Wedding Cake Designer, Sweet Things By Fi, opens her first cake boutique in Gibraltar

What can I say other than I am so proud of Fi and her latest achievement of opening her first gorgeous designer cake shop, Sweet Things By Fi, in Gibraltar.  

Fi´s shop is a true reflection of her personal style and is a delightful piece of shabby chic heaven and much more importantly filled with gorgeous cakes!

So much thought and design has gone into this beautifully presented shop. 

I have been privileged to have been slightly involved having been sent wallpaper samples to look at, colour swatches, kitchen tile samples and watched Fi as she transformed pieces of furniture with beautifully chosen paint colours and seen her strive through what seemed mountains of paperwork to finally open the doors to present a beautiful showroom to showcase her work and host clients.

 I feel like Fi´s surrogate mother so I am bursting at the seams with pride as I have had watched Fi´s huge talents along with determination start this business from scratch to becoming one of the most talented cake designers here in Spain.  I have to mention at this point the continuing support of her fabulous hubby, Clark, who has been a mainstay in supporting Fi in her business and been an absolute rock throughout. 

I fear I maybe banned from visiting her cake shop due to the fact I steal her cakes, I am sure there will be some sort of Laura alarm system in place shortly attached to every cupcake :(!

Here is wishing Fi every success and if you wish to get in contact with Fi please visit her webpage Sweet Things By Fi.

The gorgeous photos were taken by Marea Thompson of Lucky Girl Weddings and do hop over to Marea´s website too for some wonderful eye candy or to see more of Fi´s shop hop over to Marea´s blog.

Springtime Blossom Cupcake Decorating Class by Sweet Things By Fi

We are delighted to announce Fi's Springtime Blossom Cupcake Class will be held at our shop on the 24th March and we already have bookings so be quick as there are limited places left.

You will learn how to create stunning accent cupcakes, adorned with handmade sugar roses and fantasy flowers, and you can wow your friends when you create your own cupcakes at home with your newly acquired skills!

Buttercream piping skills will also be taught.

The Springtime Blossom cupcake class, we think, will be Fi's most popular class, as it focuses solely on the decorative side of cupcake making and sugar flower design just in time for your Easter entertaining!

At the end of the class you will be the proud designer and owner of six beautiful vanilla and chocolate cupcakes that can either mirror Fi's designs above or be completely new if you are feeling creative!

The class will last for around 2 ½ hours and refreshments (and cake!) will be provided throughout.

All our classes have had positive feedback so perhaps this is a good excuse for you and your girlfriends to spend an afternoon together!

For more information please contact Fi on 697229088 or send her an email to mail@sweetthingsbyfi.com

Romantic Blossom Cupcake Class by Sweet Things by Fi

We are delighted to introduce our first cupcake decorating class hosted by Sweet Things by Fi at our wedding studio on the 8th February. 

If anyone does not know Fi's work or indeed has not eaten one of her cakes they are truly missing something and life is not worth living until you do! 

Fi is one of our favourite wedding cake designers, whose creations continue to amaze our clients and us, plus she buys me creme eggs so I am heavily blackmailed!

Fi's first cupcake decorating class will be held at our shop, based in Elviria, on the 8th February from 3pm until 5pm.

The theme of our first cupcake decorating course is Romantic Blossom Cupcakes.

Fi will bring the freshly baked cupcakes and each student will be provided with 6 cupcakes each, 3 chocolate and 3 vanilla along with all the decorating materials to create beautiful cupcakes ready for you to take home. 

You will learn the art of creating sugar craft roses, pearl and bows as in our photo above and get to take them home.

Fi's cupcake course is 60 euros per head and this includes tea, coffee and cakes to test along with a lot of fun plus 6 fabulous cupcakes unless we have eaten them first! 

This cupcake decorating course is limited to 6 people with a minimum of 4 people so first come first served but there will be more classses to follow.

If you would like to book this class please contact Fi on 697228088 or email her on mail@sweetthingsbyfi.com

To view Fi's website and see her amazing creations visit

http://www.sweetthingsbyfi.com/

A Vintage Spanish Style Wedding Inspiration

OK I am on a roll again and this is thanks to one of my brides booked for next August whom, it is emerging, is hugely creative and has got my brain ticking!

Sarah sent me her Save the Dates today and they are to die for :) I won´t publish them until she lets me, but honestly they really are fabulous, with a wonderful vintage spanish theme.

If I said vintage and postcards were out yesterday, Sarah has changed my mind :)!

With this wedding now in my thought process, I have been scouring the internet and have found this fantastic Spanish themed photoshoot on Green Wedding Shoes.

I just love all the details, the only thing I am not sure about is the succulents on the tables, they are different but perhaps not weddingy enough for me, given it is a Cinco de Mayo, Mexican style shoot though I can see the logic and the style behind it, but have fallen head over heels with the Dulce bags (next candy bar in mind now!), the papel picado flags and bunting that we have yet to use at a wedding here surprisingly, along with the Margarita cupcakes (Fi and Mark I hope you are reading this!) Unfortunately for me, I am completely allergic to anything tequila based, something I learnt many years ago twice!

You must head over to Green Wedding Shoes to see the talents behind this fantastic inspiration.

Forget the cupcakes and Macaroons! Here come the Jellies!

I have always loved the simplicity of jelly and have been an avid fan of this gorgeous wobbly stuff since I was tiny so you can imagine my delight when I read about Bombas and Parr and I love the quirky jellies created by these culinary whizzkids.

They are bringing the light hearted touch of kids nostalgia to the grown up world and these jelly towers made with these gorgeously coloured jellies in all shapes and sizes are just such a new and fun idea.

These jellies are served in mind boggling flavours such as lemonade, strawberry and raspberry and blackcurrant and berries, how refreshing for a hot summer wedding served with some ice-cream. More exotic flavours include Prosecco and Gold, Glow in the Dark, Flaming and Striped Clementine, I wish I had known about these when we were creating our fire and ice party last year, they would have been the WOW factor for the night!

I do think we are going to see some very creative ideas this year as retro jellies join balloons in making a comeback to weddings!

I have no doubt all the hotels and caterers here are now beginning to dread my next foodie idea blogposts, sorry guys! :)

Macarons or Cupcakes?!

Wedding world is in turmoil as the once humble but gorgeous Macaron is overshadowing our favourite cupcake!

Sex and the City started the cupcake boom but Gossip Girl has fetishized the humble macaroon, with Starbucks recently carrying a limited edition of macarons, it seems the little french confections are everywhere!

And how delightful they are too with these gorgeous sorbet colours presented in delightful boxes. They are certainly becoming a popular choice for weddings this year, although I have yet to see them at one of our weddings but working on this one and need to find a supplier here in Spain that makes them, as they will make a wonderful addition to a candy desert table.

My 'thing' though is the packaging as always, to have these macarons presented in to die for gorgeous boxes tied with some fabulous ribbons and I would be in heaven if presented with one of these at a wedding!

Whilst I blog away you must visit some sites I found today, Bobette & Belle and La Duree, well worth heading over to take a look

Valentines Glam and Glitter

I love this gorgeous glittery Valentines shoot by Forget Me Knot Weddings and Sitting in a Tree Events, so girly and fun with lots of glitter, mini meringues and cupcakes, what more could a girl ask for apart from flowers and shoes of course ;)

This setting would be perfect for a bridal shower, birthday party for a girlfriend or just a good excuse for a bit of girly glamour.

The Enchanted Fairy Garden Party

How excited was I when I found these fabulous photos on Mark's blog Cake Marbella.

Having begged Mark to let me post these wonderful images, I found I was already watching this blog on my blog roll and lo and behold the photos came up again!

I was delighted to see it was the Marbella Mummies, Katrina and Nicola who run 'Fiesta Fiesta' which organises original, fun and creative parties to suit all ages and all budgets.

We love the creativity that went into this party and Mark your cupcakes look to die for :) When are we going to get our samples?!

More Candy Bar Heaven

It is amazing what you stumble across whilst searching for ideas and how many hugely talented people there are, I came across Geoff White's site the other night and the photographs are amazing, here is just a small selection of some fabulous candy bars from various weddings, certainly the wedding cake takes a back seat now and has been taken over by these fabulous sweet and treat offerings for guests, either incorporating the cake, for the traditionalists who still like to cut the cake or the latest rage of cupcakes. I love the way these tables are themed with the colours and the details that go into them.

Christmas Cupcakes

Not being particuarly good at cake baking, the festive spirit has taken hold of me and my new Nigella Christmas cookbook is about to be tried and tested, but as usual for inspiration

I have googled Christmas Cupcakes and come across these fabulous photos on brandoesqblogspot.com. I fear my attempts at baking over the next few days will not produce anything like these but I can do a mean turkey!

Cupcakes in Marbella

Memories haunt me and I will never forget going into a very tempting spanish bakery about ten years ago, one rainy afternoon, with my husband and greedily buying a whole bag of what looked like delicious cakes, only to get home and be overwhelmed with the taste of cinnamon. I so remember the disappointment.

The cupcake trend is new here in Spain and after much investigating in 2008 (and testing!) we have joined up with a wonderful cake maker here in Marbella who can create beautiful cupcakes rather than the dubious spanish versions, forgive me! Here are some images of her cakes from a wedding in September, they were lovely, cake toppers available from our online shop. We will also be stocking filigree cupcakes holders and matching confetti cones in our new online store, for more information please email us.