Canada Baking & Sweets Show 2011

I attended the Canada Baking & Sweets Show, Saturday, October 1, 2011 – it was a great event for both tasting and sampling some delicious baked goods, but also for buying some new cake decorating supplies and tools. At the show I attended a Halloween cupcake decorating workshop – where the instructor demonstrated four cute Halloween faces. I checked out all the amazing cake creations at vendor booths and in the competitions. This picture of Buddy Valastro was a really cool collage we saw part of the process of making and when it was complete. I was there on the ‘Cupcake Girls’ day, but the Sunday was ‘Cake Boss’ day – and they made this cupcake-portrait using fondant coloured circles, hundreds of them, and several hundred cupcakes. Very neat!

I will say next year – I think if the format remains the same, I would pass on the workshops. It was neat to see the instructor quickly crafting the fondant decorations, but not nearly as exciting for presentation as any of the cake decorating TV shows, nor informative enough to say I really learned another new by way of tips or tricks.

Two show highlights for me include meeting Heather, from the Cupcake Girls – it was great to meet her, take a photo and speak about how I have my own cupcake business. Second, I was thrilled that Flour Confections (where I usually get a lot of supplies) and Golda’s Kitchen were there.

I have always bought cupcake liners, and other supplies from Flour Confections (they have a fantastic online ordering process) – so I was happy to take advantage of some of their deals and show discounts – saving the shipping was an added bonus!

Golda’s Kitchen I had always planned on going to – but never made it. I can now say it is worth the drive for me from Aberfoyle to Mississauga. It was hard to not buy one of everything, but I did end up spending $200+ and bought tons of new decorating tools. In my haul I took home some scallops cookie cutter circles in a range of sizes, some alphabet cutters in a new size I didn’t already have and – something new – a rosette iron – which I am going to be debuting at an upcoming date at the Guelph Farmers’ Market. Now if I can only convince my soon to be mother-in-law to teach me the family recipe for rosettes!