Getting Ready For Black Friday?

In case you wanted to get a little shopping done early, CalJava is having a Black Friday sale, good from now until 11/26. So hurry! If you want, email Judy and we'll try to get free shipping for everyone's orders!

I know the busiest season of the year is upon us, making less time for the fun things, like coming to our SAGNFL meetings. So I would like to give a shout out to the ladies that could make it to our meeting last week! Thanks for coming and making adorable pumpkin pie cupcake toppers.

 

Next month we are planning something really great! We hope all of you can join us in having a Treat Swap! Just bring a dozen or so of your favorite treat. It can be cupcakes, cookies, brownies, candies, bars, cake pops, etc. When we get together, everyone will swap their treats. It makes for a fun time, plus you'll get to try lots of new goodies! If you would like, you can also bring the recipe to share.

Hope to see everyone next month! 

And hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! 

Meeting Tonight!

Just a friendly reminder...We have a SAGNFL meeting at 7:00 pm at the South Mandarin Library!

Check out the previous post to see all the fun things we will be making and discussing.

Hope you all can make it!

Meeting Coming Up!

Hello Everyone!

Is anyone as excited as I am that Thanksgiving is just around the corner?! To celebrate at our upcoming meeting, we are going to be making some adorable pumpkin pie cupcake toppers!

You may have seen the tutorial on Cake Central recently. They are very simple and fun to make! If you would like, you can bring your own supplies, or you can use some that will be provided.

Here's the list if you are interested in bringing your own supplies:
- 3 colors of fondant (white, light brown, and dark brown)
    *You can substitute caramels for the dark brown
- Fondant smoother
- Ball tool
- A knife or cutter (X-Acto knife, pizza cutter, etc.)
- Small rolling pin 

 That's it...I said it was a simple project!

In addition to the pumpkin pies, we'll be discussing the Guild's upcoming participation in January at the Normandy Community Center for Hero Bakers.

Also, we will talk about the Cottage Food Act, which I wrote about in the last post. If you would like, I could bring in a letter for your Representative complete with your information. For this, I would need your name, address (to find out which Rep. is yours), telephone number, and email address (all to "sign" at the end of the letter), which you can email to sagnfl@hotmail.com. Of if you would like to write a letter yourself, I will be bringing in a sample letter, paper, stamps, envelopes, and pens.

Hope to see you all in two days!

Cottage Food Act

Now that the November 3rd elections are over,
it's time to get busy! 

In order for the Cottage Food Act to become a law that will allow us to sell home baked cakes and other goods, we will need Representatives from Florida to help us get this bill passed. And in order for that to happen, we need to make it known that there is a need for change! Please help us inform the Representatives that there are many bakers (and friends and families of these bakers) who are on a mission to have the law changed! If you would like to help, send a letter to your local State House Representative (which you can find by clicking on this link). Just click on the "Find Your Representative" button on the top, left hand side of the page and fill in your information. There may already be letters being sent to them, but every letter will count and hopefully persuade the Representative that this is an important matter! If you are unsure of what to write, here is a sample letter revised by Barbara Schmal that can be copied, then emailed or mailed in. You can also call your Representative with the number given on the same website. To make sure our voices are heard, it would be best to keep writing, emailing, and calling every week!

Also, if you or someone you know is willing to contact (or has contacts in) the media, radio, tv, or newspaper, it could help by getting more people aware and involved. The more we have, the better!

Barbara Schmal is the lady behind the online petition that I posted about previously. If you have any questions or can offer more help, please contact her at  krazyaboutcake@gmail.com

Now let's get busy!!!

Our Time's Almost Up!

For this year, that is. Can you believe it's November already?! That means there are only 2 meetings left this year! And they will come earlier each month because of the Holidays. So, mark your calendars now for November 18th and December 16th! 
Same place, same time.

Hope to see you all there!

Wilton Wonders

How many of us cakers started out with Wilton? I know I did, and I also know I'm not alone! Wilton is always looking for more instructors to help others get interested in cake decorating. Are you interested? Here are some reasons our newest member of the Guild, Andrea (Welcome, Andrea!) has for loving her position as a Wilton Cake Decorating Instructor...

1. They are a well known and trusted brand by many people. They may not make molds and things like that but they make most everything you need to make the majority of cake decorations.
2. They are easily accessible to any one. All you have to do is go to a craft store and there they are.
3. They start with the basics. This may be why a lot of seasoned decorators don't like Wilton but I see this a positive. If Decorating hopefuls didn't start at the basics they would be too stressed out learning the advanced sugar arts. Its actually amazing how many people don't know how to make buttercream or ice a cake properly.
4. They just revamped their courses to make them more modern. There are only 3 courses now, The first teaches the basics of baking, buttercream, frosting a cake, piping, and flowers on cakes, cupcakes, and cookies. The second teaches royal icing, several more flowers, basics in cake design and composition, and an introduction to fondant. The third teaches fondant, how to cover a cake with fondant and how to make bows and flowers with fondant and gum paste. Once someone has all these basics the sky is the limit with their creativity. Wilton is a great stepping stone!
5. On a personal level, you get to take people who know next to nothing about sugar arts and you show them that they can create something special. I love watching my students get excited when they decorate their first cake in class or when they bring me a photo of a cake they made for a loved one. I gave them the ability to do that and its such a great reward. Not all of them will end up keeping up with it but a lot will use what I have taught them in the future and its a wonderful feeling.
6. You get paid! Most people need a little extra cash and this is a fun way to earn some. You are doing something you love, having laughs with new people and you get paid to do it. Its a win-win!

Well said, Andrea!

Andrea currently instructs at the Hobby Lobby on San Pablo and Beach Blvd, but is moving soon and would like to find a replacement instructor. If you live in or around this area, now's your opportunity!
If you are interested in becoming a Wilton Instructor, please email Andrea at andreaplumley0409@hotmail.com for more info about a position!