I’ve been a fan of fairtrade ingredients for a number of years now. If I have the choice of a fairtrade over a non-fairtrade one, I’ll always go for the fairtrade one. I like to think I’m fairly well educated about what I put in my trolley and what I use in my cooking. I’d done some research into fairtrade ingredients and they offer opportunities to farmers and producers to have a better life.

Vanessa Kimbell recently went to Uganda to see how Ndali grow their vanilla and to see the effects of being fairtrade producers. This was subsequently featured on Radio 4′s ‘Food Programme’ and it was fascinating, as the growers and farmers were interviewed and said what being fairtrade meant to them. It was also the first time that I realised just what went into producing vanilla as I’d never really thought about where it came before. I sometimes see pods in the supermarkets and think ‘Crikey, that’s expensive,’ but had never known the process from seed to supermarket.

Vanessa organised the ‘Ndali Vanilla Gift Swap’ at Fortnum and Mason, in association with the Fairtrade Foundation to celebrate the launch of the Fairtrade Bake. All of those who participated, were sent Ndali vanilla pods and Ndali vanilla powder. We could enter up to three products in 4 categories – cakes, biscuits, preserves and sweets.

I made some Viennese whirls, which I filled with plum and vanilla jam and vanilla buttercream and I also made some hazelnut, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, with a whipped vanilla ganache icing.

It wasn’t exciting enough that we could talk to lots of lovely people and take someone else’s goodies home with us. Vanessa had arranged for Lucas Hollweg, Chantal Coady and two of the buyers from Fortnum & Mason to taste everything. The lovely (and very generous!) Kenwood and Fortnum & Mason had supplied prizes and Chantal also offered a class at her wonderful Rococo chocolates.

Fortnum & Mason had provided tea, coffee, sandwiches and cakey treats for all of us. They looked amazing, but a few months ago I gave up wheat and so I asked whether it would be possible to have something without wheat. I was looking enviously at the food on offer and knew I’d be peckish before I went home.

Time went on, I was chatting to lovely people and I’d given up hope on eating. I was also starting to feel more than just a tad peckish. Imagine my delight, when a lovely waiter from F&M came up to me with these two plates. The sandwiches had been lightly toasted and had had their crusts cut off (as all good sandwiches should!). I didn’t manage to eat everything (it would  have been very gluttonous!), but I was so touched by the thought and my tummy was very happy too!

So, as I was tucking into my sandwiches, Vanessa stepped to the front and told us all about her experiences in Uganda and the generosity of Lulu Sturdy (Ndali’s owner). We all felt moved by Vanessa’s tales and I knew that my support for fairtrade ingredients was absolutely the right thing and I will continue to use fairtrade ingredients in my baking wherever it is possible.

Before I knew it, the prizes were being awarded. There were some fabulous looking goodies around and I was sure that they were going to taste delicious too. I was pleased with what I had made, but the competition was fierce!

I was so chuffed when I realised that my cupcakes had won a ‘runner’s up’ prize in the best cakes and cupcakes category. I wasn’t convinced that the vanilla taste was there, but I thought that they did taste good and so I hoped for the best! As mentioned above, the lovely people at Kenwood very generously donated all of the prizes and I can’t wait for my new toy to come along, so I can have a play.  I already have a Kenwood k-mix food mixer (which is not only a thing of beauty, but a joy to work with as well), so I’m super-dooper excited to be having a new addition to my kitchen gadgetry!

When it was time to leave (after we all congratulated the winners and consoled those who didn’t quite make it on this occasion), it was time to swap gifts and go home. Just before we left, we were given a goody bag from the Fairtrade Foundation, which included some Green & Black’s cooking chocolate, some almonds, apricots, raisins, cardamom seeds, cinnamon sticks, a Divine Chocolate cookery book and a Delicious magazine cookery book too.

I’ve already used the apricots and raisins – I made some Christmas cakes today. I’m also going to make some fig and vanilla jam in the next few days and I have to think of a use for my cinnamon sticks and cooking chocolate, but I’m thinking that either raspberries or cranberries may feature.

I would like to thank Lulu from Ndali for my fabulous vanilla, to Fortnum and Mason for not only being superb hosts, but for providing me with an excellent afternoon tea, to Kenwood for my shiny new toy, to the judges for giving up their afternoon and ‘having to eat’ lots of cake, to the Fairtrade Foundation for the yummy goody bags and finally, to Vanessa for organising such an amazing afternoon. I had such a fantastic day out and realised that the simple choices that I make in a supermarket can (and do) have a feel impact on lives in other parts of the world.

If you feel like baking in the next week, why not make it Fairtrade and take part in the Big Fair Bake? You’ll have something yummy to eat and be making a real difference to the lives of people who don’t want charity, they just want a fair deal.

Rather shamefully, I haven’t written this for longer than I care to admit. I have been busy, but that’s not really a reason as there’s always time to write something. In the last couple of months, I can’t really say I’ve achieved much, or been able to tick much of any list. I am working on a piece for a sugarcraft competition (organised by the British Sugarcraft Guild and held in Telford this weekend), but that’s only taken over my life for the last week or so!

I’ve been doing a fair amount of thinking recently - about what direction I want my business to go in and how it will get there – and I came to the difficult decision to stop supplying the Earslfield Deli. I had reached the stage where I was baking 3 nights a week and I wasn’t able to do anything else during those evenings. The rest of the week I had to try and catch up on everything else that needed doing and I was struggling to find any balance in my life. As I recently fractured my finger (in February; it’s healing well, but isn’t quite back to normal), I am now more wary of doing too much and I am keen to learn the lessons of not trying to do too much.

I love baking and I did enjoy trying new flavours and recipes, so I’ll keep doing that, but without the pressure of having to do something regularly. I’m also keen to make a few changes in my life and for that reason, I’ve started another blog. That doesn’t mean this one will go to the wall, as they are very different and I’ll be writing about very different things. This will continue to be about my business and cake (and I have promised recipes here, so one day…!) and my other blog is about my adventures in craft. If you want to have a look, please do: http://clairescalling.wordpress.com/

I do have plans for the next few weeks at least – I have the cake competition this
weekend and on Saturday 2 June, I have a stall at the Twickenham Arts and Craft Fair. After that, I’ll start thinking about the future and world domination by cake!

So, things didn’t go quite to plan and I didn’t post in the build-up to the wedding fayre (or for a week afterwards!). It was actually quite a fraught week and all I can say is I got through it! I went to check on the progress of my finger a few days before the fayre and the nurse was so concerned, she sent me straight to A&E. Four hours later, I emerged with the knowledge that I had fractured it! It wasn’t quite the news I was expecting (or indeed hoping for)… Needless to say, I didn’t manage to get as much done as I had planned (a fractured finger provides quite an impediment to most cake decorating!), but overall, I’m really pleased with how my stand looked. I ran out of time to make my macaron tower and I had to re-cover a cake which was damaged in transit, but I was so proud of what I had achieved. I couldn’t have done any more, I learned I have some amazing friends, who rallied round and came over and helped me out and my stand screamed ‘this is me’ which is what I really wanted.

I picked up a few tips along the way, which may be helpful to a prospective stall-holder.

1 Know your prices. You will be asked how much the lily cake costs (and how many portions it gives!), so make sure you know.

2 Smile! Even if you’re exhausted and would rather be on your sofa with a glass of wine, don’t let it show.

3 If you have leaflets to give out (and posters to display), don’t wait until you’re due to leave to go to the fayre before you get them ready. (Incidentally, I still don’t know where my A3 poster montage is…)

4 Have examples of your work displayed. Have some photos blown up. Get some photo albums (which you can pick up cheaply from most on-line photo companies) and put them out on your stall in different places. People like to look at things, it will show your versatility and if your stall is busy, will give people something to do whilst they wait for you.

5 Related to 3 & 4, plan your display. When you book your stand, you will be given the dimensions of the table (and any display boards etc) which have been allocated to you. Think about what you will place where, before you leave home ideally.

6 Have a selection of styles / colours / shapes. The cakes that drew the most interest were my purple butterfly cake and my bauble cakes, which no-one had seen before.

7 Related to 6, cover all budgets (or as many as you can!). I had ‘simpler’ cakes as well as more detailed options.

8  Write down how many people you speak to / give your business cards to. This is a really good idea as you will then know how successful the fair has been when the brides contact you.

9 Take food and drink with you! It’s a long day, so be prepared.

10 Take layers with you and just because you are indoors, you will not necessarily be warm!

11 Take painkillers with you! Having barely slept for 2 days and having a fractured finger, meant I wasn’t my usual chirpy self. Over-the-counter drugs really helped.

12 Samples aren’t necessary. I had neither the time (nor the inclination!) to bake and I can honestly say that I don’t think it cost me a single sale. If people like what you’ve done, they will book a consultation with you; free cake won’t really make a difference.

13 Befriend the organisers! The stallholders next to me didn’t show up on the day and I was offered their table. It’s really important to build good relationships. Also, befriend your fellow stall holders as it’s a long day.

14 Last one – enjoy it! You’re there to sell your business and to be involved in what should be the happiest day of a couple’s life.

I hope that I’ve given you some food for thought if you want to have a stall at a wedding fayre. Would I do it again? I honestly don’t know the answer to that, though I am veering to the side of ‘no’. I don’t regret it though and you have to take some risks in business.

Hazelnut Macarons

It’s all go at Cake Towers! I have my first ever wedding fayre next weekend and I’m really excited. Or at least I was! I’m now full of trepidation and fear; mainly that I’m not going to be ready in time.

Planning a wedding fayre is quite an undertaking. From deciding which fayre you’re going to exhibit at (if at all – I know people that don’t), to working out what you’re going to display, how and what material you’re going to take with you. If you’re going to have a stand, you want to ensure that you’re the only supplier in your category (so you’re the only cake maker, for example). You need to know that it is being marketed correctly and that brides-to-be will come (and it’s best to find this out before you part with your hard-earned cash!). Remember, you’re paying what can be a lot of money (I know of some fayres which charge in excess of £250 per stand) and you need to know that you’re getting value for money.

Once you’ve decided which fayre you’re going to exhibit at, you’ve paid your money, you then need to plan your stand. It’s good to have as varied a display as possible. You don’t want your table to be crowded and too full, but, on the other hand, you don’t want only one cake on there as you’re there to showcase your talents to an expectant audience.

Ideally, you should have a variety of styles and colours; different shapes and different sizes. Try and be unique as well and have a stand that says ‘this is me!’. When you’ve grabbed the attention of the bride-to-be, you then need to engage with her. Ask her about the wedding; if she knows the time of year, has an idea of colours etc. Be interested in her and her day. You might not receive her commission, but at least she’ll go away thinking you were nice (which is always good!) and of course if you interact with brides, it makes the day a better experience for everyone!

So, you’ve enticed the bride-to-be with your stunning display of cakes. You’ve won her over with your charm and kind words. What next? Don’t necessarily expect her to book with you on the day, but give her something to take away with her so that she won’t forget you. I’ve had some extra business cards, postcards and leaflets printed out, so the brides-to-be can take them away and have my details should they wish to contact me. Why not give her an edible gift as well?

Smile and be as courteous to the bride-to-be that you speak to at 5 minutes to closing time as you are to the one that you speak to first thing in the morning. Remember, you’re providing a service and you’re representing your business. Don’t sit at your stand looking uninterested and texting people. If your business doesn’t interest you, why should it interest anyone else?

There is probably more advice I could give, but having not done a fayre yet, I’ll hold that back until after next week. In the meantime, I’m working on my designs. I’ll not go into too great detail here as they’re all subject to change at the moment. I had an unfortunate accident with a hand blender last weekend (just as I was starting to write this actually).  I don’t know if I can do everything that I would like to, but I have been overwhelmed by offers of help – the cake community really does rally round!

If you’re getting married (congratulations!) and in the area, why not pop by and say hello. I won’t bite and you may find yourself leaving with an edible gift!

http://www.voicebroadcast.co.uk/emails/files/4690/image/Wedding%20Fayre.JPG

I do have one plea to ask of you all. As I mentioned above, wedding fayres can be quite expensive. I have applied to Fund101, from Enterprise Nation and if I am successful, they will cover the cost of the fayre. All I need you good and kind people to do, is to click on the following link and to vote for me: http://www.enterprisenation.com/funding-applications/claires-handmade-cakes/

I really appreciate your help. If all goes to plan (or exceeds my plans), I’ll blog again before the fayre. If not, I shall share the experience (and any lessons learned) sometime in early March… In the mean time, happy baking!

So, we’re at the beginning of February already, which is scary! I read a blog last week by Claire Habel about taking stock of where you are and as we’re now in a new month, I thought it seemed like a good idea. The original blog can be found here: http://www.workfromhomewisdom.com/2012/01/25/new-years-business-resolutions-how-to-stay-on-track-to-achieving-them/

I have a big to-do list for the foreseeable future. It’s comprised of tasks for the next few days, weeks and months; some simple which should take minutes; some which will take hours. This list has seen me through the last month, being added to and removed from on a continuous basis.

My main accomplishments in 2012 are the creation of my newsletter. The second edition of which is about to go out and can be subscribed to here: http://www.claireshandmadecakes.com/newsletter.html and I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out so far. I’m now supplying my local deli with cake.  http://theearlsfielddeli.co.uk/earlsfielddeli/Home.html It’s very much in its infancy, but I really hope that it’s a success for us both as the deli is such a great place. I’m keeping up with my blogging (just about!). I’ve set myself the target to blog once a week. There will be 2 blogs this week as this blog is last week’s! Finally, I’ve just booked a wedding fair, my first ever!

I wouldn’t say I’d had any failures this year, yet! I’m trying to keep my website and facebook site up to date and Claire’s Corner is going well. I’m currently working on my Valentine’s edition, which will be out in the next few days. I’m not being as hard on myself this year as I have been in the past and I’m taking breaks from the kitchen, the books and my laptop. I’m running in the marathon in just over 11 weeks (a thought which is horrifying!), so I’m enjoying having a focus that’s not work or cake related.

Over the next few weeks, the recipe experimentation is going to continue. Now that I have my Kenwood, which is right at home on my kitchen worktop, I’m eager to find out just what it can do. I’m still to try macarons, but as my March newsletter will feature them, it won’t be long before I’m cracking open eggs! I’m a member of the Real Bread Campaign http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/and I want to get baking bread. I made hot cross buns last Easter, so they’re on the menu again this year and as the year progresses, I hope to be sharing some savoury dishes as well as cakes and biscuits. I’m making marmalade this weekend (hopefully) and I’m looking forward to using that in my cakes and baking. I’m really excited about the possibilities and opportunities of the next few weeks and months and I’m looking forward to sharing them.

I hope that 2012 is treating you well. If it’s not quite going to plan, it’s a new month, so start afresh and keep striving to be the best that you can be. That’s my ultimate goal for 2012!

On Twitter last week, I saw a tweet inviting people to the recording of a new cookery show on Radio 4. Having been to the recording of Radio 5 show a little while ago (it was the last ever Richard Bacon evening show), I thought it might be a fun way to spend a Tuesday evening. So, off I duly trotted to Whitechapel, with my map in hand, in search of Wilton’s Music Hall. Perhaps it says something about me, that the only history I knew of Whitechapel involved Jack the Ripper, rather than any cultural or foody heritage, but I came away at the end of the evening richer for my time spent there!

Wilton’s Music Hall is an extremely unimposing location; you can walk past it, thinking nothing of it. Indeed, even the bar area isn’t that exciting. The Music Hall bit, where the recording took place was beautiful however and very surprising. If you haven’t been, I recommend a visit.

On arrival, we had to complete two forms – one included a question we would like to put to the panel and the 2nd was a questionnaire loosely based on Valentine’s Day. The questions would be put to the panel and those from the questionnaire would be weaved into the discussion. When would we throw out food in our fridge? What were our favourite aphrodisiacs? What would be the next trend in baking?

Around 7 o’clock we went through some health and safety notices and then the panel was introduced. Jay Rayner would be overseeing the proceedings and the panel comprised: Henry Dimbleby, Angela Malik, Rachel McCormack and Peter Barram (apologies if I have Peter’s name down incorrectly – I have spelt it 3 different ways in my notes!).

Jay took us through the start of the questionnaire – the findings on what we would like our partners to cook for us on Valentine’s Day. I had made an error in completing my questionnaire, which I will never make again. In addition to ticking a box, I wrote something down. I can’t remember exactly what I wrote, but if you tune into the show, Jay will read it out. It was something like ‘None of the above – I’m single’. Everyone howled with laughter. I joined in, so as not to draw attention to myself, but the shame. Note to self, when filling in anything for a radio show, tv show etc, never write anything down when you can just tick a box!

Well, the recording carried on and it was entertaining and interesting. I learned that we shouldn’t keep tomatoes in the fridge as it renders them tasteless. (Incidentally I still have tomatoes in my fridge, but as I can’t bring the taste back, they may as well stay there!) Cheap saffron can taste of soap, or even bleach and some people are unable to taste it. Eating a hot curry isn’t always a good idea as its molecules can chemically attack your nerves. Fortunately most of the damage is repairable, but not the most pleasant thought!

More episodes of ‘The Kitchen Larder’ will be recorded over the country in the next few weeks and if there’s one near you, I recommend going along. I’ll be listening to the broadcast on the i-player, seeing how much of what was recorded makes the final show (I suspect my ‘I’m single’ comment will!). The series starts on Radio 4 on 7th February at 3pm, with the Valentine’s Special on 14th February (also at 3pm).

My one disappointment from the show is that when we completed the questionnaire the last question ‘what is the next trend in baking’ wasn’t answered. Perhaps they ran out of time, or perhaps no-one knows and the cupcake is here to stay!

Yesterday I posted some photos on Twitter and I’ve decided to turn them into my blog post for the week! Apologies if you’ve seen the photos, but you don’t yet know the whole story…

It’s coming up to Valentine’s Day and I thought I’d try out a red velvet cake as they seem to be all the rage. I had a go at making one last summer and it won’t go down as my most successful cake ever! I have a problem with red velvet cakes because they require food colouring (either liquid or paste) to turn them the bright red colour which one associates with the flavour. The problem I have is the amount of food colouring which is required.

Now, I’m quite particular about what goes into my cakes. I bake seasonally, I use organic and fair trade ingredients where I can, I try and source local produce and I don’t just throw anything into my cakes. Therefore, the thought of adding food colouring (some recipes call for 2 tsp, some 1 tbsp, some even more) just frightens me. How can I use the best ingredients around, which I source with pride and then pour in a load of e-numbers? It doesn’t sit right.

Therefore, I tried the ‘red velvet experiment’ yesterday. Essentially, in the old days, the red from the red velvet came from the reaction of the buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda. So, I used a recipe which required buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda. It also called for red food colouring (20mls of it!) and I decided not to use it. I doubled the recipe and split it into two batches. In one batch, I didn’t add anything and to the other batch, I added beetroot and lemon juice. I thought beetroot would make the cakes redder, though I had read that the reaction of the beetroot with the other ingredients wouldn’t change the colour. I thought then that if I added some lemon juice, that might bring out the red colour after all.

I felt a bit like an alchemist! It was quite exciting, though very messy! These are the cakes that I made before being baked – the cake on the left is the cake without anything added and the cake on the right is the beetroot juice cake.

After about half an hour, the cakes were ready and they were taken out of the oven. The difference after cooking wasn’t so apparent, but was still there. (As above, the beetroot juice cake is on the right.)

When the cakes had cooled, I cut them in half and iced with a cream cheese frosting. It was then that it became apparent there was little difference in the colour as you can see below:

After icing

So, finally, the taste test. I actually liked both cakes (which surprised me!) but I preferred the beetroot juice cake. It was a bit moister and just had more of a depth of flavour. When I gave them to my friends to try them and said they were red velvet cakes, I did have to explain why they weren’t red. Once I’d done that, I think I won them over by saying I didn’t want to use colourings and e-numbers to get a pretty cake. I think the proof is in the eating. No, it’s not very red, but personally, I’d rather have a cake that wasn’t bright red, if the only way to get it like that is by using food colouring (or ‘nasties’ as a friend called them!) and hopefully others will agree.

It seems like I was only just planning my Christmas break and now we’re almost into the third week of January! How did that happen?! Christmas was a time to slow down and recharge the batteries, as well as give some serious thought to where I see Claire’s Handmade Cakes going in 2012. I tend to do things as and when they come up, but I think it’s important that there’s a direction in which I want to head.

I treated myself to a copy of Dee Blick’s ‘The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Book’ after having already bought her wonderful ‘Powerful Marketing on a Shoestring Budget’, which I re-read over Christmas. I’m still working my through her second book, and it’s quite involved – I have to think about what I’m reading, make notes and think about what she says in relation to my business – but they really are fabulous books.

I struggle with my marketing (I struggle with quite a lot of aspects of my business, actually! When I’m my business’s IT helpdesk and I don’t know what I’m doing, there can be (and often are!) tears…) and one of my goals for this year is to do something about this. Dee suggests writing a marketing plan (which I don’t have), think about who your customers are (and who you would like them to be), then think of ways that you can target / appeal to them. Not everything you do will appeal to all of your market and nor should it.

I’m already starting to think differently about what I’m doing and I’m making lots of lists and lots of plans. This year I’m starting a monthly newsletter (I’ve already sent out January’s!) and whilst I want to do more fairs, I am going to be more discerning about which ones I choose. Short-term, I’m also going to commit a marketing plan to paper and the other task on the horizon is to put actual numbers into my business plan.

I know I usually talk about cake and I’m sorry for not doing so this week, but having a cake company is about so much more than being able to bake a nice cake and make it look pretty! Sometimes it’s important to stop, take stock of what’s going on and to actually really think about what you want to do. Taking the time now to do some serious thinking and planning will hopefully stand me in good stead over the rest of the year and if I really know where I’m going, it will make the journey so much easier.

So, we’ve just about made it through 2011. I can’t believe that in just 2 days’ time, it will be 2012. It has been a good year overall, and I have a lot to be both proud of and thankful for. I started the year by giving a talk on starting your own 5-9 business and I feel that 12 months on, I’ve learned so much more than I knew just 12 months ago. I have had stalls at summer and Christmas fairs (with varying degrees of success!), I was a finalist in the National Cupcake Championships and I finished the year as a winner at #wemakechristmas My shiny new Kenwood which stands proudly in my kitchen will be a permanent reminder.

There has been much that I wanted to do this year, but sadly didn’t manage to. I can be very hard on myself and as I have a permanent job in addition to my cake company, I need to allow myself time off and time to spend with friends away from work and cake!

I have high hopes for 2012 – I’ll be launching a newsletter in January and I’m finalising plans for the rest of the year. I very much hope that you will continue this journey with me. I’m running the marathon in April (I’m starting my training on Monday, which I think I’m looking forward to!), so please bear with me in the first part of the year if I don’t blog as often as I’d like. I know I wrote last year that I wanted to include more recipes on here and that’s definitely my intention for 2012. I’m setting myself some goals now (I don’t usually make resolutions, but I set goals instead) and all that remains to say, is thank you for your support to date and have a very happy New Year!

I feel like I’m going to be bombarding you with posts this week – I’m either silent or the chattiest person around! I just heard a heartbreaking story which I wanted to share, although my blog at the weekend will still go ahead.

Back to this very sad story. Someone bought a cake from a lady who just had a facebook page, which was full of very good images. It turns out that this lady had copied the images from another (and reputable) cake maker.  The customer was unaware of this however, and ordered a cake for his daughter’s christening.

When he had collected the cake, he was very disappointed. It looked nothing like the picture.On further investigation, he tracked down the original cake maker, but as she lived in another part of the country, was unable to help him and although she offered to find him someone she trusted to make another cake for him (he felt he was unable to share the cake with his family and friends), he declined as he couldn’t afford another cake (he was trying to get the money back from the lady who made the cake), but more importantly, he didn’t trust anyone to make another cake for him.

Like many cake decorators, I watermark all of my cakes. It’s not that I’m particularly precious about what I’ve done, but I don’t want someone else using my work on their website. This can lead to misrepresentation and ultimately, as shown above, disappointment.

So I urge you, if you’re buying a cake, do a little work first. Don’t just accept the cheapest quote. I’d also advise against using someone who just has a facebook site and not a website. I’m not saying that there aren’t very good cake decorators out there who just have facebook sites, but I’m looking out for you. Also, make sure that there is an address for the cake decorator on the website and if possible, a landline phone number too.

I do have a facebook site (which true to me isn’t updated as often as it should be!), but I also have a website, which contains my address and phone number.

If you’re having a cake made, ask some questions. See if the photos are watermarked. See if the style of the cakes is broadly similar as most cake decorators have a style, sometimes without them particularly realising it! Be prepared to spend a bit of money – you are buying a bespoke cake, made just for you, to your exact requirements and desires. If you think a cake sounds too good to be true, in all likelihood it is. There are so many very talented and amazing cake decorators out there, who work really hard and its a shame that their good names are being sullied.