It's past 1 am and I can't sleep! I've been making sugarpaste (fondant) roses all night and just not getting them right. The first practice rose I made was a mixture of the techniques I learnt from a sugarpaste course when Wey was a toddler and from You Tube videos. I was pretty happy with the result, considering that the last time I made roses for a wedding cake was more than a decade ago, and proceeded to the second rose, sticking to what my teacher had taught: roses come in odd petals of 3, 5, 7 and so on. By the time I got to the 3rd row of 7 petals my rose looked like a pink cabbage. No good. I decided reluctantly to forget about rules.
The first rose.
The second rose: a pink cabbage.
Third rose, petals too thick.
The third rose looked better but still didn't look right. I plugged in Hub's laptop on the dining table and spent the next 1/2 hour ogling at Zurin's vintage roses, looking so real and beautiful that it's hard to believe they are made of sugar. They look too difficult and intimidating for me. I will have to fly to KL one day to learn how to make roses from Zurin. I spent another 1/2 hour at Cupcake Dlights, my top cupcakes and sugarpaste cakes blog crush. Zahirah's only in her late 20s and already made a big name with her creations. My sugarpaste teacher was trained in Australia, a world leader in sugarpaste work, and she mentioned South Africa as being one of the world's best in sugarpaste art and Zahirah is in Durban, South Africa. If you go to her blog, click on any photo and that will take you to her Flickr account which is filled with the most amazing cakes. I am just AWED by her skills and her classy designs. Her work is so elegant and classy, I've not seen any gaudy designs, not one. Even her colors are incomparable. I think she mixes them and I don't think it's Wilton colors. If only she gives some tutorials on her blog. Her work is so amazing and breathtaking that going through them I felt like I was in a different world, a wonderland of roses, fairy tale characters and all things nice. My major crush for photography is Norjlus for travel and outdoor photos (another fairy tale world), Stone Soup for her to-die-for food photo skills (I absolutely adore her photos!) and Cupcakes Dlight for the world's most gorgeous gorgeous cakes and lately photography too.
Inspired by CupcakeDlight, I made a simple violet pink rose that looks more like a gardenia.
I'm not as worried as I should be about this assignment because I have enlisted two of the best people for the job--A, who said she first learnt sugarcraft from my blog only 9 months ago but now is so good at it (her cakes are awesome!) that I look up to her as my teacher and E, who's an excellent cook and expert at handicraft. What have I got to fear but the wet weather, which prevents the sugarpaste flowers from drying. I am a little bit anxious about whether V will like our creations because she came back from Australia last weekend to arrange her wedding anniversary celebrations and I haven't yet had a chance to see her. She's leaving everything to me, just giving a few instructions about colors and type of flowers.
I enjoy having a free hand at making the cake. It shall be 6 tiers, the 6th being the table. I will bake the top cake but the cupcakes will be baked by a professional baker because I just can't bake and decorate 320 cupcakes. Now I should get some sleep because tomorrow I'm going to make the actual roses for the cake.
The first rose.
The second rose: a pink cabbage.
Third rose, petals too thick.
The third rose looked better but still didn't look right. I plugged in Hub's laptop on the dining table and spent the next 1/2 hour ogling at Zurin's vintage roses, looking so real and beautiful that it's hard to believe they are made of sugar. They look too difficult and intimidating for me. I will have to fly to KL one day to learn how to make roses from Zurin. I spent another 1/2 hour at Cupcake Dlights, my top cupcakes and sugarpaste cakes blog crush. Zahirah's only in her late 20s and already made a big name with her creations. My sugarpaste teacher was trained in Australia, a world leader in sugarpaste work, and she mentioned South Africa as being one of the world's best in sugarpaste art and Zahirah is in Durban, South Africa. If you go to her blog, click on any photo and that will take you to her Flickr account which is filled with the most amazing cakes. I am just AWED by her skills and her classy designs. Her work is so elegant and classy, I've not seen any gaudy designs, not one. Even her colors are incomparable. I think she mixes them and I don't think it's Wilton colors. If only she gives some tutorials on her blog. Her work is so amazing and breathtaking that going through them I felt like I was in a different world, a wonderland of roses, fairy tale characters and all things nice. My major crush for photography is Norjlus for travel and outdoor photos (another fairy tale world), Stone Soup for her to-die-for food photo skills (I absolutely adore her photos!) and Cupcakes Dlight for the world's most gorgeous gorgeous cakes and lately photography too.
Inspired by CupcakeDlight, I made a simple violet pink rose that looks more like a gardenia.
I'm not as worried as I should be about this assignment because I have enlisted two of the best people for the job--A, who said she first learnt sugarcraft from my blog only 9 months ago but now is so good at it (her cakes are awesome!) that I look up to her as my teacher and E, who's an excellent cook and expert at handicraft. What have I got to fear but the wet weather, which prevents the sugarpaste flowers from drying. I am a little bit anxious about whether V will like our creations because she came back from Australia last weekend to arrange her wedding anniversary celebrations and I haven't yet had a chance to see her. She's leaving everything to me, just giving a few instructions about colors and type of flowers.
I enjoy having a free hand at making the cake. It shall be 6 tiers, the 6th being the table. I will bake the top cake but the cupcakes will be baked by a professional baker because I just can't bake and decorate 320 cupcakes. Now I should get some sleep because tomorrow I'm going to make the actual roses for the cake.
8 comments:
WOOOOO! what a project!...Im glad I dont have a project right now...i get so stressed out each time and never sleep.
your roses are good Terri...mine always look like yours too the moment I put on those 7 petals....except for the wired ones..that i learnt to make recently. I think you will enjoy taking classes frrom cake connection and fly down just for it..so far it has been worth the money. they have all kinds of classes for all kinds of flowers. Ill email you the website later k.
Cupcake delights is fantastic....no better one...beautiful and elegant indeed. ive never seen her flicker fotos though...must go there now
enjoy the project. cant wait to see teh cake :)
thanks for the shout out...heh...
oh wow that is absolutely gorgeous!
zurin: you agree:D i seriously am thinking of flying to africa just to learn from zahirah, if she gives any lessons. noticed tt she had an opinion poll about tutorials, so keep our fingers crossed. but yes, i would fly there just to learn frm the best. but what justification for the cost of going there if i don't bake commercially? ah, yes, a safari holiday...you must check her flickr photos. your jaw'll drop.
jaslyn: tq:) take a look at cupcakedelight n you'll see the world's best sugarpaste cakes.
Very pretty!! Very pretty!! I am not good with making flowers.. hehehe.. I am jut not patient and with our weather, it's very very tricky!
Well done Terri!!
Personally, I like the second flower. Beautiful!
Hi Terri!!!
I think your roses looks nice, even if you're not happy with them!!
Wow...I think you'll enjoy yourself with this job!!!
Ciao!!
Laura
why worry about semantics?
rose, flower, gardenia, whatever, they all look good and if you hadn't said anything, no one would know you were not happy with all the results.
considering the patience and finesse it takes to work with sugar, congratulate yourself.
I have to say those roses look beautiful.
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