Remember when your mum used to cut up a cake or dessert for you to eat and she'd cut those big wedge shaped slices?  While that serving style is great for dessert at home, for an event there's actually a different way that we cut the cake which is not only easy but will maximise the number of slices you'll get from your cake.

Traditionally for an event, you'll either serve coffee sized portions or dessert sized portions.  A coffee sized portion is a 1 inch x 1 inch x 4 inch finger portion of cake while a dessert sized portion is double, so a 1 inch x 2 inch x 4 inch slice.  The height of cakes has changed over the years and you'll notice now that most cakes are taller than 4 inches but regardless the way you cut the cake will remain the same.

When people come to collect their cake from me, the first thing they worry about is transporting it home or to the venue safely (we'll cover that in another post) and the next thing they worry about is how on earth to cut it.

The diagram below takes all the guess work out for you.  Save it for your next event!
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It's no secret that hand painted cakes are my favourite cakes to create and I do have kind of a bucket list of cake styles that I'm secretly hoping that clients will ask me to create.  I have to say that the Amalfi/Positano style lemon themed cake was one of those cakes that I was really hoping that somebody would contact me to create and when that did happen, my heart skipped a little beat!

​The cake featured hand painted lemons around the base as well as hand made fondant lemons, blossoms and foliage.  I don't make a lot of flowers myself as it's such a time consuming art form in itself but I was so pleased with how these elements came together on the cake, I even surprised myself at how realistic it looked.

Can you guess what flavour the cake was?  While I do offer a delicious lemon and coconut cake which would have been perfect, my client opted for chocolate and vanilla swirl cake.  I'm curious, how do you feel about eating things that you expect will be a certain flavour based on how it looks but it turns out to be something different?  For me, I would have found it strange to have a lemon themed cake in a chocolate flavour, but hey, everyone's different!

Judging by the fact that the only blog post I created in 2022 was in January last year, my endeavours to update the blog have not been great thus far.  However, I am hoping that this will change this year!

While Instagram is the best place to follow my most recent work as it's updated constantly, I really would like to share more detailed shots here as well as tips and things to consider when planning a cake for your special events.

2022 was a hard year that really pushed me, and that's not a bad thing.  I had to catch up on so many postponed weddings due to Covid as well as create new cakes to try and make up for lost bookings during the lockdowns.  At times it was very overwhelming and I felt pushed to the edge in terms of my workload, but because of this I was forced to streamline a lot of my processes and really look at what was working in my business and what wasn't.

Today I sat down and wrote out my yearly goals and plans and I have a clear vision of the types of cakes that I want to create this year as well as the type of clients I want to work with so I'm super excited to see how 2023 progresses.

Here's to pushing ourselves to be better and of course... to cake!

Alison x 

PS - As I was scrolling through my photos trying to find my favourites, it's the pics of clients cutting their cakes that always makes me happiest.  I'm so lucky to be part of these special occasions.

Goodness me, how can it be 2022 already?!  But at the same time, I am more than happy to put 2021 to rest.  What a year it was.

After being in lockdown for three months towards the end of last year, we emerged part way through October and boy did I hit the ground running.  Everybody was bursting to celebrate after not seeing loved ones and friends for so long.  I was completely overbooked from the moment we came out of lockdown right up until Christmas Eve.  It was exhausting but a great feeling to be back doing what I love.  

I took time off between Christmas and New Year and right now I'm in that weird time of not quite knowing what day it is, trying to get personal things organised for the year and trying to catch up on all the bits and pieces of running a business that you have to do behind the scenes before my kitchen officially opens again next week.  

2022 will bring its own challenges I know, we're already in a bit of a state of flux with Covid numbers growing each day and so many people having to isolate, so I went from being super busy last quarter, to a quieter start to the year.  There's not so many inquiries coming in because people are so uncertain about gatherings which is completely understandable but I'm hoping that things will go back to normal within a month or two, whatever "normal" is these days.

I've been reflecting on my wins from last year and busily writing down my goals for the new year, the most exciting being putting together my online painted cake classes.  This was planned for last year, however home schooling put an end to that endeavour!

If there's one thing I've learned from the last two years, it's to expect the unexpected and roll with the punches.  Whatever happens I'll be here with a smile on my face (albeit sometimes through gritted teeth!) and ready to celebrate love and good times with cake.

I hope you'll follow along and wish you all the best for the new year also.

Alison x

Here's a collection of some of my favourite cakes from 2021...

Credits:

Planning,styling and florals - Cloud 9 Events //  Venue - Elouera Weddings // Photos - Jason Corroto Photo // Video - Rose Photos // Glassware, chairs, linen - Event Hire Services // Cocktail furniture and bar - Ava Party hire and Cloud 9 Events // Bridal Gowns - Diane Lewis Couture // Grooms Suit - Mr Fierze // Catering - Gallivant // Cake - Cake From The Heart // Gelato Bike - The Gelato Bike // Celebrant - Georgia Fletcher // Hair - Deelush Hair //  Makeup - Joanne Bentley Makeup // Transport - Kombi Weddings // Jumping Castle - Bounce O-Rama // Balloons - Born to Party // Music - White Clover Music and Rebecca Chandler // Lighting - Lights to Party // Jewellery - Nique Jewellery //
Confetti - Blue Mountains Eco Confetti // Accommodation - Beach Stays // Boat - Sydney Classic Boat Charters // Crockery, cutlery and napkins - The Pretty Table and Event Hire Services // Table Numbers - Invites by Vensna Chea // Stationery - There You Are // Neon  - Sketch and Etch // Signage - Stone and Co Designs // Tan - Tanzola // Models - Holly and Jake