With our Grand Holiday Open House just a few weeks away, I know that you are all looking forward to seeing all of the fun tools that Chef Nicholas, Chef Reva, and Chef Tunde will be sharing in their demos. Usually our Open House events turn into a bit of a shopping frenzy. But, never fear! I am here to share an easy tool that will allow you to make a list of all the cake decorating, cookie decorating, or sweets making tools that your heart desires!

I am excited to tell you all about the WISHLIST feature on our website! You can send the list to someone who may need help giving you a gift, or you can search for a friend's wishlist to surprise them with a gift, or use it to save items you'd like to purchase later. The ISAC wishlist is very easy to use, and I am going to show you how! So... who's ready to make some wishes?! 

First of all, you need to go to our website; if you are reading this blog, chances are you are on our website right this very moment! Just in case, it is www.nicholaslodge.com. Click on the shop button, and then once the shop page opens, you will click on Wishlist at the top.

Chef Nicholas, Renshaw Americas' Brand Ambassador, has been in Liverpool, England all week. He, and the nine Brand Ambassador Partners, have been having an amazing time visiting the Renshaw headquarters! On Monday they took a fabulous tour of the Renshaw Factory, seeing where all the amazing products are made (not just for us, but for the royal family as well!!). They also got to spend some time at the state of the art Renshaw Academy!

Well, I didn't think it was fair for those lucky ducks to get all the Renshaw love. Nope. So I wanted to share some of my own Renshaw goodness with you, including their new, and absolutely AMAZING, color guide! 

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires will come to you!"

When you wish upon our SITE (our website that is), you can have all that your heart desires too! I am excited to tell you all about the wishlist feature on our website! You can send the list to someone who may need help giving you a gift, or you can search for a friend's wishlist to surprise them with a gift, or use it to save items you'd like to purchase later. The ISAC wishlist is very easy to use, and I am going to show you how! So... who's ready to make some wishes?! I might even be able to grant someone's wish (be sure to read through to find out how to win!).

First of all, you need to go to our website; if you are reading this blog, chances are you are on our website right this very moment! Just in case, it is www.nicholaslodge.com. Click on the shop button, and then once the shop page opens, you will click on Wishlist at the top.

If you are reading this blog, you're likely into the sugar arts and decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and the like. That means, you MUST know about the Mirror Glaze trend that is dominating the cake decorating world right now. Basically, it is a glaze with a very shiny, mirror-like finish. There are tons of cake decorators using mirror glaze now, blogs are a buzz with directions on how to make the glaze. But I'm not here to tell you how to make it. Nope. I'm here to tell you that we are selling pre-made mirror glaze at ISAC, in three colors/flavors!

It's almost time for the 2016 Sweet Fest Business Convention!! This September 23-25, 2016, business owners in the sweets industry can head down to Atlanta to attend this fantastic event. This conference is a bit different from your average cake/confectionary convention because it focuses on the business side of the industry, rather than the artistic side. Let's be real, it doesn't matter how beautiful your cake design is, or how mouthwatering your cookies are if you don't know how to attract, appeal to, and retain customers. This business savvy and fun convention is more than a trade show, competition, or expo. It is aimed at Sweet Entrepreneurs who want to learn how to grow and manage their business by sharing business knowledge and tools specific to our industry! Oh, and guess who is one of the presenters? Chef Nicholas!

In the ISAC family, everyone has their job. Chef Nicholas designs cakes and teaches classes, Scott takes beautiful  photos (and makes the best cookies), I write the blog, and Molly is in charge of making sure we have tons of fantastic products for everyone to enjoy. One of my very favorite things is when Molly tells me we have fun new products in the house. That means we get to try them out and tell you all about them! This is one of those blog posts- new product here for your cake decorating pleasure!

Today we are going to talk about what you can do with rolled fondant. And I'm not talking about covering you cake! Chef Nicholas has two techniques to change things up with rolled fondant that students just go bananas over when they learn them for the first time: modified rolled fondant and softened rolled fondant.

Hello everyone in cake decorating land! I am back with another wonderful tutorial from Chef Nicholas Lodge! This one I am pretty excited about, I really love the design and how easy it is to recreate at home or in your bakery. Friends... I'm talking about the Rose Cupcake! Chef Nicholas has taken a simply cupcake and turned it into an incredibly life-like, edible rose. Bridal showers, weddings, Mother's Day, baby showers, elegant ladies lunches, gardening club meetings- these cupcakes are perfect for these occasions!  How about I stop with the chit-chat and just get to the telling you how to make your own rose cupcake part?!

Photo: S. Ewing

Hey guess what?! Today's blog is a decorating TUTORIAL!!! Hooray! Chef Nicholas has decorated some really adorable cookies with an Easter theme, so I thought I would share them because Easter is this weekend AND the techniques easy! Best part, even though the techniques are easy the designs are sure to really impress all your friends, families and clients! Chef Nicholas demonstrated these cookies at our Spring Open House, and they were so popular among our guests, I knew I had to share it with all of you too!

I'm a big fan of sparkly cakes. Wait, let me start over. I'm a big fan of sparkly everything! When Molly (ISAC's most famous customer service specialist) suggestion writing a blog on edible sequins, I was totally on board! I started by talking to Chef Nicholas about the methods he shares with his students, searched Craftsy classes, and finally researched methods online. I have quite a bit to share with you, so let's get started!!

Fantastic Floral Favorites!

Happy Thursday dear readers!! Today my humble offering is another Flavors of the World segment by Chef Nicholas! Chef Nicholas has a very refined, sophisticated palette, and he just loves floral flavors. I'll also be sharing two delicious recipes developed by the man himself- Vanilla Lavender Shortbread Cookies and Rose and Pink Champagne cupcakes! But enough about me; I'll let Chef Nicholas share his floral story with you.

It's Cookie Time!

Have you ever enjoyed a sweet, spicy, and crispy gingerbread cookie? Do you love rolling, cutting, and decorating scores of sugar cookies during the holidays? Have you ever wondered why cookies are such a big part of the winter holiday food tradition? Well my friends, in honor of the International Sugar Art Collection's Grand Holiday Open House this weekend, I thought I would research everyone's favorite holiday treat.

I was reading over all of the blogs I have written for ISAC so far, and brainstorming about what I should share with everyone this week.  One of my favorites was Fondant- This is your Life. I thought it was fun and informative. While researching that blog, I came across some really interesting facts about the history of rolled fondant that I didn't know beforehand.

I also really loved all the positive comments shared by you, our readers, about both blog posts concerning Chef Nicholas' gumpaste recipe and his pre-made commercial gumpaste. I did, however, feel like something was missing. Fondant, gumpaste.... what is missing from the holy trinity of cake decorating? 

Cake Organization at its Sweetest!

If you have taken a class with Chef Nicholas, in person or on Craftsy, then you know how well organized he is while teaching and that he keeps a very well organized classroom. In classes, student workspaces neatly include all the tools needed for each particular class. This is a helpful and much needed necessity considering how many tools are used in the lessons!  When the Nicholas Lodge line of cake decorarting products were developed, more than just tools were designed- orginaztional supplies were created to work seamlessly with the tools in the NL line as well as the tools cake decorators already have in their tool boxes. While brainstorming for blog ideas, Chef Nicholas personally suggested sharing one of his favorite products- the NL Multi Purpose Holders!

Welcome to Sweet Tricks and Cake Tips! This will be a short, periodic blog segment that will introduce you to cool cake related tips and tricks, fun instructional videos, and brand new tools from the Nicholas Lodge (NL) product line! What interesting item am I sharing this week, you ask? Well, all you gumpaste flower makers are going to love it! May I introduce: