Blog

You guys! We are exactly 6 WEEKS from the opening of the Ultimate Sugar Show!!! Best part (for Chef Nicholas)? It's right here in Atlanta! The man will actually get to sleep in his own bed! What is the Ultimate Sugar Show, you may ask? Well, let me enlighten you:

"The Ultimate Sugar Show is the ultimate experience in all things sugar from SHOPPING to EATING, LEARNING, and COMPETING. Sweet lovers, sugar enthusiasts, bakers, cakers and sugar artists are invited to indulge themselves in the world of sweets for a weekend full of fun, family friendly activities, eating, sugar art competitions and so much more."

That just sounds like fun to me! I don't think ANYONE would disagree! The show is part business conference for Sweets Industry professionals, and part baking supply expo and cake competition. See I told you- FUN! This event, known previously as SweetFest, has been held in Atlanta since 2014 as a business conference for sweet makers, has now opened their doors to the public AND incorporated the expo, vendors, and competition. Chef Nicholas has been involved with SweetFest for several years, and is thrilled to see the new Ultimate Sugar Show combine the fun of a cake show with the educational aspect to help build businesses. 

The Ultimate Sugar Show will feature live demos, on Saturday November 10th, and Sunday November 11th. This even includes a panel with junior chefs (ideal for those of you with kids who aspire to be the next Nicholas Lodge). There will hands on decorating for kids ages 5-16! My son loves being in the kitchen, so a real class where he gets to make and decorate would get him so excited!

Now, never fear- there is loads to do for adults too! There are over 8 demos over the weekend, covering a variety of different topics. There are three regional competitions. Sugar Art will feature sugar artists of all ages competing in eight different categories, with an overarching theme of Southern Hollywood. The Great Southern Bake-off is the "tasting," competition, where local small business can vie for the title of best dessert in the south! This is also for a good cause- the proceeds from this competition will benefit the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Delicious and thoughtful. Finally, the Sugar Hat Competition. I bet you have some questions about that don't you? This LIVE competition requires that cake artists create and assemble a southern style, WEARABLE hat. Made of completely edible materials. Yeah, that's going to be amazing to watch! Chef Nicholas will have the difficult task of being lead judge at this incredible event!

BUT WAIT! There's more!

Throughout the 2018 Sugar Art & Cake Show Season, the top Cake Designers in the country have competed for an opportunity to represent the United States in the 2019 World Cake Designers Championship in Milan, Italy. On November 11th, the Ultimate Sugar Show and the International Federation of Pastry Gelato & Chocolate will announce the 2018 FIPGC USA Division Cake Designer Champion! Make sure to join us live at the Cobb Galleria and witness this historical celebration! The three very worthy finalist are Benny Rivera, Liz Marek, and Aya Saravia. Who will be crowned?! Chef Nicholas and Sidney Galpern are members of the prestigious Federation of Pastry, Gelato & Chocolate!

Tickets to this amazing event are on sale and still available. Please go check out the Ultimate Sugar Show website; it is going to be such an amazing show, this blog just can't do it justice! You can find information on pricing, demos, schedules, tastings, competitions, and lodging at www.ultimatesugarshow.com

There are still seats available in these great classes this summer at ISAC! Click the links below to register now. 

Renshaw Academy Master Certification Class with Chef Nicholas Lodge, 10/13-10/22

English Over-Piped Elegant Wedding Cake with Ceri Griffiths, 11/7-8

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

Our goal is for you to be completely satisfied with your Amazon order! If for any reason this is not the case, we would appreciate it if you would give us a chance to address your concerns, before leaving feedback or a review, by emailing us at customersvc@nicholaslodge.com. We would be grateful if you would leave us a positive feedback and review of your Renshaw Fondant. Leaving feedback seems like such a little thing, but it has great impact on our business and we would greatly appreciate your time in leaving it.

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

It's that time of year again. Those lucky students in Chicago who attend the French Pastry School's L'Art du Gâteau get Chef Nicholas' full attention for two weeks’ time. Chef Nicholas naturally teaches the Cake Decorating Techniques portion of the 16-week program. This is an intensive program. Imagine taking ALL of Chef Nicholas' classes in less than two weeks’ time, and you'll understand just how much these students learn in a short amount of time. 

These students are training to be professionals, like many of you readers have become. As I said, this program is no joke. Here is a snippet from the French Pastry School website concerning the course outline:

• The foundation of fondant, buttercream, royal icing, and modeling chocolate. (9 hours lecture; 52 hours lab)
• The foundation of gumpaste decorations and piping skills. (8 hours lecture; 52 hours lab)
• The foundation of chocolate and sugar decoration. (9 hours lecture; 52 hours lab)

Let's count that up. That is 182 hours of cake decorating instruction. That is seven and a half days. Think about that, they are learning fondant, buttercream, royal icing, modeling chocolate, gumpaste, piping, chocolate AND sugar decorations. Think of all the classes you have taken, think of the time it has taken you to learn ALL of the skills in those areas. Of course, under that general "gumpaste," it includes botanically correct flowers! Sugar decoration includes pastillage, pressed sugar, pulled sugar, and blown sugar. So again, look at everything these students are taking into their cake decorating brains in only 182 hours. The days are often very long, and start very early. 

If you follow Chef Nicholas on Facebook, you will have seen the class projects from his students. Usually the students create a set of cookies, a Sweet 16 cake, and a wedding cake. Chef Nicholas shares the vision boards and then the final cakes that the students create. When Chef Nicholas posts these photos on his Facebook page it is unbelievable how many people post with really supportive, admiringly, and complimentary words. My favorite part though is when the students themselves get to respond to the thoughtful comments that people have left in admiration for all the hard work put in. I'm not even a student and I find all the compliments so gratifying. 

 What do you think? Would you love to be a student in L'Art du Gâteau at the French Pastry School? Or do you prefer taking classes with instructors at your leisure, or at cake and sugar art shows? No matter how to walk down your cake decorating career path, learning from Chef Nicholas is always worthwhile. I wish all of the current student's learning with Chef Nicholas the best of luck becoming amazing cake decorators and pastry chefs!

There are still seats available in these great classes this summer at ISAC! Click the links below to register now. 

Renshaw Academy Master Certification Class with Chef Nicholas Lodge, 10/13-10/22

English Over-Piped Elegant Wedding Cake with Ceri Griffiths, 11/7-8

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

Our goal is for you to be completely satisfied with your Amazon order! If for any reason this is not the case, we would appreciate it if you would give us a chance to address your concerns, before leaving feedback or a review, by emailing us at customersvc@nicholaslodge.com. We would be grateful if you would leave us a positive feedback and review of your Renshaw Fondant. Leaving feedback seems like such a little thing, but it has great impact on our business and we would greatly appreciate your time in leaving it.

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

So, now that everyone is at home making all kinds of roses and flowers and ferns with their amazing Flower Pro toys... let's talk about what's happening at ISAC this fall! 

A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED CHEF NICHOLAS LODGE AND KATY SUE DESIGNS'

FLOWER PRO LAUNCH!

Last week was the launch of the Flower Pro line of molds and veiners, designed and created by Chef Nicholas Lodge and Katy Sue Designs. The product line contains 6 brand new products, and they were flying off the shelves like hot cakes! The product first launched in the UK, and Chef Nicholas was on HOCHANDA, and sold out of all of the products allotted for the viewers of the show! It was so exciting! People were (justifiably) very worried they would be unable to secure their own new Flower Pro products! Luckily, when the products were launched one week ago, here in the USA, there were plenty of items to go around!

TODAY IS THE DAY!!! HOORAY! Today is the day that Chef Nicholas Lodge and Katy Sue Designs launch their brand new, exclusive new line of flower molds! This is a huge deal you guys! Chef Nicholas and Katy Sue Designs have been working on this project for quite some time, and they are proud and excited to announce all five molds and veiners as well as the companion book! Chef Nicholas will be going live on Facebook twice today, at 8am EST and at 1pm EST. Both of these Facebook Live events will take place in the Facebook Flower Pro group. This is a closed group, and you have to request to join- please do so now so that you can watch. Don't worry if you are unable to watch either of those livecasts; you can always watch the playback at any time! But hey, let's check out the new Flower Pro line right here in this post!

Anyone out there read this blog from India? In Mumbai, maybe? Well, if you are reading this, get excited! Chef Nicholas will be heading to Cakeology this October! What is Cakeology you ask? According to the vent website, "Spread over 3 days, Cakeology 2018, is the first show of its kind – bringing every day cake artists, sugar artists, bakers, chocolatiers, retail bakers, ​professional ​pastry chefs and foodies to celebrate the world of Baking and the Art of Cake Decorating. This exciting weekend has something for everyone." Hmm, that does sound like a fun weekend. This is the third year of Cakeology, and Chef Nicholas is so excited to be a part of this year's event! 

Last week I wrote about the rampant problem of counterfeit products flooding the cake decorating market. I am excited to tell you that the post received very positive feedback across social media. Countless people shared the post on their personal pages, their business pages, in their cake decorating group pages. It was a really encouraging sign that many in the cake decorating community not only agreed with our position on the dangers of these tools, but also encouraging to know that the community WANTS safe, high quality products!

Our excitement over the solidarity we felt was dampened by the fact that we discovered more shops on social media selling illegal knock-off products. This one page was selling items ripped off from Katy Sue Deigns, PME, FMM, and Lauren Kitchens! Some of the knock offs are even pictured as the same color as the original molds! Though, I wonder if the images of the molds were pulled off the original designers' websites and used in their shop (while the knock-off seller actually sends the cruddy, none FDA approved silicone!). I was just looking at the offending Facebook page before I began writing; it is so frustrating that they claim to sell high quality products when they are obvious fakes. I also noted that on this page, it stated the materials were FDA approved. In my last post I noted that if counterfeit sellers like about the design and quality, it's no stretch to assume they are lying about the products being food safe.

However, I had a thought since I posted the last blog. If a business in the USA is selling these products, they have done none of their own research, development, or design. They buy the knock-offs from an overseas manufacturer who may SAY that the material is food safe. Unlike a person like Chef Nicholas who will take all necessary steps to ensure the material is in compliance with all FDA rules and regulations, a business may just take the manufacturer at its word. In light of my last post, this could be dangerous and unsafe. Remember, that cheap price tag comes at the cost of quality and safety. 

Think of it this way. You own a successful cake business. You have loyal clients because you make yummy desserts with the very best ingredients. Then you notice that your clients stop ordering from you. You find out another baker has come into your town. They have a very similar name, have an identical business logo, use the same recipes, display cakes that look identical to your designs, but the cakes are a quarter of the price because they are using cheap, poor quality ingredients. How would that make you feel? You would hope your clients don't fall into that trap! 

Thank you again to all of you who shared the original Real or Fake blog post from last week. I encourage you to share the post (which can be found on Chef Nicholas' Facebook page) on your page, your business page, or in your local cake community page (like an ICES chapter). We need all in the cake decorating and sugar arts community to stand up and against these illegally made counterfeit products!

One final note- in last week's blog I did state that most knock-off silicone molds are pink. This is true, they also have a nasty chemical smell. I forgot to add that there are original, reputable product designers that use shades of pink as their signature color for silicone molds (that ARE food safe). However, as I said last week, if you are unsure if a product is legit, check the designer's website or social media page! It is very easy to reach out and get confirmation from someone like Chef Nicholas or Sidney Galpern or Lauren Kitchens. We are one big sugar arts family, and we rather you ask us or check our websites for an approved vendor list then buy a product that is hazardous to your client's health. 

Buy smart and buy safe! Please share the original post on social media by clicking here. 

There are still seats available in these great classes this summer at ISAC! Click the links below to register now. 

Hanging Handbag with Mayen Orido

The Boombox Cake with Mayen Orido

Renshaw Academy Sugar Flower Module

5-Day Ultimate Gumpaste Flower Class

Tea Party Pastries with Joseph Cumm, 8/25

Tea Party Pastries with Joseph Cumm, 8/26

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

Our goal is for you to be completely satisfied with your Amazon order! If for any reason this is not the case, we would appreciate it if you would give us a chance to address your concerns, before leaving feedback or a review, by emailing us at customersvc@nicholaslodge.com. We would be grateful if you would leave us a positive feedback and review of your Renshaw Fondant. Leaving feedback seems like such a little thing, but it has great impact on our business and we would greatly appreciate your time in leaving it.

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

Lately there has been a bunch of buzz about knock-offs in the cake industry. A lot of buzz. You may be thinking to yourself, "Who cares if it is a knock-off? It's the same product for a fraction of the price!" That's not taking into account the entire picture though...

Chef Nicholas Lodge is widely accepted as a master in this field of cake decorating. He has been in the industry for over 40 years and has been teaching for almost as many years. People from all of the world have taken classes with him; Chef Nicholas has taught in 26 different countries. Not to mention the distance that some of his students have traveled to take classes with Chef Nicholas in his home classroom at ISAC in Atlanta. What kind of class would inspire someone to travel from an entirely different country, continent, or hemisphere? How about the first ever Renshaw Academy Master CLASS!!!

Just this week Chef Nicholas added one of his most popular classes to his summer class schedule: 5-Day Ultimate Gumpaste Flower Class! YAY! This is a class that consistantlygets requested, fills up, and sells out. What makes this class so very popular you ask? Well, buckle up, because it's a doozy!

As you well know, last summer ISAC celebrated its 25th anniversary, and Chef Nicholas has been in the industry for 40 years. Along the way, lots of friends have been made. One of those friends is Chef Joseph Cumm. Chef Joe often visits ISAC to teach in Studio B. Over the last few years he has taught chocolate bon bons, chocolate showpieces, chocolate flowers, a wildly popular French macaron class (which began as 1-one day class, and turned into 3-one day classes!), and most recently, he was a guest instructor at our Spring Open House 2018 event teaching chocolate Easter eggs. We are excited to announce that Chef Joe is coming back in August to teach Tea Party Pastries!

It's June which means summer has officially arrived. In the cake decorating world, summertime brings the annual ICES convention! YAY! The ICES convention is an important yearly tradition for the ISAC team; Chef Nicholas first came to the US in the 1980s to teach and demonstrate at an ICES convention. Chef Nicholas has been a fixture at the yearly event since then. After opening the International Sugar Art Collection, there has always been a vendor booth at the convention as well. The 2018 ICES convention in Cincinnati, Ohio will be no different. Chef Nicholas is teaching, and we will have our world-famous vendor booth for loads of retail therapy. 

After two weeks of royal wedding blogs, it seems fitting that this week I get to introduce the third module of Renshaw Academy- Royal Icing! This is the third Renshaw Academy class being offered by Chef Nicholas Lodge this year. It is one of three modules needed to earn the Renshaw Academy Master Certification! This class offers two brand new techniques cakes, designed by Chef Nicholas specifically for this module! 

Last week I delved into the two ingredients that would star in the wedding cake made in honor of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: lemon and elderflower. This week, I thought I was share some pictures of the simple, rustic wedding cake! The cake was a simple sponge cake, with elderflower and lemon syrup (the elderflower syrup was created at Sandringham one of the Queen's estates!). It was filled with fresh lemon curd, and iced with an elderflower Swiss Meringue Buttercream, and topped with fresh flowers, including peonies. Below you will find a cool video posted on The Royal Family twitter page; it is a Q&A with the cake's creator Claire Ptak. 

Have you heard there is a big wedding this weekend? Like a royally big wedding. Ha, you see what I did there?! All joking aside, Prince Harry (grandson of Queen Elizabeth II) is marrying Miss Meghan Markle (an American!). In Britain, fruitcake is the traditional choice for wedding cake flavors. In fact, When Prince William and Catherine Middleton married, they had an eight-tiered fruitcake with sugar flowers and royal icing. Harry and Meghan are breaking with traditional, and have opted for a sponge cake with fresh flowers and buttercream... and flavored with elderflower and lemon. When I was engaged and visiting bakeries for taste testing, I did not come across a single elderflower and lemon flavored cake. I thought it might be fun to discuss these flavors in today's blog, and in honor of the royal couple and wedding cakes everywhere!

Hiya everyone! I thought I would do something special this week. I have been wanting to do staff spotlight blogs for a while, and I just never get a chance to fit them into the blog. Well, as I was prepping for the blog this week, I realized that my work BFF's birthday was this week! I thought to myself, classes and cake decorating can wait one week so that I can honor the birthday girl, and the familiar friendly face we always see when walking into the retail gallery: MOLLY!

Molly began working at ISAC in 2009, as a retail associate. I was hired in early 2010, and Molly helped to train me up to work in the gallery too. I really enjoyed working with Molly; she is hilarious, and has a great sense of humor. It didn't hurt that we both loved some of the same campy shows from the 1980s (JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS). Back then our days were filled with stocking up the shelves with awesome cake decorating supplies, signing people up for classes, and even teaching a class together ourselves (that's right. Molly and I developed and taught Camp Cupcake for kids). 

Since those early days, Molly has taught cookie decorating classes in Studio B; Molly designs and decorates some amazing royal icing cookies! And now she also manages most of the day to day operation in the retail gallery. Molly orders all the products we sell, manages our Amazon Prime storefront, responds to all of the ISAC emails, processes online orders, interfaces with Chef Nicholas and Scott on grander ISAC topics, and of course... Molly is there to brainstorm, help, and suggest ideas, methods, and products with all of our customers. I know that so many of our customers love Molly. I see it in the way they talk to her in the store. I hear it in their voices when they ask for her on the phone, I see their disappointment when they realize it's Friday, and she isn't working. When we host the master classes, we have a class dinner and all of the staff come along. The students always want Molly to sit at their table. You guys, even my mom, who is not a cake decorator, loves Molly. She thinks Molly is just beautiful. If I am on a work call and my mom is nearby, she will always say, "Is that pretty Molly?! Tell her I say hi!"

Chef Nicholas, Scott, Ann, Carol, Jan, and I are grateful to have the pleasure of working with Molly every day. So, if you see Molly this week, or talk to her on the phone, or send in an email, be sure to wish her a happy birthday (a little late, it was on May 1)! Thanks for all you do at ISAC Molly. We love you, and hope you have a great birthday week! 

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

I don't know about you guys... but I am ready for some consistently warm weather! Normally, here in Atlanta, it is pretty hot my mid-April. I think in the last 7 days I have been turning my heat on, my heat off, my air conditioning on, my air conditioning off. I wear shorts one day, and a winter coat the next day. The weather here has been making me crazy, and I have been dreaming about summer weather and the beach vacation I have coming up this summer. I thought, what better way to shake off the last of the winter weather blues by chatting about MIAMI! Well, specifically everyone's favorite cake and candy expo in Miami: SoFlo!

It's been a very busy week here at the International Sugar Art Collection. As you may well know, we have our annual Spring Open House in just two days time. The week leading up to our Open House events are always busy, and this week has been no exception. Molly and I were both at ISAC late into Monday evening prepping all of the handouts for Chef Joseph's and Chef Sachiko's demos. Molly has been ordering all kinds of fun new toys and molds for all of you to check out in our gallery this weekend. And, after driving all the way back from Texas on Monday night, Chef Nicholas been putting the final touches on his demo! 

We are so thrilled that both sessions of our Spring Open house has sold out! We are so excited to see you all there! I thought as a fun treat this blog, I would leave you with a fun little history of the chocolate easter egg! I hope you all enjoy!

In 1828 a Dutch inventor created the press that would allow cocoa butter to be separated from the cocoa bean. Before this, chocolate could only be consumed as a hot drink. It's likely that the first chocolate eggs were created in either France or Germany, and were probably solid. It would still take another 19 years for British chocolate maker, Joseph Fry, to mix melted cocoa butter and sugar to form a type of chocolate paste that could be pressed into a mold. Using this chocolate paste to line a easter egg mold was painstaking work. 

In 1866 the Cadbury brothers came up with a method to create large quantities of cocoa butter, and in 1875, the first Cadbury Easter Egg was created! These early eggs were filled with sugard almonds (YUM), and had a plain shell. Today, milk chocolate eggs are the most popular. The Cadbury Creme Egg is very popular in the United States, and are made with liquid chocolate. The chocolate is poured into molds that are "half shells." These are rotated so that the shells are all the same thickness. Once the chocolate has cooled, two halves are joined together to form the eggs we all love to eat at Easter time. To keep up with the large demand, Cadbury produces their chocolate eggs for eight months of the year!

If you are lucky enough to be attending our Spring Open House, then you will all be learning how to make chocolate eggs! Chef Joseph will be showing our guests how to create chocolate easter eggs that can even be used as a cake topper. I don't know about all of you, but now I want to go eat some chocolate, and maybe start writing a blog on this history of chocolate to share with all of you! 

See you all on Saturday!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

Last week I told you that Chef Sachiko had added a super hero man cake to her upcoming March classes with us in Studio B. This week, I am here to share the brand new design for the Bride and Groom class she is offering! With this style topper, Sachiko will show you how easy it is to create this enchanting couple. All the skills you learn in this class can be applied to your future fondant creations, and you can reimagine this couple in any arrangement that best suits your occasion! The wonderful thing about this class, is you will be learning the skills on how to make both male and female fondant figures. That means that you will leave this class will the ability to turn these two people into any one you would like! From real life friends and family to super heroes, fairies, mermaids, anyone you can imagine! This class is open to ALL skill levels from Beginner to Professional. All tools and materials are provided. 

There are still seats available for this wedding, I mean class! If you'd like to sign up, just click here or the photo above. 

I have one more request for all of you: we need your help and opinions! We are looking ahead at our upcoming schedule and would like to know what guest instructors you would like to see at ISAC, or what types of classes (or techniques) you might like to see from Chef Nicholas! If you comment below by next Wednesday (March, 2, 2018, by 5pm EST) a winner will be selected at random from everyone who has commented! The winner will receive a signed copy of Chef Nicholas Lodge's latest book, Spring and Summer Flowers in Gumpaste, and a Click Twist Brush in the color of their choice! 

Thank you all for sharing your ideas, dream classes, and instructors you'd love to learn from! We look forward to heaing your interests and working toward them for you!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

If you follow us on social media or subscribe to our blog or newsletter, you must have heard about the brand new Renshaw Academy! Renshaw Academy is a certification program consisting of three modules: Sugar Flowers, Sugar Paste (rolled fondant), and Royal Icing. Each of these courses is one part of the Renshaw Academy Master Certificate; once all three modules are completed, a Renshaw Academy Master Certificate is awarded! This is a brand new program, with brand new course material developed by Chef Nicholas Lodge. Chef Nicholas will be teaching all three modules in 2018 (including a second Sugar Flower module), as well as a Master Certification class. Oh, and good news if you are Canadian; Chef Nicholas will be teaching a Renshaw Academy Module in Ontario!