Happy Easter from the Crazy Chicks!!

Hello everyone! Would like to share with you one of our personal favorite tutorials we made just for Easter "Crazy Chicks".
 The special thing about them is the creation of a gumpaste eggshell, where your actual cupcake case will be nesting.
It wasn't easy at first, but once you manage to make the mold, it's easy peasy after that.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did and feel free to share! You can find the link here:



Happy Easter to all the Crazy Chicks out there!!  :-D

Sweethearts for your Coffee

For years now, I always like to surprise people by serving coffee with a cute piece of Sugar to go with it. The BIG surprise comes when they hear that it was handmade, and how ridiculously simple it is to make.  
Check it out for yourselves, with this Sweet Tutorial!
We hope you like it!
Enjoy!  :-)

Meet Team-Kitsch

Well, lots has been going on this year.  Amongst many, one of the important happenings has been the addition of 2 team members:  Rebecca and Valentine.

We thought it a good idea to add a new "About us" page to the website.   One thing I must admit:  there is so much more than meets the eye and this page is complete proof of that.

The cookies you see were designed and created just for the making of this page.  It took us 2 full days of baking, decorating and photo shooting.  Then one full day just to put everything in its place, so that our presentation was a little fun and crazy (like we are:-)

So I hope you enjoy what you see here.  For the French and German version, please go to the original homepage and click on the appropriate flag.   Working together with Reb and Val is  so much fun.  There are some days where I get home, facial muscles aching from laughing so hard.  That is exactly how "work" should be like:  fun and passion from beginning to end, despite the crazy hectic pace we sometimes have to endure.

That's just the way the cookie crumbles at the Sugarshack!

Enjoy y'all!

We are a trio of fun gals blessed with CRAZY DNA.

Our mission : to bring cake culture into your lives !

HI, MY NAME IS SANDRA MÜLLER JENNINGS, A.K.A. MISS KITSCH

I am a passionate cake designer, instructor and the original founder of Kitschcakes.

FACTS ABOUT ME 

• I am originally from the Cajun-speaking part of Canada, transplanted here in Switzerland since 1994.
• My original profession was that of a Registered Dental Hygienist.  Now, I’m a Sugar Pusher (so dentists really love me now!!!)
• I proudly served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a diesel mechanic in the Navy. Watch out! I can shoot a rifle!  Lol!
• As a hockey mom, I spend any vacation time in an ice rink... freezing my butt off!
• From the Kitsch-Girls : "She's our kooky Cakeboss"

SKILLS SET

HI, MY NAME IS VALENTINE BOILLAT

I am a graphic designer. I like to make cool and creative designs, and of course I love to make cake design as well.

FACTS ABOUT ME 

• As a graphic artist, I design things in pixels. I eat, drink, breathe and live in pixels. My world is pixelised.
• I've seen more pages on Pinterest than in real books.
• Do you know "Abercrombie & Fitch" ? Fitch is my black cat's name and he's worth more than a Louis Vuitton handbag.
• The Kitsch-Girls call me "Pitbull" (you don't want to know why...)
• From the Kitsch-Girls : "She's our Techie-Rockstar"

SKILLS SET

HI, MY NAME IS REBECCA CORBASCIO

My job is in the numbers, boxes and Kitsch-Stock. I am the Logistics Manager and I make sure to know where your items are stocked.

FACTS ABOUT ME 

• My Native American heritage makes me run through the house yelling, "Geronimo!"
• Death by chocolate? No thank you! Give my death by carrot cake anyday.
• My other superpower is being a mom to four little children.
• Giving the chance, I would love to hide in bookstores all day.
• From the Kitsch-Girls : "She's the Kitschcakes Chatterbox"

SKILLS SET

K-MEN Forever!

Last November, I received an interesting offer to design  some Gingerbread men (G-men) for the local Coop's Xmas campaign.
I was given several themes to work with, each theme represented by the Kitschcakes version of  G-men (renamed: K-MEN:-)

These cookies appeared in shopping malls, parking lots, several newspapers and even in the train station.  They were I must say, pretty perfect and I was so excited when I stumbled across the entire family pictured together, as shown above.  I remember when I made them, they were so time consuming and the deadline gave me no time to really get some decent shots so I am thrilled to share these with you, considering I just discovered this picture 15 minutes ago...lol!

So here they are, Ladies and Gents:

The Kitsch-Men Family 2012:

Above:  train station in Biel/Bienne

 They were all designed using a choco-Kitsch Cookie recipe (although they were only for show), and all covered in fondant (a mix of light brown and chocolate brown Regalice).

Next step was piping the borders in dark brown colored royal icing (Americolor).  This was the base I used for each and every one.  Then I just cut out fondant elements to "pimp them up", and then using whatever was necessary to make it come to life (luster dusts, metallic edible food paint, and of course, plenty of Bling-Bling!!  Oh YEAHHHHH!!!!!!

Seriously, I really ought to broaden the selection soon (when I get a nanosecond to do so...)  Many different themes come to mind...
I'll keep that a little secret...

Bis Bald!

Here is where I found the group picture:http://www.enon.ch/blog/?p=718

xx

ModeinSwiss.ch

Since a couple of months now, I have had the pleasure of meeting many interesting people, mostly thanks to Kitschcakes.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Nancy, a "fashion Blogger", who had the idea of a fashion photo session in the whimsical environment of the Casa del Kitschcakes.

I agreed, despite knowing full well that I would be baking and decorating up a storm, just for the photo appeal.

So Miss Kitsch put on her apron and got baking...and decorating....for days! Then suddenly I stumbled across a party favor website here in Switzerland called: "confetti box".

I was super excited!! I found tons of cool, colorful party must have's: colorful table cloths, matching dishes, cool vintage banners, cake pics, balloons and the ULTIMATE dessert table MUST: paper vintage straws!!!!!! OMG!! I nearly lost it when I found these cute retro-looking straws! So I HAD to have 'em...in every color! (because you just never know...it's always good to have everything in every color...just in case;-)

Here they are, these pretty little things......

...standing next to my Vintage authentic bubble gum machine from the 1920's (It's a Ford brand, and all it cost back then was a penny!!) Can you say inflation?? ;-)

Cute cupcake pops in the background...

Nancy experimenting with those straws...

Tea party pops!

I'm a little teapot, short and stouts...

...eating the Cake, out of the Cup...

Nancy going for a little stroll in the garden, sipping her Kitsch Cocktail...

à la prochaine Nancy!!

photos by: Greg

A historical August 1st

Today is August 1st, which means Switzerland has its Birthday! Born in 1291, that would mean that our Confedera Helvetica is 720 years old!

For Kitschcakes, August 1st will always have a certain significance and this is why:

This time last year, I sent one of my favorite politicians, Christophe Blocher, a cookie collection made especially for him. Since I don't know him personally, it was difficult for me to come up with a personalized design. However, I do know that he loves his country.

Knowing this, I decided to create a "Blocher Cookie Collection", consisting of sacred Swiss cows, Edelweiss (the Swiss national flower), Swiss flags, and alps.

So I sent these cookies off to him and his wife, not really thinking much about it.

Well, 2 weeks later, to my shocking surprise, I received an email from a luxurious biscuit chain here in Switzerland: "Läckerli-Huus". It turns out that the CEO of Läckerli-Huus is Mr. Blocher's daughter! And as fate would have it, she was visiting her parents the weekend of August 1st and it is then and there that she discovered Kitschcakes!

To make a long story short, Mrs Blocher thought it would be great to incorporate my Kitschy cookies into her assortment. After many months of discussing designs, testing and controlling for quality, labelling etc, the very first collection was herded into all 11 Läckerli-Huus stores all around Switzerland in May 2011.

The first collection of cows and butterlies sold out within 3 weeks, and so a second bunch were produced and shipped out in July.

Fingers crossed that the Kitschcakes become a staple in all of Läckerli-Huus stores:-)

On a personal note, of all the incredible highlights I have experienced in my lifetime (and I assure you, there were many of them!), this episode definitely ranks up there near the top.

On Monday August 9th 2011 at 10:30, I picked up my iPhone to read my emails. I was working at the dental office at the time (dental hygiene). After reading the email from Läckerli-Huus, I remember vividly how I felt: it was one of those rare moments in my life where everything became suddenly blurry and I became weak in the knees. I thought "Thank You GOD", someone who sees what I see...

Somebody pinch me please..........

Swiss Helvetic Collection from my kitchen:

Sent off to Blocher's home:

Where they landed in their new home: Läckerli-Huus of Switzerland.

Life really is like a box of chocolates... (or in my case like a box of cookies)....you just never know what you're going to get!

Thank Goodness for those who walk through life with their eyes wide open!