Debbie Brown - Day 1

Third day, its cake sculpting with Debbie Brown, a well known cake decorator, tutor and author of many book on novelty or sculptured cakes.

Meet Debbie. 

 A cake trimmed off all crust top and bottom.

Stack into required shape and trimming.

"What you can't see with your eyes, you can feel with your hands" - a Debbie Brown quote to ensure smooth finishing.   

Place on prepared cake board and coat with buttercream. 

This is how to turn round styrofoam into an oval shape.

By now you can guess what cake it is.

 A penguin!

Pingu to be exact. 

 Book signing...that's me with Debbie and her Pingu. :)



Eddie Spence MBE - Day 2

Second day, Eddie explaining and showing techniques in covering cake with royal icing. That's Mok assisting him.

Book signing session.                                    

Finishing attaching the image and finishing touches on the plaque. Like my cloud and bird? Its free hand.

Everything up on the cake.

Borders up.

Some free hand scrolls to cover empty spaces.

View from the side...more scrolls required there.

That's it!



Eddie Spence MBE - Day 1

Having the opportunity to attend the 5 days class organised by ICCA this will be a series of daily posting to share going-ons in class.

Eddie Spence MBE, the master of royal icing, explaining the making of royal icing. 

 Right down to the details of how to make a good piping bag for flooding.

First, we had to make collars, pipe outline using the technique of crossovers and point-to-point.  

Flood them. 

Eddie, an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher, trying to give as much individual attention as possible to everone...the are about 50 of us. Aren't we lucky?

This is Eddie's...and what we have to make for our cake.

This is mine. My boy has a devilish look...with one hand missing...but I so love  pressure piping now.

Below are some displays of Eddie's work...my camera does not do them justice...especially the eagle...

 

Stay tuned for Day 2 :) 

Perak Orchid Society

A source for orchid research in my own backyard. The Perak Orchid Society (POS) has been in existence since October 11th, 1966. They have a blog managed by Mr. Robert Ang, Vice President of POS, and also holds the position of Distinguish Associate for the State of Perak for The Orchid Society of South East Asia (OSSEA).

Every third Sunday of the month, an orchid show is held in front of the MBI building, opposite Ipoh Parade, where members gather and submit their plants for judging. All together are 25 classes of varieties as stated in their POS News, a printout available at the counter. To name the with their pictures is beyond me...you would have to look at Mr. Ang's blog above. Membership registration is also available at RM30 a year and RM200 for life.

Official banner

Judging

Putting little tags after judging 

Were you amazed?

Basic Food Photography

An upcoming event...

Basic Food Photography

                 Date     :    Sunday, 10th October 2010

                 Time     :    1:00pm - 5:00pm                     

                 Venue   :    Heritage Hotel Ipoh (tentative)

                 Fee      :    Single RM150.00

                                             or 

                                  Two in a team RM250.00

            
                Speaker:     En. Ali Mohd Noor,
                                 Food Styling and Food Photography Blog
                                 UiTM, Shah Alam

The workshop will be conducted for 4 hours with elements of theory, demonstration and hands-on. Participants will be exposed to basic techniques of food photography. The following elements will be focused throughout the workshop:

                        I) Introduction to basic food photography
                        II) Purpose of food photography
                        III) Setting up for food photography
                        IV) Basic camera setting for food photography
                        V) Concept, object, props and styling
                        VI) Angle of shoot in food photography

Who should attend this workshop?

Beginner in photography and those who would like to explore the food photography are welcome. Food enthusiast that love to snap pictures of their creation and anyone that feel food can communicate are equally welcome.

What to bring along?

   1) Digital camera or a decent DSLR camera 

   2) Laptop (be sure you have installed your camera software),
   3) A tripod (bring extra if you got any),
   4) Plate (white fancy plate to present your food)
   5) Food product (dessert, cakes, fruits... etc.)
   6) Linen of any colour (table cloth, table runner...etc)
   7) Any props that you think appropriate

Anything else? ---- Off course pen, pencil, notebook and your good self (please come with an open mind and you will be enjoying the session with us)


Another interesting read...
One extremely important question that is ignored by aspiring food photographers and why you need to address it now

Any questions regarding this event, please post under comment in this post. I will address it here is well.

Traditional Malay Pulut Kuning Rice as Wedding Cake...and an additional step to Moth Orchid

Finally someone has responded to my challenge! Here's the traditional Malay pulut rice (glutinous tumeric rice) made into a wedding cake!

Its 2 tier with the top tier off-centre to enable better placing of the gumpaste flowers...2 pink peonies and 11 medium sized moth orchids.

These are individual portions moulded to look like mini cakes...together with their usual accompaniments on top.

An additional step to add to my moth orchid tutorial . Rest a flower wire on the foil to alleviate the feeler like thing at the ends of the labellum. This make it easier for dusting.

Colours used for dusting include Bumble Bee, Sunflower, Aurora and Scarlet's Velvet.

Sugarflour Roadshow and MCDC Ipoh's first gathering

A big thank you to all that has participated in the Sugarflours and MCDC Ipoh event and made it a very successful first gathering among fellow cake decorators in Ipoh, the outskirts, and from as far as Penang. Those deserving a mention here are Haslinda and Joe for manning one of the demo counters, Vivian and Lea for helping at the DIY cupcake decorating counter, our team of receptonists, the Sugarflours team for half the effort in the whole event, and lastly, Kong Choon Chuen from Photo Zone for the photos below.

Pink and white theme cake with Sugarflours lucky draw prizes.

Me at the dusting counter.

Joe...standing in for our receptionists.

Product display area.

Lisa manning the cashier.

The MCDC Ipoh tean in pink and Sugarflours team in white.