Sunday, August 21, 2011

James Rosselle Weekend Workshop

This weekend I had the pleasure and opportunity to learn from one of the world's premiere cake designers James Rosselle of Elle Cakes. A two day workshop hosted by Ro'z Sweet Art Studio provided an inspiring lesson in everything wedding cake from textured fondant to gumpaste florals to lace applique. Here's a pic of the blossoming students hard at work:


The gumpaste flowers were a highlight as my love for flora and fauna was nurtured in the art of sugar. Gumpaste flowers are often a two day process because the flowers need to set overnight. We created two blossoms this weekend, a peony and two tiger tulips. James taught all the tricks of the trade in creating these beautiful blooms by way of cookie cutter, flower veiner, and egg shaped drying molds. James allowed us to experiment with his new line of products from N.Y Cake. A few of which I had to add to my collection of cake tools. The center of each bloom had three glittery isomalt beads which gave each flower a fantastical touch. 



We also learned to create ribbons and bows. Though this was a lesson already learned, I found that James had his own take on doing even the most basic of techniques. I too may originate my own style of composing such details. The bow and ribbon may take a little longer to hone as I found it to be my weakest skill in the cake building process.


The lace applique was a technique I lad also previously learned but had not executed prior to this workshop. The process includes rolling out gumpaste with a pasta roller which thins the gumpaste evenly then running the paste through the roller a second time with a piece of lace on top. The piping side of the lace should be faced down into the paste which will give it that indentation. James suggested using cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes to arrange onto the cake, but I opted out of the cookie cutter and instead cut out my own variation of appliques from the indented paste. I borrowed the idea from my wedding dress which also had cut lace appliqued onto the base of my gown. The designs were very light because the lace itself was petite so I dusted each cutout with luster dust to enhance the embossing. 


Here's a pic of my final product. I'm pretty happy with the end result.



1 comment:

patricia said...

I'm always so impressed with your work!