It’s been an exciting year so far! The first of the year my Undersea Sugar Bubble cake was featured in the ICES Magazine and I was accepted to teach a demo at the ICES convention in Reno this August on blown sugar dolphins, swans, and hummingbirds. Can’t wait to get out west! We had a wonderful time at the Florida ICES Mini Classes in Orlando. There were 3 days of classes with spectacular sugar teachers from all over the country. One of the highlights of the event for me was getting to teach Norm Davis to make a sugar bubble! It was great to see all of our cake friends and family and we roomed with our great friends! Next we headed over to the Festival of Chocolate at the MOSI Tampa to teach a few classes in tempering, blown sugar, and chocolate garnishes. While we were there we checked out the Cocoa Couture Fashion Show dresses. They were actually made out of chocolate candy wrappers and real chocolate. And from Food Network fame, Paul Joachim was creating a life size cake sculpture of a beautiful woman. He created his structure out of PVC, cake, then a ganache icing that in the end looked like bronze. He left the back open so everyone knew it was cake and not metal! He even invented techniques to create her legs. It was a beautiful piece of art! The next Festival of Chocolate will be at the UCF Arena April 27-29. Check them out at www.festivalofchocolate.com
Is everyone getting ready for the Florida ICED Cake Competition in Ocala? The theme this year is Masquerade Ball! There are incredible prizes, gallery, classes, demos, vendors, live challenge, kid’s corner and so much more. Get your registrations in as there are only 175 spots open for competition. Register here at www.floridaiced.com
And the Florida ICED is in need of Volunteers!!!! They need volunteers to help with ICED and would appreciate your amazing time to make it a great show. They will not be successful without volunteers! They would need you both days and part of a day or full. The first 30 volunteers will get free shirts, masks, beads, & bags of small goodies sent to us from our show sponsors! Free admission to the show all weekend. This does not include demo classes. So please let them know by contacting KNast7@gmail.com or MaureeWoodsFL@aol.com or RLMenz@yahoo.com with any questions about helping out.
We enjoy teaching for Josie and Jerry Jennings at Icing on the Cake in Ocala. They have a brand new website and will be holding great classes and opening their online supply store. Check them out at:
http://icingonthecakeclasses.com/index.html
We are excited to announce that Tami Utley, from Yummy Arts, will be back at Simi Cakes to teach again this November! And Lisa Menz, Florida ICED Chairwoman, will be teaching her beautiful Sugar Veil Shoe this summer with us. Keep checking the website for updates and class announcements. As soon as we have the date it will be posted.
Here is our spring schedule. We will be adding classes soon so check back often. If you have an event you would like added, or would like to sign up for a class and get more information, please email us at info@simicakes.com
Feb 5-Sunday-Ocala at Icing on the Cake with Sidney Galpern www.simicakes.com
10-11:30am- Airbrushing 101-learn the basics to airbrushing, shading, stenciling, care and cleaning and more
12-3pm- Advanced Airbrush-creating your own plastic stencils and carving and airbrushing a dragon head
3:15-5:15- Elegant Chocolate Garnishes-Fancy fans, curls, and carnations with a sweep of your hand-fun with a pallet knife and tempering
Feb 10 Friday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
1-3pm- Homeschool Cake Class-Fondant Dogs
Feb 17 Friday-Pensacola-Patrice Drinkard teaching at the Panhandle Cake CRUMBS Competition www.patricespieces.org
All Day Class- Gumpaste Celebration Masks
Feb 18 Saturday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
10-12pm-Fondant Model Dogs
12:30-5:30pm-Carved Dog Cake- Carve, stack, and decorate a 2 foot 3-D dog cake
March 4-Sunday-Ocala at Icing on the Cake with Sidney Galpern www.simicakes.com
10-12pm- Henna Cakes-Learn Henna Techniques to decorate ornate cakes
12:30-5:30- Topsy Turvy Cakes-Build a 3 Tier Topsy Turvy Cake with a Cherry Blossom Theme-5 hours
March 9 Friday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
1-3pm- Homeschool Cake Class-Fondant Dragons
March 31 Ocala-Florida ICED Cake Competition-Simi Cakes & Confections www.floridaiced.com
9-11am- Carved Pillow Cakes-Michelle Galpern
3-4:30pm- Undersea Cake with Blown Sugar Dolphin-Sidney Galpern
April 1 Ocala-Florida ICED Cake Competition www.floridaiced.com
10:45-11:45- Mold Making-Michelle Galpern
1-3pm- Gumpaste Tropical Flowers-Sidney Galpern
April 13 Friday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
1-3pm- Homeschool Cake Class-Edible Origami
April 14 Saturday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
10-12pm- Airbrushing 101 learn the basics to airbrushing, shading, stenciling, care and cleaning and more –
2:15-2:15- Henna Cakes- Learn Henna Techniques to decorate ornate cakes
2:30-4:30- Elegant Chocolate Garnishes-Fans, Curls, Carnations. Fun with a Pallet Knife and tempering
April 27-29-Orlando-Festival of Chocolate with Sidney Galpern www.festivalofchocolate.com
Class schedule TBA
May 6 Sunday-Ocala-Icing on the Cake with Sidney Galpern www.simicakes.com
10-1pm- Blown Sugar Animals: Create Beautiful Dolphin, Swans, and Humming Birds-Advanced Sugar Class
1:30-6:30- 3 Tiered Pillow Cake-Carve, decorate, and assemble a beautiful 3 tier pillow cake
May 11 Friday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
1-3pm- Homeschool Cake Class-Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, and Graduation
May 19 Saturday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
10-12pm- Model Dragons
12:30-5:30- 3 Tiered Pillow Cake-Carve, Decorate, and assemble a beautiful 3 tier pillow cake
June 3 Sunday-Ocala-Icing on the Cake with Sidney Galpern www.simicakes.com
10-12pm- Dog Modeling Class-Create several fondant model dogs
12:30-5:30- Carved Dog Cake-Carve, stack, and decorate a 2 foot 3-D dog cake
June 9 Saturday-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes www.simicakes.com
10-12pm- Edible Origami and Gelatin Bows
12:30-5:30- Topsy Turvy 3 Tiered Cake with a Cherry Blossom Theme
Summer TBA-Palm Bay at Simi Cakes with Lisa Menz www.simicakes.com
Aug 4 Saturday-Reno, NV-ICES Convention www.ices.org
12:30-1:30- Blown Sugar Dolphins, Swans, and Humming Birds by Sidney Galpern
Nov TBA-Palm Bay-Tami Utely returns to Simi Cakes! www.simicakes.com
Watch for updates!
More Summer and Fall Classes being announced soon for Ocala, West Palm Beach, Palm Bay, Alabama, and Greensboro, NC.
Dates TBA:
Advanced Airbrush-creating your own stencils and carving and airbrushing a dragon head
Beer Bottle/Wine Glass Molding Class
Cake Skeletons-How to build PVC Structures for Incredible Carved Cakes
Edible Origami and Gelatin Bows
Blown Sugar Animals
Sugar Showpieces
Chocolate Showpieces
Basic Blown, Cast, and Pulled Sugar Classes returning
And watch for dates for Simi Cakes Kid’s Camp this summer!
Cake Tip: We use a small stick on bubble level, found in the RV section of any Wal-Mart, attached to a very straight ruler to make sure all our cakes are completely level. Because they are so inexpensive, we put several around the bakery so we always have one close at hand.
Keep Life Sweet!
Sidney and Michelle