The team here at ISAC is always trying to make things better, easier and more efficient for our customers and friends.  There are many ways we can accomplish this.  We can do this the old-fashioned way and send out surveys by mail; or we can make phone calls to everyone.  But surveys by mail just get tossed in the trash can (at least that is what I tend to do) and who has the time to make all those phone calls?   

With the age of computers and fast technology, the internet is a much better option for these types of things.  There are a lot of websites that ask their users to leave a review about a business, like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Google or Ebay to name a few.  The more reviews that a business gets, the better the business is perceived and people who read the reviews will be more inclined to use that business if others have given it a favorable review.

So, based on that introduction and without getting too technical…. We would like your help.  Would you consider writing a review for ISAC?  We would love to hear about your thoughts, suggestions and creative ideas about how we are doing. 

Hello!  Have you been missing the weekly blog that used to come out from ISAC?  Me too!  Stephanie did a wonderful job keeping us up to date with everything going on with the team at ISAC and Chef Nicholas, but she has decided to move on to bigger things (taking care of her family!)  Thank you Stephanie for all that you have done!  Your blogs were full of information and lots of fun!!

So what’s next?  Well, I’m happy to announce that I have the privilege and honor of being the person that is going to continue what Stephanie was doing and deliver the weekly blog on behalf of ISAC!  My name is Susan and I would like to welcome you to a new series of blogs that will give you all the latest that is happening with Chef Nicholas and his entire team at ISAC. 

First, I want to give you just a little about myself.   I have been a cake decorator and involved in the sugar arts for over 25 years.  I love to make sugar flowers, decorate, travel and mostly play with sugar!  I am a member of the International Cake Exploration Society and the Treasurer of the Florida Chapter.  I have met so many people and made life long friends in the sugar industry.  It’s hard to say what is more fun, playing with sugar or meeting new friends!

Chef Nicholas received an early Christmas present late last week- he was honored by Bake Magazine! In their annual Twentyfive special edition magazine this year, they decided to honor the top 25 educators and mentors in the fields of baking, pastry, and chocolate. Many names on the list were familiar (Norman Love, Jacquy Pfeiffer, Marina Sousa, Mark Seaman, Bronwynn Weber), but the most familiar name was NICHOLAS LODGE! Yay! 

It's that time of year again. Those lucky students in Chicago who attend the French Pastry School's L'Art du Gâteau get Chef Nicholas' full attention for two weeks’ time. Chef Nicholas naturally teaches the Cake Decorating Techniques portion of the 16-week program. This is an intensive program. Imagine taking ALL of Chef Nicholas' classes in less than two weeks’ time, and you'll understand just how much these students learn in a short amount of time. 

These students are training to be professionals, like many of you readers have become. As I said, this program is no joke. Here is a snippet from the French Pastry School website concerning the course outline:

• The foundation of fondant, buttercream, royal icing, and modeling chocolate. (9 hours lecture; 52 hours lab)
• The foundation of gumpaste decorations and piping skills. (8 hours lecture; 52 hours lab)
• The foundation of chocolate and sugar decoration. (9 hours lecture; 52 hours lab)

Let's count that up. That is 182 hours of cake decorating instruction. That is seven and a half days. Think about that, they are learning fondant, buttercream, royal icing, modeling chocolate, gumpaste, piping, chocolate AND sugar decorations. Think of all the classes you have taken, think of the time it has taken you to learn ALL of the skills in those areas. Of course, under that general "gumpaste," it includes botanically correct flowers! Sugar decoration includes pastillage, pressed sugar, pulled sugar, and blown sugar. So again, look at everything these students are taking into their cake decorating brains in only 182 hours. The days are often very long, and start very early. 

If you follow Chef Nicholas on Facebook, you will have seen the class projects from his students. Usually the students create a set of cookies, a Sweet 16 cake, and a wedding cake. Chef Nicholas shares the vision boards and then the final cakes that the students create. When Chef Nicholas posts these photos on his Facebook page it is unbelievable how many people post with really supportive, admiringly, and complimentary words. My favorite part though is when the students themselves get to respond to the thoughtful comments that people have left in admiration for all the hard work put in. I'm not even a student and I find all the compliments so gratifying. 

 What do you think? Would you love to be a student in L'Art du Gâteau at the French Pastry School? Or do you prefer taking classes with instructors at your leisure, or at cake and sugar art shows? No matter how to walk down your cake decorating career path, learning from Chef Nicholas is always worthwhile. I wish all of the current student's learning with Chef Nicholas the best of luck becoming amazing cake decorators and pastry chefs!

There are still seats available in these great classes this summer at ISAC! Click the links below to register now. 

Renshaw Academy Master Certification Class with Chef Nicholas Lodge, 10/13-10/22

English Over-Piped Elegant Wedding Cake with Ceri Griffiths, 11/7-8

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie 

Our goal is for you to be completely satisfied with your Amazon order! If for any reason this is not the case, we would appreciate it if you would give us a chance to address your concerns, before leaving feedback or a review, by emailing us at customersvc@nicholaslodge.com. We would be grateful if you would leave us a positive feedback and review of your Renshaw Fondant. Leaving feedback seems like such a little thing, but it has great impact on our business and we would greatly appreciate your time in leaving it.

2017 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

WINNER of the 2017 Golden Tier Educator of the Year Award

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas Lodge: 2015 Finalist for the Cake Masters Cake Hero Award

TODAY IS THE DAY!!! HOORAY! Today is the day that Chef Nicholas Lodge and Katy Sue Designs launch their brand new, exclusive new line of flower molds! This is a huge deal you guys! Chef Nicholas and Katy Sue Designs have been working on this project for quite some time, and they are proud and excited to announce all five molds and veiners as well as the companion book! Chef Nicholas will be going live on Facebook twice today, at 8am EST and at 1pm EST. Both of these Facebook Live events will take place in the Facebook Flower Pro group. This is a closed group, and you have to request to join- please do so now so that you can watch. Don't worry if you are unable to watch either of those livecasts; you can always watch the playback at any time! But hey, let's check out the new Flower Pro line right here in this post!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple years, it's impossible to escape the allure of rose gold. This warm hue has become omnipresent in tech gadgets, makeup, clothing, jewelry, and even cakes. Rose gold even inspired the 2016 Pantone Color of the Year 2016- Rose Quartz! Makeup artists and fashion designers claim that the warm shimmery rose gold is universally flattering on all skin tones, one claimed it will add radiance to your skin! Um, yes please! Who couldn't look more radiant? This color is literally everywhere. I recently visited Walt Disney World Resort, and you can find rose gold shirts, sparkly backpacks, jewelry, and even rose gold Minnie Mouse ears!  Ya know what? I am totally in love with rose gold. Growing up my grandmother had beautiful rose gold jewelry, and as a little girl I loved it because it looked pink! So seeing that rose gold have become so pervasive makes me giddy. While I love it, I was not the driving force behind this week's post. My illustrious co-conspirator, I mean co-worker, Molly mentioned that given its popularity, we should spotlight the color with a blog post. Done and done! 

Chef Nicholas Lodge is widely accepted as a master in this field of cake decorating. He has been in the industry for over 40 years and has been teaching for almost as many years. People from all of the world have taken classes with him; Chef Nicholas has taught in 26 different countries. Not to mention the distance that some of his students have traveled to take classes with Chef Nicholas in his home classroom at ISAC in Atlanta. What kind of class would inspire someone to travel from an entirely different country, continent, or hemisphere? How about the first ever Renshaw Academy Master CLASS!!!

Just this week Chef Nicholas added one of his most popular classes to his summer class schedule: 5-Day Ultimate Gumpaste Flower Class! YAY! This is a class that consistantlygets requested, fills up, and sells out. What makes this class so very popular you ask? Well, buckle up, because it's a doozy!

Well. I have been mentioning for months that the Nicholas Lodge International Sugar Art Collection is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. On July 17, 1992, Chef Nicholas and Scott opened the doors to ISAC, and here we are 25 years later ready to celebrate this momentous occasion. I mentioned last week that only one third of small business make it past the 10 year mark; only one quarter make it past the 15 year mark. Well, ISAC blew past 15 years TEN years ago! This is a very big deal to the entire ISAC family. All of our hard work and dedication has always been for our loyal fan base. 

Because ISAC would not have made it this far without our students, customers, clients, friends, and families, Chef Nicholas and Scott are hosting an anniversary party at our Norcross, GA retail gallery and school! There will be yummy refreshments, and some fun prizes and giveaways!

We always love getting new products in the retail gallery at ISAC! It is even more exciting when we know the product comes from a high end vendor like Katy Sue. In the past, I had written a blog post about the Katy Sue Creative Cake System molds. Now I am pleased to share three more Katy Sue silicone molds that are newly arrived to ISAC: mini butterflies, blossoms & birds, and rose stems. 

The categories for the 2017 SoFlo Cake Competition have been announced! Yay! Chef Nicholas was instrumental in choosing the categories and will be the lead judge! This year there will be three categories: Wedding Cakes, Theme Cakes, and Non-Cakes! Let me tell you all about it!

Well everyone, here is the last blog post of 2016! I think it best to go out with a bang. Yes. People are always asking when Chef Nicholas will be coming to their town. Well, those of you in (or near) New York City and Orlando, Florida are in luck! Chef Nicholas is heading to both cities NEXT month! So, if you have Christmas money burning in your pocket, why not sign up for one of these great classes!

There is less than two weeks to go until our 2016 Grand Holiday Open House!! Following the tradition that we began last year, ISAC will again be hosting two fantastic guest instructors- Wayne Steinkopf and Steven Stellingwerf. Chef Nicholas will also be debuting two brand new products in his demonstrations!

Last year at our Grand Holiday Open House, Chef Nicholas debuted these

gorgeous poinsettia's as part of his then upcoming Craftsy class!

We are smack dab in the middle of our HUGE 13-day PME Master Class! The students have already conquered rolled fondant and they are two-thirds finished with the royal icing module. They will finish up with five days straight of gumpaste flowers! If you know anything about Nicholas Lodge, you know that flowers are his game, so it's fitting to end a two-week class on such a high note. I myself have been a busy bee- printing class textbooks, getting practice sheets made, printing recipes, and preparing the diplomas and master certificates, that I realized I didn't have a blog topic for this week! But thanks to a suggestion from Scott, I realized that I could share some Chef Nicholas gumpaste flower magic with all of you too (his students shouldn't get to have all the fun)!

How exactly can I share sugar flowers through a blog? Well, because Chef Nicholas has a new book out with SIXTEEN different types of beautiful flowers: Spring & Summer Flowers in Gumpaste. Has there ever been a sweeter sixten? I think not. In fact, there is even a chance to win this new book!

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!

Big, big news to share! The wildly popular tour and class that teaches essential business skills to make real money in the cake industry: Business of Baking! Michelle Green and Sharon Wee say that, "It’s time you felt how amazing it is to invest in your business and yourself. Yes, we believe you can make a living doing what you love. We’re here to teach you how." You can join in on the business building fun on Monday, September 26, 2016.

This past Sunday was Mother's Day in the United States. To celebrate, an extremely talented group of cake decorators (all "Mama's Boys) collaborated and designed and created cakes in honor of their mothers! Each cake had to include a sugar flower, so what would this collaboration be without our very own Chef Nicholas! All of the cakes were debuted this past Sunday, and each and every cake is so beautiful and different, that Chef Nicholas and I wanted to share the video with you. Some of you may know that Chef Nicholas was very close to his mother, and she always encouraged and supported him throughout his career; he credits her with making him the person his is today. 

"Life is fragile like a sugar flower: beautiful to look at, but broken in a second."

I hope you enjoy the stunning work of all the gentlemen in the sugar fraternity, and be sure to wish your mother a belated Happy Mother's Day from everyone in the ISAC Family! A BIG thank you to Sharon Spradley for putting together this fabulous collaboration, and reminding us how important mothers are!

Sweetly yours, 

Stephanie

Don't just follow our blog! Follow Chef Lodge on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Flickr, and Tumblr!

Winner of the 2015 Craftsy Blogger Award for Best Craftsy Cake Decorating Instructor Blog

Chef Nicholas has been in "the biz" for quite some time, and he is always on the lookout for tools or tricks to make decorating cakes easier, faster, or more efficient. If you have taken a class with him in person, on Craftsy, or watched one of his demos, then I am sure you have had a moment where he uses a cake decorating tool (or even a common kitchen tool) in a new and innovative way! I cannot tell you how many times I heard, "Oh, man! Why didn't I think of that?!" or "That's going to make things so much easier!"

Well, sometimes you need something that just doesn't exist yet- necessity is the mother of invention after all.  Well, Chef Nicholas has recently debuted three new items in his exclusive NL E-Z product line to make cake decorating easier for everyone! Oh, and there may just be a fantastic special offer in this blog as well!

At our Spring Open House earlier this month we debuted some brand new piping tips by In2Food (you may be familiar with their spokesman, Joshua John Russell!). Joshua has been giving lots of sneak peeks at these tips on his Facebook page, and we were so excited to see the tips in action and share them with all of our favorite people (you!). Since not everyone who reads our blog could attend our event, I thought I would write up a little blog post about these fantastic tips and show them in action!

Just look at all those flowers! (Photo: Joshua John Russell)

Did you know that March is National Craft Month? Neither did I. What does National Craft Month have to do with cake you ask? Well, this year, quite a bit. Because I am lucky enough to work for Chef Nicholas, I am also lucky to work with Craftsy and deliver you not only Chef Nicholas' wonderful cake decorating classes, but also classes in food and cooking, sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, photography, jewelry making, painting.... the list goes on and on. Each of these fields help you to hone different crafts in your life, and each instructor is an artist. 

Craftsy is celebrating National Craft Month in the most generous of ways. Giving back. Sure, Craftsy could run some glitzy sale and entice you with deals, but sometimes helping others is more important. For the next two weeks (now through March 13, 2016), every time a student purchases a Craftsy class, they will be entered to win $1000 for the craft-focused charity of choice! Think of how much $1000 could help a charity and change a life!