February 18, 2008

It's Colette Peters!!!

The name synonymous with artistic designer cakes.. She pioneered the 'Topsy Turvy' stacked-wacky cake. It was the new era of modern-unconventional stacked cakes. She inspired many with her numerous books; shared her knowledge with thousands of students; made cakes for the rich and famous; she's an American cake decorating legend. She's my hero.
For years I've been frequently inspired by her work; her attention to detail and her amazing creativity with new techniques in cake art. It was not until last weekend when I finally got to meet her when she became my idol. It was mindblowing to meet someone of that talent with such a modest and vibrant personality. You'd think she'd be a little proud or unfriendly, but I was taken aback by her sincere humble and jolly ways. Chef Collete Peters is humorous; a great person to talk to and such a joy to be around. I was in awe of her talent and experience. It was incredible!! I've been excited to meet her for the past 2 months since I signed up for the course! It's getting a little old how I get star struck so often at the Notter School. *laughs*
The 3 days of cake decorating classes with her flew by in a wink! We learnt to make an array of sugar flowers; paint and dust them;

We learnt to cover cakes and each got to make a decorated 3 tier cake of our own! I wish I had a design prepared. It was hard coming up with something with 3 stacks of white staring blankly back at you in just a couple of minutes. I quickly moved the pieces around and tried real hard to be 'spontaneously' inspired! I knew it wasn't going to happen. *laughs* I pulled out a design randomly out of my you know what... I didn't know what to do; but I knew I'd use the peony flowers. They were amazingly beautiful!
Despite the rushed decisions made on my cake design; the weekend was awesome! I havn't decorated ANYTHING in a long long while..*sigh* fondant-ing my stacked styrofoam shaped cake was so satisfying. *giggle*
Within the first couple of days; our class of 20+ beginner cake artists were on our way with frills; gumpaste flowers; roses; peonies and airbrushing! She had us enticed with her step by step techniques in frills; lace; bows; and a short demo on brushed embroidery.I added in as much as I could into my stacked cake design. I bet many already can see from the cakes I've done that I'm not much into pretty flowers on classic stacked cakes. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to sculpt or stack topsy turvy cakes with my styrofoam core dummy cakes. You didn't think we were going to ice REAL cakes did you? *laughs* I want to keep this cake I've made for awhile... I have no idea how I'll be bringing this home to Malaysia with me though. That's something I'll have to think about when my 6 months is finally up.
I made a couple of cool friends from my 3 days at weekend school. We cracked up with jokes and funny stories throughout the classes and I decided to bring us all out for a fun Saturday night at one of Orlando's hot dinner spots. It was lots of fun; good food; lots of drinking and entertainment. I was kinda worried I'd tire them out too much for our class at 8am the next morning!Wanna take a look at the cakes the class churned out?






And here's mine;

I wish I took more photographs along the way; but I was too engrossed with painting and shaping my fondant that I completely forgot about my camera on the third day! Lucky I at least managed to get shots of the finished product.I havn't had a break all week guys; sorry about late blog updates..
I'm exhausted but still trying to get past it all for class at 7am tomorrow. Stuff if piling up. Laundry and chores have me in tangles. I love my life. No joke.
*laughs*
Seriously. Life is fantastic at this point! *grin*

13 comments:

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi su yin,

wow...love all the beautiful fondant cakes.

I know you are very busy but I have an award for you at my blog.
http:www.auntyyochana.blogspot.com

rgds. aunty

Anonymous said...

hi su! i love your detailed work :) and wow! on meeting colette peters,i have some of her books. keep up the good work! :)
manila1210

Anonymous said...

GORGEOUS!!!!
u made an amazing job! high 5!
i'll definately order from u when u come bck!! :)

Anonymous said...

Su Yin! Hi!, I am not saying this because I am one of your biggest fan, but I think your cake was the best one there! The idea is unique and out of this world. Excellent job. When you come back to ipoh please open a class to teach me to do all the flowers, please.

Amanda said...

Those cakes are stunning!

Anonymous said...

Wow those flowers are awesome! :D

Elin Chia said...

Hi Su Yin,
You are fantastic. Very talented gal too. Haha...your sharing is indeed our blessings. Wish you all the best in your future undertakings :)

Hazelmoi said...

hi Su yin,

I really love your cakes and seeing that cake of yours on this post, I love 'em more. I really like your ideas and designs, the blue colours you blend with are so unique... Keep it up:)

Evans said...

wowww! the flower really looks like real onessss~ *amazedddddd*

Anonymous said...

Don't be offended but Australian sugarpaste cakes are way way nicer looking (cleaner, simpler and more elegant) than these.

Ann

LianneK said...

Hey Su Yin,

I have been following your blog for years! This post .. hmmm, Colette Peters .. the designs there, seriously .. I thought yours were much better and fresher. lol

Keep up the good work!

Su-Yin -Décorateur said...

Hey guys; Colletes class was awesome. THanks for leaving comments. Thanks aunt yochana for the award :)
I'm glad everyone is loving the flowers.

Ann: i guess thats true; but afterall this was merely a beginners class. 90% of the students from the class have never done fondant cakes before. Considering the short 3 days; I think everyone did a great attempt.

thanks imbi and itchy..hehe *blush* :P

Anonymous said...

Su, your peonies are BEEYOOTIEEFULL!! And I like the blue that you used on the top layer too. What a way to make a statement! I've started Wilton Cake decorating since Jan '08 because I was inspired by you. We'll be using fondant starting tonight! Keep up the amazing work!