Mark Your Calendar – 34th Annual ICES Convention

ICES ’09 is coming to Illinois. The International Cake Exploration Societe has scheduled their 34th convention for July 30th – August 2, 2009 in St. Charles, Illinois.

There will be demonstrations, cake book authors, vendors for cake supplies, displays of member creations and a few field trips. There will be off site tours to Wilton Industries, The French Pastry School, and three local Chicago bakeries. Wonder if one of them is featured on the Amazing Wedding Cakes show?

Have you attended an ICES convention before? Want to share some photos here?

Inspiration from Printables

Some of the most difficult cake decorating challenges can be solved by some of the great “printables” sites that are available to all, free of charge. Whether you are in need of a creative spark to help you pull together a professional or family celebration, these sites can offer the inspiration you need to link the theme, invitations, design, and set up. Sometimes we just need that creative boost. One such site is Kaboose. They have information for holidays, birthdays, and all the days in between that deserve to be celebrated.

In need of some birthday guidance? From the invitations to the cake design, you can’t go wrong when incorporating birthday printables into your research.

We’ve often been in a position where we needed a physical representation of an item or an odd-shaped box. Mirkwood Designs is a wonderful resource for templates for boxes, cards, baskets and envelopes.  

While these sites may not be a traditional method for inspiration, they are bound to spark a new interest or design that you can turn into beautiful edible art.

Have any sites to share? As this site matures we hope to provide a comprehensive list of sites that are helpful and inspirational.

Hall of Fame Cake Wrecks

Cake decorators are asked to create cakes out of every image, design, or character one can imagine. Like the time we were asked to “work the Enron logo” into a baby shower cake. A request like that can make you want to ask a long list of questions, but somehow, you’re not sure you want to know. Some ideas turn out brilliantly, and well… others are best left on the drawing board. We’ve all been there. All one can do is just laugh it off and learn from our mistakes.

Sometimes, as Jen at Cake Wrecks illustrates, it isn’t always the hideous colors or poor design skills that ruin a cake, the “wreck” is often in the details. Wreck-worthy details include odd concepts for a cake design, and unintelligible messages riddled with punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors.

Check out an interview with Jen over at Cakelava.

While we may wish our cakes never grace her pages, if you don’t work yourself into a fit of giggles when you view this site, all pastry tools should be removed from your hands. Cake decorating without a sense of humor is not allowed.

Were you ever asked to create a cake that you knew would not…ahem…”translate” well? Received some odd cake requests that you just didn’t know how to work into a cake? Let’s hear about’em.

Tip of the Month: A Business Plan and Spooky Pancakes

It’s that time of year, when resolutions and plans start to come to mind and make us take action. Perhaps you are acting on the resolutions you made at the beginning of the year, or maybe you are looking toward the future and wondering what steps you need to take to make your future dreams come true. Either way, you need a plan. Here is an interesting example of a business plan found at MoreBusiness.com. It can serve as a good example of what information you need to gather when composing a business plan.

Something cute for those spooky mornings on the horizon. Anything to make breakfast a “must have meal” is a good thing to me.

Amazing Wedding Cakes

We can’t get enough of television shows that feature cake decorators. Women’s Entertainment, WE TV, has a new half-hour series dedicated to the Wedding Cake and the people who make them, appropriately called, Amazing Wedding Cakes. Bakeries in New York, LA, and Chicago will be featured in the show.

When: Sunday, September 7, 2008
When: 9:00 pm Central
Where: WE TV of course…

Come back and tell us what you think of it!