Choices, schmoices.

Ah decisions. Something most people seem to struggle with these days. I guess with technology we must be out of practice - or more likely, we have 58284098 more options to try to make our decisions from. It frustrates me no end when a bunch of us are going out for dinner and it takes two hours to decide where we might like to go - but I am just as bad! I sit there not wanting to commit in case someone doesn't like the option I choose - something I've learnt this year that wedding couples do when making decisions too.

It's hard choosing from so many flavours and styles when it comes to modern wedding cakes, especially if cake isn't a thing you live and breathe like some of us (although, oddly enough, I may live cake but I don't particularly enjoy eating it - which either makes me the very best or the very worst person to get to do your wedding cake!) I'd like to take this opportunity to point out what I believe to be the more important points to consider when picking and designing your wedding cake.

Organise your expectations

Think about what you'd like from your cake maker. Some people arrive at consultations with me with a very specific idea in mind, others have zero clue what they'd like, some simply say 'don't care what it looks like but it MUST be this flavour!' All of these are totally fine, although most artists won't copy someone else's work exactly, they'll use it as inspiration and put their own spin on it - speaking of which - research your cake decorator's style. We all have distinct styles that make us different to each other and one might not work for you while another is spot on. Find your cake soulmate!

Anyway back to your expectations - figure out whether you'd like a huge amount of design input from the decorator or whether you've got it covered, it's nice to know how much freedom I have when coming up with someone's cake. Ask about what the 'whole package' includes - delivery, set up, cutting guide, tasting etc. 

The Internet is your best friend

More specifically, Pinterest is your best friend. Most people would search for their wedding theme or colour and select images from the results, cakes included. This means that this idea-gathering can begin as soon as you've got your wedding style sorted. Of course, more specific details can be left for later but now is the time for weeding out the cakes that won't work at all. For example, a rustic naked cake, while pretty in this picture, would clash so very very badly in this elegant affair:

Of course, your cake maker can help with this but it will save alot of time if the obvious clashes are eliminated already!

Flavours

Long gone are the days of every wedding cake being traditional fruit cake with marzipan on top - and taking home the top tier for your anniversary or firstborn's christening or dog's puppy school graduation or whatever. Those days happened to coincide with the wedding cake being served up and pretty much left on the table with one bite out of every piece (hands up who thinks marzipan is just the most delicious thing you've ever tasted? No one? Hmm, just as I suspected)**. Nowadays couples tend to pick their favourite flavours as they WANT the whole cake to be eaten and it's become more and more important that what's on the inside counts! They're paying good money for this cake so why not design it so it'll get eaten and enjoyed. Don't be afraid to ask if your caker can do a certain flavour, if we don't currently do it there are two options: 1) given enough time, we can experiment with your flavour and come up with a good recipe or 2) your request can usually be incorporated into the cake filling in some way! From flavoured buttercreams to jams, lemon curds and pureed fruit - you can have almost any filling you like.

Organise a tasting with your caker - avoid any nasty surprises on your day!

Think about the big picture

When I'm meeting with a client I like to be able to picture the cake at their venue - which means I ask about how the cake/table/room will be set up - and I find that most people haven't thought about this. Try to picture it yourself - will the cake be on a board of some kind, on a high stand, or something fitting your theme, like a crate or big chunk of wood. Will the table be small, just for the cake, or will there be a dessert/lolly buffet surrounding it, will there be signs explaining the flavours of your cupcakes or allergy warnings? This is an opportunity to continue your theme - make your probably-expensive-work-of-art cake POP!

A LoveCake cutting cake set up on hessian-covered table to fit the rustic theme of the Apple Shed.

A LoveCake cake on a high stand adds height to the cake and space to the table - Alan Moyle Wedding Photography

A LoveCake cake on a clean white tablecloth with white birds, keeping with the classic theme - Lisa Kuilenburg Photographer

Thinking about the big picture also includes thinking about your actual pictures. Will the cake be so short that it gets lost in the cutting-the-cake photos? Will the white icing make your ivory dress look dirty? Will the tall tiers obscure the short little bride's face (oh, I'm sorry, 'fun-sized' bride)? If you have bride & groom toppers, will they face you or the camera?

A handy-dandy list of questions

Lastly, here is the list of questions I ask clients - hopefully it might help you get started in thinking about the finer details of your cake.

How many servings do you need?

Will the cake be served as dessert or with coffee after dessert?

Do you have a budget we need to work within?

Where is your venue and when will your guests start arriving?

Who is your photographer?

Do we need to cater to any allergies?

If you're having fresh flowers, who is your florist?

What are your favourite flavours (in anything, not just cake)?

Tell me about your wedding style, colours etc. (this is a bigg'n!)

Being in this world of wedding vendors, I can also usually recommend a few people for different services if you need a hand narrowing down the many options. I've said before that I love the feel of the small business world in Hobart and often people come to me from the recommendations of others I've met along the way. I love to reciprocate and recommend them too (they all do amazing work!) however I find that often the cake is one of the last things that couples have to organise and book - everything else is already picked and sorted! 

I know there are heaps more things to consider when ordering your wedding cake, but I do think these things are the more important points to think about! Please don't hesitate to ask me your burning questions, should they not be covered here, I'm happy to give advice, even if I'm not your cake maker.

So that's about it for now, there's some Dairy Milk buttercream that's been beating for about 40 minutes - I'm sure it's just about done and ready for its cake, ciao!

Nadia x

**Apologies to anyone who actually likes marzipan (my bestie included!) but it's time to face the music reality - you're a definite minority in these times of chocolate ganache, Swiss meringue buttercream and even marshmallow fondant!

The Ombré Effect

My little buddy Fletcher's first birthday cake - my first foray into rainbow interiors in 2013.

There are some seriously pretty things coming out in cake decorating lately. There are also some seriously cool things too. In this off-season (aka winter...the non-wedding season...the season that causes us to break out our cutest scarves and sexiest boots as we try to avoid actually feeling the cold) I find myself buried in birthday orders. Not necessarily as pretty or elegant as wedding cakes but I get to break out the colours at least! I've done several rainbow layered cakes and for my sister in law's baby shower I decided to tweak the style a little and do a blue ombré layered cake (we knew she was having a boy, woo!)

For this particular cake, I've used white chocolate mud cake, but you could use whichever white cake takes your fancy. Definitely make sure the cooked cake is white though, as even a yellow cake will alter your colours. The white chocolate cake batter is slightly yellowish and you'll notice that even that tinges my blue to a spacey galactic green. 

To make sure your layers are even, either weigh your batter and divide it that way, or use a measuring cup or jug - I've used a measuring cup this time, using 1 cup of batter per cake layer (I've learned that this works for my 6-inch tins through trial and error!) For this ombré cake, the first layer baked was the original colour of the batter (white). When doing the rainbow layer cake, I separate out all seven lots into bowls (pink, orange, yellow, green, light blue, dark blue and purple) to colour, but for this one we can leave the batter in the same bowl and just keep adding colour to tint it darker as we go. I do two layers at a time simply because I have two 6 inch tins plus my tiny little oven will only fit two on the middle rack at one time.

For the vast majority of my colouring, be it cake batter, icing or vodka paint, I use Americolor gels. I love the little bottles, the little tops make dispensing so much easier than my old ones which were just plain jar type things. No mess, no clumping, no discovering later that I have had a bright green ring on my sleeve all afternoon simply because the colouring made its way from the jar to the lid to the bench to the mat and I happened to lean on that unfortunate spot. Locally, Spotlight and Your Habitat sell them, or you can find the entire range of 41 colours plus their food writing pens and airbrush colours here. I'm using Royal Blue in this case, but for my rainbow layer cakes I use Deep Pink, a mix of Super Red and Lemon Yellow for orange, Lemon Yellow, Mint Green, Sky Blue, Royal Blue and Electric Purple.

Add one drop of colouring at a time, to control the level of tint. If you're making an ombré cake, don't make the mistake of thinking you can add the same amount of colouring each time - remember the volume of cake batter is decreasing so adding the same amount of colouring will result in more intense and uneven colour. 

 Continue baking your layers until you're done, I like to make notes on them to keep the colours in order, this isn't as necessary when making a rainbow cake but doing the ombré thing means that sometimes the baked layers look so similar, I'd hate to mix them up and ruin the effect! 

Next of course comes trimming and layering. Everyone has their own technique for this and has their preferred method, I seriously cannot go past my Agbay double blade leveller (found here) - I now have straight cuts and clean lines every time, the best money I've spent on cake gear! To go along with the white chocolate cake I used a white chocolate ganache for my filling and crumb coat.

And here she is! Or he, I suppose, in this case! 

Have a go at a rainbow or ombré cake, you'll love the results! You could decorate the outside to match, like this LoveCake cutie:

 Just a few more pics...

 

'Til next time,
Nadia x

G a n a c h e ♥

What's your flava? Tell me what's your flava? Remember this annoying song from sometime last decade? Craig David sung to us about high maintenance ice cream and nausea-inducing walnut whip but he didn't sing about my personal answer to his sophisticated question - chocolate ganache is my flava (ok, I'm going with 'flavour' now, I can't handle intentionally incorrect spelling!). If there is a food of the gods, ganache is it. 

What is it you'd like to have for dessert? Truffles? A velvety dream sauce for your ice cream? A sturdy base for your fondant to overlay? The answer to all of the above is ganache. This ridiculously versatile liquid gold can be flavoured and set to a consistency of your liking. I was going to go into the history of ganache and where it came from but in doing a bit of research, it seems that the Swiss and the French have never settled who came up with it first (kind of like Australia and NZ with the pavlova) so we're just going to leave that alone! Either one makes it a little fancy :)

Are you ready to have your mind blown with some class-A knowledge? Ganache tastes amazing when made with the best quality ingredients available. I know, I'll give you a minute to recover...

I personally love the taste of Cadbury chocolate so I use Cadbury chocolate melts or just plain Cadbury blocks. Basic chocolate ganache is made with a 2:1 ratio of dark chocolate to full fat cream. As the chocolate gets lighter (more fat content) you'll need to bump this up, I use 3:1 white-choc:cream for white chocolate ganache. If you don't mind cheating a little, flavoured chocolate is an easy way to achieve flavoured ganache - Nestle Club Peppermint, Nestle Club Espresso Crisp, Lindt Dark Orange, etc.

Here's the incredibly simple lowdown on how to make your ganache.

Leave the chocolate sitting in a heatproof bowl while you heat the cream.

Slowly bring the cream to a simmer in a saucepan over low-medium heat. This is where you add flavouring if that's what you want (coffee, liqueur, frozen fruit, chai....the possibilities are endless). 

Once simmering, leave for a minute or so and then pour over chocolate in the bowl.

Ensure all of the chocolate is covered, and leave for the chocolate to melt - usually around 3-4 minutes.

Beginning with a spatula in the centre of the mixture, stir the cream and melted chocolate. The remainder of solid chocolate should melt with the stirring - if it doesn't melt by the time your ganache is glossy and thick, throw it in the microwave for about 5 seconds and keep stirring. 

If you're after a velvety delicious topping for pudding or ice cream, or finishing a cake with poured ganache (such as in the picture at the top of this blog), use it straight away. As my ganache is used for covering cakes 99% of the time, I need it to be a thicker consistency than it will be when freshly made. All it needs to thicken is time - place some plastic wrap over the surface so it doesn't form a skin and leave it at room temperature. 

 After around an hour it should be cooled and thickened to spreading consistency, perfect for covering cakes.  The consistency in the picture below was achieved by leaving the ganache for an hour or so. Leave it longer for truffles or to use it for carving.

 Troubleshooting - you could run into a few issues, here are some that I've come across and the quick fixes to get your ganache back on track. 

Separating: often when making white chocolate ganache something goes awry and the emulsion doesn't take effect. You are left with a lump of white congealed mush under a layer of yellow fat. Unsalvageable yes? NO! Refrigerate the mess for a good 15-20 minutes and then try stirring again. Given enough refrigeration, the ganache will come back together and you can pretend that little hiccup never happened! (I promise I won't tell.)

Too solid: sometimes I have forgotten about my ganache while busy with other things and when I return it's too solid for spreading. This can be fixed by re-melting it in the microwave, but take it easy - no more than 7 seconds at a time - it melts crazy quickly! Stir it so that it melts evenly, continue until your desired consistency is achieved!

Have a go at making some ganache, it's such an easy thing to make, considering how amazing it looks and tastes! It's easy to impress with ;)

Happy ganaching!

Nadia x

(PS - do you love my purple spatula as much as I do?! I was going to include a link to where you could pick one up for yourself, but can't actually find it. It was from Bed Bath N Table, maybe they'll make a comeback soon!)

Because who doesn't love chocolate?! (recipe alert!)

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.......anyone got any cravings now? Good, if you just wait a moment, I'll publish my trusty chocolate mud cake recipe and you can have a bake and satiate those cravings - trust me, it'll work a charm.

Firstly some fun facts about chocolate cake:

Any baking with chocolate powder (aka cocoa, der!) became possible in 1764 because of a guy who should've been made king of the world: James Baker. I kid you not, his name was Baker. Fitting, yes? He apparently accidentally discovered you could press cacao beans and the resulting powder was pretty useful <-- the TRUE meaning of 'happy accident'. We all salute you, Mr Baker.

The term 'chocolate cake' referred to yellow or white cakes meant to accompany a chocolate beverage, or yellow/white cakes with chocolate icing long before it meant what we know to be chocolate cake today.

Champagne & sparkling wine are generally too acidic to be enjoyed with chocolate - settle in with a glass of red for your perfect chocolate-cakey companion (must remember this at the next wedding I attend - Simmo you'd better have red wine available!)

German chocolate cake was named after Sam German who was American.

Dark chocolate may be beneficial to your health, but don't grab your nearest chunk and scoff away just yet - it's only beneficial if cacao or chocolate liquor is the first ingredient listed, not sugar. 

This one's not about cake, just chocolate - in WWII the Germans developed a small chocolate-coated bomb, designed to detonate when the first piece was broken off. Eep!

Ok enough of that, onto the real stuff! It's possible I may get excommunicated from the cake community for sharing my precious recipe for the world to see, but I can't keep something this basic, easy and delicious all to myself! Besides, you guys'll be my friends if they desert me, won't ya?

I honestly cannot remember where I got the original version of this recipe from, I have used it for so long. Over the years, I've made tweaks here and there that seem to work for me and you should do the same - it's a basic mud cake recipe and can withstand some mucking around! See below the recipe for my personal hints :)

Chocolate Mud Cake

226g (1 cup) unsalted butter 

375g good quality dark chocolate

600ml water

3 eggs

400g self raising flour

400g castor sugar

1. Preheat oven to 170C (338F) and grease and line a 22cm round tin.
2. Place butter, chocolate & water in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 40 seconds at a time, stirring after each time, until mixture is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. Beat eggs together on medium speed (Kitchenaid 4).
4. Add cooled chocolate mixture to eggs and beat on medium speed (KA 4).
5. Add flour and sugar to mixture and stir to combine (KA 2) then beat on medium speed (KA 4-6) until smooth.
6. Pour into prepared tin and tap on bench to remove air bubbles. 
7. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a cake tester (or wooden skewer) comes out clean (moist crumbs will attach, even if fully cooked).

From this last point, it's up to you what you do with it - chocolate ganache is amazing on this cake, but buttercream or runny icing would work just as well. We often eat scraps as they are, they are AMAZING warmed up!

Right, so hints and tips!

- I'm a lazy person but I had to kick myself out of that for this recipe - don't take shortcuts! Make sure you both grease AND line the tin (unless you want a huge dud batch of that nice warm cake to eat yourself...mmm).

- I do remember that the original recipe called for old-school melting of the butter, chocolate & water together in a saucepan on the stove - feel free to do this, I've just found that microwaving has no effect on the taste or consistency of the final product, and you can do other things while it is in the microwave!

- Give the chocolate mixture a good stir just before adding to the eggs - it will have settled and started to separate while cooling.

- I like to whisk the flour and sugar together before adding to the mixture - it makes sense to have them combined, right?

- The time required for baking will most definitely not be exactly 40 or 50 minutes. It will depend on your oven and the size of your tin. This recipe makes a large quantity, enough for two 22cm round tins.
- From a country that doesn't use the metric system? I use this online converter ALL THE TIME for cooking conversions :)

- If you're after something a little different to regular chocolate mud cake - have a play! Most of the time you can use a creative frosting/filling and that's enough. However, the possibilities for variations are endless! Here are some that I've tried.

It goes without saying that for white choc mud you simply substitute the dark choc for white choc (extra hint: when microwaving white chocolate, use 20-30 second bursts to avoid burning). 

A really yummy jaffa cake can be made by using orange juice instead of water and a good orange dark chocolate instead of regular dark chocolate (like Lindt Orange Intense). 

The same principle applies to a choc mint cake - use a good minted dark chocolate. 

I've made a mixed berry white chocolate cake by using the above substitution plus 200g mixed berries. How did I know how many berries to put in, you ask? The answer is: I didn't. I played around with it until I was happy.

For the caffeine-addicted, a shot or two of espresso in the water goes a long way to a delish mocha cake.

Let me know if you have any questions or queries, I'm happy to help. If you have a go at this recipe, share some pictures and let us all know how you went :)

Alrighty then! Get baking!! Hope you enjoy this morsel of chocolatey goodness,

Nadia x

Naked granny cakes!!

Oh, um, hi again! You may be slightly confused about the title of this post...let me shed some light - naked cakes: cakes without traditional thick icing or frosting, even without any frosting at all. I had real trouble explaining this to people 6 months ago when planning a wedding cake buffet. People would nod along but you know how you can see it in someone's face when they think they're doing really well hiding their smirk?? Yeah. I saw alot of that. 

Truth is, naked cakes as a trend are brand new to little old Tassie, and really, as far as I can tell, all of Australia. I've only seen them prolifically (hopefully that's an actual word) on Google and in European & US wedding magazines & blogs. This is why, when Kate at Pure Bride saw a picture of one of my naked cakes for a friend's wedding, she wanted to track me down. Pure Bride are all about bringing new exciting stuff to Tasmanian weddings, getting them out of this traditional rut we've been happily existing in. This is where the 'granny' part comes in - Kate loved the idea of this lemon yogurt cake as it reminded her of cakes her grandmother made - and she suggested marketing them as granny cakes. She thinks Tassie is ready for naked cakes - and now so do we at LoveCake!!

 The naked cake we had on display at the expo was a real hit, too. Obviously when I was explaining to those others last year, I should've carried one around with me and let it do the talking! I love that people can see the rustic beauty in it, and let's face it - at least half the population hates fondant and picks it off - why waste good money on that?! (and from my perspective - a naked cake takes literally hours less than a fondant-covered cake)

Honestly, I haven't got a whole lot more to say about these cakes, but I do have a TON of pretty pictures for you to see! I love love LOVE some of the flower arrangements on these cakes - they make me wish you could just have a cake sitting on your coffee table with fresh flowers, you know...just for show, part of the room decor! ;)

(that last one - anyone else suddenly craving Oreos?? No? Just me?) Ok - that's all from me this time folks, got a fun Up-inspired engagement cake to finish!

Cheerio!

Nadia x

Expo Part 2 - Young Business in Hobart

Hurro again :)

I just want to spend a bit telling you about the fab people and businesses I encountered in both the leadup to the expo and actually while we were there. I had no idea this supportive, friendly, encouraging culture existed in business, but now that I've experienced it firsthand, I can't wait to throw my hat in the ring with these chaps and chapettes!

While I was organising photos of my cakes to display at the expo, I realised I needed to ask some of the wedding photographers around if I could grab some of their pictures of my stuff. I had no idea how this kind of thing worked, so in each email I offered to buy the photos, but I was pleasantly surprised when they all sent me pics straight away and brushed off my offer to pay, saying they love to support local small business.

I love knowing and being known by people in small shops here in Hobart - I think it's a pretty unique thing to be able to walk into a shop and have the person greet you by name and know what you're after. Yes, you sometimes pay a premium for shopping in these places rather than the internet, but you know what - it's so worth it!

Sorry this post is a bit jumpy and scattered, but I'm excited to get to the good part - sharing about the actual people and companies! But first things first....

At the expo we met so many friendly faces but it was so busy for most of the day that we basically just exchanged smiles with them across the aisle. While the fashion show was on in the last hour or so, I took the chance to chat with some other girls around our area (ok, so, I mostly listened and smiled - they were chatting about staff and running their companies and I felt rather out of my depth!). I just found myself thinking how lucky Hobart is to have brilliant ladies like these running some wonderfully unique and gorgeous local businesses. 

So, onto who I met!

Fred & Hannah, from fred+hannah - this fun, crazy pair are such loons, you can't help but have a huge grin from ear to ear when speaking to them (who else would wear a lion onesie to a wedding expo!) They would make you feel right at home in front of the camera, whether you love photos or hide from them like they'll steal your soul (for some reason, I just got the urge to watch Buffy) and of course I am raving about them, they have taken amazing photos of my favourite wedding cakes (yes cakeS) to date - one of them even ended up a full-page photo in the Pure Bride mag.

Image by fred+hannah

Lisa, from LisaK Photography - Lisa has some beautiful photos, and I was so happy when she sent me her photos of a wedding cake I did in September - they were so freaking gorgeous!! Not having met face to face, but having communicated via email, watched her photograph a friend's wedding plus reading her blog and just gazing at her photographs...she's the softest warmest person you ever did come across!

Image by LisaK Photography

Helena, from Occasion By Design - I hereby declare Helena has the most fun shop in Hobart! HUGE balloons, masses of colour and Helena herself with her huge grin greet you as you walk in, and as someone who appreciates order, I am comforted by the beautifully organised colour wall. It's all so much fun to look at. Head in-store or online for any party needs, and rest assured if you're at a loss for inspiration, Helena will jump right in and suddenly, you'll have one hell of a party sorted!

Gem & Jules, from Bunting By Design - I came across these ladies via Instagram, they commented on a post I saw and I looked at their Insty and immediately fell in love. I basically just told them my style ideas for cakes for my expo booth and they came up with the fabulous design of the bunting I used - which even included chevron, which I'm SO loving right now. They may be based in Perth, but they're so very accessible to anyone wherever you might be, and they do make some gorgeous custom bunting for weddings!

Fiona & Tess, from eb&flo - I had worked with these ladies before the expo - they've made some of the prettiest fresh flower cake toppers you ever did see! I literally just sent them some pics of stuff I was using as inspiration and trusted them to come up with the flower design - and they were all perfect! You really need to go and visit their shop - you won't leave empty-handed, I guarantee it! 

Image by fred+hannah

Hannah, from Francesca Collections - ok so this one doesn't have anything to do with cake, but I've loved Hannah's jewellery collection since my mother-in-law discovered her at Sala market 18 months ago. She was exhibiting her bridal range in a booth opposite ours on Sunday and so we took the chance to have a chat or two. I am in awe of her - someone around my age who has had the courage to follow what they love and create their own career out of it. Seriously, do yourself a favour and pop into her boutique in Harrington St ready for some sparkle and individuality.

Chloe, from Ethos - I have heard HEAPS about this little restaurant but to be honest, haven't been there myself....yet. I just haven't had the chance, however with the addition of a brand spanking new cocktail bar, it won't be long until you'll find me there! When I spoke to her on Sunday, Chloe was full of information about the hospitality industry in Hobart - something I need to learn alot more about! - and very graciously offered me lots of hints and help at getting started. (Ohmygosh I almost forgot to tell you about the cookies! Chloe had the MOST AMAZING chocolate cookies at the expo that you've EVER tasted. Apparently the recipe was originally created by accident, but hey, that's how the best things come about! It's definitely worth showing up at Ethos for lunch every single day, on the off chance they have those cookies on the menu one day!)

Natasha, from Lily May Cake Design - Natasha & her husband run this little cake design business from their home in Margate. She has the most clean & precise technique you've ever seen, seriously, her cakes are just flawless! They've just spent 2013 getting a commercial kitchen installed in their house and are full of hints and ideas for someone on the other side of that big step, even though I could be considered as The Competition.

 

If these people are a true representation of small business in Hobart - I can't wait to join their ranks!! Make sure you check them all out and support local business :)

Cheers for sticking with me this far!

Nadia x

Expo Part 1 - Done and Dusted!

Welcome back :)

So, in case you missed the ten million posts in the last few months, you know that the Pure Bride Expo was yesterday. What an amazing experience it was, preparing for it, meeting some lovely brides and their entourages and also meeting some amazing local business owners.

Long story short, the lovely and super-friendly Kate from Pure Bride found some photos of some of my cakes (specifically, the naked cake buffet below) on her desk and hunted me down to ask me to take part in their annual Expo and magazine. Of course, I had no choice but to say yes - cakes, wedding stuff, things to organise...some of my favourite things to do!!

Image by fred+hannah

So began my summer of ideas, organisation and changing my mind 358653 times a day. Eventually I decided to keep to the naked cake/rustic theme and so decorated display cakes and found booth decorations to fit. We thought it came together nicely!

Yes! We had free samples. As it turns out, I have no qualms when it comes to bribing people with food! I had to chuckle several times when a bride-to-be would have her fiance in tow and he would have that glazed-eye look that you see on husbands in shopping centres....then he would see the plate of samples, then he would see the sign telling him that not only did we have free cake, we had free cake that had BEER in it! They couldn't believe their eyes. Judging by their reactions, I'm really happy with this recipe I've doctored in general, as it offers the comfort o chocolate cake that everybody knows, however has this little hint of something different to it. I do think though that maybe I could have a light and a strong version - the strong version with alot more stout in it. I foresee some experimenting now that I've got a little more time!

Now, I'm not an outgoing person by anyone's standards...I am really shy when it comes to people that I don't know. Let's face it, I've worked in the same place for over 6 years and I still don't know the names of half the people there. This was one thing that was worrying me leading up to the expo. How would I not only stop people in their tracks (something I personally hate about attending an expo!), but actually hold a conversation with them and be charming enough that they'd remember me and think of me when it came time to organise their wedding cake?? 

Turns out I really should'nt have wasted time thinking about it. Also turns out that when you're talking about something you really love and introducing others to that world, shyness has no place in it whatsoever. I found myself chatting away to hundreds of people, explaining things and suggesting things and making jokes. No pauses, no silences, no awkward 'ohmygosh what do I say now!' moments. Who was this person?! I like her!! 

I know it sounds so mushy and airy and so un-me, but everyone needs to find something they truly love to do in life. Whether it becomes your job, or your hobby, or it's your family, friends, travelling...find it, hold on and let it make you your best self!

Everything about the expo was a learning experience for me and I'm grateful to Kate for the opportunity, and also forever grateful to my friends for giving up their time to help me out (especially after being part of a conversation with some others about staff and Sunday award rates!). 

Until next time,

Nadia x