full of humour. all the gals laughed and joked with Kak Fatimah thruout the duration of the class. she chose baby pink and white as her colour theme. all flowers are hand made by her and dusted with edible shimmering gold & disco dust. Kak Fatimah is contemplating to make her own ' fondant hantaran' cake next week. Kudos to you Kak and all the ladies who attended this class!