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Home » Why I’ll never get an MBE for Services to the Cake Industry

Why I’ll never get an MBE for Services to the Cake Industry

December 22, 2010 by Sarah / Maison Cupcake

Being purely self taught, a chance to pick up some tips from Little Venice Cake Company‘s Mich Turner at a cupcake decorating class was an opportunity not to miss.

Several bloggers had been invited to judge a Tesco Real Food cupcake decorating competition and joined the winners to brush up their sugary skills at a special masterclass at Islington’s Make Lounge.

I must apologise today for the graininess of the pictures – my camera was stuck on the “candlelight” setting and I didn’t realise this until afterwards.

Kitted out with work stations of cutters, nozzles, glitter galore and compulsory glasses of champagne, we had a demo from Mich then attempted to do our own using a newly honed techniques.

Such as making paper piping bags – Katie and Nic get to the point.

Next up, DIY sugar roses. Mich says when you get really good at this you can make squillions of them per hour.

First roll your sausage of fondant, flatten the bottom edge a bit then chop semi circular shaped chunks out – six per rose.

Arrange them inside an A4 plastic sleeve that’s been cut around the edge to be able open it right up. Squash each semi circle with your thumb.

Flatten upwards to make petals, leave the lower end fatter, take care not to make too thin as this makes them tear when you peel them off the plastic. Roll the first one into a coiled tube, the inside of your rose.

Curl another petal round in the other direction. Then another. Keep doing it with all six til you build up a rose shape.

Twiddle with it and make it look really gorgeous. Chop it’s bottom off so it’s flat enough to sit on a cake. Hey presto!

Next Mich showed us a variety of ways to pipe our buttercream, spirals, zig zags, pointy bits. Provided you use a star nozzle on your piping bag, all will look surprisingly grand even with a minimum of piping experience.

Finishing touches…

Et voila!

Then it was our turn. Katie and Helly start making candy canes and roses to decorate our own cupcakes. The bases were already baked for us and we had ten each to decorate.

Busy busy busy! Mich on hand to help us out.

Anne of I Heart Cupcakes did fabulous glittery roses (above left) and someone else did these groovy tricolour candy canes.

And me? I manage to pipe “Merry Christ” on one of mine. Bad planning and ineptitude meant I ran out of space.

This would never happen to Mich Turner.

“How long was it until you were really good?” I asked her brandishing a wobbly piping bag.

“My first stripe was dead straight perfect.” She replied seriously.

Let’s move on shall we? Here are everyone else’s efforts…

All twelve of us had a fabulous afternoon and I image everyone else had a similar journey home… try travelling on public transport with a clear lidded box of cupcakes on your lap and you’re suddenly everyone’s best friend with mesmerised stares at your cargo.

Thanks very much to Tesco Real Food, Mich and the Make Lounge for putting together such a fun afternoon.

Filed Under: Classes and Events Tagged With: cupcakes, events, Mich Turner

About Sarah / Maison Cupcake

Sarah has published recipes on Maison Cupcake since 2009 and lives in London.
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Comments

  1. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says

    December 22, 2010 at 11:43 am

    It was really good fun!

    I was sure that I would be the class dunce, but now have a new addiction!

    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      December 22, 2010 at 1:44 pm

      It’s very satisfying, my favourite bit is piping the buttercream!

  2. Vickii says

    December 22, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    I did a cupcake decorating class at The Make Lounge and absolutely LOVED it! I learnt so much! Your cupcakes look lovely!! I really do need to practice my fondant roses though 🙂

    • Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

      December 22, 2010 at 1:43 pm

      Thank you! I think I need to practise mine too!

  3. Sanjeeta kk says

    December 22, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    What a lovely array of cute little cup cakes over there, Sarah. Lovely deco and frosting on each baked goody out there.Good read.

  4. Mr. P says

    December 22, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    I have been there! We had another teacher, her name escapes me. I did learn a little – like how to make sprinkles – but the buttercream was horrendous. We were told to use equal quantities of butter and icing sugar, and I like more or a 1:2 butter to sugar ratio. Their ratio does colour better though.

    LOVE the roses.

  5. Rosa says

    December 22, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    What a great class! I’d love to take part in one… Lovely cupcakes!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  6. deeba says

    December 22, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    Oh you are having FUN! Saw Nic there in the pics. I would have loved to be there. My daughter turns out beautiful roses with melted candle wax; maybe I need to learn from her. I love the way you shared the post.Made me feel like I was virtually there. Happy Holidays Sarah {and thank you for the sweet comment} xo

  7. Brownieville Girl says

    December 22, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    Love your sparkly silver roses.

    Sounds like a fantastic day.

  8. Robyn Clarke says

    December 22, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    I did Mich’s Christmas Masterclass, enjoyed every minute of it.

    http://catchingupwiththeclarkes.blogspot.com/

  9. Domestic goddesque says

    December 22, 2010 at 8:28 pm

    I am deeply envious….mind you, I spent last night making 32 brussel sprouts for the Christmas Cake, so a day making cupcakes might have been overkill!

  10. Chele says

    December 23, 2010 at 7:14 am

    Sounds like it was a great day. I was a runner up in this competition but maybe next year (lol) ….

  11. faithy says

    December 23, 2010 at 9:13 am

    Looks like it’s so much fun! I adore Mich Turner’s work too. Wow.her first piping is already perfect?!… I think your cupcakes looks fab..actually i didn’t even notice you didn’t finish the word ‘christmas’ until you mentioned it. 😀 Merry Christmas to you & family Sarah! 😀

  12. Heavenly Housewife says

    December 23, 2010 at 3:24 pm

    I did a very similar class at the Make Lounge, it was really good fun, and pretty inexpensive compared to most classes.
    Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas.
    *kisses* HH

  13. pavithra says

    December 24, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    Wow Sarah thats awesome post..all the cupcakes and the place looks so festive. Wish I am there too… awesome.

    Pavithra
    http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com

  14. Sarah says

    December 24, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    Love the glittery roses. I went to a sugarcraft class earlier in the year, but spent so much time taking photos that I missed the tutorial, so thanks for puting guidance on roses here.

  15. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says

    December 28, 2010 at 1:28 am

    What a fun class! Those paper piping bags are so useful to doing intricate piping work and I would love to learn the proper way to do these (I have a makeshift way which works fine but the correct way is always good 🙂 ). Merry Christmas Sarah!

  16. Karen Mockett says

    December 28, 2010 at 8:52 pm

    What a brilliant day out!

    I had heard that making roses was straight-forward when you master the technique. Might give it a try soon.

    Wonder if there is a class like this one in Leeds? Might make it my mission to find a similar one to take part in during 2011.

  17. Fabulicious Food says

    December 30, 2010 at 9:18 am

    Wow, what a great masterclass. Your write-up really made me giggle! I love your “Merry Christ” cake, exactly the thing I would do! The piping looks beautiful and what a lovely selection to take home. I can just imagine Mich saying that her very very attempt was perfect – she is amazing! Hope you had a fun Christmas. Looking forward to taking part in your “Forever Nigella” challenge. Ren x

  18. Katie Bryson says

    January 3, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    I’d forgotten about the ‘Merry Christ’ cake – snorted my cuppa out when I remembered that!!! What a great session that was… definitely need to get myself that nozzle we used for the piping to get those fantastic roses. Great post Sarah – really captured our indulgent and fun afternoon 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Review Of December 2010 Food Blogs (Part 2) | Axel and Sophie Steenbergs Blog: News, Views and Chat about Spices, Tea, Recipes and the Environment says:
    January 16, 2011 at 11:42 am

    […] or holiday season as it is called in America – see Menu 1 and Menu 2.  Maison Cupcake was cupcake decorating in a Masterclass in Islington’s The Make Lounge with Mich Turner and I love the recipe for Sweet And Savoury Spiced Nuts at Not Without Salt as they remind me of […]

  2. Cupcake Decoration Class | Fuss Free Flavours says:
    February 6, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    […] was lovely to see and to meet new bloggers.  Their accounts are as follows, Sarah @ Maison Cupcake, Katie @ Feeding Boys & Nic @ […]

  3. Britain's best sugarcrafter Mich Turner on Britain's Best BakeryMaison Cupcake | How to bake your way through life says:
    November 29, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    […] it was time for my nemisis. The candy stripe. Memorably Mich had told me at a previous cupcake decorating class how she’d picked up a piping bag and done perfectly straight lines the first […]

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Sarah has published recipes on Maison Cupcake since 2009 and lives in London.
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