Lindy’s cake decorating workshop dedicated to all things patterned… stripes, spots, checks, marbling, millefiori

As one of the worlds leading cake designers Lindy Smith is always pushing the boundaries of design in sugarcraft. So it will come as no surprise to you that she was never going to be content with colour blocking of sugarpaste! Enter the art of paste patterning. Today’s workshop is dedicated to all things patterned… stripes, spots, checks, marbling, millefiori. The sugarpaste will not remain one colour for very long. Lindy has perfected techniques in paste patterning and in true Lindy style has created a step-by-step class that is easy to follow and yields impressive results. Guaranteed.

We are joined today by six cake friends. Lesley was given a voucher to attend a Lindy workshop for Christmas. This is her first sugarcraft workshop and judging by her enthusiasm, I think she may have caught the sugarcraft bug. Kelly and Nikkie are new students but have clearly worked with sugarpaste before! Sharon is back hot on the heels of doing Lindy’s Stencilling Techniques workshop, here to learn another skill for her repertoire. We last saw Avril way back in 2009 when she attended Lindy’s gorgeous ‘Purrrfectly Exotic Cat’ cake carving workshop. Recently Lindy was the guest demonstrator at In-Toto kitchen’s in Amersham and Anne won a voucher in the raffle to attend a Lindy Smith workshop. She is no stranger to Lindy’s Cakes having completed four Lindy workshops. Impressive Anne!

Lindy started this class with the marbling technique blending green colours which have ended up decorating Lindy’s watering can and Wellington boot cookie.

We have now moved on to stripes and spots. Inspired by a fashion page in a magazine showcasing clothing by Top Shop and Aquilano Rimondi, Lindy is doing her own version of couture in sugar. With a ‘Clash’ theme that is very on-trend right now, it’s all about mix and mismatching of the boldest and brightest prints. Lindy loves!  Lindy is creating black and green checks and stripes and is putting them onto her fitted dress cookie in a typical Lindy manner.

Some years ago I fell in love with MILLEFIORI after seeing Lindy creating it in her studio at work. It’s such a pretty Italian word which means ‘a million flowers’ and the delicate pattern that can be created is quite stunning… and yes even sugarpaste can be Millefiori’d. It certainly has the wow factor usually followed by ‘how do you do that” comments.

Lindy is using pink, white, melon and a Wedgewood blue coloured paste for her Millefiori. For this technique Lindy uses the ‘Sugar Shaper’ a contraption that initially frightens our students but after a Lindy tutorial they wonder how they ever coped without it! Have a look at our blog post if you need more info on the sugar shaper. It takes time to make Millefiori but the delicate pattern you achieve is truly worth it. Anne certainly mastered the technique, to see her creations and those of our other enthusiastic students  please click through to the class photo album on our Facebook page (N.B. You don’t have to be signed up to Facebook to view it).

Technique led classes give you endless possibilities but know-how is they key! Which is where Lindy comes in, she is passionate about sharing her knowledge and whilst watching the pro at work makes everything look so easy, the reality is that these techniques are not overly difficult you just need to know how! Paste patterning is a super way a giving your work a bit of pizzazz… your cakes and cookies will love you for it!

Be different, work outside your comfort zone, try something new, use colours you wouldn’t normally work with, be inspired by the best… join us on a Lindy Smith workshop.

Check out our website for more details.