Hello everyone!  If you were at the Ultimate Sugar Show in Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend, I hope you had a great time!  I sure did!!  I had the opportunity to be at the ISAC vendor booth the whole weekend and talk with a bunch of other sugar lovers.  It was great fun and lots of hard work, but mostly lots of fun!! 

The weekend was full of classes, vendors and sugar competitions, as well as, making new friends and seeing friends of old.  Chef Nicholas was the head judge during the show, and he had so much to review. 

The Sugar Art competition had a specific theme to follow called Sounds of the South.  The talented sugar artists created some amazing displays with Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, ZZ Top, Dolly Parton and even some designs using specific songs, like “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”.  Some even had lights and moving turntables as part of the design.  They were so cool! 

The other competitions were the Southern Lady Hat Fashion Show and the Great Southern Bake Off.  The final competition was the USA Qualifying Rounds for the 2021 FIPGC Cake Designers World Championship.  So much to do in one weekend…. Whew…. I’m exhausted.  I hope you had a chance to see everything.  Here are some photographs of the weekend events.

Today is November 1, 2018. That means that our annual Grand Holiday Open House is just 17 days away! EEEK! I thought I would do a quick post this week, giving you all the nitty gritty (or should I say sugary sweet) details on our event this year! First of all, you need to know the dates, right?

This year, ISAC's Grand Holiday Open House is on the weekend of November 17-18. As in years past, there will be several sessions over Saturday and Sunday. There will be three sessions on Saturday, and one session on Sunday; Saturday sessions will be held at 9am (sold out), 12pm, and 3pm, the Sunday session will begin at 9am. Each session is three and a half hours long, and each session will present the EXACT same demonstrations. Besides the 9am session on Saturday November 17, there are still some seats available in each of the other sessions. There is a $15.00 fee to register, and once you check in the day of the open house, you will receive a $5.00 to be used on any purchase at ISAC on the same day! Yay! As always, please remember that due to some demonstrations using hot sugar mixtures, extremely hot equipment, large crowds, and for the safety, comfort and enjoyment for everyone, we ask that small children and babies in strollers not attend the open house. We thank you sincerely for your understanding.

Now, on to our special guest this year- Sandra Beltran from You Can Call Me Sweetie! If you are a fan of Sandra's blog, you will know that she makes amazingly beautiful cookies. When I went to her website to grab the links, I fell into the rabbit hole of her cookie photo galleries! I was totally engrossed with zooming in on each photo to gawk are her amazing attention to detail. I spent a good half hour looking at her photos before remembering I was in the middle of writing this post! If you plan on attending our Grand Holiday Open House, then you are going to have the privilege of watching Sandra's fun and festive cookie demonstration. These holiday cookies are going to wow you! Personally, I myself cannot wait for her demonstration! I have been looking forward to it ever since Molly showed me Sandra's suggested projects earlier this year. Oh, and you lucky ducks even get the opportunity to sign up for some hands on classes with Sandra as well! After open house Sandra is teaching 3 five-hour classes! Each class is a collection of cookies, and each collection is absolutely gorgeous! The Unicorn Bliss cookie collection class has already sold out (not at ALL surprised, I love rainbows and unicorns and this class is ALL that and a bag of whimsy), but the sleek and sophisticated Art Deco Cookie Collection class (think of glitz, glamour, and The Great Gatsby), and the Bohemian Love Cookie Collection (a free-spirted but stylish cookie collection) each have a few seats still available for interested students. FYI0 You cannot sign up for any of Sandra's class on our ISAC website!!! She is hosting the registration for HER CLASSES on her own website. Scroll down until you see the classes held at Nicholas Lodge International Sugar Art Collection. **OPEN HOUSE REGISTRATION IS ON OUR WEBSITE!!**

I know you are all dying to know what new tricks and tips and mind blowing ideas Chef Nicholas Lodge is planning on sharing with you all this year. He never fails to pull out ALL of the stops with his demos. Sadly, just like I have to tell you every year, Chef Nicholas doesn't even tell us, his own ISAC family, what he is planning until the last minute. Sometimes I have an inkling on what he might be doing. Sometimes Molly catches a glimpse of what he is working on, or perhaps he asks Ann to prepare paste in a specific color that gives us a clue. But this year he has been traveling so frequently, that I have absolutely no idea what he is planning to dazzle you all with this year. Of course, that means when he starts his magic, I will be there oohing and ahhing along with all of you! I am pretty excited!

To sign up for our Grand Holiday Open house, click on the following links; choose the date and time that works for you! If are interested in being added to the wait list for the 9am Saturday 11/17 Open House session, please call the store at 1-800-662-8925. Alternatively, if you have already registered, and know you will not be able to make it to any of the sessions, please call us and cancel your seat, many people would love to attend if you cannot not! Thanks!

Saturday 12pm-3:30pm Grand Holiday Open House Session

Saturday 3pm-6:30pm Grand Holiday Open House Session

Sunday 9am- 12:30pm Grand Holiday Open House Session. 

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

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

Unicorn Bliss Cookie Collection with Sandra Beltran; 11/18

Art Deco Cookie Collection with Sandra Beltran; 11/19

Bohemian Love Cookie Collection with Sandra Beltran; 11/19

 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! 

Were you at the ICES convention in Cincinnati last week? If you were there, you may have enjoyed seeing the incomparable Ceri Griffiths demonstrating at our ISAC vendor booth. In fact, he was demonstrating his new collaboration with Katy Sue Designs, the Continuous Quilting mold. Chef Nicholas Lodge was the exclusive vendor of this brand new product (available in both large and mini sized!), and it was a HUGE success! The large molds completely sold out, and the small molds nearly sold out (Chef Nicholas is taking the remainder to CookieCon!). If you didn't get a chance to check out this AMAZING product, check out this video:

 So, why am I chit-chatting about Ceri Griffiths? Well, because we are lucky to be hosting him in Studio B this coming November! Chef Nicholas and Chef Ceri have been friends and colleagues for a long time, and we are extremely excited to be hosting him this year! This marks the very first time that Chef Ceri will be teaching at the International Sugar Art Collection! Read on for more details and dates. 

We have a month packed full of classes this August! We have two classes with our very own Chef Nicholas Lodge (yay!), and two classes with Chef Joseph Cumm. I have written about Chef Joe's classes, but we have had a change to one of the classes that I think you will all be very interested to hear about. Before I tell you all about the new class projects that Chef Joe will be teaching, let's talk about Chef Nicholas' two August classes!

Three weeks ago, I announced that Chef Joseph Cumm would be returning to our very own Studio B to teach two days of his Tea Party Pastry class! Just two days ago, Chef Joseph sent me an email including all new, detailed, close up images of the desserts featured in his class! You guys... I opened his email and my mouth instantly began to water! I honestly started at the photos for a good five minutes before decided I needed to find some sort of dessert at that moment. 

All joking aside, the desserts look delicious! As a reminder, if you forgot what was on the roster of tasty pastries being taught in the class, here is a refresher list: Mini Cakes, Scones, Rugelach, and a variety of cookies and tartlets. These desserts are not only perfect for tea parties, but also dessert parties or dessert buffet. They would even impress your book club members, teachers (or camp counselors I guess since it's summer!), boss and coworkers, etc. These desserts, wrapped up in a box would be a perfect thank you gift. 

I bet you guys want to feast your eyes on the photos that I mentioned earlier... don't you? Well, before I show you- don't forget that this is a one-day class, and it is being offer twice (on two consecutive days). You can sign up for either session: August 25 and August 26. Both classes will offer the exact same subject matter, instructions, and desserts. If you are ready to register for Chef Joseph Cumm's Tea Party Pastries class, please just click one of the dates above to be taken to the registration page. 

Now, on to those mouthwatering dessert photos!

Is your mouth watering? Mine sure is! I need that Opera Cake in my life right now! Which dessert are you looking forward to making with Chef Joseph?! We can't wait to see you in our next class. 

Upcoming Classes at ISAC:

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

Many of our readers know that Sidney Galpern, of Simi Cakes, is a frequent guest instructor at ISAC. Sidney is a superb all around pastry chef, but she is best known for her isomalt designs. Many of our students have taken classes with Sidney in Studio B, and we are so excited to be offering two classes with Sidney this June. In the past, I had written a few blogs dedicated to different products that shape the cake decorating (and pastry) world. As I was brainstorming ideas for this week's blog, I reread some of these previous blogs for a bit of inspiration. I thought it might be fun to tell you all about this history and science behind isomalt. And, Sidney, if you are reading this- I hope I get it all right!

Everyone at ISAC is way beyond excited because Mayen Orido from Way Beyond Cakes is coming to teach two incredible classes in Studio B this July. Everyone knows about sculpted cakes and gravity defying cakes. These cakes are eye-catching and mind boggling. Mayen is taking these types of cakes even further! Would you like a purse cake that actually hangs down when you carry it? What about an old school boombox cake you can carry on your shoulder and HAVE IT PLAY ACTUAL MUSIC?! We are absolutely thrilled to have Mayen come teach both of these classes! Read on for more information about these amazing hanging cake classes and Chef Mayen!

CALLING ALL COOKIE DECORATORS! We have some really SWEET news! Sandra Beltran of You Can Call Me Sweetie is coming to ISAC this year to teach not one, not two, but THREE amazing cookie classes! We are also pleased to announce that Sandra will be featured as our guest instructor at this year's Grand Holiday Open House! I am pretty excited for these three classes, but maybe not as excited as Molly who is a pretty great cookie-er too!! Want to know what stunning cookies Sandra will be making? Well read on my friends!

Another weekend, another fabulous class at ISAC. This past weekend Studio B hosted Chef Dorothy Klerck from South Africa, teaching her mythologically insprired Mighty Pegasus class! I did not have my normal post Open House photo blog (because we wanted to share the blog on CookieCon... which sold out in ONE HOUR), so I thought I would share the progress photos from start to finish from Chef Dot's class. Hope you all enjoy!

What an amazing class! All of the pegagsus cakes look just amazing! I hope all of our students had a great time. A big thank you to Chef Dot for teaching your Mighty Pegasus class in Studio B!

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

March Madness usually refers to the big college basketball tournament here in America. I am using it to discuss the class schedule at ISAC this March! We have three guest instructors in March teaching a total of five classes, Spring Open House, one Chef Nicholas class in Texas, and two Chef Nicholas classes at ISAC. AND, one of the classes at ISAC is part of the BRAND NEW Renshaw Academy series! Let me tell you about all of our March classes, and hopefully you will find a class that you'd like to register for. 

Big news everyone! The incredibly talented Ceri Griffiths is coming to ISAC this November, all the way from the UK! Chef Nicholas and Ceri have known each other for years, but this will be the very first time that Ceri will be teaching at ISAC in Studio B! Ceri Griffiths, author of the award winning book "Border Inspirations 1&2" and internationally recognized English over-piping expert, will be teaching his English Over-Piped Elegant Wedding Cake class. This is an intensive 2-day royal icing class.  Ceri will share with you several of his piped borders, his method of creating toothpick roses and many hints and tips to achieve beautiful work in royal icing.

This class is aimed at students who have previous piping skills due to the volume of piping involved and the pace of the class.

THIS IS NOT A BEGINNERS CLASS!!!

In less than two months ISAC will host our 2018 Spring Open House on March 10, 2018. This year we will have two guest instructors that we know will be crowd pleasers: Chef Joseph Cumm and Chef Sachiko Windbiel! As many of you know, Chef Joseph is a frequent guest instructor in our Studio B. Just this past December he taught several French Macaron classes; we started with one, and it sold out so quickly that we ended up adding additional classes! Earlier in 2017, Chef Joseph had taught a chocolate bonbon class and a chocolate showpiece class! All of his classes were very popular, so it was only fitting to invite Chef Joseph to be a part of our Spring Open House this year. 

Chef Sachiko is a Renshaw Brand Associate Partner, or as Chef Nicholas likes to say, "BAP." Chef Nicholas has worked with Chef Sachiko quite a bit in recent years due to their Renshaw Americas association. Sachiko is also the designer of the Chef Nicholas Lodge page picture! She has not taught at here in our school with us yet, but we are all huge fans of her work. Yesterday, we received her demo project and the plans for her classes after the Open House... wow! You are all going to be amazed! 

In 2017, we had the pleasure of hosting many fantastic guest instructors in ISAC's Studio B. I am excited and pleased to share that 2018 will be no different! As we are finalizing the ISAC 2018 schedule, we have been updating our online class registration page. This week, we were please to finalize all the details for one of our guest instructors- Dot Klerck!  

You may remember Dot from her Clyde the Giraffe class that she taught in Studio B back in May 2016. Well, this time she will be teaching something a bit more magical: a beautiful flying Pegasus unicorn! This whimsical flying unicorn is taking off from the ground, and has a beautiful golden horn. Dot will be instructing her students on how to  create this fully 3D, gravity defying cake! 

This class will be held on March 17-18, 2018 in Studio B. The cost for this class is $550.00. However, if you register for this class before 2/1/2018, you will receive $50 of the total price! So, that means if you register now, before February 1st, you will get the special price of $500! Um, yay!

Please remember that Dot Klerck is coming ALL THE WAY from South Africa. It's not easy to get a class with her in the US, so take advantage of the special pricing we are now offering and sign up for this magical flying unicorn! We are so thrilled to be hosting Dot again, and we know that this class will be just as popular as her last class with us! 

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 mentioned that Chef Joe Cumm would be returning to ISAC and Studio B this December for a class on French Macarons and petit fours. The class was completely sold out in four days!! Wow. I understand, I love me some French Macarons. I love the variety of flavors and how light and airy they are with a slight crunch when you take a bite. Yum, yum, yum. 

Big, BIG news to share! If you missed the big announcement yesterday, Chef Nicholas has collaborated with Katy Sue Designs to create four autumn and winter themed molds! Here is a quote from yesterday's press release:

Chef Joseph Cumm is coming back to ISAC! Last February, Chef Joe taught an amazing mini-chocolate showpiece class. This fall he's back to teach Introduction to Chocolate and Bon Bons! YUM!

Earlier this year, Chef Nicholas had the honor of attending and teaching at CookieCon! He had the pleasure of meeting Tunde Dugantsi, also known as the Gingerbread Artist! She was born and raised in Hungary, and she moved to the USA in 2004. Tunde's cookie designs are a blend of traditional Hungarian designs with new and modern techniques! Tunde has never formally studied any type of arts and crafts, and has only been creating cookies since 2013. In that time Tunde has authored seven books, created many tutorial videos, and writes a blog! Chef Nicholas was so impressed with her cookies and their designs that he invited her to be one of our guest instructors at our Grand Holiday Open House, and to teach two classes after our open house!

We are just two and a half weeks away from our 2017 ISAC Spring Open House event! Hooray! On Saturday, March 18th, we are excited to be hosting two fabulous guest instructors: Marilyn Bawol and Michele Sweeney! Both of these ladies are super talented and will be giving exceptional demonstrations. You can read more about what each will do by clicking here. We are also so pleased that Michele will be teaching two fabulous classes in our Studio B: Sew Easy Mixed Medium on Sunday, March 19, and Shabby Chic Wedding Cake on Monday March 20. Yay! We can't wait for your classes Michele!

Michele Sweeney's Sew Easy Cake!

Michele's Shabby Chic Wedding Cake

There are still seats available for Open House and for both of Michele's classes, be sure to sign up soon to secure your seat! 

I'll be honest, Chef Nicholas is the wild card at our Open House events. He keeps his demonstration plans a secret, even from us at ISAC, until pretty close to our Open House! I still have no idea what Chef Nicholas has in store for all of you, but Molly did tell me that he has a LOT of new and fun tools to debut at our 2017 Spring Open House. I love when Chef Nicholas is sharing new tools with everyone- he has a knack for finding the best products to use! Like the year he came back from Japan with a tiny Gingerbread House Cutter set (some of you may remember Scott used it in a Grand Holiday Open House demo a few years ago). Or when he created his EZ product line (I love that EZ release!).

Chef Nicholas demonstration rose cupcakes at last year's Open House

Yes, I think we are all in store for a treat at this year's Spring Open House as well as in Michele's two classes. We can't wait to see you all there! You can register online for our Open House and Michele's classes through our website by clicking the links above, or here.

ISAC 25th Anniversary Fact: In December 1996 ISAC enlarges its space with the addition of suite E.

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

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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 shared that 2017 is the International Sugar Art Collection's 25th Anniversary. Beginning on Friday, July 17, 1992 Chef Nicholas taught a series of 15 one-day classes at Confectionary Yours, a cake and candy retail store in Marietta, Georgia. This was the birth of ISAC. But the catalyst for Chef Nicholas and Scott beginning their business happened much earlier in 1992.