London - Day 28

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

Yay I passed!!!

Last day was crazy! Everything went wrong that could go wrong - flowers breaking, icing not coming out of bags, you name it. I messed up a lot during this week. and I think barely passed! But a lot of lessons were learned too, so I don't care, I've got my paper - grabbing it and running before they can change their minds. XD

Oh yeah and my camera battery went dead too (forgot to charge it), so special thanks to Yujin for taking so many pics with her amazing camera!

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

Afterwards, we had to carry our cakes across the street (OMG heavy), to have them on display at the parlour.

Where we had cupcakes and champagne!

And Peggy handed out our diplomas!

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

Everyone's cakes looked amazing! Congrats to everyone in the class! All in all this was one of the craziest experiences in my life. It was really, really tough. Lots of ups and downs. But I learned a lot. The course was definitely a great experience! And I met some great people along the way!

(photo taken by Yujin Fisher)

One more day here to be touristy and then I'm going hooooome!

ON TO DAY 29/30

London - Day 26

Today went pretty well, considering some major mess-ups at the beginning which I can't fix now. Hopefully I'll pass at the end O___o

I finished what I needed to a bit early, so after class our teacher pointed me to a local baking supply store, called Jane Asher. It's a cute little shop packed full of fun baking stuff!

They normally close at 5:30, but when I told them I was from Canada and studying with Peggy Porschen, they let me stay a bit longer ^_^

Afterwards I wandered the neighbourhoods a bit.

Then I found this crepe restaurant (among many other tempting places).

One of the menu items, was called "Crepe Quebec"! Of course I had to try that one!

It was a crepe with bananas and walnuts, with maple syrup. I don't know what bananas and walnuts have to do with Quebec... but it tasted good!

ON TO DAY 27

London - Day 25

Today went better than yesterday. A lot calmer I think now that the baking is done, still very challenging, especially knowing you're being watched. Sorry, I didn't take any pics today, but here's a list of things I did:

I covered my cake dummy with sugarpaste.
Dusted and taped flowers.
cut, stacked, and iced cakes.
covered one 8 inch square cake with marzipan.

Lots o stuff!

I'm sure now when I get home I'll be able to make cakes at super speed, if nothing else!


ON TO DAY 26

London - Day 24

Today was the first day of exam week.

And it felt like a war zone.

Do you ever watch those reality cooking shows like Hell's Kitchen, or MasterChef, and think to yourself, well I'm never gonna be in something like that, it's crazy! Why would anyone want to do that? That's what I think when I watch those shows.

And yet, here I am.

I pretty much frigged up on everything I think, we were being watched on our process (not just the end result), so even though I finished everything I was scheduled to do, I generally, felt like a mess in the kitchen.

I'll try to remember the positives:
I finished everything I needed to finish, ahead of time.
My cakes actually turned out ok.
I saved my ganache like a boss after almost messing it up.
Considering I haven't had a lot of practice at this, I didn't do too bad, and I'll only get better, no matter what marks I get in the end.

Honestly though, I don't know if I enjoy the "professional kitchen" scenario. It's not for the faint of heart. My own little kitchen at home is a happier place. ^_^


ON TO DAY 25

London - Day 21

So guess what? I'm sick! AGAIN!!! I can't believe I've been sick twice in a row! I also had a really late night Thursday planning my mise-en-place (schedule) for exam week. Stayed up 'till 1 am, with no dinner! Scheduling and calculating ingredients is harder than it sounds, trust me!

Friday was more business talk with Peggy and her husband Bryn. Pretty much all the nitty gritty about setting up your own business! It's a pretty daunting topic, but Peggy and Bryn are hilarious together, so it was a cool, down to earth chat.

After that we had a guest speaker, International Wedding Planner Sarah Haywood. Who taught us a bit about the wedding industry, and how to work with planners.

image © BarkerEvans.com

I knew I heard her name somewhere before, and then she told us she was covering the Royal wedding on CNN last year - that would explain it!

Unfortunately, me being sick meant feeling really really drained, but I took as many notes as I could for reading later ^_^

Such good information, I really feel like my website needs a redesign now, lol.


ON TO DAY 22/23

London - Day 20

Today and tomorrow are business classes at the academy! First, we had a talk with an editor from Brides magazine, on getting our foot into the publicity door, then we worked on our designs and got some advice from Peggy.

The afternoon was spent at the Parlour tasting room, with coffee, tea, cake samples, and cake business Q&A. It was great!

Class ended early today, so I took a walk around town - London bridge at sunset! Did I mention it was 16 degrees today? It was so warm compared to home right now. I didn't even need my jacket! Beautiful day!

Big Ben is so photogenic!

ON TO DAY 21

London - Day 19

Today was field trip day! We visited the flower market.

A giant warehouse!

Full of flowers!

Every color and shape you could want! I took a zillion reference photos!
After that we made our way to the Covent Garden Flower Academy.

People here learn to make stuff out of flowers. All kinds of plants actually! Just as we're learning to make flowers out of cake ingredients!

Hey look, it's Camilla!

Our teacher, and principal of the school, Gillian gave us a demonstration of how to arrange real flowers on a cake, which is a cheaper alternative to sugar flowers!

Then we had our own turn at making a little arrangement! I wore mine on my lapel for the rest of the day :)
Afterwards, we all went for Mexican food for lunch - mmmm yummy! I love how diverse the food is in London!

ON TO DAY 20

London - Day 18

We *finally* finished our flowers today! And let me tell ya, what a difference some steam makes!
Yes, you actually steam the flowers at the end to give them a fresh look. I learned a lot, and I now appreciate how much work really goes into flowers on a cake.

Later that evening, my London buddies Fehed and Faye took me to see Les Miserables, at the Queen's Theatre! I didn't think I would like it, but I thought it was amazing! Amazing singing, and story!

ON TO DAY 19

London Day 17

On Monday we worked more on flowers. So much work! Omg...

Then, as per the demand of Noell, Paulette and Diane, I finally had some London fish and chips.
Seashell of Lisson Grove is supposed to be one of the best. And it was pretty tasty, for deep fried stuff. Good thing is, they do a bunch of different types of fish. And that's pretty much all they serve. Simple!

Good eatin!

ON TO DAY 18

London - Day 14

Today we worked some more on flowers. It's nice to see the progress we're making! The workshop looks like a flower shop now! What a difference some petal dust makes...

We also got our exam info for the last week, which means designing a wedding cake from start to finish! *shakes in boots* I hope I do okay!

And with that, I'm officially half way through this trip! Turning in early tonight, cause tomorrow - I'm going to Paris!


ON TO DAY 15