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Comment by chona montalvo on May 29, 2010 at 10:40am

honey grace school taught us to make rolled fondant, i think this is far better because it's a lot cheaper than the ready made fondant sold here or in the us which is expensive and the cake looks stunning too . the ingredients we used were glucose,,glycerin, pow sugar..i see, cora pido doesn't teach, sayang! heny sison ang sylvia reynoso are based in manila, they don't normally go to provinces to teach their craft...but i know one from cebu, chedz cake, she teaches decorating too.

Comment by Mara Jesena-Wuerth on May 29, 2010 at 1:37am

No, we don't. If we want to be in this business, we have to be on top of our game. We have to be dynamic in style and design, we have to have something new to keep your customers coming back for more. The reason why I introduce new flavors every season and offer some really basic ones. What is great is that the internet has allowed people like us to learn and not necessarily pay the big bucks. I am trying to get into a Ron Ben Israel Class, which is my way of trying to learn more. I bet fondant is extremely expensive, what kind is available there? Cora Pido doesn't really teach, we were family friends. But her cakes are one of the best that I have ever had. Her decorating style is probably old school, like royal icing and buttercream.Filipinos in general are very artistic, so it makes sense that we would be drawn to this.

Comment by chona montalvo on May 29, 2010 at 1:15am

that's nice to hear you're an ilongga too... actually in bacolod, the only school that teaches decorating is Honey Grace cakes and school of decorating, it is owned by honey grace catalan, she studied also at heny sison shop, sylvia reynoso and, maya kitchen, she took decoration classes also at wilton in the US, actually it was her husband who taught the decor and honey grace does the baking, they owned a cake shop too... other than that? i don't know anymore.. with regard to tools and supplies, i only know one, it's called Teppee, owned by Mrs Coo.. that's where i get my ingredients...i ordered some of my tools from wilton-manila(distributor)Access Springboard...and it's really mahal...i guess because of the shipping from the US...if you want to venture in that kind of biz, i think it's nice... sa 'yo na lang ako bibili...i'll try searching cora pido in the web...i might visit her place if i have the time and try to check if i can enroll, thanks to you...i guess we should not stop learning, should we?

Comment by Mara Jesena-Wuerth on May 29, 2010 at 12:17am

Well, thanks. Actually when I saw that you are from Negros, I was immediately drawn to you. I grew up in Iloilo. Anyway,I am excited to see my kababayans taking such interest in cake decorating. I thought about going back to Manila and opening up shop, but did not think that the present economy can sustain my business. So I might go in a slightly different direction and start sending cake decorating supplies and tools from here to there. I am still too busy trying to get my line of sugar flowers off the ground. Are there a lot of schools there teaching cake decorating, professional level? I actually took a class from Henny Sison while I was there, but the best teacher I had lessons with is with Cora Pido, in Iloilo. She owns a bakeshop called the Birdhouse. Really good! Filipino's I would say have picking taste when it comes to cake, they like it soft and not too sweet.

Comment by chona montalvo on May 28, 2010 at 10:48pm

my interest on cakes and cakes design started when i was a teen-ager, but i didn't pursue it , because my parents insisted that i took a bachelor's degree, so after graduation, i worked in a radio network for 20yrs, since baking is my first love, i personally made and design cakes for my love ones in between leaves from office... i don't have a professional background on baking and designing like you until i resigned from my job in 2005 and put up a bakery store(selling breads only) to customers in our place ... until recently i enrolled in a local school for baking and cake decorating.;..i'm now practicing what i've learned but i think i need to learn more design using sugar paste or gum paste.. thank you for offering your advise... i just opent your site, it was marvelous ( posted it on my favorites sites)

Comment by Mara Jesena-Wuerth on May 28, 2010 at 9:50am

hello chona, Yes, I own a small cake business here in las vegas. I am a clasically trained chef, but my focus was not on patissier. I am pretty much self taught when it came to sugar flowers. Good luck to you and your cake business.Let me know if you need any info on anything. It's great to see my kababayans doing well in this field. Check my business site http://sweettoothcakes.biz.

Comment by chona montalvo on May 28, 2010 at 8:28am

hi mara! are u a prof cake decorator? did u make these all yourself? these are fantastic cakes! how did u do it? i'm planning to put up my own cake house or store here in our place and i simply love your cake.