Tag: events

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium Is Delighted To Present Karen Tran’s Opulence At The Savoy

March 18, 2019

Karen Tran Royal Gala Dinner at the Lanesborough in London

We are delighted that for the second year running, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium will be partnering with the iconic hotel The Savoy, Jane Riddell of Planned to Perfection and WildAbout to welcome the flower empress, world-renowned floral designer Karen Tran for her annual three-day Floral Experience Masterclass from 16-18^th April 2019.

This masterclass will then culminate in a by invitation only, VIP gala dinner on Thursday 18^th April in The Savoy’s stunning Lancaster Ballroom.

Last year, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium was instrumental in creating what was considered to be the event of the year and we are really looking forward to creating another luxury wedding cake masterpiece to compliment the stunning florals.

Karen will share her expertise of transforming any location into a breath-taking event space with her masterclass students. She will teach them how to create the most astonishing floral designs and show-stopping displays, while sharing her knowledge of the luxury weddings and events industry. The masterclass will also feature a select number of guest speakers from the events industry.

On Thursday 18^th April, “Opulence at The Savoy” will conclude in a magnificent gala dinner, brought to you by award winning luxury Wedding Planner, Jane Riddell, from Planned for Perfection, in association with wedding cake designer, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, and Karen’s UK support florist, WildAbout. The Savoy and Karen Tran will host the event, where VIP guests will enjoy an evening of timeless glamour in the London landmark hotel.

“I am absolutely delighted that The Savoy is hosting this year’s London Masterclass and I cannot wait to see my floral designs in one of the most prestigious hotels in London. I very much look forward to welcoming students from around the world to the masterclass and to a magnificent gala dinner celebration” says Karen Tran.

Sasha Cullen, Wedding Sales Manager at The Savoy says: “We are really excited to be hosting the Karen Tran Floral Masterclass at The Savoy. We have such incredible creative’s in our Industry who continue to inspire us throughout our events careers and Karen is one of them. We cannot wait to see what she creates; and what better venue to host this extravagant spectacle than where Glamour first began”.

Jane Riddell, owner and creative director at Planned for Perfection, added: “I am thrilled to have been asked by Sasha and her team at The Savoy to bring the Masterclass to London again this year. Last year’s gala dinner was a huge success and this year’s floral experience is all set to be another incredible few days”

Tickets can be purchased at

www.thefloralexperience.com/course/london/

ABOUT THE SAVOY

www.thesavoylondon.com

The Savoy is the only luxury hotel on the River Thames, perfectly placed in the heart of one of the world’s most exciting cities. 267 rooms and suites are accompanied by some of the most well-known restaurants and bars in London, alongside magnificent and varied meeting space.

With exceptional service at the heart of everything, a Savoy experience is built on memories created and stories told across the generations. You don’t just stay at The Savoy, The Savoy stays with you.

OFFICIAL PARTNERS

Karen Tran – www.karentran.com

The Savoy – www.thesavoylondon.com

Planned for Perfection – www.plannedforperfection.co.uk

WildAbout – www.wildabout.co.uk

Elizabeths Cake Emporium – www.elizabethscakeemporium.com

Top 10 Wedding Cake Trends for 2019 by Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium

February 6, 2019

The evolution of luxury wedding cakes over the years has been astonishing. From majestic sugar flower adorned confections to one tier wonders, the sheer variety of wedding cake choice means that expectations have been raised considerably.

At Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium our reputation for producing some of the best luxury wedding cakes means that we have to keep raising the bar in terms of originality of both cake design and cake flavours.

2019 is set to be the year when the rule book is thrown out of the window. Personalisation of luxury wedding cakes has taken a huge leap forward, as couples are keen to show case their wedding style on social media and create Instagram ‘worthy’ moments.

Flavours are also a lot more adventurous, with inspiration coming from childhood memories, favourite flavours as well as ethical considerations, such as desiring a plant based cake.

We have a look at some of the top ten wedding cake trends set to delight in 2019

Statement Wedding Cakes

The last few years has seen the emergence of statement wedding cakes which are usually tall, grand and impressive in size and scale. These cakes command attention and although usually requested by brides getting married in a palace or grand country house, we have seen brides getting married on beaches make similar requests.

Multiple Wedding Cakes

Why have one wedding cake when 3, 4 or even 5 will do? A step up from the luxury dessert table, cakescapes provide a way of having multiple complimentary wedding cake designs incorporating brides’ favourite design details and cake flavours.

Monogram Magic Wedding Cakes

Monogrammed cakes are the ultimate in personalisation. Although monograms have been used on luxury wedding cakes for a while, it’s repeated use on Princess Eugenie and Jack Broksbank’s wedding cake brought it to the mainstream.

Sophisticated Donut Towers

The humble donut had always felt like a poor relative next to it’s more sophisticated and chic sister, the macaron. However, as we hark back to our favourite childhood flavours, there is a wish to incorporate them into our celebrations. The donut has now been transformed from an ugly duckling into an elegant swan, with an increasing number of brides requesting them.

Bold and Colourful Wedding Cakes

At Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, we are known for making bright and colourful wedding cakes for couples who are looking for something off the beaten track. Colour is a fabulous way to add character to your wedding cake. The colour of your wedding cake is also influenced by your reception theme and venue and the time of year you are getting married. As the rule book has been torn up in 2019, a rich cake colour is also a way to push boundaries and add an element of non conformity.

Living Coral Wedding Cakes

Pantone recently declared Living Coral as the colour of the year 2019. With its hues of deep peach and pink, we will see this colour used in product development, in the fashion industry, home furnishings, graphic design and we daresay, in the wedding industry too. Once again, we seem to be ahead of the curve and featured this colour in our book OPULENCIA – Artisan Baking and Sugarcraft.

Floral Fantasy Wedding Cakes

It was lovely to see the art of sugar flowers being revived in luxury wedding cakes and a great example was Princess Eugenie’s autumnal floral fantasy. Sugar flowers have always been a firm favourite with us, and while the most popular sugar flowers we use on wedding cakes include the rose, peony, dahlia and the hydrangea, we also create more exotic ones such as parrot tulips, ranunculi and Chinese lanterns.

Wondrous White Textured Wedding Cakes

Traditionally, luxury wedding cakes as popularised by Queen Victoria had always been white as it denoted purity and was also a status symbol as only wealthy families could afford pure white sugar. While still a popular cake colour, it can look rather flat in photographs. In 2019, brides love the fact that adding texture in various forms can elevate a cake and add dimension. Textures can be in the form of sugar ruffles, frills, geodes, torn edible wafer, pearls, or even edible sequins.

Painted Wedding Cakes

Hand painted cakes are such a delight to behold. From watercolour washes, painted flowers, scripted prints and contemporary graphics painted cakes are literarily edible works of art that delight and astonish and they will continue to grow in popularity in 2019.

Unconventional Shaped Wedding Cakes

Wedding cake shapes can range from round, oblongs, heart and petal shaped to the more geometric square, hexagons and octagons. Round is the much preferred shape by many brides as it the shape of a wedding ring and it denotes a continuous circle of unbroken love. However, some brides are brave enough to opt for unique, unconventional cake shapes as they break away from the norm.

So there you have it!

We have shared our thoughts on what we see as the wedding cake trends for 2019 and hope this provides some inspiration for you.

If you are getting married in the nearest future, do not hesitate to contact us for a consultation at info@elizabethscakeemporium.com or by speaking with us at 07958069116

2018 IN REVIEW : A LOOK BACK AT THE CAKES, PEOPLE AND PLACES THAT SHAPED ELIZABETH’S CAKE EMPORIUM

January 1, 2019

Happy New Year everyone! It’s days into 2019 and it’s time to reflect on the incredible year we left behind. We enjoyed some amazing highs and quite a few ‘pinch me’ moments but above all we are very grateful and deeply honoured to serve all our amazing clients who trusted us to create their luxury wedding cakes and celebration cakes.

At Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, we pride ourselves on delivering some of the best wedding and celebration cakes for our most cherished clients to locations across the globe. Below are some of our few snapshot moments and highlights of 2018.

THE STAND OUT CAKES

Karen Tran Gala Dinner at The Lanesborough with Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium

The year got off to an incredible start when we were asked by world renowned celebrity florist Karen Tran to help plan her London masterclass and royal gala dinner for early Spring. The only venue we thought had the right grandeur and ambience for the event was The Lanesborough in Hyde Park. We also asked one of our favourite wedding planners, multi award winning Jane Riddell of Planned for Perfection to work with us and with WildAbout, one of the most celebrated florists in the UK, we put on what was arguably the industry’s event of the year. The event received incredible press and we are very grateful to all our partners who worked so hard and brought their A game to the culminating gala dinner.

Opulencia on the Beach

The next stop in our luxury wedding cake adventure was a private beach in Ibiza, The Amante Beach Club. The bride absolutely loves opulence and wanted a really huge cake for her wedding on the beach. We got to work with the utterly amazing and very helpful Paula Rooney Flowers which is always a bonus. Although we were warned that the venue was up a cliff, the sight of the cake being carried up such a steep face is one I will never forget!

Chanel Inspiration at The Lanesborough

In between the record number of luxury wedding cakes we made this summer, we made some rather awesome luxury celebration cakes too. We were lucky to make this Chanel themed luxury dessert table for the most beautiful 16 year old who wanted an intimate sophisticated lunch with her friends. For this lush cakescape we created a number of cakes including two macaron towers, black and white cakes with the Chanel logo, cupcakes, cookies, cakesicles and the cutest chocolate perfume bottles. We got to work with our dear friends from WildAbout and Plume Design UK to create a beautiful setting in the wood panelled room St George’s room at The Lanesborough.

Jewelencia at The Lanesborough

We were back again at The Lanesborough Hyde Park for the most special of events. Event Imagineer, Tony Marklew, designed the most impressive floral wonderland we have ever seen and at Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium and we have certainly seen quite a few floral designs in our time! The cake was designed to reflect our client’s love for the colour green, gold and everything regal. This 7 tiered green marble cake had sugar jewels including a hummingbird and sugar flowers, and a monogram of her initial. She was absolutely delighted with her cake and could not get over how incredible it looked and tasted.

bold-and-beautiful

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS AND JUDGING DUTIES

GT Bank Food and Drink

It was an absolute honour to be the first luxury wedding cake maker to be invited to demonstrate at the largest food fair in Africa alongside food gurus such Lorraine Pascale and Ed Kimber. The hospitality was incredible and the thirst for knowledge inspiring. The bank’s holistic approach to empowering local communities is one to emulate.

Bridelux Symposium

The first ever Bridelux symposium was held in London and was a resounding success for the founder James Lord and his team. It was an honour to be part of a line up that included Johhny Roxburgh, Colin Cowie, Ceci Johnson, Banana Split and many others. Our panel included celebrity florist Rob Van Helden who did the most divine flowers autumnal flowers for Princess Eugenie’s royal wedding.

Expert spot on The BBC’s Best Christmas Food Ever

A pinch me moment was filming my segment for the first season of the BBC’s Best Christmas Food Ever presented by Paul Ainsworth and Catherine Fulvio. I was asked to create the best luxury Christmas cake table I could think of in classic Christmas colours. It was lots of fun and the crew were absolutely amazing. If anyone is interested, the programme is available on BBC iplayer and You Tube. Search for Season 1 Episode 4 and somewhere in the middle of the programme is my segment.

Italian Wedding Awards

We were again invited back as a judge at the annual Italian Wedding Awards. Anyone who knows us knows of our love for Italy and this time, the awards were held in Venice! Although we had seen photos and paintings of the canals of Venice but didn’t realise that water is literarily everywhere and we mean everywhere. Taking our first ever water taxi from the airport was indescribable. After a while, we all got used to traveling within the city that way.

We stayed at the Hotel Danieli, the first ever luxury hotel in the city and we can confirm that it really does have the best roof top views and food. Huge congratulations to the organisers and award winners. We look forward to seeing you all again later this year.

COLLABORATIONS AND PRESS

Styled shoots

2018 was an incredible year for collaborations at Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium. We absolutely love a great styled shoot. Give us an idea or a concept and watch us run with it. The year before we stopped giving our ideas away. Last year we really stepped up and explored some very cool concepts. This resulted in a number of shoots and one that went completely viral.

Bruce Oldfield Promotional Shoot

We were absolutely over the moon when we were asked to style a promotional shoot for world renowned Bruce Oldfield by The Lanesborough to celebrate their joint new bridal offering. The very talented WildAbout provided the amazing florals and San of Sanshine Photography worked her magic behind the lens.

Frida Kahlo Shoot

Billed as the best set of images on Instagram, this shoot was based on Frida Kahlo’s most famous painting, Las Dos Fridas – The Two Fridas. The shoot was about celebrating the duality of a feminine feminist icon and it coincided with the first showing of her personal effects outside of Mexico at the Victoria and Albert museum.

The incredible dresses which provided the inspiration for the shoot were designed by the very talented Joanne Fleming who is one of the most talented individuals I know. Leanne of WildAbout and her team designed the most beautiful floral canopy which left everyone in awe. Special thanks goes to the wonderful Roberta Facchini Photography who captured all the beauty. It was a joy to direct this shoot and work with a great team of immensely talented suppliers.

The shoot was featured in so many blogs and magazines including Vogue, Rock My Wedding, Strictly Weddings and 100 Layer Cake and also in the annual 2019 International Trend Report. We are so glad that we held on to the vision, concept and story line, overcoming many obstacles to make sure we executed it to perfection.

Cake International

We were asked by renowned chocolate and cake guru Daniel Dieguz to collaborate with him on an epic installation at the Cake International show in Birmingham. We created a fantasy head and bust cake, Madmoiselle Opulencia, the mistress of all things patisserie. It was quite a challenging piece and a bit of a departure from our usual luxury wedding cakes but we did make sure she was all pastries and glamour.

In all, our cakes received and enjoyed an unprecedented level of press madmoiselle-opulencia being published and shared by international and national print and online press including Vogue Japan (twice) Wedluxe, Strictly Weddings, Rock My Wedding, Love My Dress, Condenast Brides, You and Your Wedding, Wedding Ideas, Karas Party Ideas, 100 Layer Cake etc

AWARDS

For those in the know, Cake Masters awards are the Oscars of the cake industry and very highly coveted. 2018 saw around 200,000 nominations! For the first time in the UK, Cake Masters recognised the top ten cake designers in the UK and we made the list. Now considering that there are literarily thousands of very talented cake makers out there, to be acknowledged means a great deal. Thank you Cake Masters!

TRAVEL

Our adventures took us to a number of continents, countries and over 30 cities including Paris, Bahamas, Ibiza, Venice, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Amsterdam, Africa and the Middle East.

We don’t know what 2019 holds but early indications suggest another exciting, prosperous and wonderful year ahead in our world of luxury wedding and celebration cakes. Best of blessings to all and watch this space!

ELIZABETH’S CAKE EMPORIUM : 2017 IN REVIEW & LOOKING AHEAD

January 29, 2018

It’s that time of the year again where we look back on what has simply been an extraordinary year for us at Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium. We are very, very grateful for the many brides and grooms and clients who chose to work with us this year. It has indeed been a privilege to serve you and create the most opulent celebration and wedding cakes for you.

There were so many top moments and a few that stood out include:

THE STAND OUT CAKES

The Landmark

2017 kicked off for us with a mahoosive bang. We were honoured to make the grandest of wedding cakes for a rather special wedding at the Landmark Hotel in London. Made up of 14 tiers, it featured thousands of hand made sugar flowers, custom made sugar gold baroque swag and drop detailing and other edible gold embellishments. The wedding cake was so tall it touched the chandelier of the rather high ceilings of the ballroom. To understand the scale of the wedding, two of the wedding singers were Mariah Carey and Elton John! The wedding made headlines around the world, with many in the media calling it the wedding of the year. And this was only January!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4124122/Billionaire-Russian-oligarch-spends-3-5MILLION-hiring-Sir-Elton-John-Mariah-Carey-19-year-old-granddaughter-s-wedding-swish-London-hotel.html

Blenheim Palace

Fast forward to a few months later and we got the amazing opportunity to make another beautiful wedding cake for the most lavish and opulent wedding at the historic Blenheim Palace. In fact the press called it the wedding of the century. We are very grateful to the client for having such faith in us to deliver such beautiful edible art. The stunning wedding flowers were by floral genius Jeff Leatham and it was reported that he used over 1million blooms to create the jaw dropping decor.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4595722/Is-lavish-wedding-EVER.html

Castilla Termal Monasterio De Valbuena, Spain

The next stop for Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium in our wedding cake adventure was Spain. The venue was the exclusive and exquisite Castilla Termal one the best preserved Cistercian monasteries of the 12th century in Europe. We had the pleasure of working with an amazing bride and the most incredible event planner and team of suppliers. The wedding came to the notice of one of the biggest TV stars in the UK who pinned and shared the cake on her instagram page for her own upcoming wedding and created a press frenzy. As if that wasn’t enough, one of biggest rap stars in the world, the OG that is Snoop Dogg instagrammed the wedding twice on his page! Sometimes real life can indeed be stranger than fiction.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Atinuda

Over the years in my different careers, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at many events, demonstrations and conferences. It’s a lot harder than it looks and there is a lot of pressure to ensure that the content is engaging, meaningful and relevant to the target audience. I was so honoured to speak alongside world renowned experts like Preston Bailey and Marcy Blum at this year’s Atinuda which was intimidating enough. It was also very humbling to be the only speaker to get a standing ovation from the attendees. I also had a pinch myself moment when the maestro that is Preston kindly gave me the very best advice I’ve had in years. I will indeed be taking his advice and hopefully spreading my wings a little, so watch this space.

COLLABORATIONS AND PRESS

Karen Tran

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium had the privilege of being approached by Karen Tran to collaborate with her on one of her master classes and create one of our signature luxury wedding cakes. The event was held at the St Regis in Florence. It was fantastic to watch Karen at work (I honestly don’t know where she gets her energy from) as she created another memorable floral spectacle. My team and I created a 9 tier pink shimmer baroque cake which was the focal point of the gala dinner. In fact, once again the image of the cake went viral! A huge thanks to all the masterclass attendees and everyone who supported us including my lovely Raffaele and the staff at the St Regis.

Styled shoots

Collaborative shoots give us a creative outlet and more importantly it gives us an opportunity to meet with and network with other suppliers in the luxury events industry. I decided to stop giving away my ideas, concepts and story boards and instead take creative control by organising inclusive shoots where everyone shines and get properly credited for their hard work. This resulted in three amazing styled shoots that proved to be unbelievably popular. They include Tulip Fever, Lady of the Lake and Glimmer and Shine – a Unicorn inspired shoot. I am truly grateful to all the suppliers who trusted in the vision and went above and beyond to create magic with me. It was the best learning, has given me a new found confidence, enabled me to hone my skills and discover ones I didn’t know I had. In all our cakes were published and shared by international and national print and online press including Wedluxe, Strictly Weddings, Condenast Brides, You and Your Wedding, Wedding Chicks, Cosmopolitan, and the Daily Mail over 200 times.

http://strictlyweddings.com/blog/2017/10/lavish-wedding-ideas-delft-blue/

http://www.youandyourwedding.co.uk/ideas/mood-boards/wedding-style-modern-pastels/22716.html

http://strictlyweddings.com/blog/2017/09/dreamy-english-countryside-wedding-inspiration/

Brides The Show

Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium had the honour of being approached to exhibit at Brides the Show by Condenast Brides magazine at the Business Design Centre in October. Not only that, we also created a huge range of Marie Antoinette inspired cakes for the charity Make a Wish Foundation. The incredible prizes to be won included a trip to Dubai, stays in 5 Star hotels, a diamond necklace and a designer wedding dress. It was lovely seeing the generosity exhibited by brides to be and the stand was one of the most popular at the show.

We also had the honour of showcasing our cakes at Corrigans, Mayfair and Caroline Charles, Knightsbridge.

AWARDS

When Eat, Love Savor included Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium on their annual list of the Masterful 100 awards, it came as a bit of shock! With brands like Rolls Royce, Krug, Lalique, Cartier, Harry Winston and Meissen on the list, we felt very honoured and grateful to be the only cake maker included. I have no idea how they found us but I am very glad they did!

We also won Cake Designer of the Year at the English Wedding Awards which again was conferred. We would like to thank both teams for the wonderful recognition and we will continue to work very hard to earn and deserve such honour.

https://eatlovesavor.com/masterful-100-top-100-luxury-experts-brands-list/

TRAVEL

Our work took us to 4 continents and over 20 cities including Paris (thrice), Prague, Budapest, Morocco, Italy, France and the Middle East. Some of the projects we worked were quite confidential (all will be revealed in time) and others included teaching and demoing as part of my role as brand ambassador for Massa Ticino, the best sugarpaste in the world! I also attended a conference or two, most notably the Inner Circle Experience which I shall be blogging about later.

JUDGING DUTIES

The year rounded up nicely with a judging role at The Italian Wedding Awards held in Florence. We were given a lovely welcome by The Four Seasons Firenze and the organisers and the cuisine was to die for. All the entrants were of a very high standard and I had the distinct pleasure of sampling all the edible treats as part of my duties! Well someone has to do it and it might as well be me. A huge bravo and complimenti to all the winners and finalists.

https://www.facebook.com/ItalianWeddingAwards/videos/753154644875185/

I think we’ve earned a well deserved break and we will be back to regale you with more tales soon!

2016 in Review – Passions, Projects and People

December 30, 2016

No one will forget 2016 in a hurry. From natural to man-made wars and disasters and unprecedented changes in our cultural and political landscapes some events have been shocking and surprising in equal measure. In fact, I almost gave up on 2016 when PRINCE died. His music was literarily the soundtrack of my life.

It is easy in the face of constant bad and unsettling news to lose hope. Being a firm believer of positive thinking and more importantly positive acts and actions, to paraphrase Her Majesty the Queen, we may not have the power to make huge changes to the world, but individually, we can all so small things with great love. For this we need a great deal of passion, projects we believe in and people (good and also bad).

Passions

1. The Launch of my long awaited book OPULENCIA was probably the single most important thing I did this year. I have been lucky to have my cakes published and even make the front cover of magazines for many years but nothing beats seeing your own book in print.

The decision to self-publish was not an easy one and it took a lot of courage, time, energy and money to bring my vision to pass. It was hard wearing many hats and juggling the roles of writer, copy editor, publisher, designer, stylist etc. However, the level of success of OPULENCIA completely caught me by surprise. It not only reached the Amazon top 20 in the cake decorating and baking books categories, it won awards at the Paris Book Festival, the New England Book Festival and the London Book Festival. We also got really positive reviews, features and mentions in cake magazines, on baking blogs and in the mainstream press.

OPULENCIA was also shortlisted (we made the final four!!) out of 65,000 entries for a prestigious #cakeoscar at the world renowned Cake Masters Awards awards ceremony in Birmingham. Being the only self-published book with no big publishing name behind it and no marketing budget, to be validated and honoured in this way was simply beyond my wildest dreams.

2. Travel – This was the year of travel for me. Now in the past, our cakes have been sent to different parts of the world and I get a little jealous as they receive better treatment than me (private jets, refrigerated trucks, limousines and special packaging). However, 2016 decided it was time for me to spread my wings a little.

It all kicked off in January when we were chosen by Quintessentially to work on an exclusive wedding at The Shangri-La in Paris (road trip!!). Working in a two Michelin star kitchen with some of the best chefs in the world was incredible. The staff were soooo supportive and it remains one of my best culinary experiences so far. Our incredibly huge cake and lush cake table was so well received the General Manager of the Hotel Stefan Bollhalder had this to say “I have to congratulate you on the design and quality of cake you made, just outstanding” Need I say more?

Come February, it was back in France again, this time Marseille, where I was invited as an ambassador of Massa Ticino by Carma (the BEST sugarpaste in the world) to judge the French Cake Championships at Expogato. Organised by the very talented Sarah Gough, it was an honour to not only help choose a winner but I had the opportunity to teach and demo a number of cake decorating techniques.

Other countries I visited in the course of my cake adventures include Singapore (the cleanest, most pristine city ever), Prague (the most beautiful architecture that rivals even Paris), Czech Republic (beautiful food and people), Slovakia (the nicest hotel experience), Switzerland (my most favourite city and hands down purveyors of the best chocolate. I’m coming back for you Confiseri Sprungli and Laderach) and New Orleans (I met my SHERO, the incredibly talented and arguably the best street jazz musician Doreen Ketchens @DoreensJazzNewOrleans).

I feel so honoured to be able to share my work and art with so many people and massive thanks to everyone who showed up and bought a copy of OPULENCIA.

Projects

1. Teaching – For years, I kept getting requests from potential students all over the world to teach. However, I didn’t want to me a ‘me too’ teacher. There are lots of YouTube videos for that. What I wanted to teach was something that I see so may cake businesses struggling with, so I teamed up with Shikhita Singh of Fair Cake and we came up with the course “How to Sell Your Cakes” The class has been a rip-roaring success, attracting students from all over the world. Thank you for all your kind comments and we have more success building content in store for you next year.

2. Collaborations – I’ve been incredibly blessed to collaborate with the best names in the business this year. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love networking and lending a helping hand and collaborations can be a result. They are an opportunity to come up with unique and new ideas and flex a little creative muscle. They can also push new trends, they encourage personalisation, and of course provide the most stunning images for one’s portfolio. This year, a few of the names we collaborated with includes Amie Bone Flowers for their 10th year anniversary bash at The Shard, Suzanne Neville’s ‘The Portrait Collection’ at the Tower of London, Gordon Ramsay Weddings and Zita Elze at Brides the Show.

Some of the collaborations led to features in magazines and blogs including Brides Magazine, Strictly Weddings, The MayFair Times, Rock My Wedding, Perfect Weddings, You and Your Weddings, Grace Ormonde, in a Sony Columbia Film and on Channel4!

A special mention also goes to Kitchen Aid who not only gave me not one, not two but THREE lush Kitchen Aid mixers in our rich OPULENCIA purple to promote my book. I can’t believe a very cool brand like that would not only partner with us but also take part in our giveaway and extend a warm welcome to Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium. Just amazing.

http://www.cakemasters.co.uk/win-one-of-three-kitchen-aid-mixers/

Thank you also to WATERSTONES especially Hyebin Lee who not only hosted my book signing but made the decision for the store to stock OPULENCIA. It was very emotional for me to see my book on the shelves alongside my cake heroes such as Nigella, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

https://www.list.co.uk/event/621191-opulencia-book-launch/

3. Speaking engagements – for some reason, I am considered to be a coach, mentor and self-help insta guru. Heaven knows I can do with all three myself! I was very honoured to be asked to speak at a number of events including one at JP Morgan where I met the founder of Aduna Andrew (not James) Hunt who is crazy about Baobab (Bao what you might say, please look it up) and wants to change the world. A fabulous example of someone doing seemingly small things with great love and getting big results.

4. Cakes – my true love and reason for Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium. Now I’m not just saying this but we made some really beautiful cakes this year and the proof of this was being nominated and SHORTLISTED out of thousands of entries worldwide, for yet another Cake Masters award for the category of Best Wedding Cake Designer.

To create the incredible cakes take a lot of thought, time and work and of course lovely people who not only choose to work with us but also trust us to create something truly special. This year we created some sky high fairy tale castles, secret garden confections, dramatic edible gold baroques and white ethereal beauties. The diversity of our cake designs and range may be why we keep attracting some of the best clients and venues in the world. For me, to borrow the words of Meghan Trainor, ‘it’s all about the cake, no gimmicks’

People

This bit is going to read like the #cakeoscar speech I didn’t get to make, so please indulge me. 2016 would not have been what it was for me if not for the incredible team around me. Many thanks to Mr Massa himself, Fabian who has been a true believer and supporter. Thanks also to the clients, planners and venues for the wonderful opportunities to create some art and magic.

I would also like to thank Nek Vardikos for his incredible images, occasional styling and for being an all-around good egg. Thank you also to Kim, Charlie and Catherine for their incredible support and advice. Thanks also to my family for everything. I am also thankful to my heavenly Father who makes all things possible. Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful 2016 and here’s to an incredible 2017!

WE MAKE THE FINALS FOR TWO CAKE MASTERS AWARDS

October 14, 2016

In the cake world, nothing generates more excitement, than the cake awards by Cake Masters Magazine. Affectionately known as the #cakeoscars, it is considered to be the most prestigious cake awards and the only one of its kind. Founded by Rosie Mazumder three years ago, it celebrates the excellent work of cake artists around the world and attracts up to 30,000 nominations globally!

To my utter shock and delight, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium was nominated in two different categories, namely, Best Wedding Cake Award and our book OPULENCIA in the Best Cake Book Award category.

When I was notified that out of tens of thousands of nominations, we had made it to the final 4 in BOTH categories! I cried non stop as it is such a huge deal to be recognised amongst all the amazing talent out there.

This is the third year of the Cake Masters Magazine Awards event in association with the leading show organisers, Cake International; The Sugarcraft, Cake Decorating & Baking Show. The award ceremony will take place on 5th November 2016 at the Birmingham NEC. The evening traditionally includes a drinks reception, three course dinner, awards ceremony and an after party to dance the night away celebrating with all the 2016 winners.

I was unable to attend last year but I am determined to be there this year. I will be keeping everything crossed and will try very hard not to embarrass myself as I mingle and ‘fangirl’ over my cake heroes.

AWARD-WINNING COLLABORATION WITH ZITA ELZE FLOWERS AT THE BRIDES SHOW

October 4, 2016

One of the things we love at Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium HQ is the fact that every working day is different and sometimes we never know how things will unfold. On what seemed like another ordinary day we were utterly delighted to receive an invitation to collaborate with Zita Elze on her stand at this year’s Brides The Show.

Now Zita Elze has form. Winner of numerous awards, she has a delicate, ethereal other worldly style which we first encountered years ago when she made a very imaginative living floral embroidery dress of epic proportions. She is always ahead of the game and it is no wonder that students come from all over the world to learn her unique floral design secrets.

This year, her concept for Brides The Show was pure white, modern chic with sparkling transparent notes, a 21st century fairytale. Layers of texture, white on white with touches of green and the tiniest dash of red flecked bougainvillea. Finely scripted engraved perspex discs danced in the light, hanging from a tree laden with cherry blossom, hydrangea and ammi announcing the wedding guests’ seating. A full length table runner of cow parsley (fresh and silk), ammi, gladioli, dahlia, stocks, rice flower, astilbe, gypsophila and eustoma graced the top table which was dressed with antique crystal and fine silverware. Pedestal arrangements at either side featured hydrangea, ammi, cow parsley and scabiosa.

To complete this ethereal wedding design Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium designed an elegant and romantic 6 tier petal shaped wedding cake in pure white. The cake petal indentations were decorated with bands of white pearlised sugar pearls and along the borders of each tier were white sugar mouldings. The cake tiers sat in pairs on customised petal shaped cake boards with risers in between the cake pairs.

Zita embroidered the cake with fresh flowers in shades of whites and greens with such delicacy and lightness of touch and the cake was also framed by a cherry blossom tree resulting in a very elegant and dreamy wedding cake.

It was no surprise that yet again, Zita was honoured with the prestigious prize of the Editor’s Gold Design Award, awarded by Jade Beer, Brides magazine’s editor who said:

“You can always rely on Zita to create something imaginative and ahead of the game, but this year at Brides The Show I felt she topped all expectations with an installation that was so full of ideas for brides-to-be who clearly loved what they were seeing.”

Images courtesy of Julian Winslow Photography

MARIE ANTIONETTE WEDDING CAKES MASTERPIECE

September 26, 2016

When beautiful Lebanese bride Lina made contact with us, she had a firm idea of the kind of wedding cake she wanted. Having fallen in love with our purple ombre baroque Marie Antoinette wedding cake, she envisioned the design taking centre stage at her wedding reception at The Jumeirah Carlton Hotel in Knightsbridge but in glorious shades of pink.

From the moment we met Lina and her lovely sister, we were struck by how beautiful she was inside and out! Very unassuming, she had firm ideas about what she wanted her cake to look like – huge but tastefully so. She wanted it to be a focal point of the reception because traditionally, Lebanese weddings tend to feature the biggest and most lavish wedding cakes.

The cake had a 26 inch bottom tier and was made up of 6 tiers in total each 10 inches deep and was topped with a handcrafted sugar pedestal topper. The tiers were decorated with lavish sugar gold coin swags, acanthus leaves, cherubs, cameos and different shades of pink sugar roses, hydrangeas, blossoms, berries, stephanotis and assorted filler flowers. Renowned London award winning florist Amie Bone flowers provided the ring of pink blooms that surrounded the cake. She also designed the beautiful wedding flowers, transforming the ballroom of the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel into a pink floral wonderland.

The chosen cake flavours included our famous Triple Chocolate (her husband’s favourite), Red Velvet, Vanilla, Lemon and a selection of gluten free cupcakes which she thoughtfully ordered for some of her guests.

The cake drew lots of admirers, including the Events Director who confessed that having previously worked in some of the best hotels around the world, she had never seen a cake that detailed!

We wish Lina and her Prince Charming the very best of blessings as they embark on their new journey together.

8 FOOT FAIRYTALE CASTLE CAKE AT THE SAVOY

August 27, 2016

They say that dreams do come true and at Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium we had the pleasure of fulfilling one of our bride’s wedding day dreams by making an eight foot fairy tale castle cake for her luxurious wedding at The Savoy.

The renowned Savoy hotel (a firm favourite at EC Emporium HQ) consistently ranks as one of the best hotels in the world and we are delighted to be one of it’s preferred suppliers of several years standing.

The hotel’s enduring showmanship has attracted people down the generations from royalty, the arts, business, politics and the law. The Savoy has the rare distinction of overlooking the River Thames, and the separate Riverside Entrance, on a quiet road away from the main hotel entrance was very convenient for delivering such a grand wedding cake with military precision.

The baroque style grand wedding cake was displayed on a large round table and featured a huge base completely adorned with hand made sugar flowers including sugar roses, sugar peonies, sugar blossoms and hydrangeas and 24 carat gold painted sugar butterflies.

All the tiers and turrets of this show stopping edible work of art were enrobed in Ivory Massa Ticino sugarpaste by Carma for a flawless base and embellished with pearlised edible lace, gold baroque swags and other beautiful mouldings.

The flavours chosen by our couple included our famous Chocolate Bailey’s cake, Red velvet with white chocolate filling, Luscious Lemon and Vanilla Raspberry Ripple.

The cake looked very much at home in the opulent surroundings of the Lancaster Ballroom (the turrets nearly touched the ceiling!) and our fairy tale castle wedding cake has been deemed the ultimate in wedding cakes as the images went viral on social media and it was also the subject of an article in the Huffington Post.

Images courtesy of Nek Vardikos of NV Wedding Documentary Photographers

OPULENCIA BOOK SIGNING

July 26, 2016

When I wrote OPULENCIA, it was to celebrate 10 years of Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium. A mostly inspirational book featuring some of the favourite cakes I’ve made over the years, I never dreamed that it would make such an impact. The decision to self publish was not an easy one and whilst going it alone has been incredibly tough, it’s also been very rewarding.

In a such a short space of time, the book has won an award at the Paris Book Festival and even cracked the Amazon Top 100 for it’s category peaking at number 20!!

Another exciting milestone was being given the opportunity to signs copies of OPULENCIA at Waterstones in North Finchley on 17th July 2016. Never in a million years did I ever think that a huge chain like Waterstones would take stock OPULENCIA, as it is very rare for a self published book to find its way onto such premium bookshelves.

The book features stunning images of sugar-crafted cakes that have brought us recognition and awards and worldwide fame, as well as valuable baking tips and the story behind my inspirational career that’s summed up by a simple formula: Passion plus hard work = success.

Writing the book was a labor of love, and I hope the people who buy it will enjoy it. I relate to anyone who follows their dream – I am living proof that some dreams can come true regardless of circumstances.

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