Roses are one of the most popular flowers asked for in cake decorating. There’s no surprise at the amount of different ways in which the roses can be made and the variety of mediums used to make them.

Another product Paul saw in action at the International Cake Show in London recently was Artista Soft modelling paste. The main ingredients are potato and rice flour and is an amazing medium to work with.

As you will see from Paul’s demonstration in the video its very easy to use and flex and allows you to draw a very thin rose leaf petal which gives such an amazing effect. It’s a very quick way to make petals and with it’s quick drying qualities makes for another alternative when choosing which medium to choose for your flowers.

The product is extremely light so would also work well on the cake or as a side decoration.

Despite the main ingredients being foods the product is considered non-edible, but certainly worth a closer look.

Suppliers website: www.artistasoft.co.uk

Paul is always on the look out for new products to try out to help improve his cake decorating.

While away at the London Cake International Show after spending time at the stand and his 3 live demonstration he found time to go and play.

One question he gets asked very often is how do you stop your sugarpaste from rippling and tearing? Usually thicker sugarpaste helps, but that’s expensive and when applying too thick a layer it can detract from the taste of the cake itself. The other option is to be careful and/or practice lots.

However, help is at hand. There’s a new product from the US called Fondarific which claims to act more like a modelling chocolate but have all the taste and cost of sugarpaste. Paul negotiated a free sample to take home to try.

As you’ll see from the video he was very impressed with it’s non-stick qualities and structure even when rolled out really thinly. It tastes good too with a gentle marshmallow taste to it won’t over shadow the taste of the cake itself.

It comes with many endorsements and now Paul’s added his it certainly is worth trying it out.

In the UK its being retailed by Buy N Bake who can be contacted on 01438 870373.

What a couple of weeks!

Having just returned from the Madrid Cake Expo Monday of last week we were off on the road to the London Cake Show by the Wednesday.
Reason for going down early was for two very important meetings on the Thursday.

The first was with Ros and Sophie from Searchpress with whom we are creating a designer Christmas cake book. The picture above shows Paul with Ros and Sophie – I think they must have hidden the alcohol from the table for the camera The ideas were flowing and we eventually decided upon 14 new designs which all sound absolutely stunning. Paul was in creative mode and only just stopped short of adding the Blackpool illuminations to one of his designs. We all got on really well and now the real work starts to get the designs created and text drafted.

There will be a range of easy novelty design through to designer wedding cakes especially for the festive season. Work starts now with publication and launch planned for around August 2013.

The second meeting was with Anna from iWorks TV production company. We discussed many exciting projects where Paul will bring a bit of magic to proceedings to make someone’s important occasion very special. Below you can see both deep in thought…Hoping to hear more soon.

We also launched the new website last week which we believe is a far better advert for what we are doing and hopefully, after becoming familiar with the new layout, you’ll agree.

The London Cake Show took up Friday through to Sunday with a number of new people becoming aware of the Online Courses and glad to say many new members joined the School. One key new feature is the Q & A section under the Online Courses tab. This is an opportunity for you to post your questions and also to help others by sharing your knowledge by answering some of the questions raised.

With all the excitement of last week we didn’t manage to get a video on, but will have two this week.

Here Paul shows how to use a Karen Davies face mould and how to add your little touches to create a sugarpaste face to match your design.

The tutorial takes you through the consistency to use to get the best effect, layering the mould then adding all the little bits to make it look great.

Moulds are are a great way to get consistency if you’re repeating the same design. Often used for example with wedding cupcakes where its important to get that consistent look across the whole display.

There are many good moulds out there but Paul’s very keen on the range provided by Karen Davies . He finds them very easy to use and a very good selection.

Moulds aren’t for everyone, but certainly worth knowing about especially if your looking for repitition or starting out in cake decorating. You kind of have to create a design round the sizes provided in the mould whereas with freehand cake decorating you create the size to suit.

All said a very worthwhile addition to a cake decorators skill set. Lots more tutorial are available on our Cake Decorating Library.