Blog – Yeners Way https://www.yenersway.com Tutorials to Learn Cake Decorating Online Thu, 27 Feb 2025 14:23:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 https://www.yenersway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/cropped-chef-32x32.png Blog – Yeners Way https://www.yenersway.com 32 32 How to Move from Old System to New System https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/how-to-move-from-old-system-to-new-system/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/how-to-move-from-old-system-to-new-system/#respond Thu, 27 Feb 2025 14:11:46 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=32841 As you may or may not be aware, on the 8th of November 2024, we closed down YenersWay.tv. This was a website we created with the hope of streamlining our services to make it more user friendly and efficient. This caused quite a bit of confusion for our users and ended up creating problems rather than solutions. So we decided a few years later that we no longer wanted to use YenersWay.tv and we wanted to go back to having the one site (YenersWay.com).

As we continue to tidy up our internal systems, we will now also be removing our old system for tutorials and subscriptions. This “old system” was the system we used from day one up until the 27th of May 2020. So this change that we will be making in the near future will only relate to you if you purchased a tutorial or joined a subscription before May 27th 2020. If you fall into this criteria, please read the following information carefully to avoid losing access to tutorials you have purchased or avoid continuing to make recurring subscription payments to a plan that will not function on our website. If you didn’t make any purchases for tutorials or subscriptions before May 27th 2020, then you can ignore this email and any future emails regarding the removal of our old system.

IMPORTANT: If you purchased a tutorial or joined a subscription before May 27th 2020, you need to follow the instructions below and take action to avoid losing your purchased tutorials or prevent making continued recurring subscription payments with no benefit.

How do I know if I have purchased any tutorials or have an active subscription from before May 27th 2020?

1. Go to YenersWay.com and log in.
2. Once logged in, click on the user icon in the top right corner.
3. CHECK IF YOU OWN ANY TUTORIALS: Click on My Tutorials (Old System) on the menu on the left. If you see any tutorials in here, then you need to follow the instructions below.
4. CHECK IF YOU HAVE AN ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTION: Click on My Subscription (Old System) on the menu on the left. If you see a ‘Cancel’ option anywhere on this page, then you may have an active subscription you need to follow the instructions below.

What do I do if I see purchased tutorials under the My Tutorials (Old System) page?

1. Send an email to help@yenersway.com stating that you have tutorials on the old system, and you want them to be moved to the new system.
2. We will take care of the rest and notify you when the tutorials have been moved.

What do I do if I see that I have an active monthly or annual subscription on the My Subscription (Old System) page?

Basically, the process here is to join a new subscription on the new system and let us know. We will then cancel your current one and adjust the free trial period to be up until the date your old subscription would have renewed.

1. Go to YenersWay.com and log in.
2. Once logged in, go to https://www.yenersway.com/join.
3. Click on the Subscribe button for the Monthly or Annual Subscription.
4. Click Proceed to Checkout.
5. Complete the steps and checkout. There will be a 3 day free trial so you won’t be charged instantly.
6. Email us at help@yenersway.com stating that you have done these steps. Please also let us know the email address of your account at YenersWay.com.

Once we receive your email, we will…
1. Adjust your free trial period of your new subscription so that it ends when your old subscription would have renewed. This way you do not lose any access that is already paid for.
2. Apply any discounts to your subscription that you previously had applied on your old subscription so that you do not lose any discounts that you had.

As of now, there is no set date for this internal change to happen. We will keep the old system in place until we have migrated all accounts to the new system.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact us.

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Fondant, Pastillage, and Gum Paste: Understanding the Differences and When to Use Each https://www.yenersway.com/blog/articles/fondant-pastillage-and-gum-paste-understanding-the-differences-and-when-to-use-each/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/articles/fondant-pastillage-and-gum-paste-understanding-the-differences-and-when-to-use-each/#respond Wed, 21 Feb 2024 12:44:45 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=31075 In the realm of baking and cake decorating, three popular mediums often confuse enthusiasts: fondant, pastillage, and gum paste. Each of these sugary pastes has its own unique properties, purposes, and ideal applications. Understanding the differences between them is essential for achieving the desired results in cake decoration. Let’s delve into the characteristics of fondant, pastillage, and gum paste, and explore when to use each.

Fondant: Versatile and Smooth

Fondant is perhaps the most widely recognized among the trio, cherished for its smooth texture and versatility in cake decoration. It is made primarily from icing sugar, fat, water, and edible gums, resulting in a pliable dough-like consistency. Fondant can be rolled out thinly and draped over cakes to create a flawless finish, making it ideal for wedding cakes, birthday cakes, and intricate designs. Fondant provides a clean, polished look, making it perfect for covering entire cakes. Fondant can be shaped, molded, and cut into various designs, such as simple flowers, ribbons, and textures, to add a decorative touch to cakes and cupcakes. Its usability is limited to sculpting intricate shapes and figures due to its soft and stretchy characteristics, which are quite needed for coating cakes perfectly without cracking.

Pastillage: Sturdy and Quick-Drying

Pastillage is a firmer and quicker-drying medium compared to fondant. It is made from powdered sugar, gelatin, water, and gums like tragacanth or tylose powder. It has no fat content; therefore, it dries very quickly and is able to hold intricate shapes without the need for internal support. Pastillage is favored for creating very small to very large decorative elements that require stability and detail. Pastillage’s strength and rigidity make it ideal for constructing architectural elements like buildings, fences, and columns on cakes. It can be rolled thinly and cut into precise shapes to create edible decorations such as plaques, borders, and geometric patterns. Pastillage decorations and centerpieces are durable and lightweight, making them suitable for cakes that need to be transported over long distances. Objects created with pastillage can be stored for years as long as they are protected from humidity and dust. Spraying dried pastillage pieces with confectioner glaze will eliminate sagging caused by humidity.

Gum Paste: Flexible and Edible

Gum paste, also known as sugar paste or flower paste, is a pliable, edible medium commonly used for crafting delicate and realistic sugar flowers and intricate details. It is made from similar ingredients as fondant like icing sugar, fat, and water; however, it has increased amounts of edible gums, giving it elasticity and strength once dried. Gum paste remains soft and flexible for an extended period, allowing for intricate detailing and lifelike floral arrangements. Gum paste has a consistency between Fondant and pastillage which makes it the preferred medium for many applications. Its elasticity makes gum paste ideal for creating figurines, and intricate details such as lace, ruffles, and delicate filigree on cakes. Gum paste decorations can be made well in advance and stored for future use, making it convenient for complex cake designs. Large figurines made with gum paste would still need internal support.

In conclusion, while fondant, pastillage, and gum paste share similarities as edible decorating mediums, each serves distinct purposes in cake decoration. Fondant offers a smooth finish and versatility, pastillage provides strength and quick drying for structural elements, and gum paste allows for intricate detailing and lifelike sugar creations. By understanding the unique properties of each medium, bakers and decorators can choose the most suitable option for their specific design needs, ensuring stunning and delicious creations every time. The best option is obtaining all three in the kitchen because there will be a need for each of them in different locations. There is no paste that we can do everything with. If you see a beautiful cake it is beautiful because it is coated with fondant, and flowers are done with gum paste but all the branches are created with pastillage which gives height and a realistic edge to the whole design.

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How to Switch from YenersWay.tv to YenersWay.com https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/switch-from-tv-to-com/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/switch-from-tv-to-com/#comments Wed, 17 Jan 2024 13:21:50 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=30776 It has been about 3 and a half years since we implemented a second website at YenersWay.tv. While there were various reasons why we introduced YenersWay.tv initially, the time has now come to move on and go back to having all our content under the one roof here at YenersWay.com.

We have had many people email us over the last 3 years stating that having two websites is quite confusing and we totally agree. While this won’t be an overnight change, we have taken steps towards a plan to switch off YenersWay.tv in 2024.​

  • We are now no longer accepting new registrations at YenersWay.tv.
  • New tutorials will only be published at YenersWay.com going forward.
  • We have now implemented a new back end system at YenersWay.com to handle subscriptions and individual tutorial purchases.
  • While there is no date set right now, YenersWay.tv will be shut down eventually. We will of course announce a date well in advance.

We hope these changes will be received well by our community and followers as it will lead to a less confusing, more unified and simpler Yeners Way experience.

What do I do if I have an active monthly or annual subscription at YenersWay.tv and I want to switch it to YenersWay.com?

To make the switch, please follow these steps…

At YenersWay.tv
1. Go to YenersWay.tv and log in.
2. Click on the ACCOUNT link in the top menu.
3. Click on the ‘Purchases’ tab.
4. Click on the Cancel Membership link and proceed to cancel.

At YenersWay.com
1. Go to YenersWay.com and log in (or create a new account if you do not have one).
2. Once logged in, click on the pink Join button in the top right corner of the site.
3. Click on the Subscribe button for the Monthly or Annual Subscription depending on what you were on at YenersWay.tv.
4. Click Proceed to Checkout.
5. Complete the steps and checkout. There will be a 3 day free trial so you won’t be charged instantly.
6. Email us at help@yenersway.com stating that you have done these steps and let us know what discount you had at YenersWay.tv as well as the email address of your account at YenersWay.com.

Once we receive your email, we will…
1. Adjust your free trial period so that it ends when your YenersWay.tv subscription would have renewed. This way you do not lose any access that is already paid for.
2. Apply any discounts to your subscription that yo previously had applied at YenersWay.tv subscription so that you do not lose any discounts that you had at the .tv site.

What if I have purchased tutorials individually at YenersWay.tv?

​If you haven’t already got an account at YenersWay.com, simply create a new account and send us an email to let us know. We will then add all your purchased tutorials to your account in the new system.

I like YenersWay.tv better!

Please let us know why you think YenersWay.tv is better and we will do our best to implement changes to YenersWay.com to make it more user friendly.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact us.

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12 Tips to Become a Better Cake Decorator https://www.yenersway.com/blog/12-tips-to-become-a-better-cake-decorator/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/12-tips-to-become-a-better-cake-decorator/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:24:40 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=26597 h2 { margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-weight:bold; }

All young people come to a point in their lives where they must decide on their career and what they want to do with their life. It is far more preferable to make money from a profession one enjoys, but for many, finding such a career is difficult. I believe cake decorating is one that does not go into that list. I see endless possibilities to express oneself and feel motivated for doing something enjoyable while making a living. A coincidence brought me to the pastry kitchen when I was 17. I fell in love from the very first day with the whole concept of pastry in general. With all respect to chefs, I noticed that it was very different from cooking. It was a craft where an artist can perform visual art in greater freedom than many other related professions. Visually, you can only do so much with food, but with cake, the skies the limit!

Pastry art and cake decorating is the combination of artistry, carpentry, architecture, engineering, chemistry, painting, sculpting, and computing. Then of course there’s baking, cooking and more.

Materials used in pastry art are so flexible and versatile that you can create working platforms beyond the kitchen bench. For example, sculptors use clay or stone to perform art. Clay has only one condition of elasticity that all techniques must marry with. The quality of stone carving can be achieved only in one direction which you can chisel out but not add on. Without going too deep with philosophy, let us see what areas you can work on to become a good cake decorator. In this article, I would like to express my thoughts on what it means to be a pastry artist with the hope to help you find a gateway to a new place with a new title…a good cake decorator. There is a great demand for pastry chefs and an even greater demand for pastry artists as there is a significant difference between the two. We all know how to become a pastry chef, and in my opinion, the following issues are critical and worth considering in order to achieve a certain level of knowledge that will lead you to become a good cake decorator.

1.Artistry

I’d like to start from the very beginning of the journey where we have to understand and accept that artistry is the most important ingredient of the recipe. Where do we find that? Well, it is in you and you just have to find out how to release it towards your fingertips under the supervision of your brain. Usually, when we meet people for the first time, we tell them our name and follow with what we do for a living or hobby. Sometimes it could be “I’m an engineer”, or it could be “I’m a doctor”, or maybe “I’m a window cleaner”. If we’ve studied or had qualifications we are allowed to add professional or casual titles to our names. Even if you greet people with “I’m a rocket scientist”, they will give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you say “I’m an artist”, often people’s first thought is “Oh yeah, sure!”. It sometimes feels like it is a little arrogant and strange to call yourself an artist because you sort of have to prove it first. It is a title that should be determined by others opinions and not your own. It is kind of similar for pastry chefs, and one must go through quite a few stepping stones to become a pastry artist or a good cake decorator. Basically the following matters are the stepping stones.

2. Enthusiasm (oil)

This is probably one of the most essential needs in all aspects. It lubricates every action and produces all the extra energy needed to complete that last painful part of an exercise. While most would say “no need” or “not necessary”, a person with enthusiasm will say “I will do the most I can”. If you have the willingness to achieve the title of ‘artist’, you must have an ample reservoir of this “oil” inside you.

3. Research

All art is copied from somewhere or something. The key here is to find the right thing to be copied. If an artist is painting a picture from their imagination, they are still copying from their mind or their imagination. So the whole ‘art’ thing is really, nothing more than copying something. Even the most original idea that we think came from nowhere, probably came from somewhere in our subconscious, which is known to store every single bit of information it has ever come across in our lifetime. So even when we think we aren’t copying, we probably are. Of course, it’s not ok to just plain copy someone else’s work but it’s ok to copy specific elements from different peoples work to make it your own. In other words, be inspired by someone else’s work. Today, with the internet, there is an almost infinite amount of information and material that is accessible to us to draw inspiration from. So put your special cake decorator glasses on and look at the world around you while trying to visualise everything as if it were made out of chocolate, sugar and cake.

4. Personal Development

For me, life is a school, and we learn all the way, to the end of it. You will never graduate from this school unless you want to give up and stop learning and start folding back. You have to develop yourself by filling your memory with as much information about pastry art beyond a teacher’s instructions. See what others do. See what magazines are talking about. What is happening in another part of the world? What is the story behind popular recipes and methods? Find yourself a mentor or two. Which country is famous for what products or designs? Who is well known as a pastry artist? What did they do to achieve that? Can I also do that? Google it. Join the groups. Socialize with like minds. Bring number one and two together to achieve number three of yours.

5. Training

I strongly believe we were all born with the ability to create things, and every one of us has the artistic ability with different depths inside us. Some of us need to be boosted with additional training. This may not necessarily be pastry art training. Take some training with drawing, painting, modelling etc. Pastry art is visual communication so any skill or ability that helps you communicate an idea visually with your cake decorating is a privilege to have. While you surf the internet ocean of information, trying not to drown, don’t forget that physical books are like little islands that you can step on and rest on. So carefully select and collect some books to create your own little library of knowledge.

6. Perfectionism

Some of us are content with what we do and resist doing it better while some of us are never satisfied with what we do and are constantly challenging ourselves. We must believe the reality of perfection is that we can only get closer to it but can never reach it. So always trying to do so, will always leave us somewhere along the way dissatisfied with our efforts. Every time we try to make something perfect, we will fail because there is simply no answer to what is perfect. Thank God for that! It would be like knowing the exact time of your death. Imagine travelling until you find the wall of infinity, what will you find behind the wall? So if you want to be an artist of any kind, never stop searching for perfection, and find your motivation and voice on this road of discovery.

7. Product Knowledge

I always said to my students, you can be a better driver if you know what is happening mechanically, when you accelerate. Same for us in the kitchen, we can be better pastry chefs if we build a relationship with our recipes and ingredients. We have to know their attitude in different conditions. Let’s think about chocolate as an edible substance. Sometimes it works like clay if you add some glucose in it, and sometimes like a stone which you chisel out, but you can also add on. You can paint with chocolate when you add additional cocoa butter or pour it onto trays in any thickness, and cut it into shapes at the right time that immediately stand vertical. You can pour it in moulds. You can add some alcohol in it to pipe nice curves, and the beauty is you can combine all these into one even using chocolate as glue. What freedom! You can even make moulds out of other pastry substances like gelatine. Different sugar dough and mixtures like pastillage, marzipan and royal icing also offer multiple possibilities in their own attitude. You can only learn these kinds of basics when things happen and if you don’t miss the chance to observe and record. Pastry artists without basic pastry knowledge will struggle somewhere along the way. My best advice is to look at the relationships between ingredients and their optimum ratios in combinations.

There is one worry about the product knowledge which is how we deal with chemicals. I believe the amount of chemicals being used conveniently in the pastry industry, has caused the decline in developing young chefs. I don’t think we can avoid it completely, but we can minimize the use of it and try to learn traditional methods and be proud of it.

8. Productivity

Pastry artists must practice in an economical sense and be employer-friendly. It also goes even if you are the boss of yourself. You may not hold your job as a pastry chef if you try to be a pastry artist and take longer to produce a picture frame than the picture itself. A good example; Chinese brush painting is when the artist can draw a goldfish in a matter of seconds but it is still highly recognised as an art. They have developed methods upon methods to be able to do it so well and so quick and they never stop asking the same question… “How can I do it faster and better?”. They must find an answer to this question every time. So, after all cake decorating is a profession that should be sustained with sufficient income and as much as we would like to, we should try not to mix it with an art execution that has no time budget.

9. Computer Literacy

Today’s technology renews itself at a very fast rate. Not only cake decorators but every single profession must keep up with these constant changes in technology. It is important not to miss the train. Become involved with technology to try to find different and more innovative ways to do things to stand out from others. This means photography, graphic design, digital marketing and social media, web design and development, research, spreadsheets and so on. All these things can be tremendously useful for cake decorators and their businesses.

10. Courses

Take some pastry art courses wherever possible. If you are unable to attend any classes due to economic or geographic limitations, there are plenty of online resources that are affordable and accessible to learn from and expand your knowledge. You have to equip yourself with as many individual technical methods as possible. How to temper chocolate, how to whip a cream, how to make a sugar rose, these are just a few of hundreds of individual methods that have been learned with their special points of what makes things good or just okay. The bigger your repertoire, the better cake decorator you will be.

11. Competitions

Now it’s time to prove yourself and find out if you are ready to be called a pastry/cake artist. Competitions are the way to go. I competed in five international competitions and have won 15 gold medals, mostly with distinction, and have twice been awarded most outstanding pastry chef and artist. I also ended up judging those competitions, and it was during this time that I learnt the most. After every competition, your perception changes and you want to try it again and again. Each competition has to be taken as a serious project and you have to be a project manager. The main tasks of a project should be chopped into smaller doable steps to be able to properly visualise and organise your available time and create a schedule for executing a detailed plan. This is where you learn self-discipline, or else you will leave everything to the last minute and fail.

12. Leadership

If you succeed in all the matters I’ve mentioned, you can be considered a pastry artist who can decorate cakes. If you also develop your artistic skills in parallel to productive professional knowledge, most probably you will be asked to lead others. Being a good leader, starts from the point that you yourself become a mentor for others, and knowing at which point it is time to start teaching and encouraging people with what you have learned.

When you have finished reading this article and you think you are not where you want to be, you have to go back to the day that you first wanted to decorate cakes and start your journey again. Find some answers to the question “what would I do differently?” Exactly at this point your pastry art will start developing. Today, I believe people’s comments that say I am a reasonably good cake decorator, but I have to add something else to that. I also understand the crucial importance of basics. This is all that I have done to be called a pastry ‘artist’ who decorate cakes GOOD.

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How to Coat Square Cakes with Fondant using Paneling Method https://www.yenersway.com/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-coat-square-cakes-with-fondant-using-paneling-method/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/tips-tricks/how-to-coat-square-cakes-with-fondant-using-paneling-method/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2020 10:23:34 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=26277 Coating square shaped cakes with fondant can be a tricky task. Especially if we want to achieve very sharp edges. One effective method is the Paneling Method. It involves coating each face separately and cutting the overhanging fondant with a blade. It does take some practice to get right but it results in a super sharp edge. Here’s the steps on how to do it.

1. Prepare the naked cake masked with ganache or buttercream twice and geometrically correct with 90-degree sides upwards and as sharp as possible edges. The sharper the edges when masked, the sharper the edges when coated. Then place it in the fridge (no longer than 30 minutes to avoid too much condensation).

2. Take measurements of the sides and top.

3. Roll four individual panels of fondant, for the sides, a little larger than needed and place them on individual square or rectangular corrugated cardboard platforms so that lifting and attaching can be done with comfort. Wait for 30 minutes for that fondant to become a little more firm and cut-table.

4. Roll fondant for the top surface, a little larger than needed and place on a firm temporary cake board, lightly dusted with starch, so that it does not stick to the board.

5. Place the cake upside down on the fondant and gently push down. The condensation should be enough for gluing otherwise use a small amount of water spray for moisture.

6. Cut 90-degree corners out of all four previously rolled out side panels.

7. Glue the sides by lifting the panels with the cardboard and pressing with the cardboard so that the geometrical shape will be maintained. Brush a little water around the joining corners.

8. Cut the extensions by using a sharp blade (box cutter) and fondant leveler to drive the blade straight downwards.

9. Remove all other extensions carefully using a blade.

10. Place actual cake board on the cake (bottom surface) and turn the entire cake upside down. Remove the temporary board from the top (the surface with the fondant). Brushing may be necessary to remove remaining starch.

There is currently no free video tutorial on this but I have shown it in a few premium tutorials. If you want me to make a video tutorial, please leave a comment.

Thank you

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Introducing Yeners Pastillage! https://www.yenersway.com/blog/introducing-yeners-pastillage/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/introducing-yeners-pastillage/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2020 02:02:56 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=26189 Hey everyone! I am very excited to announce that I finally have my very own brand of Pastillage. It has been in the making for quite some time with many many iterations and I am proud to say that it is finally ready! What’s even better is that it does not require conditioning in the microwave like my pastillage recipe that I have been using all these years. It also has just the right amount of drying time to allow you to work with it comfortably while being able to progress with your project quickly.

To purchase or to get more information about it, please visit https://www.yenerspastillage.com

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Pastillage Indian Elephant – LIVE Demonstration https://www.yenersway.com/blog/pastillage-indian-elephant-live-demonstration/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/pastillage-indian-elephant-live-demonstration/#comments Sun, 07 Jun 2020 03:58:57 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=26135 Hey everyone! Serdar did a live demonstration for Incredible India Cake Magazine Facebook Group on Sunday 7th of June 2020.

The live demonstration can viewed here.

The downloadable course material for this demonstration can be found below.

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How to Make a Sugar Building Centrepiece (The Star and Darling on the Gold Coast) https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/how-to-make-a-sugar-building-centrepiece-the-star-and-darling-on-the-gold-coast/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/how-to-make-a-sugar-building-centrepiece-the-star-and-darling-on-the-gold-coast/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2020 07:48:15 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=25605 p {padding-top:7px;} h2 {margin-top:25px;font-weight:bold;} .divider {float:left;width:100%;padding:20px 0px;} .small-divider {float:left;width:100%;padding:10px 0px;} .section {overflow:hidden;}

My Story

My love affair started with this building in 1992. It was just a few days before I first arrived to Australia. At that time it was named Conrad Jupiters and I had been appointed as Executive Pastry Chef to this Casino Hotel which belonged to the Hilton Group. It is the largest casino in Queensland and 7000 people visited daily at that time. I worked there for about 5 years until 1998 which was when started my own cake business. The building’s name changed twice since then. First it became Jupiters Casino and now it is called The Star Casino.

The second oblong shaped building in front of the casino was built in three years and recently opened its doors to hotels VIP guests. A grand breaking ceremony of this 6 star residential hotel was held in mid 2015 and I was very proud to be commissioned to build a sugar replica of it including the original Casino building. I took some pictures during the production and am happy to share with you while also expressing some of my thoughts. I also hope, this article would be a significant example of how to plan and put together such a building out of sugar.

Planning

There’s no doubt that everything has to start from producing a plan as a guideline. First we need a source of information or reference. Sometimes our sources of reference can vary in size, angles and views so we need to make adjustments. For this project I have referred to followings sources;

• Google maps
• Blue prints provided by event organizer
• Several pictures
• Several illustrations of building (3D renders from architects)
• My own observation

When all of these are ready on the table I had to answer following;

• How big is the centrepiece expected to be in general?
• What is the top view size to achieve that?
• What is the board size (includes landscape)?
• What will be the final height?
• When the centrepiece is finished, will it be transportable?

I started drawing the top view of the foot print meaning the shape of the area where the building touches to the ground. From there, I used semi transparent sheets to draw the upper levels by partially copying lower levels.

The following is the main principle to create an actual size plan referring to different pictures in the examples we have.

Reference Picture 1: Let’s name it P1 This picture is taken from the front view and from this, the width and height information is quite reliable, but not the depth.

Reference Picture 2: With this reference image taken from Google Maps, we can only see width and depth in its correct proportion, but not the height.

Next is the actual size plan of the top view. I wanted to have a width of 60cm which meant, according to P2, that the depth is 20cm.

Now for the actual size plan of the front view, we have to refer to P1 where the height is 1.5 times the width meaning if the width is 60cm, the height is 90cm.

I followed the simple principle 10ths of times to finish my actual size plan referring 10ths of different pictures.

Making Decisions

Once the plan is ready I had to make some further decisions by answering following questions;

• Q. What is the main pastes to be used?
• A. I always choose Pastillage for making buildings because of its strength. It is rigid when it completely dries and exact size walls and ceilings can be produced and joined after drying.

• Q. What is the material for the windows?
• A. For this matter, I decided to make an internal full height foil and drop cylindrical or rectangular shape PVC foil and by doing that I can illuminate the whole building with a few lights.

• Q. What is the glue to join the panels?
• A. Of course, royal icing is the best because it can be also used for some lines and can be cleaned with wet a brush.

• Q. What is the other material for extra support?
• A. Hidden polystyrene, PVC pipes wrapped in pastillage and corrugated cardboard.

Construction

Despite using Pastillage because it is rigid enough to construct very large architectural pieces together, additional support was needed so I used a long piece of PVC pipe going through the balconies. I also used a piece of folded cardboard to add additional support underneath the large connecting roof in between the two buildings. Specially shaped polystyrene was also helpful to create the slim tower in front of the original building. Not to forget I needed a very strong base board which would need to be a minimum of 20mm MDF or plywood. We could also glue and screw additional wooden bars underneath the board instead of using heavier and thicker board.

Templates and Holders

Basically, the old building begins with a large flat entry level as the vertical walls carry a big flat roof and from the top view the “V” shape building sits over that entry level. I made a special holder with polystyrene and white cardboard to achieve complete front and back walls with a rounded connection which also made it comfortable for cutting random windows and roof top pieces.

New, modern designed buildings are different. Each storey’s floor/ceiling was an individually produced oblong shape using a polystyrene holder and individually produced ceilings which were also the balconies for the next storey with a special template smaller oblong cut out in the centre. These same size centre cut outs all together will allow the tall one piece PVC foil to go all the way down at a later stage.

As a result with the complete plan on the table I was able to produce following templates and holders.
• Templates for all walls with indication of level height and window sizes.
• Templates for all roofs and ceilings with centre cut outs.
• Large “V” shape holder with rounded connections to dry casino walls in the right shape.
• Oblong shape polystyrene holders to shape new building walls.

Preparing Parts

The fun starts right here. Till this point, there was only thinking, deciding, drawing lines on paper and preparing templates and holders. I have to say that it is quite important to go through all these steps thoroughly before doing anything else. Also, all the success will depend on how correctly and accurately you do these planning steps. From this point, you will need lots of trays and shelf space to get things properly sorted and stored to dry. Most of the preparations involve rolling and cutting flat pieces in the right numbers and shapes, out if correct colour premixed Pastillage. Using very sharp blades instead of a knife is very important to achieve sharp and clean cuts.

Assembling

This is my favourite part of the process. Every piece you put together shows the difference and makes you wonder a little more about how it is developing so far. What I would like to emphasize and recommend to you at this stage is not to rush to finish. Each step should be easy to do if the previous step was taken correctly. For me, the technique of achieving this is doing a simple brain storming using yellow sticky note tags. Write every short step you can think off individually on tags without worrying about the order of things. Once you can see all the small steps involved, it is much easier to see a global map of whats involved and then you can put them in the correct order as good as you can. Just simulate the process in your mind one or two times and you will easily realize that some of the steps need to be relocated and some new additional steps need to be added. As a result of this you only worry about each step at a time and you will have a comfortable, relaxing work flow with joy.

Landscape

When all elements have come together on the ground, doing the landscaping is the finishing touche. This needs the same amount of attention to make things even better. At this point using a couple of different techniques is necessary. For small cars, I simply cut them from a block of unkneaded firm fondant in different colours with a blade. For trees, I used forest green royal icing and oats mixture 1 to 1 ratio. For streets I had a smart idea where I covered the whole board with tar colour fondant and then rolled out a grassy green fondant on top of that. Then I cut out the streets from the green fondant which made the streets automatically appear.

Lights

For this kind of project I always use remote controlled multi-colour LED lights. Not to forget I also used opaque white cellophane sheets together with a one-piece internal PVC sheet as windows to spread light evenly. Specially when I set the fading different colours slowly as a special effect, I like it most.

Conclusion

An project of this scale does not come everyday and I also didn’t want to make them more than a few times a year. With these lights in place and functioning with a touch of a button, my sugar replica of the Star Casino & Darling Apartments was completed. I delivered it to the event and it is well received. It was featured in some newspapers and covered on TV news.

As my final words I would like to say, to me it wasn’t a cake or centrepiece, it was a project and I was a project manager rather than a Cake Decorator or a Pastry Chef. I think some of you know exactly what I mean.

Thanks for reading and I hope you got something out of it.

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Introducing Cakenote – Cake Designing Software https://www.yenersway.com/blog/introducing-cakenote-cake-designing-software/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/introducing-cakenote-cake-designing-software/#respond Tue, 17 Mar 2020 05:37:21 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=25644 p {padding-top:7px;} h1 {margin-top:25px;}

After years in development, we are super proud to announce our new cake designing and pricing software called Cakenote. Although it is still in its early stages and there is still a long way to go, we feel that it is ready for prime time and we believe it is currently a very useful tool for cake decorators.

What is Cakenote?

Cakenote is an web-based browser application cake business management. Among many things, it’s mainly a tool you can use to visually design and price cakes. Cakenote is built on the idea of itemisation so every aspect of your cake design comes with specific costing and pricing settings so you can focus on designing your cakes and let Cakenote calculate costing and pricing automatically as you add elements.

These are just some of Cakenote’s features…

  • Design cakes by combining individual elements on a canvas.
  • Choose from a growing library of assets that will include a wide range of boards, cake sizes, decorations, construction elements as well as textiles and patterns.
  • Automatically price your cake as you design it.
  • Add your very own elements to be used for cake designs.
  • Automatically calculate the number of servings of your design based on predefined portion sizes.
  • Save designs as templates to be used on other designs.
  • Automatically calculate flavour and coating pricing based on cake volume.
  • Create orders with printable tags for easy kitchen operation.
  • Manage Ingredients and Recipes (comes with many of our own).
  • and much more…

How do I use it?

We understand that learning new software can be quite complicated and there may be a learning curve. This is why we have prepared some basic documentation on our Help Centre for you to refer to as well as some demonstration videos on the Cakenote YouTube channel. If you get stuck with something and can’t find the information you’re looking for or need more help, just email us at help@cakenote.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Alternatively, you can also use the chat widget in the bottom right corner of the app.

Demonstrations

We have published some demonstration videos on our YouTube channel. In each demo, Serdar walks you through the process of how to design a different cake and briefly talks about some of Cakenote’s other features. We will be publishing many more demos and tutorials in the future.

How can I provide feedback?

At the footer of the app, there are a couple of links…

Report an Issue: Use this link to tell us is there is anything unusual that is happening. Try to be as detailed as possible and explain in your best words, the steps you took and what happened.

Give Feedback: Use this link to tell us about anything you want. What you like or dislike, what could be better, what is missing, what doesn’t make sense, what is hard to understand, etc.

Of course, you can also email us at help@cakenote.com.

Our aim is to make Cakenote into a product that is useful for all cake decorators so any feedback will be helpful and appreciated.

We thank you in advance and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Give Cakenote a try with a 14 day free trial right now!

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Serdars Yener’s Annual Christmas Message 2019 https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/serdars-yeners-annual-christmas-message-2019/ https://www.yenersway.com/blog/news-events/serdars-yeners-annual-christmas-message-2019/#respond Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:41:44 +0000 https://www.yenersway.com/?p=25459 Dearest friends, members and followers,

It is time again to address you all together and tell you from the bottom of my heart how much I appreciate your closeness. It is time again to feel more love in the air and smell the sweet spice of all the goodies and yummies in every corner.  It is time again to hear more jingling bells and the soothing music of choirs. Let me roll the time back and start from the beginning of the year.

Jo and I have travelled quite a bit, and the year 2019 is filled with unforgettable memories. In March, we were in Canberra at Jenny Stirzaker’s  Across The Board Cake Decorating. It was so much fun to teach her bubbly students. In May, we took off for Ireland. The first stopover was Singapore, where we visited the jaw-dropping Jewel at the Changi airport. Next was Greece, where we visited the Acropolis. Then we ticked off London’s Big Ben before heading to Dublin. We ended up at Karyn Hudson’s Cakers World for two classes. Of course, we did not leave Dublin without visiting the Guinness old factory for a beer and tasting the famous Irish stew. In Paris, we visited the Eiffel Tower and Champs-Elysee. It was the few other highlights of our trip before arriving at Kim Wiltjer’s farmhouse in Groningen, Holland, for five classes. We met with the amazing artist Kim back in 2017 for the first time at ACADA Brisbane and to see her again, spending two weeks at her fantastic rustic style studio was an enjoyable experience. Windows surrounded the classroom, with greenfield scenery. It was beautiful.

On the way home, we also visited my birth city Istanbul, which has over 17 million population. Meeting up with some of my childhood and work friends, enjoying authentic food together and talking about memories was so enjoyable. I also visited the resting place of my parents and brother to pay my respects.

Came back home in late June and in August, we demonstrated at the Australian National Cake Decorators Seminar held in Melbourne. In mid-September, we were at Khushi Malani’s Cakeology India, and ICA. I was so humbled and honoured meeting my most welcoming Indian followers. It was also lovely to see Cake masters editor Rosie Mazumder again.

November was the last trip of the year to China’s Nanning, where we visited Jo’s (my wife) elder sister’s family. I would recommend anybody to go and see this high tech city.

Most importantly, we finally published our cake designing and management software called Cakenote in late November. Please visit Cakenote.com and check it out if you have some time. We also have an introduction offer on at the moment which you won’t want to miss. 

On behalf of my son Serkan, my wife Jo and the rest of my family I’d like to thank you again for being so kind to know us as Yeners Way, Yeners Cake Tips and now also as Cakenote. We wish you an abundance of health, enough wealth, heaps of love and peace at your home, neighbourhood and country. May God fill your hearts with love, Merry Christmas to you, your family and let 2020 be the best year of yours and your loved one’s lives. 

Serdar Yener and Family.

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