You just know it’s going to be a crazy week when you start out with sprinkles, chocolate, buttercream and cake. And when you add Barb Accogli of Cake Star to the mix, well you know it’s going to be delicious and pretty as well as a little bit crazy đ I first met Barb and her sister Monja Chiaravalloti at the opening of their Sweet Boutique about a year ago. Barb and Monja were mentored by their father Nicola, an Italian master baker at the family bakery and the sisters who baked together when they were young have worked to make their name creating stunning âEdible Artâ around the Greater Toronto Area. Their cake creations have been commissioned by the CBC, CP24, The Honda Indy, and the new USA Network comedy-drama TV series âSuitsâ.  In the summer of 2011, the sisters also worked with Toronto-area bakers at The Harbourfront Centre to break the World Guinness Record for Worldâs âMost Layered Cake. (For the record, they did it!).
I’ve had it in my mind for a while now that I wanted Les Petits Chefs to work with the Cake Star girls and was thrilled when Barb agreed to come! Since I had so much fun making cake pops when I was at the store opening, I wondered whether this might be a fun activity. Boy was I wrong. It wasn’t just fun, it was AWESOME fun!
First up, Barb showed how to crumble the cake and mix it with her gorgeous vanilla buttercream đ
We used store-bought cake as well as a couple of Dorie Greenspan’s quatre quarts that I made from scratch. As a heads up, the homemade cake fared better when mixed with the buttercream.
The boys did a great job of making even sized cake pop balls – we tried to make sure everyone got the same amount of cake!
We learned to dip the sticks in a little bit of melted chocolate to make sure they stayed put…
And then while the pops were chilling out in the freezer for a while, Barb showed the boys how to make piping bags from parchment paper and they practiced their piping skills.
(Ummm, can I just say that I think I need to bring piping bags into class –Â the boys did beautiful writing with them!)
Then the real fun started…
Yes it started out fairly civilised…
And then it got a little crazy….
And then a little more crazy…
And the boys ended up with these:
And you know that when you send little boys home with sprinkles in their hair and multicoloured lips (from “tasting” the sprinkles), that a good time has been had by all! Thanks so much to Barb for coming out and working with the boys – I know there are a few little boys who will be baking these over the holidays – so easy to make from scratch and so much fun. Not to mention tasty!
The Cake Star Sweet Boutique offers cupcakes, cake balls and cannoli for purchase and special order (check out their array of creative flavours!), as well as classes for everyone from beginners and kids to more ambitious bakers and decorators. If you have a sweet tooth or love decorating cakes, Cake Star is worth the trip from downtown. Go on, go there. Eat a cupcake. Or a cake pop. Or two đ
Cake Star Sweet Boutique
3431 Lakeshore Blvd (at Kipling)
Etobicoke, Ontario, M8W 1N2
I would love to be learning along with those little boys in your classes to have that much FUN, Mardi !
Yes well I have a lot of fun alongside the boys too!
Ooh, fun! đ
It was!
Your photos clearly show what always happens whenever you get kids together with icing and sprinkles. They also show just how much fun decorating with kids can be.
Great class!
I love seeing how creative they can be!
That sounds like such a great time. Cake and candy decorating always gets out of hand when you start ‘tasting’ and the sugar sort of takes over.
For sure – but then that’s part of the fun!
Ooh, frosting-sprinkles-fun! This looks like a delightfully sweet afternoon — and I don’t think I ever realized that the cake in cake pops was mixed with buttercream. Interesting!
That’s why it’s so tasty!
Adorable! I loved seeing the photos on IG as well. Y’all had way too much fun!!
Always!