Essays

AYISHA SMITH ADVANCED WEDDING CAKE DÉCOR Study report
I do not know how many people can say that they were able to realize their dreams and accomplish them, but I have. I was fortunate enough to receive another scholarship, for which I am eternally grateful, from the CHTA Education Foundation to grant me this opportunity once more.

The title of my course was Advanced Wedding Cake Décor. I know you may be wondering how I jumped from Fundamentals to Advanced? The CIA no longer has an Intermediate Wedding Cake Design class. I was terrified. How could I do the advanced work when I have not been able to fully develop my beginners’ skills? I was able to get over that hurdle with the help of my fellow Hilton Barbados colleagues Jana Greenidge and Cordelia Bannister, who were also doing the same course, and by believing in myself.

The course was scheduled from 7:00 am – 1:30 pm. Check in time for the course was 6:30 am so there was no lie-ins for a week!

DAY ONE
Chef DiFilipo introduced himself and gave a basic overview of the course. I learned the importance of keeping up to date with current cake trends & ways to differentiate myself in the ever growing cake world.

One of the most important things when gathering information from potential clients is making sure you portray their personalities so it comes across in their cake design. To accomplish this, questions should be asked about their favourite colours, preference in flavours and if they have any styles in mind just to name a few.

Chef DiFilipo showed us some decor materials that create unique looks to give a cake the extra oomph. Embossed rolling pins, dusting colours, and flower cutters just to name a few.

DAY TWO
Chef DiFilipo demonstrated how to make flowers, sculpt a cake and how to cover a cake in fondant. Our assignment for the end of the course was being able to decorate a cake and also be able to sculpt a cake as well.

The Chef demonstrated how to make calla lilies, and roses from gum paste. Gum paste is a really pliable sugar dough, and because of its high sugar content it dries very quickly, but it makes excellent, realistic flowers. It contains an ingredient called gum tragacanth which gives it its pliability.

Before I could start my cake I first had to draw a design. Although the sketch is an idea for what you would like to do, you can always tweak it. After this I started to cover my cakes. I decided to make a three tier cake. I made a sculpted heart for the top layer and the other two tiers were round. I used the colour scheme of white and yellow.

DAY THREE
Chef DiFilipo demonstrated how to sculpt a pillow. The Chef also showed us how to make leaves, stephanotis, hydrangeas, and leaves.

The Chef also demonstrated steaming the dusting powders or lustre dust as it is also known, to give it a shimmery effect. He also showed us how to mix the colours with a little alcohol to paint onto the cake in intricate patterns.

We also started to add the finishing touches onto our cakes.

DAY FOUR
Our final hours were spent putting the final touches onto our cakes and getting them ready to display to the other Chef Instructors and students. During the four days of the course we had many visitors, who quite interested in our designs.

At the end of class, we got to critique our cakes, by doing this I was able to say what I liked about it and what I needed to improve on.

CONCLUSION
The course was exciting. I was able to learn about my other classmates, and to see how diverse our ways of thinking and creating are.

Cordelia, Jana and I were asked to do the cake for the fourth anniversary of Hilton Barbados. A challenge we took up with gusto, seeing that we only had two days in which to prepare. It was exciting to showcase what we learned to our fellow Team Members, hotel guests and the public of Barbados as it was featured in the newspapers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With the completion of this course I have had more insight into the world of cake decorating. I have realized that there are numerous designs and techniques to give my cakes a unique style.

All of this could not have been possible without the help of:
• The CHTA Education Foundation – who granted me the scholarship
• The Knot Inc.
• Hilton Barbados Hotel – for providing me with the opportunity to exceed my expectations
• Mrs. Angela Garraway-Holland - Executive Chef Hilton Barbados
• Mr. Hugh Prince - Senior Pastry Chef
• Mr. John DiFilipo – Chef Instructor of The Culinary Institute of America
• My family
• Everyone who encouraged me in making this possible.

Thank you from the bottom of my choux pastry heart.
Ayisha Smith


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