2 Guys and a Wedding cake...

I cant believe it's all over. It hasn't even been a month since I met Abigail Klopper at Canal Walk when she referred me to doing the wedding cake for the 2 Guys and a wedding campaign for Heart 104.9fm. It has been crazy from the first meeting trying to get everything organised. I had to come up with a design that was brand worthy as well as suitable for a grand public wedding. The request was for cupcakes and the colours used to be black, white and red. The number of guests would be at about 250.

So I pondered, and finally decided on a design for the cake stand and also on the flavours to use for the cupcakes and the tier that the "groom & groom" would slice on the day. Let me first show you the initial design elements to the cake stand. I was under guidance by my eldest brother Ross Southern as he is a carpentry genius. He not only supplied the tools for me to hand-make this monstrosity of a design but the technical input needed to put it all together...

After marking out the circle boards for the cupcake stand I tackled them with a jigsaw, there is something quite therapeutic about using power tools :)

The four tiers, each with a hole in
the center, are fed over an erected
PVC pipe and separated by 3 pieces
of PVC pipe of a larger thickness to
divide the tiers

The questions marks which make up
the Logo for the wedding show I
traced by blowing up an image of the
logo and placing onto an overhead
projector (remember those old things
we used to use at school?) and traced
the image onto large paper. I then cut
them out of the same wood used for
the boards.

This 3 way question mark makes up

the fifth and final tier that the cake

will be made up of. It will be attached 

to the other half of the board with a 

PVC pipe attached to it and fed through 

the center of the Cupcake boards, as you can see to your right. The polystyrene ball in the center makes up the dot for the question marks.

So now the baking began and I started from the top down. For the top tier, to be cut by the couple, I made an Amaretto and cocoa fruitcake. For that extra hazelnut taste I spread the cake with Nutella and then covered it in marzipan and fondant icing.

Cupcake time!!! Here are the flavours that the wedding party would be tasting on the day...

1. Red velvet cupcakes with Orange cream cheese frosting
2. Dark Chocolate and coffee cupcakes with triple chocolate ganache
3. Coconut, white chocolate & cardamom  cupcakes with royal icing & toasted coconut

As I had limited space and time in which to organize the baking of these cupcakes I had to think carefully. A friend of mine, Jessamie Jardim, makes the most amazing red velvet and as she refused to give up her recipe I asked if she would bake me 70 of her delicious sponges to use for my creation.

As I couldn't bake 140 cupcakes in my brothers kitchen I had to source and industrial sized kitchen to aid me in my strife. I asked the guys at the famous Compass Bakery for the use of their ovens and after an initial reluctance they offered me the use of one of their kitchens as a 1 off favour to which I am still in debt. Thank you so much to everyone at Compass for all of your help in lending me your facilities!!!



So now I had 210 cupcakes to ice on a Friday afternoon, roughly 18 hours prior to due delivery time. I got cracking in my brothers small yet equipped kitchen. To cut a long story short, I finished the last one at 4am on Saturday morning :)

The last thing I had to do was put together the 2
grooms that would stand on the top tier of the cake,
sculpted out of fondant, held together with florist
wire I had to dress these grooms in tuxes and having
them looking sharp. Easier said than done when you
have to make the clothes yourself :)

Well, here goes guys I hope you like:

 

I know the photos aren't the greatest quality, its only a phone camera after all but I will post the photos from the photographer as soon as they are all done, for now, here are some previews:

Either way I hope that you have enjoyed reading about this as much as I enjoyed making it, and wish you were all there to taste :)

Radio station morning...

So today was the day that all the foody suppliers for the "Two guys and a Wedding Campaign" met at the studios of Heart 104.9fm for a tasting and interview. Well I arrived to be greeted by some esteemed suppliers to the hospitality industry such as:
Diedre Taylor, Marketing manager of Diemersfontein Wine and country estate (http://www.diemersfontein.co.za/)
Llana Kahn, Representative of Cofferight, Mobile coffee bar solutions (http://www.coffeerightct.co.za/)
Darren Hoffman, Representative of Oyster King (www.oysterking.co.za)
Jonathan Proudfoot, Matthew Boulton, Finance and Marketing managers of Dish Food and Social (www.dishfood.co.za)

I arrived with my cupcake samples that are going to comprise the wedding cake that I am doing and I arrived to Darren wearing a leather bound suit with buckets and oyster shuckers, Dish food with plates upon plates of delicious looking Canapés such as Hoisin duck pancakes, mini lamb burgers with brie cheese & mint Jelly and so much more. We sat around waiting for our respective interviews whilst being hosted so well by the team at Heart 104.9fm.
After tasting Darrens freshly shucked oyster and Dish's amazing canapés I was already full by 7:45am. The interview with Phat Joe which went surprisingly well considering my nerves and the fact that there was someone getting their breast tattooed in studio just to get an invite to this weeks massive Gay wedding, the lengths that people will go hey...

Well anyway Llana does amazing things with coffee. I will try and get the photo that she showed me of a dragon drawn into the froth of a cappuccino...totally whack! :) Deidre’s Pinotage from the estate was an incredible paring with my Chocochino Amaretto cupcakes and after a glass was treated a show by a couple of belly dancers balancing swords on their heads that are going to also be at the wedding...CRAZY STUFF! And considering all of this happened prior 9am, what an eventful day?

Will keep you all up to date with how the Cake goes...

Cocktails and Canapés anyone???

Blue cheese mousse, puff croute, kudu carpaccio and sesame seeds

Chicken liver pate tartlets with caramelized onion marmalade

Fresh figs with fig chutney, pistachio cream and wonton garnish

Kudu carpaccio sushi, with brie and avocado, soy dressing and khetafi garnish

Mini Pavlovas with Figs, blueberries and pistachio crumbs

Pineapple and onion salsa with potato strips,capsicum puree and hibiscus salt

Smoked salmon parfait with tapico

Spinach, Ricotta and Parma ham tartlets with parmesan Crisp

One of my favourite things about being a chef and working so closely with food is the attention to detail! When you sit down and order something, you simply look at the produced result and decide... ok this looks like something I can enjoy! But for me working with food is about so much more than just the result at the end of the day, it is about food preparation, understanding flavours, knowing which textures compliment each other and which ones should be left for another day! Deciding on a tantalising menu of canapés to compliment an evening of colourful cocktails takes time and consideration! Here's what ultimately went down....like a treat!

PARTY TIME

Being a good chef means being able to handle any situation thrown at you, and no by that I don't simply mean juggling hot potatoes or rescuing the rice from burning, I mean meltdowns, not only in food but in clients as well. For those of you who have had the divine luxury of catering for a kids parties you may know what I mean... When kids are hungry there is no time for mistakes! Between creating great food and keeping your customers happy, this is one juggling act that as a chef, you have to learn to master!

IM GETTING MARRIED IN THE MORNING...

A range of wedding cakes, decorated with handmade fondant flowers. These are from a project in 2nd year, the one in the foreground is mine. 

Birthday gift cake: 3 tier Chocolate and pink vanilla sponge with strawberry Icing and fondant decorations

This display cake is a scale model replica of the Orange Restaurant kitchen in Nelspruit. It has all the staff handcrafted out of fondant and then strategically placed in the Kitchen...I didn't sleep for 3 days before the delivery :)

Nope, for those of you who are wondering if I have actually undergone the stresses of planning my own wedding, I can smile and say, 'No, not just yet'. I have however created some awesome cakes during my time in the kitchen thus far! I have a huge passion for baking and love anything that entails icing and patterns, and possibly something that holds a little challenge for the imagination! Below are some of the  cakes that I have done... Let me know what you think!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND...STEP by STEP

Hi guys,
I thought that some of your creative chefs would like to have an inside look onto the madness that was making the novelty Alice Cake! Here are a couple of pics...

THE MAN IN THE CHEFS JACKET...

Hi Food Lovers! 

Thanks so much for visiting. I just want to thank Meghan for a wonderful introduction. She is not only someone I have worked with but a true friend of mine who is very dear to my heart, I love you Bell!
So as you know and for those of you that don’t, I have taken on the challenge of making the craziest wedding cake Cape Town has seen to date. Not only is the Wedding an OTT reality radio show by Heart 104.9fm, but it is celebrating the Unity of a gay couple that are to meet each other on their wedding day on the 26^th March 2011. I know...right?
The opportunity was presented to me whilst checking out the Bridal Convention recently held at Canal Walk Shopping Centre. I was put in touch with the station and after a meeting and a few emails I agreed to take on this monumental task of a 250 portion wedding cake as well as taking on custom designing the OTT Cake stand to hold this giant of a pastry.

Many people ask what it is that I do and it is a very difficult question to give a short answer to. I have been exposed to many opportunities since starting at Silwood Cookery School back in 2007. Some of which have been more enjoyable than others but where I have found my passion lies is in expanding my own experiences and knowledge through adventures and challenges that are presented to me along the way.

For example, in 2009 I departed South Africa for the 1^st time since obtaining my diploma and an STCW’ 95 Marine fire fighting and first aid course. The plan was get to the Mediterranean in the hopes of finding a job on a private yacht working in a galley. Sounds great...it wasn’t. I was advised by a certain company here in Cape Town to go to the Med and work in the off season, November time. This was an easy move considering my wonderful father blessed me with an ancestral red passport of her majesty’s finest, so getting to Europe would be a breeze. It was when I got there and started networking and handing out my CV that I got the confused looks from agencies as if to say “WTF are you doing here?”.
Rumour has it that due to the recession there were no Jobs available and even Michelin star chefs were being given the boot, for the off season. So in a ripe panic, and with my tail between my legs I decided to go over to London, UK. For the sake of ease and an adventurous social life I fell out of the kitchen scene all together when I got there. I worked for a company doing sales representation for corporations such as Sky television and Orange business mobile. It was fun working the normal hours and earning a decent basic with an even more decent commission but ultimately I was not where I wanted to be in terms of my career. I managed this for 6 months before the boredom got to me and I had to move.

My move at this point was based on many aspects. I had a girlfriend at the time, who was/is also a young and extremely talented chef. We got a job together working in a pub (www.timewellspent.info) on a manager/chef couple basis. We agreed between us that she would tackle the kitchen and I would try out the new aspect of FOH. I was happy to expand my ever so adventurous repertoire of experience so it wasn’t a hard move.

We lasted there for 3 months before a culmination of relationship, work & financial frustrations, as well as missing the World cup 2010 here in SA, became too much to handle and we decided to return to SA.

After together managing a catering company in Nelspruit we realised that working together was not really conducive to a successful relationship so work-wise we went in different directions . I started freelancing as a wedding and novelty cake creator. One of which was for the re-branding of the Orange restaurant in Nelspruit (see below) that was headed by my girlfriend at the time.

From that came the referral to do the rendition of Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland cake. This was a very stressful yet exhilarating cake to do. I was trapped by my own imagination, that was running wild with me. The design I pitched was over the customers budget but I still wanted to do the design so to the best of my ability I did the cake within a very tight budget.

So once done with Alice and her entourage I came down to Cape Town to work as Private chef to a wealthy international family whilst they Holidayed over 2010/2011’s beautiful new year’s summer. It was a tough job which had me going far beyond the call of duty to please this wonderful yet intense family that I was working for. It presented amazing and heartfelt opportunities such as cooking for and meeting the understated yet legendary F. W. De Klerk.

Whilst I was house-sitting their opulent mansion in Kalk bay I started assisting the food editor at Top Billing on a number of occasions for work in the March and April editions of the Top Billing Magazine. This was when I knew that I wanted to manage my own life and work how I want to work.

I travelled inland over Valentine’s day of 2011 to the small yet Beautiful town of Clanwilliam. Remember Meghan? Her mom owns the most incredible guesthouse called “The Yellow Aloe” (www.yellowaloe.co.za), a holiday destination of epic magnitude.
I was asked to design a 3 course Valentine’s Day dinner menu as well as teach the staff how to manage a higher level of catering standard and expand their general knowledge of the kitchen. This was interesting considering the head chef was in her eighth month of pregnancy...but I was taken aback by their overwhelming dedication and how easy it was to teach them and this developed into a feeling of intense joy within myself to be passing on knowledge to others who would use it to thoroughly better their own lives.

So where do I stand at the moment, I am not yet settled but I am most certainly busy. After I complete this cake of epic proportions, I intend to visit Clan William again to run a short cooking course. I have also been graced with the wonderful opportunity of going to work temporarily in the Seychelles over the Easter period of 2011. I should be back in Cape Town by mid-may and I am hoping that you will watch this space to see where I might end up. I have enjoyed spending this time with you and I appreciate you giving me the time by reading about me and my experiences.

Here are a few picture of my work that will hopefully tell a few more words than I have time to write.

Extreme Cake Creations:

Alice in Wonderland Novelty Cake:

Mad Hatters Hat: White Choc & macadamia brownie.

Cat: Alternating layers of chocolate & vanilla Madeira sponge cake with Nutella ganache and brulee Italian meringue icing.

Mushroom & teacup: Decorative with nitrogen special effects.

HELLO FELLOW FOODIES...

Simon Orviss, exclusive freelance chef takes his international experience and marries it with his love for food and passion for gastronomic excellence! After completing a 2 year diploma from the renowned Silwood School of Cookery Simon has risen to the ever challenging demands of the culinary world, making him one of the country’s hottest new pair of hands to have in the kitchen. Making fine-dining a way of life, Simon has a vast knowledge of all aspects of the kitchen from extreme cake creations to kitchen consulting and staff training. Lending his expertise to esteemed publications such as Top Billing Magazine and catering for the likes of past president F.W De Klerk. Simon has thrived under the pressure of last minute requests, major private functions and fast approaching deadlines! “

Meghan Spilsbury

Features Writer: Top Billing Magazine