Ramonas Backstübli: Weihnachtsverlosung

Received an email last Friday, asking if I could do a little sponsoring for a Blogger who loves to bake.  I said "Sure!"  A couple days after, she received the package and was really excited!  This is what she had to say (or write;-)
Such a great idea!!


Ramonas Backstübli: Weihnachtsverlosung: Jaaaaaaaaaa es ist soweit! Ich habe schon länger eine Verlosung geplant. Lange habe ich überlegt was es den sein soll. Leider fand ich ke...

Hallowe'en Pirate Head Tutorial, by Thatbakinggirl

Vive l'Internet!!  This is all I can say because I have had the great privilege of meeting some Dynamite people these last couple years.  Meet Heidi, a Canadian-Swiss Cookie-Addict Crazee Gal (much like myself!:-O
Heidi has something to share with you, and here it is:  Enjoy!! :-D

Ok people! Halloween fondant cookies on a stick! This is not something I do very often, so bear with me...Here I had almost too many pictures, I hope you can follow. 
What you will need :
Skeleton head cutter
White and black fondant
Black luster dust

Ball tool and the pointy one I don't know the name of
(I use saran wrap when cutting the fondant to give everything a rounder edge...)
So, you baked your cookie, with the lollipop stick already in it, it's ready to be used!
1. Cut out only the bones, using the cutter.
2. Place bones on cookie-I dabbed the cookie with a bit of water.
3. Cut out the head-use about 2 mm thick fondant for this.
4. Put it over the cookie.
5. Using a ball tool, make indentations for the eyes, I went pretty far down for this.
6. Put black luster dust in the eye sockets to give it more depth.
7. Make eyeballs with two white and two tiny black fondant balls.
8. Make little indentations for the nose and put luster dust in there too.
9. Mouth indentations-I put in dust too...
10. Make two strips of white fondant and put them in the mouth. Make lines for the teeth and luster dust in between for shading.
11. If you want a patch instead of 2 creepy eyes to make it piraty (I am sure this is a word), just take some blac fondant, make a patch and stick it on! There you go! A pirate skull lollipop cookie!
List of items
Black fondant :
http://www.kitschcakes.ch/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=14
White Fondant http://www.kitschcakes.ch/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=717
Skull cookie cutter:http://www.kitschcakes.ch/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_25_132&products_id=1067
Tools :
http://www.kitschcakes.ch/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46_102&products_id=962

Making A Swirl Lollipop, by Thatbakinggirl

I'm on a roll here people, no pun intended, I think I will be able to put up all these tutorials before I go on vacation! So, a Halloween Swirl Lollipop! These are really fun to make and look super cute!
What you will need:
Round cookie baked on a lollipop stick
Orange and black fondant
Orange disco dust

That's it!
1. Roll out quite a length of both coloured fondants, as even as possible and longer than you may imagine, I eyeballed it-this is the result.
2. Once they are rolled out, twist them together. Start by folding them over, then you can roll them and they will spin together.
3. Once you get the tightness you want, flatten/roll the fondant snake (for lack of a better word) so that the colours blend.
4. Roll up the snake-no trick here, just start tightly and continue. It sticks together with no help.
5. Dab a tiny amount of water on your cookie and stick that swirl right on!
6. Using a paintbrush, sprinkle a bit of disco dust on top!!
I am sure your kids will love these and although these are great for Halloween, choose any fun colour for any season and they will look awesome!!
List of items :
Black fondant
Orange Fondant 
Orange disco dust 

Creepy Bat and Spider, by Thatbakinggirl

A bat!! Let's make him cute and scary. A bit of both right?
Soooo, what you'll need:
Cookie baked on stick
Bat cutter
Black, red and white fondant

Some kind of tool to shape the mouth
1. Hey, here is a picture of everything you need! Incl. the tool for which I do not know the name!!!
2. Cut out the bat, place it on cookie with a bit of water.
3. Take a fatter piece of the black fondant and cut only the middle part of his body. Use a knife to cut the edges...
4. Make the eyes using 2 white balls and 2 tiny black balls of fondant.
5. Stick 'em on!!
6. Take that tool, shaped like a semi circle, make a mouth.
7-8. Take a bit of red fondant and place it in the hole you made for the mouth.
9. Two tiny pieces of white fondant to shape teeth!
Now put the body on to the bat wings and you're ready to go! A Halloween bat!!
List of things you'll need
Bat cutter :
Black fondant :
White fondant :
Red fondant
The nameless tool :http://www.kitschcakes.ch/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46_102&products_id=962

The Nasty Pumpkin by Thatbakinggirl

Everyone loves a scary Halloween Jack o' Lantern, right? Well, I do, and a pumpkin on a lollipop stick? Well, that's actually one I would like to eat too!
What you will need:
Cookie baked directly on the stick
Pumpkin cutter
Orange and green fondant

Black edible ink pen
Toothpick
Some kind of face
1. Cut out your pumpkin shape, leaving out the stem.
2. I think this is pretty self explanatory...LOL!! Put both onto your cookie. I dabbed the cookie with a bit of water first.
3. Choose a face for your pumpkin and cut it down to size.
4. Now really, you can draw right on, but if I do that, I tend to ruin everything. So take a toothpick and push lightly everywhere you need help to remember where the line goes.
5. Can you see the tiny "holes" on that tiny picture?
6. Follow the tiny holes and fill in with your edible ink marker!
That's it!
List of items :
Pumpkin cutter 
Orange Fondant
Green fondant :
Black edible ink pen

The Fat Owl by Thatbakinggirl

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Fat Owl...In very few steps, hoping most of you know the basics of cake pop making...
Items you will need :
Orange and Black chocolate melts
Cake Pop sticks
Cake ball (of course...) 

Black sanding sugar
Royal Icing
Tiny orange heart sprinkle
Black food marker
1. Get your orange chocolate ready!
2. Make your owl shape. In this case I made him quite fat, because the fatter the owl, the cuter the result, I think... and made him space for eyes in case I would use sixlets, but went for RI instead.
3. You've dipped it all in orange choc. Get your black choc ready! No picture here but basically, dip your cake pop into the black choc, just enough to cover part of his body. Pour black sanding sugar over it soon as! Make sure your orange choc is really solid here, or the black sugar will stick to it!
4. Get your heart sprinkle ready, put a bit of melted choc on the back and place it in the middle. Using RI, make eyes, and lines in your colour choice on its belly. Use the black marker to make his little pupils!
Halloween owl, ooooooohhh!!!
Where to get your items:
Orange sticks
Chocolate
Orange heart sprinkles :
Black markers

Pumpkin Cake Ball Tutorial by ThatBakingGirl

Vive l'Internet!!  This is all I can say because I have had the great privilege of meeting some Dynamite people these last couple years.  Meet Heidi, a Canadian-Swiss Cookie-Addict Crazee Gal (much like myself!:-O
Heidi has something to share with you, and here it is:  Enjoy!! :-D

So here we are people, my first tutorial...a simple Halloween pumpkin and a "how to save you from a total failiure" idea! To create this cute little fella, you will need these items :
All brought to you by Kitschcakes (of course not the broken cake pop, that was all me folks!!)
Broken orange cake pop
Fondant, green and black
White Sixlets

Black food pen
Toothpick
1. As you can see, my cake ball fell right through, so what to do?
2. Prepare some fondant.
3. Roll some green for the stem and flaten the bottom. I put it right into the hole left by the stick and pressed it down, you won't be holding it from there, so no danger of falling!
4. Roll some green fondant really thinly and wrap around a toothpick to dry. When dry enough, dab one end with a bit of water and attach it to the stem for a bit more cuteness.
5. Meanwhile, attach some white sixlets with more melted choc, and add little black dots with your food pens for eyes.
6. Make an appropriate mouth out of black fondant. I stuck it on with a bit of water.
Voilà!!! He was surprised to fall of his stick, so a surprised expression for him!!!
List of items :
Green Fondant
Black Fondant
Food Pens

One Chapter Ends, a New One Begins...

Ouch!

Admittedly, it's been more than a while since I updated my Blog. These past months have been so hectic, it's a miracle Ms Kitsch hasn't checked into the crazy house. lol!

Seriously though, things could not have turned out better. The former Sugarshack became obviously too small in the Fall of 2011 and so I decided to search for something more spacious, with more parking possibilities, in a better location.

Luckily we found something that could not have been more appropriate. The entire Lobby floor of a very modern building, situated just 2 km away from my private home. With view of the alps, parking possibilities galore, easy to find, and just plain nice!

To make things even more appropriate, the building is WHITE and SQUARE! Now, The Sugarshack really looks like a Sugar Cube!!!:-D Gotta love that!!

Since February I've been running around moving all of the stuff I've accumulated over the past year (and it is amazing what I have picked up along the way...no surprise there though...)

Parallel to that, I've also been searching and purchasing more appropriate furniture and deco items so that the Sugarshack is as inspiring as possible.

When everything is in its place, I'll be sure to Post something about it, along with many pictures. For now here's a pic of the White Sugarcube (see picture below - it is the building on the right).

Today I hosted the very first Cake Decoring Module I course, in one full day. I was a bit afraid I wouldn't have enough time to compact all of this information in only a few hours.

Exhausted, I went to bed early last night, not knowing full well in which sequence I was going to teach all of this "matière" to a full class. So I prayed to the Cake Gods for help and fell asleep.

This morning, I woke up after my deep coma and I swear the answers just came.

I ran to the Sugarshack, and magically drew out my Tagesplan upon my military Flip-chart, trying to keep to the essentials and eliminate the Chi-Chi bits.

It went really well and the class was just fantastic! In fact, here they are, sporting their new Diplomas.. Just too much fun!!!!

I'm very much looking forward to the Second Module, which will take place Saturday in a week.

Stay tuned for a follow-up! (PROMISE!!) :-D

Happy New Year!!

I've been slightly M.I.A. lately, and my sincerest apologies for that. 2011 has been a hell of a year, and I truly mean this in the most glorifying way.

Through my classes and workshops I have met some incredible people, enjoyed some great moments and witnessed an Esprit-de-Corps develop among my students, that took me back to memory lane while serving in the Canadian Navy back in 1993.

Making cakes the Kitschcakes way requires many important ingredients: lots of know-how, imagination and creativity of course, but also virtues like patience and persistence as well as the willingness to focus on a project that will take us out of our comfort zone and give us a "sleepless streak" for a few days.

Sounds like hard work? You bet it is! Think of it as running a marathon where you suddenly hit a wall and you struggle those last 10km. If you give up, it's all for nothing. Persist, and you get to live something unforgettable that you can be proud of.

With the cakes however, it's even better than that, because you get to make people happy. You work on that project for endless hours, struggling, googling on your iPhone, cursing at the X-acto knife. And when you reach the finish line, it's all tears and recognition from the others, and this all reflects on you! Bliss for all! There is not much else out there that I can think of (other than enduring pregnancy to give birth), that can get so many people emotionally involved for the better.

Cakes are AWESOME!!!!

This being said, there is another downside...I even call it the Dark Side, and I preach about it all the time (just ask my girls...). Most of my students really love this art (which is fantastic). They like it so much, that they literally give their cakes away (for Free!) I'm always nagging at them for this, because they sometimes (often) don't value their work and their time like they should be.

Today, one of my students sent me a pleasant surprise. I was so happy to read this, because it reflects exactly what I am often ranting about. I think that they are slowly starting to "get it", which makes me very happy, because they deserve to be celebrated for what they create! :-D

You all can read it...I can hear myself psychobabbling when I read this....LOL!!

January 3, 2012 Category: Cakemechanic Blog 82 Comments

By the end of this post someone will have just finished working 12 hours and 20 minutes working on a cake for a birthday, baby shower or wedding. They will have skipped sleep, missed a day with their family and spent a good penny on ingredients. Pushing themselves as they juggle between sleep and sanity. All for a free cake! Yes you heard it here. FREE CAKE!

How is this cake free you ask? I’m sure you want to grab one of these for your next event. You too can have a cake “as seen on tv” for free!

Let me explain something to you. When cake artists are at work. They usually put in about 300% more work than most people. Like many artists they are in this for the passion and love. Like they say “love don’t pay the bills”.

Well the reality is, the bills have to get paid. No matter how appealing a free cake sounds and you would love to get a great deal. Its like stealing! Yes you are robbing someone, who has worked incredibly hard to make you edible art that will adorn your function. Feel guilty yet? If the answer is “NO” then my time is wasted on you. I suggest you go to your local grocery store to get your next dream cake. If you have little respect for the artists then this cake is not for you.

So perhaps stealing is too strong a word. But borrowing implies you’ll be giving it back. I’m not sure rent-a-cake is going to catch on. Or whether anyone would want their “borrowed” cake back after you’ve had a slice.

Wondering why I am against the free cake idea. Well lets say many of us in the industry have been asked for discounts that are often insulting and sometimes a little crazy. Its understandable that we all have reasons to save money and love a good deal. But this is not the place for a bargain. Cake decorators don’t exactly make a lot on cakes. Well you have a few who do. But thats only the ones you usually see on television with brands that represent them. The majority are not on television and are equally talented. They do not demand remarkable prices. Many undervalue the costs of their cakes. So when someone requests a 3 tier cake with all the trimmings and sparkle for under a $100. Well its just unfair.

So lets make a resolution starting this year. Lets forget about the “free cakes” and start appreciating the workmanship and time these artists invest in your cake.

Hope you liked it as much as I did!

Wishing you all a wonderful New Year, and think about this New Year's Resolution:-D

Cheers!