Memories of 2009

As we enter a new year & new decade, I wanted to take a moment and remember all that has happened this past year. In 2009 Flour Confections met many new clients, some amazingly talented artists, and saw many changes - read below as we share a few :

In 2009 Flour Confections got a whole new look with the launch of our new website

In February, I started off the 2009 wedding season by creating a stunning vintage glamour 4 tier wedding cake for a wonderful couple Leslie & Mike - who have now had a baby boy! Congrats to you both and all the best in the years to come! (photo courtesy of Xero Digital)

In March we graced the pages of the April issue BRIDES Magazine & website

(photo courtesy of BRIDES magazine)

Our biggest change in 2009 came in April - on April Fool's Day actually, as we opened our doors to our brand new location - a specialty cake supply store, custom cake shop & edible arts school! And in May we launched our online store offering specialty cake supplies to everyone across Canada, the USA and abroad!

Just before our grand opening, I took a few moments to myself and whisked down to Savannah, Georgia to attend the most amazing sugar art class - A Master Class of Sugarpaste Flowers with Ron Ben-Israel at Minette Rushings' studio
April was a busy month with all the new changes, but I managed to find time to create a few entries for the CSSA Sugar Art Show held at Markville Mall. My wedding cake entry took 3rd place and my baby cake entry took 1st.

Heading into May, we hosted a fabulous class with the talented Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes
Students spent 2 days with Elisa learning her amazing techniques while creating her open gift box cake & safari animals.

Some wonderful cakes were also created in May for some great clients - including this ode to a police officer - a giant Tim Horton's cup, police badge & mega chocolate chip cookies!

June was filled with some wonderful weddings & events, here are a couple of highlights: a Poker themed 40th birthday, and I worked with Cindy Johnson of Platinum Events Group to create this sophisticated wedding cake for a stylish wedding at Trinity College.

(photo courtesy of Andrew Adams Photography)

In July, the Lifestyles with Rita Nave crew visited our shop to film a segment on cookie & cupcake decorating, it aired on Chex Durham. This was my first TV segment...with more to come later in the year.....

August was a very busy month! I traveled to the ICES convention in Chicago with my colleague Karey to see all the latest and greatest tools & techniques in the world of cake! We had a fabulous time learning & laughing, making new friends and hanging out with fellow cake chics!

Coming back from Chicago, I went into full gear creating a 5 tier hot pink, black & silver anniversary cake & cupcakes for the 20th anniversary of the Pink Pages Directory.

Later that month our store was graced with 2 very talented celebrity guests, Bronwen Weber & Francois Long of Frosted Art Bakery. Bronwen taught 2 classes and also donated her time & talent to our free night of sharing where we raised over 200lbs of food for a local food bank.

The first class was an entire day of airbrush skills - the amount of information gained that day was incredible - my airbrush is now my friend in the kitchen! All our new skills culminated in a 2D carved fish, brought to life using an airbrush.

On day 2, students learned how to create a free standing cake using a support structure created by Bronwen & Francois called "Cake Bones". In class we created a 3D clown, but the skills learned that day could be applied to anything that stands on two feet - wait until the November update to see how I applied my new found skills.....

Just after Bronwen left, I took my airbrush in hand and created a really fun cupcake tower for a fabulous couple with a sense of humour! Tom & Tammy (aka TNT) had a fun idea for their introduction as a married couple - they were going to walk into the hall while TNT by AC/DC played! This sparked my idea - I was going to create a barrel of TNT for their top tier cutting cake complete with a cake sparkler, and each cupcake would be adorned with a sugar dynamite stick! They loved the idea and we ran with it, resulting in one of my favourite cupcake towers.

The Fall is always busy season for weddings, and this year was no exception. Here are a few highlights from our fall weddings:

(photo courtesy of Angela Cook Photography)

October began with my annual trek to Tulsa Oklahoma to participate in the OSSAS show, again with my driving partner & colleague Karey by my side. This year I entered again in both the Grand Wedding Cake Competition as well as the Sugar Art Show. The judging was tough this year, but I was pleased to have my wedding cake entitled "Tying the Knot" place in the Silver ranking, while my divisional entries all placed as well. I was awarded first for my cookies, first for my baby entry, and second for my special techniques entry. And now the work begins for my 2010 entries.....

After creating some beautiful fall wedding cakes, I joined my family for our annual vacation to Disney World in Orlando.

Highlights in November were birthday cakes & classes & press. My husband celebrated his 36th birthday, and what birthday is not complete without a cake?? And when you are married to a cake artist, you don't just get any old cake, you get art! Expanding on the skills I learned with Bronwen, I modified the Cake Bones system to create a standing Taz cake - entirely edible made from lots of modeling chocolate and lots of cake!

Continuing with birthdays, I then created a cake for another family member, my father, who celebrated his 65th in 2009. Again my classes with Bronwen did not go to waste - taking my airbrush in hand, I created this full sized rainbow trout cake for this avid fisherman. After covering the cake with white fondant and creating a blank canvas, the colour and details were achieved via the airbrush.

We taught some great classes in November including Cookie Couture, Cupcake Couture & Airbrushing Basics.

And we were featured in Canada's leading trade magazine for the baking industry, Bakers Journal

December went by in a flash! Besides the regular hectic nature of the season, I was asked to do a live segment on Canada AM for their Holiday Treats & Sweets week. We featured the sugar cookie and filled the studio with tantalizing treats!

Right after the segment, we hosted our first annual Holiday Open House & Product Play Day at the store - we opened our kitchen to anyone who wanted to try out some of our favourite products including the airbrush, silicone moulds & tappits. We also gave away some amazing prizes to some very happy customers! Thank you to everyone who came out!

So that brings us to the end of 2009, but boy those are some amazing highlights!

Now we've come to a new year, a new decade and some exciting times at Flour Confections! This year we will be hosting some more fabulous classes including ones with Mike McCarey, James Rosselle, Lorraine McKay and Bronwen Weber!

Here's to a sweet 2010!