By contributor Bee Dunne
This is the second year Cake International – the sugar craft, cake decorating and baking show has been held at Excel London. All things cake under one roof! I visited on Saturday 13th April and there were huge crowds milling around all day. There were a variety of demonstrations, workshops and displays dotted around the venue for the visitors to interact with. I was looking forward to visiting the show, as a professional baker I had not been to a show for a few years. What a surprise I got to find there were very few of the big industry leaders there, but lots of new and emerging small business who appear to be flourishing.
In the above picture is resident chef Paul Da Costa Greaves, in The Bakers Dozen demonstration area. Willing participants were pulled from the crowd to bake along with chef Paul. I really enjoyed watching him expertly guide one group in making cup cakes and later on in the day another group who made cookies. I also had the chance to see chef Paul in action in The Bakery Theatre showing the audience how to make his Aunt Marva’s Jamaican Rum Cake. Some of us got to taste a little bit of one made earlier suitably doused in Rum, but quite frankly I think they underestimated people’s desire for tasters! There were very few freebies available either edible or non-edible a clear indicator of the economic times.
Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood later took to The Bakery Theatre to strut their stuff. With not enough seats to accommodate everyone many people had to stand, by my estimation 400 – 500 people were watching the demonstration. I was so far back and the two TV screens above the stage area didn’t really do justice to what was happening on stage! Perhaps they could have done two or three sessions considering obvious demand to see Mary & Paul.
I met some really interesting people at the show, one of whom was Marta, who was busy demonstrating on her stand. She uses Henna inspired techniques as inspiration for her cake decorating work. The moulds are made in-house for her use and you can find her on Facebook : Mamma& Mia Moulds
Queen of Hearts
I loved the colourful Buttercream Art that could be seen on the Queen of Hearts – Couture Cakes stand. The owners Valeri & Christina are really creative. They design and exquisitely tailor make cakes for their clients. They performed demonstrations on their stand at set times.
Knightsbridge PME Ltd
Knightsbridge PME Ltd seemed to have so may stands, I counted at least four.
On one of the stands they had four demonstrator stations with very skilled
people doing some lovely sugar flowers. They had loads & loads of equipment
for sale as well. I did spend out on some new equipment myself, but there was so much to choose from you could have broken the bank! They provide classes around the UK, I would recommend you check them out.
I picked up two great moulds on a stand called Baker and Maker, which will be
very useful for a forthcoming commission I have. I recommend you look them
up on Twitter: @bakerandmaker
This display was very captivating, the subtle colour choices made for a stunning display in the Competition area. There were 15 categories including one student class and two junior classes. The top three winners in each class received a cash prize and certificate. Below are some of the lovely competition entries.
Tal Tsafrir
The last thing at the show to catch my eye was Tal Tsafrir. She is an Israeli cake decorator whose work is appreciated all over the world. She is also an experienced lecturer in design and the author of many books. Her modelling of Fairies was the best I saw at the show.
Other titbits that you may find of interest:
Brooklands College in Weybridge offer courses in Bakery & Sugar craft and
Chocolates. They have a FREE Bakery, Sugar craft & cake decorating event on Friday 3rd May 2013, 10am – 4pm.
If you want to learn sugar craft online check a City & Guilds.
Also, in Surrey you can learn sugar craft at Inspired Creations
Lastly, do you make the best cupcakes? Now’s your chance to shine!
National Cupcake Week 16 – 22 September 2013. Enter today closing dates for entry 19th July 2013.
That’s all folk’s! I hope you enjoyed the review and happy baking!
Many thanks to Cake International for the tickets.
