Carys' Cakes

During the summer term of last year, the school offered me a chance to have a weeks work experience at a place of my choice, as long as the place agreed and the school thought it was acceptable and safe. I chose to go to a small yet successful shop in Rowlands Gill called Cake Crafts. Cake Crafts is a small cake shop and business run by husband and wife. They sell everything under the moon that might ever be required within cake decorating, as well as taking celebration cake orders such as weddings, birthdays and christenings. I, myself, had been a regular customer since they became situated there a few years ago and to this day continue to rely on them for my every day cake decorating needs. It was the fact that I knew the owners, along with my passion for and desire to  learn more about cake decorating and sugar work that lead  to me to instantly chose Cake Crafts as the place that I would carry out my weeks work experience.
Whilst on work experience, I was given an insight into not only the practical side of cake decorating,  but also the business side of things and how things run in the shop. I spent some days in the shop, helping out with small yet helpful tasks of packaging orders, cleaning and tidying shelves, arranging ribbons and inserting data onto the computer. These small tasks, although appear insignificant, helped me a lot when it came to learning the ropes of keeping a business running smoothly and effectively.
I spent the rest of my time helping with practical activities. I helped create the insides of different flowers that were to be used on a wedding cake, as well as doing the occasional little things her and there that in the end would contribute to a masterpiece. However, the main task I found myself faced with on this week full of sweet experience is presented in the image included on this post. Myself and Karen, the lady behind the whole business, sat down and spent most of the week creating the top of a cake. We made a Hiker And His Dog scene including little details such as sandwiches and a flask. This task was meant for nothing more than to teach to me some skills and learn step by step how to create amazing scenes and creations using sugar paste. My finished scene is what the image included shows; although definite room to improve, this was my first attempt at anything so skilfully challenging and by the end of the week was very happy with what I had produced.
I walked away from the cake shop on that last Friday full of knowledge and understanding of how business works and most importantly, I was full of new skills, techniques and ideas to be used in my own kitchen. I was inspired to start working on a project straight away and I have carried my new understandings with me to this day and applied them to every small order that I, myself have been lucky enough to attempt. I wouldn't, ever, have been able to produce the cake topper that I did on work experience and I would never have been able to tackle any other cake related challenge since. My passion for sugar work was simply enhanced even more.