A Different Sort Of Homework

As I teach Fruit & Vegetable Carving - to the unsuspecting public - I thought I would share some of their work with you. Most of these ladies have never done this sort of stuff before in their lives but they have come up with some imaginative pieces here.

My classes run for about 7 - 8 weeks & most of the images are from the last few classes of the course.


Cantaloupe Melon


Butternut Squash


Carrots & Beetroots


Papaya


Papaya


Piel de Sapo Melon


A Completed Fruit Display


Watermelon Basket with Radish & Carrot Flowers


Watermelon Basket with Radish & Carrot Flowers


Piel de Sapo Melon, Apple & Red Globe Radishes


Galia Melon with Various Garnishing


Watermelon with Radish & Carrot Flowers


Galia Melon with Radish & Carrot Flowers

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

You may have noticed a slight change to the blog (!). This may happen quite often, you see we like to experiment.

Less Sugar, More Fruit & Veg!

Firstly I'd like to apologise for my lack of entries. Sorry Najma & viewers.

I recently lost my work folder which was more annoying than anything else & it life me a bit down-hearted. But thankfully I found it again - a week later - in exactly the same classroom I'd left it in! I hadn't realised how much I was relying on paper though..

Ok, to the article. Last year I was involved in a Community Day project for a local school I work for, Mulberry Schoool for Girls, in the Tower Hamlets area of East London. The following images are from that day.

I was given ample space to freely display & advertise my work, on behalf of the school, & engage the local community into pursuing free activities. Here is some of the work I did. But I'd like to dedicate this article to the singularly most helpful, selfless & thoughtful person I have met since I have moved to the big city - Sabina Khan, my employer.

I have found it quite hard here & though people are generally 'nice' it all comes across too shallow & superficial. It's like everyone is afraid of something. Maybe outsiders like me?! But Sabina has been exceptional & it has been so easy to work with her. Thank you Sabina.



A Bouquet. This vase of flowers was made up of various fruits & vegetable. We have butternut flowers, with globe radishes, the vase if from Ikea(!) & is filled with alternating discs of oranges & limes. Another online inspiration.


Triple Marvel. This next image has a papaya in the foreground, which got badly bruised in transition, a honeydew in the centre & a watermelon in the background. The honeydew was my favourite in this because I carved a flower on the other side, hollowed out the middle & filled it with fresh flowers.

Cantaloupe Rose. For this I thought simple was best. The cantaloupe is my most favourite type of melon - for eating as well as carving. I love the smell & colour!!

Frankenstein's Bird. This was sort of a last minute addition to my table, to sort of fill up the space. I wasn't too impressed myself, you'll notice that it is made up of different (leftover) bits! But people liked it & I got a lot of sign-ups & interest for my class.

I will be involved in the next Community Day for Mulberry school in July - so hopefully I can surpass myself. I'll let you know.

Giftbox and vase cake.

Though this cake turned out okay, I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed as I was not able to give it the time I wanted( I had just but a day to decorate). This was not enough time to redo things i wasn't entirely happy with or let things dry properly.


The flower vase is a started off as a layered square block of cake, which i sculpted into the shape of a vase. The flowers are made of sugar paste, as is the ribbon the main cake.

The small jewellery box below is also made out of cake, this was a last minute addition and pretty much rushed. The beads and tissue paper are made out of sugar paste. The customer however, was really happy with it, and i guess that's the main thing.

Hen night cake

This cake was requested for a hen night party. The customer gave me complete freedom to do whatever I wanted only mentioning that she would like something pretty/funky. I decided to make a round cake with a handbag and a shoe topper, this would be my 'pretty' element met. The hand bag is actual cake and the shoe was made out of gumpaste. I decided to decorate the sides with stripes of various widths and colours and added some lips and party streamers for the 'funky' part.

I decided to continue using the stitching effect from the shoe and handbag on the stripes, and though it cant be seen, on the lettering too.

I used a new chocolate recipe for this cake, which was quite difficult to work with, but was a hit with everyone!

Satin and silk

This cake was a little bit of a challenge as I wanted to give the effect of draped fabric. The drapes are made out of fondant and the flowers are silk flowers ( one technique at a time!!) The smaller tier actually sat on top of the little stand but unfortunately I do not have any good photos of it. I dusted the drapes with pearl lustre which gave it a nice sheen and looked like draped satin from close up.

On the top tier I decided to put in edible silver balls and on the bottom tier I had a go at some scroll work with butter cream! Though it is not amazing scroll work, I was happy with the result as it was my first time. I have not used royal icing yet as it is made of raw egg whites, but i have discovered that you can actually get this in a pasteurised powder form, which I hope to try out soon!

Vision in blue.

I made this cake for my daughter's 5th birthday, she loves the colour blue. It is a fairly simple cake with the bow made out of fondant, rather than gumpaste.

I made these cookies with the initial of each child that attend the party, as you can see they were last minute and pretty much rushed!!

These cupcakes were also a last minute addition, I have really got to work on my piping skills!!

It's a hat trick!!

These are some birthday cakes that I made for a 3 year old, a 7 year old and obviously a 14 year old. As you can see they weren't masterpieces but there were 3 happy girls. The cakes were baked and decorated on the same day, colour and design inspiration came from the little ladies themselves.