Hi nicole and socake, I'm right next door to Hoxton Park!! Can't believe how close we are to each other!!
"Wow, i al thought copha is the same as shortening. Glad it tasted nice. Are you able to please share the buttercream recipe with us?
violet"
Hi Violet
I just use the Wilton BC recipe which is at home so I'll post it tonight.
Hi Nati,
The trouble with me is that I work better from a visual example.
How hard can cutting a circle of fondant be eh? LOL
Thanks so much for the website for the edible images. I will definitely order from them
I love all these Aussie websites. It makes it a lot easier than buying from o/seas.
Take care,
Karen
Karen
the other reason i didnt take a pic of them, is that i had no intention of selling them to anyone. I have some fondant cupcake pictures at home that i can send you, they were done with the circle, minus the edible image ; ), very easy to do. Do you have round cutters? I Have a set that has about 12 cutters in diff sizes. i just got one of the size of the cupcake, cut it and put it on top. VOILA!! I think i stuck them with a sugar syrup and that was all. hmmmmmm fondX
cheers
Nati
Yes how funny, it really is a tiny tiny world. We've probably been in BSC at the same time and didn't even know it! hahahahaha.
Karen,
Can you tell us a little more about how you went about setting up your at home business. I did a google search for some info it looks overwhelming. Did you have to make renovations to your kitchen?
Cheers
Nicole
I did a google search for some info it looks overwhelming.
Nicole
The information out there is very overwhelming and scary. I got registered and licenced this year, as did 2 other friends of mine that live in Melbourne. You'd think that we'd have similar experiences, but NO, we all had to do different things to our kitchens.
Im not sure what the deal is in NSW, but in Victoria your best point of reference is the local council. I needed to get an ABN, do a Food Safety training, make some minor modifications to my kitchen (install coving, handsfree tap, soap dispenser, paper towel dispenser), separate all my cooking utensils from my cake utensils, separate my cooking ingredients from my cake ingredients, implement a cleaning schedule, implement a Food Safety plan and get a food themometer.
Once you have all that done, the council basically tells you what you need to do in your kitchen, you can get your licence. Pets in the home are not allowed.
hth
cheers
Nati
Nati,
Thanks for that, might be a problem for me then seeing I have 2 cats! 
Not that it's something I planned on doing tomorrow. Just was interested in possibly looking into it in the future. When I lived in London, and ran my part time catering business it was easy as pie, I did a Food Safety course and received a certificate, bought some third party insurance only 99 pounds for the year to cover me for up to half a million dollars in case I made someone sick.
I knew the rules were stricter here.... just never got round to looking into now I can see why! 
Thanks for the info though, good to keep in mind for now.
Nicole
So being the wealth of fantastic information you ladies have already been, I ask the following.
At the moment I'm obsessed with cake and cake decorating books. What is your favourite one for inspiration?
I'm at work at the moment but will post mine later.
Nicole 
) is the Wilton Cake Decorating for Beginners which I actually bought from CC. I think it's brilliant! Thanks Mary, I've been wondering if I should invest in a Wilton Book.
No for cakes I've done previously my bible of Women's Weekly Kid's Party Cakes (the big blue one) has been a never ending source of inspiration along with several other Women's Weekly Cake Books (Magazine Style). Also Fun Cakes by Ann Nicol and New Children's Party Cakes by Ebury Press.
New additions that I intend to help in the future include new editions to my collection:
The Well-Decorated Cake by Toba Garrett
Creative Celebration Cakes by Benison, Smith and Wilson-Barker
Quick & Easy Kids Cakes by Sara Lewis
Quick & Easy Celebration Cakes by Joanna Farrell
Hahahahha, did I say pick one! hahahahahah
Hi everyone I'm from North Coast (NSW)
At the moment I'm obsessed with cake and cake decorating books. What is your favourite one for inspiration?
I am a total cake book Junkie, I have a heap of books quite a few given to me and the rest I have bought. My DH gave me Mich Turner's Spectacular Cakes last year for Xmas and it is a great book for inspiration. I got Collette Peters Cakes to Dream on recently (after hearing everyone going on about Collette Peters on this site I had to find out what the fuss was about myself) and it is great for inspiration but I personally didn't like the instruction part of the book I don't like reading a lot of text to find out how to do something I need more pictures showing me how to.
For flowers Alan Dunn's books are good his flowers are so realistic and for kids cakes Debbie Brown (I have a couple of her books but I haven't had an opportunity to make any yet so maybe others could tell you about the instruction side of it - but I do love looking at the pictures 
)
I have the well decorated cake by Tobia Garrett, it is a pretty good book I love the wedding dress cake and the blown sugar balls, my only gripe is that it doesn't tell you how she did the wedding dress cake I can guess what she did but as it is my favorite cake in the book I couldn't help wishing a "how to" was included (yes I know I expect a lot )
Hi Nicole
I got the title of the book wrong. It's called " The Wilton School, Decorating Cakes, A Reference & Idea Book" I think it's brilliant but then you guys are so much more advanced than me!
Hi Violet
I promised I would post the Buttercream Icing recipe which I use the Copha in. The recipe is also in the book I mentioned above. Just make sure that the copha is completely at room temperature. If it is slightly cold it will have some lumps in the end product which are a pain to pick out (can you tell I've done that before 
)
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (I just use 1/2 a block of copha)
1/2 cup butter or margarine (Again I just use 1/2 a block of butter)
1 teaspoon Wilton Clear Vanilla Extract (I use the normal Vanilla Extract you can get from Woolworths)
4 Cups sifted icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
Makes 3 cups
Cream the butter & copha. Add vanilla. Then add the icing sugar a cup at a time. When it's all mixed in and looks a little dry add the milk and beat on medium speed until it's light and fluffy. You can keep it covered with a damp cloth until you need to use it. Any left overs can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks but rewhip it before using.
Everyone absolutely loves this icing. Let me know what you think.
Cheers
Mary
Hey guys, yeah I like lots of pictures too, especially when they show all the stages of making a flower, when they line up all the steps next to each other you can see what it should look like as your going along. I also like if it's a shaped cake if they show you how to cut and stack and carve the cake those things are really helpful. Sometimes when they try to describe it, especially sometimes the flower steps it just gets confusing!
I saw two books today that I NEARLY bought but chastised myself and said I had to at least try some of the cakes from my new cookbooks first! I think I'm a bit of a cake book junkie! hehehehehehe.
I've got plenty of practice coming up, three X-mas cakes over the next couple of weeks, then two birthday cakes in January.... I'm looking forward to employing some of the skills I've learnt in my Course.
How do you guys find out about any competitions.... might be worth having a look at some beginner sections next year.... practice makes perfect hey?!
Hope you all have a good weekend.
Nicole
Hi guys I just found this thread I didn't realise there were so many people from Oz here. I've been decorating for 7 years now, before that I used to do the kids cakes but wanted to learn more, so I did. .
I've entered a few competitions and won a couple of prizes but the talent out there is amazing, my competition cakes are not in my photos cause I'm computer illiterate and rely on one of my teenagers to put the photos in as "you never do it right mum". The trouble is nailing down someone to do it.
There are a lot of local shows out there all you have to is make an enquiry through them and they will send you out the info. They are fun, the feedback is great and the local shows need more cakes as there isn't enough people entering them and there is the threat 
they will stop the cake decorating section. So if you need motivation I reckon go for it you have nothing to lose and you might win. 
Lyn
Hi Violet
I promised I would post the Buttercream Icing recipe which I use the Copha in. The recipe is also in the book I mentioned above. Just make sure that the copha is completely at room temperature. If it is slightly cold it will have some lumps in the end product which are a pain to pick out (can you tell I've done that before
)1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (I just use 1/2 a block of copha)
1/2 cup butter or margarine (Again I just use 1/2 a block of butter)
1 teaspoon Wilton Clear Vanilla Extract (I use the normal Vanilla Extract you can get from Woolworths)
4 Cups sifted icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
Makes 3 cups
Cream the butter & copha. Add vanilla. Then add the icing sugar a cup at a time. When it's all mixed in and looks a little dry add the milk and beat on medium speed until it's light and fluffy. You can keep it covered with a damp cloth until you need to use it. Any left overs can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks but rewhip it before using.
Everyone absolutely loves this icing. Let me know what you think.
Cheers
Mary
Hi Mary,
Thanks so much for this recipe. I will definitely try it!!!!!!!!! have a nice day!
I did a google search for some info it looks overwhelming.
Nicole
The information out there is very overwhelming and scary. I got registered and licenced this year, as did 2 other friends of mine that live in Melbourne. You'd think that we'd have similar experiences, but NO, we all had to do different things to our kitchens.
Im not sure what the deal is in NSW, but in Victoria your best point of reference is the local council. I needed to get an ABN, do a Food Safety training, make some minor modifications to my kitchen (install coving, handsfree tap, soap dispenser, paper towel dispenser), separate all my cooking utensils from my cake utensils, separate my cooking ingredients from my cake ingredients, implement a cleaning schedule, implement a Food Safety plan and get a food themometer.
Once you have all that done, the council basically tells you what you need to do in your kitchen, you can get your licence. Pets in the home are not allowed.
hth
cheers
Nati
Wah Nati! Think i read somewhere that you'll bee a seperate sink for just handwashing in the kitchen.............well, i only have one sink, so, that's bad news. Not that i am starting to do home business or anything, just thought at least I start reading about it...............may be just making for friends for fun is a good way to go for me.
wow, very strict!
violet
Nati,
Thanks for that, might be a problem for me then seeing I have 2 cats!
Not that it's something I planned on doing tomorrow. Just was interested in possibly looking into it in the future. When I lived in London, and ran my part time catering business it was easy as pie, I did a Food Safety course and received a certificate, bought some third party insurance only 99 pounds for the year to cover me for up to half a million dollars in case I made someone sick.I knew the rules were stricter here.... just never got round to looking into now I can see why!
Thanks for the info though, good to keep in mind for now.
Nicole
Nicole
Like i said before, three of us registered in Victoria this year. We all had different experiences. They're actually not that strict at all. The first person i spoke to about a year and a half ago said i couldnt use my kitchen at all, that i needed a separate kitchen, so this is definetly a step up : ).
One of my friends didnt need any of the things i had to modify in my kitchen. The health department stuff, like the training and the food safety plan can be done and submitted online.
If you're really interested i would suggest contacting your local council for more info. You may find it is very easy. Even with all my mods, I found it easy : )
cheers
Nati
Wah Nati! Think i read somewhere that you'll bee a seperate sink for just handwashing in the kitchen.............well, i only have one sink, so, that's bad news. Not that i am starting to do home business or anything, just thought at least I start reading about it...............may be just making for friends for fun is a good way to go for me.
wow, very strict!
violet
Violet
Its not really that strict, the health department guys really want to help. I have a double sink and installed a hands free tap on the smaller side and called it my "handwashing sink". They accepted that. Neither of my friends that registered this year had to do that. I think it will depend on your council and your health department inspector. If you contact the council they send you out all the info required. Just ask them if selling food from your home kitchen is allowed in your area.
To tell you the truth, i thought it'd be a lot harder than this ; )
cheers
Nati
PS: Here's what the sink and tap looks like
Thanks Nati for posting this info - it's very useful to know
Lots to think about.
violet
Definitely thanks for the info on that guys. Is definitely handy to know.
I love all the handy tips and info you get from here, but it's definitely helpful to have a few Aussies around for Australia specific info!
Over the weekend I made a Santa figure from some instructions I found. Pretty happy with my first go round. I plan on using him on one of my Christmas Cakes so I'll post him with the whole cake in the coming weeks!
What kind of things are you girls working on at the moment?
Where do you get instructions for making molded figures? I want to make a couple nativity cakes and have seen some really cute ones here on CC but don't have the foggiest idea on how to make the figures. I'm also going to make a graduation cake but am using the hot glue gun outline system for that one, no 3D figures or anything. I need the grad cake on Friday evening and one of the nativity cakes on Sunday night but am headed over to Fraser Island for the weekend so probably need to make it thursday or friday. hmmm, maybe I'll do something easier and save the molded figures for Christmas day. 
I will post the link when I get home, I have them printed out and will need to check the page for the website. It's mainly pictures but I prefer seeing it to a bunch of written instructions.
Cheers
Nicole
Hi, I'm fairly new here too & came across this thread. I'm in Randwick Sydney...anyone near me??
I also need some help. I was contacted by a lady in Brisbane today who is desperate to get some prettily decorated gluten free cupcakes for her 4 year old daughter who is a celiac. She saw my cupcakes in New Idea magazine (yayy!! so exciting) & wants to pay for them to be sent to her in refrigerated transport etc. I assume that would cost a bundle so I'd like to help her find someone in Brisbane. She has recipes but says she wants something special for her daughter & has been upset all weekend (I assume as she can't find nice ones). So I especially need recipes for the decorations. Or if someone knows of a cupcake place in Brisbane I can contact??
I also thought you could use copha but hadn't tried it (instead of shortenning) then someone said god no! So I spent a small fortune buying crisco from an American on-line shop in Melbourne, but haven't tried it as yet. I have a recipe so I'll post it if it's any good. I'll also try the one posted here (thanks). I've met a fellow cake decorator on flickr so it would be nice to meet more on here from the Sydney area. Let me know if anyone is close to me.
Thanks,
Kylielam2005
Hi Kylie,
Welcome! I was studying at UNSW, but have finished now. I'm in the Parramatta area, so that's not super close to you but still Sydney!
From what I can remember, don't using icing mixture, make sure you use pure icing sugar in any decorations as icing mixture has cornflour or starch whatever that has gluten. But pure icing sugar doesn't. So obviously royal icing made from pure icing sugar and egg white is one thing you can use that I can think of off the top of my head. You'll have to stay away from corn flour if you use that to help stop your icing from sticking etc. I'm sure you can modify some of the other recipes, you'll just need to look carefully in the ingredients to make sure they are gluten free. If unsure, try looking at the gluten free products in Woolworths for substitutes, ie you find gluten free flour and cake mixes etc, if they come with icing like some packets do, check the ingredients list to compare to your recipe.
HTH.
Cheers
Nicole
Hi Kylie
Welcome to CC. It's absolutely addictive here. I'm from the Liverpool area, so not that close but still close enough!! Congrats on the New Idea feature, that must have been exciting.
I recently posted a recipe for BC which I used Copha in and as I mentioned before, everyone absolutely loved it. So unless shortening prices reduce or someone tells me why it's so bad to use Copha then I'm going to keep on using it!!
Mary
Thanks so much! Perfect that I can use pure icing sugar as I have loads. Just a warning though...I was told by another cake decorator that the CSR pure icing sugar isn't pure, & that complaints have fallen on deaf ears! So I use bundeburg pure icing sugar that you can get from Franklins. I suppose I can make my own modelling paste recipe too then if that's the case (to make decorations out of).
However it would still be great if there's a cupcake place in Brisbane that does gluten free cupcakes. I suppose even if she finds somewhere for the cupcakes & I can post the decorations which would be easy to do (I think).
Thanks heaps!
Kylie.
Sorry Nicole, I meant to say that Parra isn't too far! And thanks for the welcome.
Mary, I didn't see your post until after I did mine, so thanks too for the welcome. I'll be trying the copha as alot cheaper than the crisco! It's nice to find sites on the internet with Aussies! I'm also on flickr so I don't know how many of you are on there. When I first got on there I don't think there was anyone I knew about from Sydney in the cupcake groups anyway. Now there are a few of course. I stumbled across both sites awhile ago.
Thanks & i must get more involved on this site (I've had problems posting photos & gave up! But I must read the how to's again).
Thanks, Kylie.
OK girls, try http://www.imaginativeicing.demon.co.uk/homepageframes.html
Select how to model santa.
Some poxy music, you might want to set the computer to mute!
Hi, I'm fairly new here too & came across this thread. I'm in Randwick Sydney...anyone near me??
Hi Kylie,
I am about 1/2 hour away in the Sutherland Shire! There are a few of us in the area, I know of one of us in Kensington and another at bexley!
WOW on being in the New Idea!
Sandra
Hi Sandra, beautiful cakes you've done!! I must go through the other photos for other people! I haven't had time & probably shouldn't now (I'm suppose to be getting the house organised while I'm quite!) but will look at some of them. I have to work out how to resize mine before I post anymore...gave up ages ago. That's why I haven't been on here much.
It's nice to see so many people into cake decorating!
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