CakesDecor Gazette: Issue 3.12 / December 2014 & Merry Christmas to our lovely Cake Décor family!!!

Merry Christmas to our lovely Cake Décor family!!!
From Michal, Martin, Laura and myself , we would really like to wish all of our members a very safe and happy Christmas. May you all spend your holidays filled with lots of love and laughter, surrounded by those you love the most. You guys make this site the best place to be as a cake decorator and we feel so very blessed to be a part of your lives in this very simple way.

Big Hugs to you all, Shags

Welcome to the Issue 3.12 / December 2014 of the CakesDecor Gazette 

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Editorial

Where are you wanting to go next????

Hello lovely cakey friends,

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends. I celebrated by having lunch with my gorgeous cakey friend Rachael Morris of Three Tiers for cake. Another reason I love the cake community so much is that  you get to meet so many other great decorators and form forever friendships.

Well the festive season has snuck up quickly on us once again. For many this is a very busy season however for me this is my quiet season which quite frankly I am very grateful for. I am also grateful cause I have my second ever wedding cake.

For 3 years now I have been doing the kids birthday cakes and baby shower cakes ...yes I have done the baby bump, baby butt, Minnie Mouse, Little Einstiens and yes the beloved minion! But I am tired of the same old themes that are honestly a struggle some days to try and come up with a design that is unique..... So I am hoping to venture some more into the wedding cake field. Not something I always thought I would want, but I would really like to try to do some more of my own ideas and theme cakes just make that much harder, at least for me that is!

So my first bride was very particular and so very plain, she wanted her cake exactly like her inspiration picture. I told her straight up that I do not copy other peoples work so we compromised and changed her cake into barrel tiers instead. It was challenging but over all I was happy and so was the bride, which is what really counts. First wedding cake

So my next bride is at the end of this month and has not been exactly smooth, but we have worked thru our differences. She, also like the other bride, wanted a cake just like her inspiration, which meant once again I was stuck without being able to create something that was truly my very own. These instances really make you wonder if wanting to go in a new direction is really what you want, or is it really going to change anything?

So my question to you all is... Where are you wanting to cake your cake adventures next? We would love to hear from you in the comments section below and please make sure if there is a topic you would like to hear or talk about let us know also.

Sharon:  Profile on CakesDecorCuriaussiety Cakes Facebook Page

What's Happening

Tutorial Pick for the Month: Tis the season to be Jolly so I chose this cute little guy by  Doc Sugarparty . He is simply adorable and a great little addition for any Christmas cake Christmas Reindeer figurine tutorial

Everyone is always looking to learn, so if you have a special technique or a cute little figurine you would like all of us to see, then why don't you submit it to CakesDecor.com and your creation may be featured in the next Gazette.

Kitchen Talk:  This one is a topic many of us have probably asked ourselves already and quite frankly I am not sure what the real answer is. So many of us have relied on Facebook for so many things over the past years but it is very easy to see times are a changing. Would your business survive without Facebook?

Suggestion Box: New ideas and suggestions are always welcome so please make sure you go to The Gazette Blog post and leave your comments there.

We would love to hear what you would like featured and who you would like us to interview. We value your input and opinions and want to make the Gazette the best it can be.

Have fun coming up with new ideas :) 

Birmingham Cakes International 2014

If you have not seen some of the entries from Birmingham's Cake International then you are so missing out.

I could  not believe how many gorgeous cakes were entered and I only got to see the pictures , which was a real bummer. Maybe have to keep saving my pennies so as I can go next year as they all looked way to brilliant.

So very well done all of those Cakes Decor members that entered and a super big congratulations to all of those who won or placed. That is a huge achievement and takes true courage to enter these amazing cake shows with such world class talent. Our hats off to you all and a big round of a applause goes out to you from all of us.

Merit

"Evie" CI Merit Award

Jadesicedjems

Gold Medal and 1st place

Steampunk Freestanding Guitar and Amplifier    

Kerry rowe  

            

Gold Medal

St. Peter's Basilica

La Belle Aurore

Gold Medal

The Big Eater    

Laura Loukaides  

            

Gold Medal and Best in Class

My wedding cake entry

Milla

Gold Medal

Armistice Day    

Alice Davies  

            

NEW!!! Cakes decor RISING STAR

Muchio di Bella

OMG, these Dr's ...yes you read that correctly, are just amazing at what they do! Truly exquisite hand paintings down to precise detailing and impeccable flowers all beautifully combined to make the most stunning creations. Every cake is a piece of art captured to perfection. Their use of color and flow is simply breath taking and I just cannot wait to see more of their work.

CakesDecor Gazette Editors Choice

My Editors Choice for November  is... Cecile Beaud with her

Cake international Birmingham 2014 my pièce You know sometimes you just see something and it just takes your breath away. This piece was one of those pieces for me. The pure beauty of this sculpture is just incredible and Cecile just makes everything she does look effortless.

Cake Decorator of the Week The Cake Decorators of the Week for November were...

Bethann Dubey

Jessica MV

Sweet Foxylicious

Sweet Janis

Marias-cakes

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 15 Minutes of Fame

Cake Masters Awards 2014

Looks like Cake Masters awards were a big hit again this year and with so many of our lovely Cakes décor family taking away awards.

So we would like to say a very big congratulations to Riany Clement -Wedding Cake Award 2014,  Avalon Yarnes - Novelty Cake Award 2014, Sachiko Windbiel - Cupcake Award 2014 and Best Magazine Cover Award 2014 , Nadia Fletch Guazo - Modelling Excellence Award 2014 and the ever so lovely Raewyn Read - Personality of Year Award 2014.

Thank you Cake Masters for supporting all of us decorators and believing in our talents. It is thru people like you that us decorators persevere through countless days of hard work and sleepless nights. Knowing that down the line we may just catch a break and be asked to be in your fabulous magazine.

Riany Clement and Raewyn Read

Ana Remigio and Sachiko Windbiel

Rudy Martinez and Rosie cake Diva

suzanne readman

Cakers for a cause!!!!

Christmas in Frostington!

Home to over 100 Bakers from all over the globe. All of whom came together to create this Sweet little Christmas Village. Complete with children, homes, businesses, cats, dogs, horses, gifts, trees,... a fairground and so much more! All in the spirit of raising funds for Alzheimer's Society, Australia's Melanoma Research Foundation, and Icing Smiles, Inc. !

As the saying goes, "It Takes A Village" and with that, each of our bakers has also donated a tutorial or recipe that have been made into downloadable booklets that will be sold. And a special thanks to the generosity of so many, we've got some awesome raffle prizes up for grabs (Go check them out!) Proceeds from the booklet sales & raffle tickets will go directly to the charities listed above!

Christmas In Frostington is the follow up Christmas Charity Collaboration to Bake A Christmas Wish (BACW), where over $12,585.00 was raised for charity in 2013. I urge all of you to pop on over and take a look and hopefully help out these very talented bakers raise even more for charity this year.

Upcoming Cake Decorating Competitions

      West Tennessee Sugar Arts show and competition....... January 31st, 2015  

      Cakes International Manchester , UK ...... February 6th - 8th

      That takes the cake!- Round Rock, Texas........ February 21st-22nd

      Cake Fest, 2015! - Layayette , Lousiana....... February 21st- 22nd

      Sweet times in the Rockies! - Denver, Colorado....... February 7th -8th


Cake Masters Magazine - December

---------------------------- Sponsored ----------------------------

Welcome to our festive December edition of Cake Masters Magazine, packed with Christmas tutorials and all the congratulatory news from our 2014 Awards!

I’m very excited to present our first ever FREE* product for our readers courtesy of www.cakecrafting.co.uk. We have a fabulous Christmas project lined up for you, using the free stencil, which is great on cupcakes too. I hope you experiment with it and share with me your festive creations.
Packed into this issue, we have six fantastic tutorials with varying levels of difficulty. We have a very cute nativity scene , royal iced knitted mitten cookies,  a festive snowman and last and by no means least, the perfect little elf for Christmas.
 
As if the celebratory season of Christmas wasn’t enough, I’m also really happy to share with you an overview of the Cake Masters Magazine Awards 2014. Full of glamour, entertainment and cake – it was an amazing night! We tell you all about the winners, with lots of pictures from the event. Organising this special event was a real team effort so I’d like to thank everyone involved, from the judges, to the support on the day and to Yawar, Director of Cake Masters Magazine, who really ensured the event became a reality! This year has been an amazing journey for Cake Masters Magazine; having only launched to newsstands in April of this year, we have grown substantially and have had the honour of featuring and sharing the stories of amazing cake artists in every single issue. Thank you to everyone who has supported us on this journey, especially Steve, Richard, our subscribers and all our cakey friends.
Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2015!
Rosie

Magazine links:
Get your copy now from: AppStore or www.cakemasters.co.uk

Monthly Top 5

Most Popular Cake for November

Elli Warren

Sugar Skull bakers 2014

White and Pink cake with Pink Roses

Marlene- Cake Heaven

Monty the Chimp

 Sweet Foxylicious

Steampunk Crocodile

CuriAUSSIEty Cakes

Blue and brown Wedding Cake

Bellaria Cake Design

Cake This Tute!

Christmas Reindeer Tutorial

Doc Sugarparty

Find tutorial here Kitchen Talk

Would your business survive without Facebook?

I chose to share this blog this month as so many of us get caught up in Facebook and what we feel we do or do not get out of it. I know speaking just for myself it is like a spider web.... it just grabs me and pulls me in for hours , like a timeless hub that just eats away from all the other things I really should be doing, lol!

But I so love it, I cannot lie! I love that I can talk to my cakey friends any time day or night , down the road or on the other side of the world, whenever I want. But that is it ....Does it really help my business though ...Or is it really just about getting likes, more exposure and meeting new people? Are we really bringing in business from Faceboook?

Well I think this is a great little discussion Candy's Cupcakes has put together and I hope you all pop on over to her blog and share your thoughts with us as well.

CakesDecor News, Stats & Links

December, 1st 2014

We are 23 658 cake decorators making 870,344 comments on 168,019 cakes1,759 blogs, 98 recipes978 tutorials and 1,872 forum topics

Editor's Choice Albums: Facebook , Pinterest , Google +

Cake Decor Pros

1762 cake decorating pros / bakeries in 64 countries at your fingertips

Cakes Decor Pros is the world's first and largest visual, location based directory of cake decor professionals. Enter your city and country into the box below and start exploring the finest cake decorators near you. They are eager to hear from you, ready to bake and decorate 

If you are not listed yet.... get subscribed NOW and get visible :) 

Tampa, Florida facebook.com/pages/curiaussiety-custom-cakes

20 Comments

Merry Christmas to everyone as well …enjoy the holidays. 💗💗💗💗💗

lilchick

Merry Christmas to all… stay safe (especially for those travelling).
Enjoy time with your loved ones.
Thanks CD team and members for being a fabulous part of my year in 2014! xxx

Julez, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Allways-Cakes/450634018350115?ref=hl

PS Sharon… thank you for this wonderful entry… I missed most of it at the first instance… just found the scroll bar on the side… great work! xxx
I understand your frustration, and questioning “where do you want to go next?” Your work is fabulous, I hope you stick with your dreams.
In 2015 I will be taking time out to pursue some non-cakey pursuits, including travel and other projects that I am passionate about.
I will still look forward to catching up with you all, as regular as possible. xxx

Julez, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Allways-Cakes/450634018350115?ref=hl

Merry Christmas to everyone :) <3 and thank you so much for the cake decorator of the week <3 <3 I am so honored it meant so much to me <3 <3 … .. Wonderful Editorial thank you so much for sharing! .. Fabulous Cakes amazing artists <3 <3 <3 I am happy about your wedding cakes :) and I am sure you will put your own spin on them, and they will be fabulous.. <3 <3 Looking forward to 2015! :)

Dubey Cakes

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it.
Thank you Cakesdecor for a wonderful and friendly cake community xoxo

Naomi AKA Cairns Cake Lady, Australia www.cakedecorcairns.com or www.google.com/+CakeDecorCairns or www.facebook.com/cakedecorcairns

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the CD family, (ladies first :-) Sharon and Laura, Michal and Martin!! Love this big family and here’s hoping to a wonderful 2015 for all !!

Dina @ miettes, http://www.facebook.com/pages/miettes/257790597632317

Merry Christmas to you all xx its a pleasure to be part of cakes decor everyone is so lovely xx

Lisa Salerno Bespoke Cakes

Merry Christmas to every CD members and families! Have a bright Christmas! xxx

Clara

Merry Christmas to all my fantastic Cakey friends. 2015 is coming up on us fast and I’m looking forward to seeing which way it takes me and also all of us on CD. Maybe we should think about having a CD convention of our own………..that would be fab. If not an international one, then an in country one might work. Although I don ’t think my lounge is quite large enough……lol!!! xxxxx

karen,Gwynedd

Merry christmas to all the CD friends!!! Love you all, this year was amazing for me in different aspects, but the most special is that I made many friends, and some very special friends!! A merry Christmas to you all, and blessing for 2015!! Love you all <3

Learn from the past! Get yourself a blank canvas and paint your own life. Be your own artist! Mila, http://www.facebook.com/PureCakesbyMila http://www.tsu.co/PureCakesbyMila