Meeting Mr Alan Dunn from the U.K

I had the great pleasure to attend a sugar flower demonstration with Alan Dunn from London on rainy Thursday evening. Alan has over 20 years of experience in demonstration and flower making; in fact he started when he was only 14 years old. Alan, re-told many stories of how when asked what birthday presents he wanted growing up he would always ask for cake decorating equipment, and that his teachers often asked him to make family birthday cakes which were surprisingly more impressive than they expected.

Alan is certainly an eccentric character, he taught the class with no shoes, and was sweating profusely; I don’t think he was prepared to how humid Melbourne was that evening. Alan spoke about all the trade shows he had attended in Australia as well as how much he loved the name “Myrtle” and if in fact he was to buy another cat, he would name her so. A little of topic I realise, but funny.

Alan is renowned for creating realistic flowers from sugar, he has published a number of books and had a new book soon to be released in 2012. To be honest I didn’t realise how well known he was until I sat with the 70 year old ladies from the club (yes I was the youngest in the room) who acted like teenage girls at a rock concert. The ladies were all asking me to work out how to use their Nokia mobile phones to snap pictures, it was absolutely adorable.

There is certainly a cult like following with Alan’s work and seeing him in action, I can certainly appreciate why that is. He demonstrated a Chinese Hibiscus and Orchard in 2 hours and used traditional technique to colour the fondant to bring the flowers to life. Alan was truly amazing and his work is simply beautiful, he is certainly a true artist.

Until next time happy baking-decorating

xo

KB

My baby Love, My Baby Love....

I figured it was time to get some one on one professional time, and thought that I would embark on a 6 week novelty class, tonight was the first class teaching baby booties and baby bib. Granted this was an easy one for me, it was still great to learn how to wrap a cello bag for piping, next week I will be making a fairy.

Whats on the cards for 'What Katie Bakes" you ask?

• I am getting really excited to create my girlfriends wedding cake, with it closely approaching I am looking forward to sitting down with her and getting the full brief.
• I am spending an evening with the winner of the Action for a Cure auction and teaching her how to create the cake and cupcake which she bidder on, we are still to lock down a date, but I think it will be organised very soon
• My 'koumbara' also got engaged so I am really looking forward to whipping something for her celebration
• and finally, I will be spending some time with a girlfriend of mine and teaching her how to make the now famous Blueberry yoghurt cake. I realise I am giving up my signature recipes, but its for the love of baking and I love inspiring others to follow in my footsteps, and hopefully they love it as much as I do.

Until next time.....

Happy Baking

xo KB

Oven Cooking Demonstration

I was fortunate enough to get a free cooking demonstration when I purchased my oven, granted it was nearly three years ago since it was installed, but better late than never. I had heard great reviews and it was a cooking class and free, so off I went to see how good it was

Ready to learn, I was pleasantly surprised with the service, after all I had already purchased the oven. I was greeted with a lovely cup of coffee and a divine pistachio and chocolate ganache macaroon. This afternoon was already looking to be great.

Whilst I love baking, I rarely use my oven outside of sweets and desserts so I wanted to learn how to make the most of this german beast and the other 12 settings that I have never dared to use.

Admittedly I wanted to purchase a few move oven accessories, wire rack, but after spending a couple hours with the lovely Kathy, I was converted, and no more wire trays instead trade them in for metal trays, your guests or partner will thank you.

At the conclusion of the demonstration we were able to sample the food to prove there was no tricks, we had veal racks, with horseradish, fetta and vegetable frittata, stuffed grilled mushrooms, bakes potatoes, carrots and brussel sprouts. The food was amazing and was by far the best sit down meal I had in a long time. and for dessert a Chocolate Frangipane Tart was devine.

I am looking forward to many cakes that don't have uneven peaks or cracked tops, and no more blind baking for me, thanks to the convention bake option. I thought I would list a few of the key things I learnt. I don't think they apply to all ovens, but I would think if you have a newish oven that the same rules apply.

1. Avoid baking on wire racks, the metal ones tend to distribute heat more evenly.
2. Pay special attention to the shelf position when cooking (who knew that you don't just put everything in the middle?)
3. Take all trays out of the oven before you turn the oven, only leave what you require
4. Use baking paper on trays
5. If you have Intensive Bake as a option use it! It eliminates the need for blind baking, however you will need to place your pie, tart, pizza quiche on the bottom shelf, as the heat is distributed at higher intensities towards the bottom of the oven.

Stay tuned, I will scan add the guide they provides us for future reference

A Massive Week of Sydney Fun

For those of you who don't know, I headed to Sydney this week to explore in my creative side and dabble in a decorating classes in Sydney CBD were I did a 4-day intensive cake decorating and business session.

The intensive session was only available to 4 students and this week I got an insight to cake decorating and running a successful business from 3 lovely cake decorators Sharon, Lilia and Louise. There were hours of discussions, brainstorms, designing and days of ganaching, covering and decorating. 

We all got to design 2 cakes and by day 4 I was mentally and physically exhausted but extremely proud of the cakes that I created. Special thanks to Sarah L, for letting me share her bed whilst I was in Sydney, I had a blast!

To be honest the first day I was very overwhelmed and began questioning why I was really there? all the other students had done so many decorating classes and here I was a complete novice...doing a 4-day intense workshop, was I loco (crazy) ? Intimidated was a understatement and I quickly realised after day 2, I was in my element and the creative juices flowed all of a sudden it was like I had found my calling and my release. I think my cakes turned out just as good as the others in the class given my limited knowledge, but you be the judge. 

I made two cakes, one of them was heading to a little girl turning 6, Charli and the other unfortunately did not make the journey back to Melbourne however it did go to a nice lady I met in the lift, so I was happy that it didn't get thrown into the bin, there were many hours spend designing and decorating my 'chandelier charm cake'. Unfortunately weighing over 10kg I just couldn't carry all the way to Melbourne. Charli requested a horse so I threw on a unicorn to make her happy, she was thrilled, see below pic, and that is in all honesty why I am drawn to this, the sheer pleasure it brings people, the reaction and the response was flattering, and worth the effort and time.

In any case it was good practice for future orders and I figure if this is the start, there are only bigger and better things to follow. I am looking forward to making many more cakes. 

The other students work

My first iced cake

Inspired from the Planet Cake cook book, I thought I would give this a go.

It isn't as easy as the instructions say, but I was over it after a solid couple hours decorating. It was way to much icing for my liking but the chocolate mud cake and chocolate ganache was delish! Looking bak on this picture it looks awful, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Lets document this as my first ever decorated cake....and then lets hope it only gets better from here.

My first attempt at cake decorating

In the begining

Being of Greek descent food has always been important, its certainly what united us as a family. A pot of avgolemono (egg lemon soup) always got us together, a table where only 3 people could sit, would often seat 7 of us for grandmas famous soup.

In 2009 when I got married, I found a passion that never knew existed. I have spent a lot of time with the true chef's in my family (giagia, Thea Athina) and my Mother in Law observing them dance around the kitchen, and create beautiful food. As such I started to embark on trying to re-create recipes which date up to 60 years old.

Grandma Angeliki in my kitchen teaching me a thing or two

If we are being honest though the true start of my hobby originated from my cousins wife Abbi....lets just say her baking inspired me to purchase my kitchenaid. I was lucky my grandmother and Uncle Peter purchased it, she wanted to buy something that would stand the test of time, and something I would always remember her by when she passed on. Having spent 2 lovely years married and with my kitchen aid, I created some great sweets, not everything turned out great, there have been a few disasters. 

The baking passion continued and got to point were I slowly branched into cake decorating in 2011.

These are my adventures on baking and keeping you all up to date with What Katie Bakes.

I hope you enjoy and that it inspires you to get in the kitchen and start beating away.

Love Katie