Blog

This is such an exciting time of year!  The holidays are right around the corner and there are 2 very exciting events coming up that I just have to tell you about!

The first one starts today, Thursday, November 7 and goes through Sunday, November 10 in Atlanta, Georgia.   I’m talking about the Ultimate Sugar Show’s Baking Supply Expo and Cake Competition which takes place in conjunction with the Business Conference for Sweets Industry Professionals also known as The Sweet Makers Industry Conference.  Now, I know that is a mouth full when it comes to naming cake shows, but stay with me because I think this is definitely one to attend.  There are so many classes, demos, and things to learn at this convention.  There will be special demonstrations and presentations by many well-known cake artists like Ron Ben-Israel, Joshua John Russell, Holly Broussard and Reva Alexander-Hawk, just to name a few.

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! 

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! 

Well, it's a wrap folks! ISAC's 2017 Grand Holiday Open House weekend was fantastic! We had two fantastic guests, Tunde Dugantsi and Reva Alexander-Hawk. They, along with Chef Nicholas, offered three exciting and inspiring demonstrations. As has become tradition, this week will be a photo blog dedicated to the weekend's festivities! However, before I share photos from the event, I wanted to remind everyone that the NL Collection by Katy Sue Designs officially launched this week! You can purchase all of Chef Nicholas' new molds from our website, click here. If you were at our Grand Holiday Open House, you got to see these amazing molds in action before anyone else in the world!

With our Grand Holiday Open House just a few weeks away, I know that you are all looking forward to seeing all of the fun tools that Chef Nicholas, Chef Reva, and Chef Tunde will be sharing in their demos. Usually our Open House events turn into a bit of a shopping frenzy. But, never fear! I am here to share an easy tool that will allow you to make a list of all the cake decorating, cookie decorating, or sweets making tools that your heart desires!

I am excited to tell you all about the WISHLIST feature on our website! You can send the list to someone who may need help giving you a gift, or you can search for a friend's wishlist to surprise them with a gift, or use it to save items you'd like to purchase later. The ISAC wishlist is very easy to use, and I am going to show you how! So... who's ready to make some wishes?! 

First of all, you need to go to our website; if you are reading this blog, chances are you are on our website right this very moment! Just in case, it is www.nicholaslodge.com. Click on the shop button, and then once the shop page opens, you will click on Wishlist at the top.

Boy oh boy. Chef Nicholas is always a busy guy. This year, this fall specifically, Chef Nicholas is taking busy to a whole new level. Beginning on September 21, Chef Nicholas has not had a single day off. And he still has so much to do before the end of the year! I thought maybe I would just give you all a glimpse into Chef Nicholas' schedule!

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!

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. 

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

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 many of you may now, Chef Nicholas' base of operation, the International Sugar Art Collection, is based just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It is mid-January, and here in Atlanta today the sun is shining and it is nearly 70 degrees. I don't think you can blame me for having spring on my mind! When I think of spring coming, my mind goes right to ISAC's Spring Open House!

This year our Open House will be held on March 18th, 2017. Chef Nicholas will of course be sharing his own tips and tricks for the season, but we are pleased to announce that Marilyn Bawol (of Unique Cakes) and Michele Sweeney (of Epicurean Delights) will be our guest instructors this year!