Time to announce the winner of Julia Usher’s book, Cookie Swap!

Thank you all for entering; it was fun to see your cookie responses.  Over 450 entries in total, including twitter.  Wow!!

All the entries from the post and twitter were entered into the draw at www.random.org, at 7:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (23:00 UTC time) and the winner was comment #87; Jasmine!

Congrats! I’ll be in contact to get Cookie Swap sent to you.

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If you didn’t win, another sweet giveaway is on it’s way soon!

Thanks again for all your comments!

xo,

Marian

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Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link to download.

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Right click here if you’d like to download the audio file [mp3]

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I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but, look at this one!

Cookie inspiration at its finest and without even cracking the cover!

Julia Usher is the author of the recently published book, Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year, a wonderful book filled with inspiring party ideas, mouth-watering recipes, and of course - my personal favorite – gorgeous decorated cookies.  Hers are amongst the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, and I was thrilled to have her join me for an interview where she shared cookie tips of all kinds!

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To hear the interview click on the play button at the top of this post.  You can also download it to your computer as an mp3 file by right clicking on the text link above.

I’m also happy to announce that I will be giving away one signed copy of Cookie Swap thanks to Gibbs Smith Publishing!  Details on how to enter can be found near the end of this post.

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Not only does Julia focus on cookies beautiful to look at, but she includes a multitude of unique and delicious sounding recipes such as Rosemary Blonde Brownies, Lemon-Thyme Bonbons and Under Her Thumb(print) Cookies pictured below.

I confess I haven’t actually tried making any of them yet, but as far as I’m concerned all I needed to buy this book were pages like this:

And this:

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You can find Julia’s book on Amazon and visit her website at www.juliausher.com for more information.  Enjoy!

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Cookie Swap GIVEAWAY!

Now on to the giveaway!  One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of Julia’s book, Cookie Swap!

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How do you enter?

It’s easy.   Just leave answer the following question in the comment section below before 7pm EST on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010:

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What is your favorite cookie to eat or to make?

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Another way of entering the draw is to retweet this post on twitter.  Tweets will be added to the draw!

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The contest is international and the winner will be chosen randomly at www.random.org.

Hope you enjoyed the interview and good luck with the giveaway!

xo,

Marian

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Or who, I should say.

Sorry about the blurry pics.  I didn’t want to take too many photos, even if they didn’t turn out.  (Don’t want to scare him).

This is Lionel, a Lionhead Lops, 3-month old rabbit we just adopted.

If I haven’t emailed you back yet – I haven’t forgotten about you and am happy to hear from you!  I’ll answer soon.

Here’s a sneak peek at the next GIVEAWAY and interview, also coming soon!

Until then,

Happy weekend!

xo,

Marian

Time to announce the winner of Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes and the Cupcake Charm necklace!

Thank you all for entering; it was fun to see your responses and many of you left really sweet, informative and encouraging comments!  Thank you!!

Hélène, Grace, Lisa and Courtney P.; you asked about the winter coat.  Click here for the coat’s details.

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Drumroll please.  

All the entries from the post and twitter were entered into the draw at www.random.org, at 7:23  pm Eastern Standard Time (17:23 UTC time) and the winner was comment #113; Nicole!

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Congrats to you! I’ll be contacting you to find out which color Cupcake Charm you’d like and will send you the prizes through Amazon.

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If you didn’t win, another sweet giveaway is on it’s way soon!

Thanks again for all your comments!

xo,

Marian

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A clue; sorry, it’s not a Oprah-esque giveaway! 

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This post isn’t really sugar related, but I do have other things I love besides my sweet hobby; a few of which I’ll share with you:

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1.  Anne Taintor Products

Her name is Anne Taintor and she runs a humorous business selling greeting cards, notepads, magnets, purses etc., which, to quote the words on her site, “…give voice to modern women’s secretly subversive thoughts.”

I just knew that when I found this charming Anne Taintor I Don’t Recall Asking notepad, it would be a perfect gift for my female colleagues studying Culinary Arts in Kingston this past summer.  We definitely did enjoy some interesting, insolent humour together.  (That’s Liz and Delia below):

They did get a kick out of their parting gift from me.  (Notepad above). You can find Anne Taintor’s hilarious items on her site here or if you’re an Amazon fan, at my affiliate link here.

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2.    Kindle

This one’s on the wish list.  Ever since I used a Kindle (a wireless reading device), at a friend’s place over the Christmas holidays, I’ve been thinking of getting one.  If you have one I’d love to hear what you think of it in the comment section.

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3.    iPhone

The iPhone… Also don’t have one of these yet, but I’ve certainly looked at them longingly a few times.  I’ve pledged not to get one until my old phone dies, but I’m really looking forward to that day.

You should see my phone.  My students think it’s so old and retro that it’s ’sick’.  Here’s a pic:

Pretty battered huh?

I’m glad this pic is in my favorite things after all.  This phone has lasted me a long time, and (my DH will laugh at this), it has great reception.  Let me tell you, there’s been many a time that all the BlackBerries in the room didn’t get a signal and I did.  It is analog-digital after all.

Ahem… on to another favorite thing.  This one is a gadget as well – seems like I like a lot of them.

This one has helped me take better pictures this year.

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4.    Canon Rebel Xsi Camera

The Canon Digital Rebel XSi is what I use.  I’m still learning lots on how to use it, but even on the automatic settings it does a great job!

I really do dislike getting my picture taken - it rarely works out.  So, only because I wanted to post a pic of the camera and needed a mirror to take a its snapshot, I’ve put a photo of me in here with it. (Okay, and because I actually paid some attention to my hair this day I was out with my friend.  I was waiting in change room for her to try on some clothes and I had recently acquired the camera).

Anyways, on to the next item.

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5.  MACRO LENS

With this Canon Macro Lens you can easily get great close-up shots; I used it to take this next photo:

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6.    Cupcake Charm

Of course something sweet related had to sneak in here.  I gave this cupcake charm to my friend Kim earlier this year… she’s a sweet-nut as well.  I don’t have one yet but might just head over to Amazon to order one.  They’re $17.99   (Guess you know now Kim.  Actuuuually, really they were SO expensive when I went to buy one.  They’re on sale now).

Ahem.

The next fave is, alright, another sweet related item.

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7.   KopyKake Projector

Not a very pretty looking thing, is it?

It’s big, it’s awkward-looking, (although it doesn’t look quite as bad with the table clamp option), but I know I couldn’t have created many of the cookies I did this year without this Kopykake Projector .  If you’re new to visiting Sweetopia, you can find some examples of cookies I made using the projector by clicking these links:

Tea Party Cookies

Princess Cookies

Halloween Cookies

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8.  My Winter Coat

What is there to say?  I love it!  I have to wear it every day in the climate I live in and never get tired of it.  (I don’t think I look like her in it though!)

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9.  EMU Australia Winter Boot

These boots keep me so snuggly warm!  Enough said!

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10.  Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes Book

I’d like to practice more of my cake skills in 2010 and am going to use this inspiring cake book by Martha Stewart and Wendy Kromer.  Here’s a small sampling of what you’ll find inside:

Excuse the crooked images; I took actual pictures of my book.

Wendy Kromer, the creator behind many of Martha’s cakes, is coming to the Bonnie Gordon School in April.  I’m so excited to be signed up for one of her classes and will keep you posted on that!

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Now that I’ve shared my current 10 favorite items, it’s time to have a giveaway for TWO of them!

Wish I could be like Oprah, but even though they aren’t a KopyKake Projector or a Kindle, they are FREE!  (If you win!)

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Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes and Cupcake Charm Giveaway!

If you’d like the chance to win a copy of Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes & a Cupcake Charm Necklace, leave a comment below, maybe sharing one of your favorite things or whatever you’d like to write!  CONTEST CLOSED

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• Another way to enter is to retweet this post on twitter.  You can tweet as many times as you choose; they will be added to the draw!   CONTEST CLOSED.
• The contest is international
• The draw will be held on Sunday, February 7th, at 7 pm EST
• I’ll be using www.random.org to draw the winning comment.

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Good luck!

xo,

Marian

In less than two weeks the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics will begin!

I keep seeing the adorable mascots, Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and Muk Muk wherever I go and was inspired to make cookies of them.

If you get a chance, check out the Olympic Mascot website (A whole website with games, activities and videos - it’s  GREAT for kids!). 

The cuteness factor and fantastic attention to detail got me to wondering about the artists behind these animated creations. 

Michael and Vicki of Meomi are in the incredibly talented imaginations who dreamed up these characters inspired by British Columbia folklore of the forest, the mountain and the land.  Their own site is also charming and whimsical.   Definitely fun to check out!

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Here are the cookies I ended up with:

According to the artists, Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod.

Quatchi is a sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada.

The Quatchi and Sumi cookies are actually quite large.  To give you an idea of size, Quatchi is approximately 9 by 8 inches, or 23 cm by 20 cm.  I’ve included the quarter in the pic to give you a visual idea. 

Sumi is an animal spirit who comes from the mountains of British Columbia.

Muk Muk is a friendly Vancouver Island marmot who cheers for his friends during games and races.

**Of course I used my Kopykake to help me pipe the mascots.

You can make the cookies without the projector of course!  If you’d like to try either freehanding them or with the Kopykake, I’ve included instructions below:

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How to Make the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Mascot Decorated Cookies:

If you’d like to make these, you’ll need:

1.  Sugar Cookie Recipe

2.  Royal Icing Recipe

3.  Round Cookie Cutters or a sharp knife to cut dough shapes

4.  Decorating Bag/Piping Bag - (I use disposables which can be washed and re-used)

5.  Couplers

6.  Decorating Tips (#’s 1-4)

7.  Food Gel Coloring

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To see some more ideas of what you’ll need to set-up your cookie decorating area, see this post here. 

For in-depth cookie decorating tips see here, and for my top 10 decorating tips see here.

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Here is  the order in which I piped the details of each cookie:

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Miga

1. **Pipe black outlines and let dry for 24 hours (Black bleeds easily so I like to make sure the icing has set).

2. **Pipe white details and let dry for 12 hours.  (Black on top of white likes to bleed too, so I wanted to make sure the white was dry).

3. **Finishing touches.

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Quatchi

1. 88Pipe brown base first and let dry for 24 hours (Although not as bad as black, brown can also bleed easily).

2. **Pipe details shown above and let dry for 12 hours. 

3. **Finishing touches.

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Sumi

1. **Pipe brown base face and let dry for 24 hours. 

2. **Pipe dark wings, some facial details and edge of Sumi’s hat, and let dry for 12 hours.

3. **Pipe hat and green neck detail and let dry for 2 hours.

4. **Finishing touches.

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 Muk Muk

1. 88Pipe brown base first and let dry for 24 hours (Although not as bad as black, brown can also bleed easily).

2. ** Marble cream and dark brown icing, add white snout and blue stripe and let dry for 12 hours. 

3. **Finishing touches.

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If you’re interested in buying the stuffed animal Miga, Quatchi and Sumi toys, they’re available on the official Olympic site in Canadian dollars here.

And in US dollars on Amazon here:
Miga
Quatchi
Sumi

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Have fun decorating to you, and good luck to all the Olympians all over the world competing soon!

xo,

Marian

Besides donating straight to the Red Cross and praying for the people suffering in Haiti I needed to do something else to help out.

What to do?

I came accross some leftover flowers from this cake which led me to an obvious conclusion:

A bake sale!

I organized, some students baked, some drew posters, and the school bought treats.  It was heartwarming to see how enthusiastically students contributed and how willingly people donated.

Two days on lunches this week we sold cupcakes and chocoloate chip cookies.  The students made the cupcakes and icing in class, and I contributed some leftover flower and flood work icing bird toppers I had from a cake decorating class (more on that later), and my Christmas gingerbread house.

Students were happy to use our large stand mixer (Hobart mixer).  We don’t need to use it too often.

On our first day of the sale we sold out quickly, so we knew we needed the big guns for the next day.  For the chocolate cupcakes of course.

For vanilla we only needed the kitchen aide.

Didn’t manage to get pics of them icing the cupcakes because I was also watching and marking the practical exams (she’s making crèpes):

Here are some of the finished cupcakes though:

These are chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing and decorated with gumpaste flower toppers.

Don’t know if you can tell in the pic, but students sprinkled small melted sugar droplets on the icing for a ‘wintery’ effect.  (Easy to make – put isomalt or clear crushed candy in the oven on a baking sheet covered with parchment, and bake at 350 degrees until they melt).

The flowers I made before Christmas at the Bonnie Gordon School, in Peggy Porschen’s class.  They’re made out of gum paste (for a gum paste definition here’s a link to my glossary), and the flower cutters used were the Calyx cutter and the 5-Petal Flower cutter.  Thanks to Laura (from the Peggy Porschen cake class), who offered me the leaves she had left over from her cake.  We put them to good use!

Some flowers have also been sprayed with lustre spray and sprinkled with disco dust The centers are edible sugar pearls and dragées.  For a wee tutorial on how to make gum paste leaves (the same proceedure as these flowers) see here.

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Back to the bake sale!  Can’t forget the chocolate chip cookies:

Students made them using the Nieman Marcus recipe.  I’ll share the recipe because they were good (I mean it’s chocolate chip – how could it not be?!), but I still like Barefoot Contessa’s recipe better.  I’ll bet the Nieman Marcus one is a smidgen healthier though because it has oats in it (LOL).

Here are a few Hospitality students selling the baked goods on lunch.

And on another lunch.  (I don’t know why those white spots on the picture are there – Still learning lots about photography).

We ended up selling out and raised almost $200.00 for the Red Cross.  Not a whoooole lot, but good for a bake sale!

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If you’d like to try the Nieman Marcus cookie, here’s the recipe:

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Neiman Marcus Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter
• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a fine powder)
• 24 oz. chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 8 oz. Hershey bar (grated) (optional)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey bar and nuts. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

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For a printer friendly version, click here.

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Here’s another option – the straight chocolate chip recipe:

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Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
• 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

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For a printer-friendly version, click here.

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Happy baking!

xo,

Marian

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p.s.  We made a batch each of chocolate and red velvet cupcakes for our first sale, but weren’t 100% happy with the red velvets.  If anyone has or knows of really good recipe, would love to hear from you in the comment section!

You put oodles of time and love into making decorated cookies for friends, family or children, send the cookies on their merry way via snail mail, only to have them arrive in a broken mess!

Has this ever happened to you?

I don’t have a picture of the ruins to share with you, but it has unfortunately happened to me.  The recipient didn’t mind – she had some sweet morsels to snack on, but I’m sure you’d agree – I’d rather the cookies all arrive in one piece!

That’s where the cute new book, Cookie Craft Christmas, comes in.   Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer have yet again written an inspiring and comprehensive book to help you create impressive cookies.

I’ve written about their first book before because it’s one of my favorite *go-to’s* when I have a cookie question. Although this one is small, don’t be decieved by the size – it’s packed with adorable Christmas ideas and practical advice.

Some of the beneficial information includes a tested and successful way of sending decorated cookies in the mail.  I’ve been given permission to share Valerie and Janice’s advice here with you.  I’m going to follow their written instructions and use my own pictures:

Shipping Decorated Cookies

We’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like getting a box of delicious decorated cookies in the mail. Here’s what we’ve learned about how to minimize breakage when we send our cookies out into the world.

1. Choose sturdy shapes with a minimum of thin appendages to reduce the danger of your cookies breaking en route.

2. Use tins to keep cookies fresh and help protect them.

3. Make sure there’s plenty of packing material inside the cookie tin:

a. Place a layer of crumpled waxed paper on the bottom of the tin.

b. Place another sheet of waxed paper in the tin, as if you were putting tissue paper in a gift box, but instead of making it neat, crumple it to fit against the sides of the tin.

c. Add your first layer of cookies. If you haven’t individually wrapped them, fold each one in a small piece of waxed paper to keep them from jostling. Add small, crumpled pieces of waxed paper to any pockets of space to prevent cookie movement.

d. Place another crumpled piece of paper on top of the packaged cookies, and then add another layer of cookies. Repeat until the tin is nearly full. Make sure the cookies lie flat and apart from each other and leave at least 3/4 inch between the top layer of cookies and the top of the tin; add a fat top layer of protective padding (such as bubble cushioning or more crumpled waxed paper).

e. Cover with the lid and gently shake the tin. If you feel no movement, shake it a little harder. If you feel movement, add more padding and do the “shake” test again until you feel no movement inside the tin.

f. Attach your gift note to the top of the tin. Don’t forget!

4. Make sure there’s plenty of packing material between the tin and the box:

a. Choose a box that allows at least 2 to 3 inches of space around the tin on all sides and above and below.

b. Pad the bottom of the box with a healthy layer of packing peanuts, packing paper, or bubble cushioning.

c. Place the cookie tin in the box, and thoroughly pad the space between the tin and the sides of the box.

d. Pad the top tightly and close the box. Shake the package gently. If you feel no movement, shake it a little harder. If you feel movement, open the box and add more padding where needed, then close and seal the box, and ship.

Note: To help the environment, we reuse our packing materials — especially the nonrecyclable ones.

*Reprinted with permission from Cookie Craft Christmas, published by Storey Publishing, LLC., October 2009.  Thank you to Michelle Blackley and Kevin Kennefick for providing the excerpt.

Now for the giveaway! CONTEST CLOSED

If you’d like the chance to win a copy of Valerie and Janice’s book, Cookie Craft Christmas, leave a comment below naming one of your favorite foods to eat at this time of the year.

Another way of entering the draw is to retweet this post on twitter.  Tweets will be added to the draw! (One per twitter user please).

The draw will be held in a few days; on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009, at 10pm EST.

Good luck!

xo,

Marian

p.s. Wouldn’t the box below be adorable to fill with cookies and give as a gift?!  I found it at the Hallmark store yesterday and will be hand delivering that one.  (I’m thinking you could fold the tops down and send it too though).

]]> http://sweetopia.net/2009/12/how-to-ship-decorated-cookies-and-cookie-craft-giveaway/feed/ 226 http://sweetopia.net/2009/11/peggy-porschen-interview-and-cake-chic-giveaway-too/ http://sweetopia.net/2009/11/peggy-porschen-interview-and-cake-chic-giveaway-too/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:44:40 +0000 marian http://www.sweetopia.net/?p=2744 She’s my ‘cake idol’, one of my favorite inspirations, she’s Peggy Porschen and she’s got a new book out!

I am thrilled to announce that I had the opportunity to interview Peggy and will be sharing that interview with you here.  I’m also happy to announce that I will be giving away one signed copy of Cake Chic, also named Simply Spectacular Cakes.

You may have already noticed that I’ve mentioned Ms. Porschen and her books on numerous occasions.  It’s because my journey on this sweet adventure began due to the inspiration of Pretty Party Cakes… not only pretty to look at, but resourceful as well. 

Many cake book authors seem not to want to share their secrets and Peggy’s books stand out as ones which share them all.

Her new book, Cake Chic, doesn’t disappoint.  As usual, it’s a feast for the eyes and includes some new ways of helping the reader understand how to create her gorgeous treats.  

As someone new to making cakes, I also appreciate the range in complexity of projects available – decorating for people at all levels. 

You might just find Peggy on one of the pages of your favorite magazines – she has been featured in Glamour, Marie Claire, Delicious and Brides wedding magazine {and so many more!} and has designed cakes for celebrities such as Elton John, Stella McCartney, Madonna and Anthony Hopkins.  Her first book, Pretty Party Cakes, won the 2005 Gourmand Award for the Best Entertaining Book in the Word. 

Curious about her yet?  Here’s the interview followed by the Cake Chic giveaway details:

Interview with Peggy Porschen:

Marian:  Peggy, I’m so excited to be speaking with you!  I love all your books and the sugar masterpieces you create. 

People associate you with cake decorating and baking, of course; but actually I kind think of you also as a style person too.  You’re not really just about baking cakes, cookies and cupcakes… you have a style all your own.  You have this beautiful balance between traditional and modern; I think it’s one of the secrets of your success.

Where do you find your inspiration, may I ask? 

Peggy:  Yes, sure; to be honest, there isn’t anything specific.  Personally I love sort of girly things.  I like to look at fabrics, fashion accessories, wallpapers; you know those kinds of things.  Generally, I always felt I had a really good eye for color, so when I find beautiful color combinations I keep samples or just memorize them really well. 

Also, when I mix colors I don’t just use plain colors or just one color to mix my icing; I always tend to mix.  

Part of that is also from working at Konditor & Cook which is a cake shop here in London.  They have sort of crazy, wacky cakes and one thing the owner, Gerhardt Jenne, told me right from the start was, “Forget about tradition, just let your imagination go and go wild, and do what you want to do.”  So it really made me less scared of working with colors.

M:  I notice that every recipe I try from your books turns out really well.  May I ask, are they from Cordon Bleu where you studied, or are they a derivative of the recipes you tried there?

P:  I think mostly, the best experience in terms of recipes I made are probably from Konditor & Cook because they are sponge and are much more usable for decorated cakes.  Basically my recipes are based on a simple Victoria sponge cake.  I just worked with it myself and adapted flavours and added syrups to find out what works best.

The best or biggest advice I could give is really don’t be stingy on your ingredients.  You know if you don’t use good stuff you can really taste it. 

M: What new cake decorating tools or equipment are you excited about lately?

P:  Something new that came out over here is the PME lustre spray.  I don’t know if it’s in Canada or America but over here it’s a fairly new thing.

It just makes adding lustre to your petals quick and easy.  It saves you literally hours of work.  You could also alternatively use an airbrush, but setting up the airbrush, if you don’t have it all ready to constantly use, can be a bit annoying.

M:  Do you see yourself as a cake artist first or a baker?

P: Cake artist.

M:  What inspired you to write your first book?

P: Oh actually I was asked; never in my wildest dreams would I have thought to write a book.  It was a lucky coincidence really because I was selling cakes at a Christmas fair and a publisher saw my cookies, and just said we want to make a cake book with somebody; would you be interested?  I was absolutely amazed!

At the time I wouldn’t say I had a signature style, so I then was in the lucky position to be able to go part-time and slow down with my job, so that I could focus completely on the book.  It just really helped me to come up with ideas and sort of create my own designs.  Some of them were designs I already had in my head for a long time; like the rose tower in Romantic Cakes – it was a cake I was dreaming about making for so long and just never got around to it.

M:  It is beautiful!  And I love how you use charming accessories like the birdcage with the white butterflies.  How do you get inspired for your photo shoots?

P:  Some ideas are inspired by working with bridal magazines.  I find things are always a team effort.  Sometimes the magazines will come and say for example, “We’ve got a scene with birdcages – they’re big right now”, so I have to admit it’s not always completely my idea.

M: I think we all get ideas from everywhere.

P:  Exactly; I think if you wouldn’t work with other people and exchange ideas you just wouldn’t evolve.

M: I also have to say, you’re one of my inspirations and you are my cake hero.  Do you have any ‘cake heros’? 

P:  Thank you!  I guess you can probably tell I find Wendy Kromer incredibly inspiring.  But also Ron Ben Israel; actually there are quite a few.  I mean I guess Ron Ben Israel for his flowers and Wendy Kromer in general.  I find she’s really innovative.  I don’t like all of her designs I have to admit, but sometimes she’s got such genius ideas.  You know, just so beautiful and aesthetically new and different. 

I also like Cheryl Kleinman from New York very much.  Unfortunately she hasn’t got a website, which makes it harder for all the other cake makers to look at her cakes.  She features a lot in American wedding magazines and if you google her you’ll find her cakes.

I think these are sort of the main ones that have inspired me to get where I am, and there are many more whose styles I love and admire.

M:  Who are your favourite cookbook authors?

P:  I think what I really like are all these sort of new, scrumptious-looking recipe books about the cupcake trends.  The Magnolia Bakery started it all off, and now over here we’ve got the Primrose Bakery and Hummingbird Bakery.  They have just recently released books and I’m quite keen to try out some of their recipes but I haven’t had a chance yet.

M:  You alluded to trends a little with the cupcakes.  What, if any, are your cake trend predictions for 2010?

P:  I noticed about 4 years ago it was all sort of fairly colourful and minis and cupcakes were popular.  For weddings I find it’s going back to traditional cakes but with a contemporary approach. 

I think people generally like a traditional, classic, white, stacked tier cake, but then they like contemporary touches like swags and pearl piping which looks sort of like the crystal chandelier design or damask.  Lace is still quite big but I think it’s slowing down a bit.  And sugar flowers.  Back to sugar flowers.

M:  Would you be able to pick your favourite cake, cupcake or cookie from your new book?

P:  Well, yes, if you put me on the spot, I’ve got a couple actually (laughing).  Out of the cookies, I think that the Scotty dogs and the Silhoutte cookies are pretty – they’re my favourites.  Out of minis and cupcakes, I’d say, the cherry blossom fancies…

M: Oh that’s on the cover?

P:  Yes, exactly.  And then out of the cakes, button flowers is my favourite; also the style of photography is so pretty, and the Summer Symphony.

M:  Do you have any plans to write more books, may I ask?

P:  I surely do.  I do generally like to have a creative break because I sometimes feel otherwise you start repeating yourself.  You want to come up with fresh ideas, so it would probably take another year before I start thinking about new ideas.  I’ve got some concepts in my head, but I guess I’ll be careful to say anything because I don’t know where it’s going to go.

M:  I noticed in your books that you make the instructions easy to follow and include a range of projects in terms of complexity.  You have some which are easier for beginners and some for those who have been doing it for a while.  Do you have a target audience in mind with your books?

P:  I do, because generally, first of all, I think that it’s really nice that I’ve managed to motivate so many people who’ve never done cakes before to actually get started.  So I feel it’s important that there’s something in there for beginners.  That’s what it’s all about really.  You know when I started my training, I also just learned about basic sugar craft and I taught myself most of the skills through books.  I find books are really important for people who want learn about making cakes. 

And the more tricky ones, the thing is that it’s also for my name and my reputation… I feel that I need to have some challenging projects in there in order to be ahead of things, if you know what I mean.  Also for myself, I just like to come up with something that’s different. 

M: I like the fact that you have some more challenging things because it gives people something to aspire to.

Peggy I would like to thank you for taking the time out to do this interview; I appreciate it!

For anyone interested in taking classes with Peggy, she is focussing now on holding more of them.  The information is on her site under Masterclasses (Shop) here:  http://www.peggyporschen.com/shop/

She also recently flew to Malaysia and is coming to Toronto, Canada this November, to the Bonnie Gordon School of Cake Design. I know I’m completely thrilled to be signed up for the 3-day course. I’ll keep you posted on that!

Her book, Cake Chic, has been released on Amazon in England, France, Germany and Japan, but not yet in Canada or the United States.  It will be released here in April 2010.  I’ve checked Ebay periodically and have seen it there and on other on-line book sites, however it’s often being shipped from England or Australia.

If you’d like to order or pre-order her new book, they’re available at bookstores everywhere and on line.  Specifically through the following Amazon links in:

United Kingdom

United States

Canada

Cake Chic Giveaway! CLOSED

Now on to the giveaway!  One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of Peggy’s book, Cake Chic.  How do you enter?  It’s easy.   Just leave a comment answering either of the following questions before 7pm on Tuesday, November 24^th, 2009:

• What is one question you would ask your ‘hero’ (if you have one), in an interview?

OR

• What or who would you like to see featured on Sweetopia next? 

The contest is international and the winner will be chosen randomly at www.random.org.

Another way of entering the draw is to retweet this post on twitter.  Tweets will be added to the draw! (One per twitter user please).

Hope you enjoyed the interview and good luck with the giveaway! ;-)

xo,

Marian

Her images moved me to visit my local candy store, where I found some gumballs and fun swirly lollipops.

These in turn inspired me try my hand at some lollipop sugar cookies…

And of course, there’s the disco dust again. 

I didn’t get to these cookies below yet, but wanted to mention that I’ve got them next on my lollipop wish list: 

They’re from Elisa Strauss’ book Confetti Cakes For Kids.

Cakes are still very new to me, but I’m thinking this one (above) from Planet Cake will be one of the first on my ‘to try’ list. 

Anyways, why am I mentioning all this? 

I was inpired by all this candy fun to do a giveaway.

Confetti Cakes for Kids and Planet Cake Giveaway

If you’d like the chance to win a copy of Elisa’s book, Confetti Cakes For Kids, or Paris Cutler’s book, Planet Cake leave a comment below guessing how many gumballs are in the ‘jar’ below.  CONTEST CLOSED.

The person who guesses the closest number gets to choose either of the two books, and the second winner, who will be chosen randomly at www.random.org, will recieve the second book.

Another way of entering the draw is to retweet this post on twitter.  Tweets will be added to the draw! (One per twitter user please).

The draw will be held on Sunday, October 18th, 2009, at 7pm EST.

Here are the gumballs a liiittle closer for you.

And cloooser:

Good luck and happy counting!

xo,

Marian