Chef Nicholas received an early Christmas present late last week- he was honored by Bake Magazine! In their annual Twentyfive special edition magazine this year, they decided to honor the top 25 educators and mentors in the fields of baking, pastry, and chocolate. Many names on the list were familiar (Norman Love, Jacquy Pfeiffer, Marina Sousa, Mark Seaman, Bronwynn Weber), but the most familiar name was NICHOLAS LODGE! Yay!
Just last night Chef Nicholas returned from his big trip to India. He taught several classes at the SEP, judged and gave demos at Cakeology, and attended the Cake Masters Top Ten Indian Cake Artists Awards! Chef Nicholas has now visited India a total of 12 times! He loves the warm people, the culture, and especially the food! Chef is known for his refined palate, and Indian food has always be at the top of his list. I normally reserve my photo blogs for ISAC Open House events, but Chef Nicholas' photos from his trip are so visually pleasing that I knew I had to share them all with you! Enjoy!
Chef Nicholas has a wonderful time on his visit to India. But, we sure are glad to have him back with us at ISAC! We are gearing up for the first ever Renshaw Academy Master class this Saturday. It's one adventure after another with Chef Nicholas Lodge!
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
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
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!
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!
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!!!
I always get excited when Chef Nicholas has BRAND NEW classes on the schedule! Yes, that means Chef Nicholas has two new classes for you all to enjoy: Gumpaste Wedding Flower Spray and Springtime Gumpaste Flowers!
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.
We are celebrating ISAC's 25th Anniversary on July 17 of this year! To celebrate all the students and friends who have helped Chef Nicholas and Scott reach this important milestone, all Nicholas Lodge classes held at ISAC from NOW until JULY 17, 2017, are being offered at 25% OFF!!!!
There is no code needed to register; all the prices are 25% off on our website registration page! This is a pretty huge deal. If you have always wanted to take a class with Chef Nicholas, now is really the time. These classes will not be offered at this discounted price again! There are four classes to choose from: Intro into Rolled Fondant, Exotic & Tropical Flowers, Exotic and Tropical Orchids, and the 5-Day Ultimate Gumpaste Flower class (with PME Certification)!
Introduction to Rolled Fondant and 5-Day Ultimate Gumpaste Flower class (with PME Certification) are two of our most popular classes- sign up today to secure our special anniversary pricing!
We hope to see you in class this month!
Sweetly yours,
Stephanie
Don't just follow our blog! Follow Chef Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Finalist for the 2017 Golden Tier Awards Educator of the Year
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.
Summer is here! One of my favorite things about summer is seeing big, beautiful blooming flowers every where I look. Even when I am at work, I see Chef Nicholas' beautiful gumpaste flowers! While you may not be nearby to take a class with Chef Nicholas in person at our school, you can always create your own stunning summer flowers by taking one of Chef Nicholas Craftsy classes!
Chef Nicholas has been traveling A LOT. I really cannot say it enough- the man is a machine. He recently had a break from traveling and got some time to relax here at home in Atlanta. He had quality time with Scott, got time to tend his amazing garden, and most importantly we were able to finalize his teaching schedule for the remainder of 2017! Yay!
Chef Nicholas is wasting no time- there are three classes in June. Yes, I realize that is next month! It's never too late to sign up!
Rolled Fondant Techniques with PME Certification is being offered June 17-19th. This class is one of longtime favorites. It's great for both beginnings in rolled fondant, but also helps old pros strengthen their skills! This course is a PME certification course; if you are interested in earning the PME Master Certification and diploma, this course is one of the three necessary modules. Due to the high demand for this class, it will be offered a second time, September 23-25, 2017.
Chef Nicholas will next teach two flower courses back to back: Exotic & Tropical Flowers, and Exotic & Tropical Orchids. Both of these classes are two day classes (June 24-25 and June 26-27, respectively). Flowers included in the Exotic & Tropical Flowers class will include: Hibiscus, Plumeria, Bird-of-Paradise, Bougainvillea, Anthurium and White Ginger. Tropical foliage will also be included. This class is one my favorites- I just love tropical flowers, and watching the students create these gorgeous flowers always makes me want to kick back on the beach with a strawberry daiquiri!
The Tropical & Exotic Orchid class is perfect for those of you who make bridal shower and wedding cakes; orchids are a favorite wedding flower! In this two day class, students will maximize their time and create seven different orchids under Chef Nicholas' instruction: Vanda, Miltonia (pansy), Slipper, Phaleaenopsis (moth orchid), oncidium, Phaius, and Epidendrum.
July 8-12, 2017, Chef Nicholas will be teaching his 5-Day Ultimate Gumpaste Flower class with PME Certification. This could be Chef Nicholas' most popular class. It is intense, students will learn a total of 18 different flowers. That works out to more than three new flowers each day of class! What flowers are included, you ask? Well, let me share: The Ultimate Rose, Stargazer Lily, Calla Lily, Cattleya Orchid, Cymbidium Orchid, Dendrobium Orchid, Gardenia, Gerber Daisy, Lizianthus, Hydrangea, Stephanotis, Lily of the Valley, Sweet Peas, Carnations, Daisies, Eucalyptus, Ferns, and Ivy. Where appropriate, buds and leaves will be included. Oh, and it is a PME Certification class; it is one of the three modules needed for the Master Certification and diploma. Due to the popularity of this class, it will be offered again September 9-13, 2017.
If you want to learn how to be amazing with royal icing, you can sign up for Three Day Advanced Royal Icing with PME Certification, August 19-12, 2017. During this class students will learn color flow, run-out, Wedgwood style figure piping, lace and filigree, Lambeth and English-style border work and string work. Students will learn the finer points of how to smoothly coat a cake with royal icing. Many different styles and techniques in this class can only be described as supremely elegant. Please note: Students attending this class must have attended the 3-Day Rolled Fondant Techniques Class with Nicholas Lodge, as the Advanced Royal Icing Techniques class will build upon skills and techniques learned during the Rolled Fondant Techniques Class.) As with the other PME Certification classes, this is one of the modules needed to earn the Master Certification and diploma. This class is also being offered a second time, September 26-28, 2017. This will directly follow the Rolled Fondant Techniques class, a perfect opportunity to take both classes back to back!
Finally, Chef Nicholas is teaching Fall in Gumpaste, August 26-27, 2017. I absolutely love the rich jewel tone colors of the fall flowers and foliage in this class. In this class students will create seasonal fall flowers, berries, fruits and leaves: Maple Leaves, Japanese Maple Leaves, Oak Leaves, Acorns, Blackberry, Chrysanthemums, Buckeyes, Chinese Lanterns and Fall Berries. My favorite are the Chinese lanterns; they are so delicate and papery looking- even though they are made out of gumpaste!
Well, I hope that you all see a class, or classes, that you are interested in signing up for! We have had loads of requests for PME certification classes, so I expect to see lots of your sunshiny faces soon!
Oh, and who wants to know the winners of last week's blog contest for the ProGel and edible Food Art Pen?! Without further ado, the winner of the ProGel is:
Mary Thompson!
"I would love to try the red pro gel color. I make many, many French Macarons and red is a hard color to achieve. I would love i.e. To see how this color stands up against other brands. I have used the pens and I love them!!"
The winner of the Food Art Pen is:
Shupan Abraham
"I would love, love, love, to try the edible food art pen. I make x-box game controller cakes weekly. For one of the buttons, I have to make a round ball of fondant, paint it silver and put an 'x' on the top. Currently, the edible writing pens that I have don't make a defined 'x' on the ball. So, I have had to use a brush with some vodka and black power color to paint the 'x' on the top of the ball. I would like to try the edible food art pen to see if they would make my life just a little easier."
Thank you to everyone who entered, and congratulations to both winners! I cannot wait to hear what you think of the new colors!
ISAC 25th Anniversary Fun Fact: In 2001, Chef Nicholas Lodge is inducted into the ICES Cake Decorator Hall of Fame. He is the youngest person to ever receive this prestigious award.
Sweetly yours,
Stephanie
Don't just follow our blog! Follow Chef Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Finalist for the 2017 Golden Tier Awards Educator of the Year
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.
Congratulations to all of the wonderful students in the spring 2017 PME Master Certification class! Today is the final day of class, basically graduation day, and they have put in two long weeks of hard work! We had such fun with each and every one of the students in this class, and we are proud of all their accomplishments this week!
For your viewing pleasure, I have included photos from throughout the last two weeks of class, mini baking essentials class with Reva Alexander-Hawk, as well as our celebratory dinner out together! Congratulations again students! Now get out there and wow all your clients with your new skills!
Now that we have our 2017 Spring Open House behind us, we at ISAC are looking forward to upcoming classes we are hosting! This summer we are so excited to be hosting Stephen Benison for three classes this coming July! That's right THREE classes! What makes this even more exciting is the fact that Stephen has never taught at ISAC before, despite knowing Chef Nicholas for about 30 years. That makes this a rare educational experience. Each of Stephen's classes are one-day classes. One-day classes are perfect for those of you who don't have very flexible schedules, or may not be able to take much time off from work. Or, you could go all out and sign up for all three classes! Not a bad idea, it may be a once in a lifetime chance to learn from Stephen!
A couple of months ago, I wrote an in depth blog about each of Stephen's classes, but I just wanted to share them again quickly now that spring is here and summer is around the corner!
Beginning on Sunday July 16, Stephen is teaching his Fabulous Shoes, Hats, and Handbags class. Focusing on vintage style shoes, hats, and handbags (surprise!), Stephen's class will bring all the glitz and glamour that comes to mind when thinking of Audrey Hepburn or Downton Abbey. Also included in the price of the class is a shoe kit with cutters, formers, and step by step color instructions; a fabulous hat kit with cutters for the different brim styles, and an eight page booklet showing the construction and different styles; and a fabulous handbag cutter classic style kit, and a mini flower texture stencil.
Tools included in the Fabulous Shoes, Hats, and Handbags class
Monday, July 17 brings us Stephen's Vintage Fabric Flowers and Naked Leaves Wedding Cake class. This two-tier wedding cake that evokes antique silk. I love the ivory and gold color scheme of this cake, and just like in his Shoes, Hats, and Handbags class, students in this class will be taking home the fabric flowers stencil kit with 12 formers, one each of the swirls and sequins mini stencil textures, decorative leaves stencils, a set of “S” scroll cutters, a high grade scalpel with five blades, double leaf scroll cutter, a six inch mini turntable, and the naked leaves cutters!
Tools included in the Vintage Fabric Flowers and Naked Leaves Wedding Cake class
The final class that Stephen is teaching at ISAC is Wedding Cake Styles and Techniques, on Tuesday July 18. For this class, Stephen will be sharing design concepts and a variety of techniques and tools that his students can use to create and design their own individual wedding cakes. Just as in his first two classes, Stephen is including many tools for students to take home with them: Macintosh rose art-deco stencil, silhouette cutters, feature design cutters, triple leaf scroll, trailing leaves cutter, and stripes stencil.
Stephen recently taught this class in Canada, and shared a photo of the students with their finished cakes. There are so many different, fun, and exciting design elements. This class will be a great asset- you will come away with a lot of new ideas and techniques to add to your decorating toolbox!
Tools included in the Wedding Cake Styles and Techniques class.
Speaking of toolboxes, I want to take a quick minute and point out how great it is that students will be taking home so many tools! If a student takes all three of Stephen's classes, they will go home with nearly $300 in cake decorating tools!!! That is an absolutely incredible bonus to these fantastic classes!
Don't miss out on these three great classes offered by Stephen Benison this July. Between Stephen teaching at ISAC for the very first time and all the great tools you will come home with, these three classes are totally worth it! We all hope to see you in class this summer!
Sweetly yours,
Stephanie
Don't just follow our blog! Follow Chef Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!
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.
As always, the blog after our latest Open House event is a photo blog! Thank you to everyone who attended our 2017 Spring Open House, thank you to Marilyn and Michele for their fabulous demos, and a big thanks to my ISAC family for putting on another great event! Our 2017 Grand Holiday Open House is open for registration, and our guests will be Tunde Dugantsi and Reva Hawk! Without further ado, please enjoy these photos from our 2017 Spring Open House and Michele Sweeney's Sew Easy Mixed Media class!
Last week we had two special blogs about the fabulous line of Creative Cake System molds by Katy Sue Designs. We were asking our readers to submit a comment for a chance to win FOUR molds from the Creative Cake System family! We had an overwhelming response, but I am excited to announce the winner of the Butterfly Trio, Serrated Rope, and Small and Medium Ruffle molds!!
Congratulations to Christine Great Banks!
"I would use the ruffle so many ways to use it to cover cakes, makes skirts for figures ruffled flowers what a great prize. Would love to have a go at the butterflies they look amazing."
Christine- please email us at customersvc@nicholaslodge.com so we can get your details and send out your great prize! We can't wait to hear what you think after you give them a try. I know you are just going to love them!!
You all left really great comments, and I think that nearly everyone was most excited about the ruffle molds! If you didn't win, there is no need to fret. We are carrying the Katy Sue Creative Cake System molds at ISAC- we got ya covered!
Congratulations again Christine, and thank you to everyone who commented. It's nice to know there are so many of you reading this blog each week!
There is still time...
If you are looking for something to do this coming Saturday (March 18, 2017), we still have several openings in each of our annual Spring Open House event! This year Chef Nicholas is joined by guest instructors Marilyn Bawol and Michele Sweeney! Marilyn will be creating and edible Easter basket, and Michele will be demonstration how to use wafer paper to decorate cookies! You can sign up online or by calling us at 1-800-662-8925.
Finally, there is also still time to sign up for Chef Nicholas' PME Master Certification Class beginning March 25! Chef Nicholas Lodge and the International Sugar Art Collection are excited to once again offer the PME certification master classes! This intense 13-day class includes all three modules of the PME certification program. Once completed students enrolled in this super class will be awarded a total of seven certificates: three certificates from Chef Nicholas Lodge, three PME module certificates, and the PME Master Certificate. The Master Certificate is awarded only upon completion of the three PME modules.
Days 1-3 (March 25-27): Rolled Fondant Techniques course - 9:00am-6:00pm
Day 4 (March 28) - Free Day for the Students to Sightsee!!
Days 5-7 (March 29-31): Advanced Royal Icing Techniques course - 9:00am-6:00pm
Day 8 (April 1): Free Day for Students with optional afternoon demonstration on cake baking, filling cakes, and working with real cakes in Studio B. This demo is included in your class tuition, but is not required if you would rather go sightseeing, sleep, etc. 1:00pm-5:00pm
Days 9-13 (April 2-6): Ultimate Gumpaste Flower course - 9:30am-5:30pm
The class tuition includes:
-Multiple booklets of handouts, recipes, etc.
-ISAC & PME aprons
-Water, soda, tea/coffee, lemonade, iced tea, lunch each day, and the ISAC signature sweet break in the afternoon.
-A celebration dinner with Chef Lodge and Staff after class on April 4.
This is the ultimate master class for any cake decorator!
This class is usually offered twice a year by Chef Nicholas. However, due to his heavy travel schedule in 2017,
THIS IS THE ONLY TIME THE PME MASTER CERTIFICATION CLASS OFFERED BY CHEF NICHOLAS IN 2017.
If you have been considering taking this course with Chef Nicholas, do not wait any longer! We still have a couple seats open, and would hate for someone to miss this opportunity!
Hope to see you all at our Spring Open House this Saturday, and maybe even in Chef Nicholas' PME Certification class too!
Sweetly yours,
Stephanie
Don't just follow our blog! Follow Chef Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!
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.
All the way from the Wiltshire, England- Stephen Benison is coming to ISAC in July 2017! The best part is that he is teaching not one, not two, but THREE classes in Studio B. It is always very exciting when we host instructors visiting from abroad because our students get the rare opportunity to learn from incredible international cake artists that they may not learn from otherwise. In this case, Stephen has never taught as ISAC before, and he and Chef Nicholas have known each other for 30 years! We are even luckier because Stephen is teaching so many classes with us, and that means more students will get the chance to benefit.
So, what is Stephen going to be teaching?
Today is January 12, 2017. This year, Nicholas Lodge has already been to Chicago, New York, and is currently on route to Orlando. We haven't even had two full weeks of 2017, and Chef Nicholas has been in four different states; I think he has clocked less than 36 hours in his home state of Georgia. No rest for the weary!
Chef Nicholas started off 2017 with a brief trip to Chicago for orientation with his newest students at the French Pastry School. By January 5th, he was in New York City for six days. A very busy six days indeed! There were meetings for the NY Cake Show, a Renshaw Difference roadshow and demo, a meet and greet and a 1-day spring flower class at NY Cake Academy. And a Renshaw Difference roadshow and demo at David Rosen Bakery Supplies. Chef Nicholas enjoyed catching up with his friends too! Of course he saw Lisa Mansour, of NY Cake, she was even sporting Nicholas Lodge green during class! Chef Nicholas had a fabulous dinner with his longtime friend Ron Ben Israel (a private chef 8-course tasting menu from Chef Ryan Lory, a competitor from Food Network's Chopped, and executive chef at Charlie Palmer Steak House). Brunched with Benny Rivera (City Cakes) and Sachiko Windbiel (mimicafe Union), and got a bunch of City Cake's famous half-pound cookies (yum. so jealous). Chef Nicholas also met with the Renshaw Americas team at the Renshaw Americas headquarters in New Jersey for a bit of team training.
Chef Nicholas and Lisa Mansour during his one-day class at NY Cake Academy.
Chef Ryan Lory, Ron Ben Israel, and Chef Nicholas!
Chef Ryan even created a dish with Nicholas Lodge Green!
Benny Rivera, Chef Nicholas, and Sachiko Windbiel.
Benny Rivera's City Cakes!
I'm not going to lie- my mouth is watering looking the City Cakes Display...
Half pound cookies! Yum!
Chef Nicholas arrived home from his whirlwind trip to the Big Apple on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning (yesterday) was spent packing up and hitting the road for Orlando, Florida! Chef Nicholas and Scott are headed to The Sweet Chalet for another Renshaw Difference roadshow and demo! On Saturday and Sunday, Chef is teaching a two-day Tropical and Exotic Flower class.
After returning for Orlando, Chef Nicholas has a little over a week break from traveling. Then he is jetting off to Chicago again; it will be time to teach his students at the French Pastry School for a few weeks. After Chicago, Chef will get to enjoy the warm sunny Caribbean weather for his trip to Puerto Rico and a Renshaw Difference demo (can you tell how popular Renshaw products are?!). I lived in the Caribbean myself, and I am VERY jealous not to be going with Chef Nicholas. I think blogging on location from the beach is just what this blog needs! Ha!
Once Chef Nicholas returns from Puerto Rico, he will be attending the Austin Cake Show in late February and CookieCon in early March. In late March Chef will be teaching his PME Master Class back with us at home (yay! finally our turn to see him!). Then he will be back to teaching at the French Pastry School in Chicago, straight to SoFlo Cake and Candy Expo, and then up to Edmonton, Canada for a week of teaching in May. Phew. I need a nap. Like I said, he never stops.
Chef Nicholas has a lot on his agenda and there are loads of people who want to learn from him and see him in action. I don't blame them- he is the best instructor out there and that's why he travels like mad.
2017 is a big year for Chef Nicholas, Scott, and ISAC. Not least because of how busy Chef Nicholas will be. No, 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of Chef Nicholas and Scott's partnership and the International Sugar Art Collection. We hope to share lots of fun experiences with you this year, and cannot wait celebrate this sweet occasion throughout the year!
Chef Nicholas and Scott celebrating 2017, and 25 years together!
Sweetly yours,
Stephanie