Cake International Show at The ExCel London

When I arrived at Cake International Show I was greeted in the Press Room where I was to pick up my pass and show guide with a restorative cup of coffee and a beautiful cup cake.  The petals of this cake are made from buttercream not the usual icing! Very delicate and precise and equally tasty. 

Red velvet cupcake by Queen of Hearts

You may be forgiven for thinking I popped into the New Billingsgate Market the other day from this photo but in fact it is made not of fish but cake! Yes, cake!!

This 4.5ft tall creation is by Tracey Mann and is called 'Under The Sea'. You can see what other things Tracey has been up to by finding her on Facebook - Tracey's Cakes.

The attention to detail of this cake is stunning and very intricate.

I was lucky enough to be at the front of the queue to have a chat with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood! Mary looked quite tired whilst she was waiting for the greetings to start. She must be getting tired after the success of the Great British Bake Off!

I loved having a chat with Mary and Paul and kicked myself I hadn't brought my copy of Paul's book 'How to Bake'. I will be reviewing this book soon here on the blog.

There were so many beautiful cake creations like this one (and also the cupcake I had on arrival) made by two very friendly young ladies, Valeri Valeriano and Christina Ong and their cake company Queen of Hearts. Their beautiful decorations are made using only buttercream are indeed edible works of art.

There were various competitions and the standard of the entries was in some cases outstanding! Look at the detail on the cascading flowers. I can't even begin to estimate or imagine how many hours it took to create all those flowers.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more emphasis on actual baking at this show but the emphasis was on the decorating.  One very interesting product I found was SugarVeil. Michele Hester created an innovation in cake decorating with SugarVeil which produces exquisite lace patterns.

Using a special formula of icing and silicone mats you can create something that resembles lace. You can purchase basic kits and then add to your collection.

The lace decoration on this cake was a piece of SugarVeil as above, which was carefully cut and laid onto the top layer.

This bow was made by placing SugarVeil over a piece of coloured sugar craft icing and fashioned into a lace bow.

 

I enjoyed visiting the Cake International show however I did expect there to be more actual baking elements but it was really heavily decorating loaded.