You´ve got a friend in me!

Remember the song from the Toy Story movies? well, what if we take that idea and invite a bunch of cake decorators from all over the world, decide to run a cake collaboration and use the friendship and creativity theme as inspiration?

That is exactly what my dear friend Silvia Caeiro did for our group Cake friends Stay Creative.

As I said in the previous post, our dear cake community and our beloved group celebrated its first anniversary last week and one of the activities we had organized was this cake collaboration.

I know I asked Silvia to curate this collab for the group, but I was blown away by her amazing work and by all the edible pieces our cake decorators shared with us.

This cake collaboration really put a smile on my face. Each one of the cakes and cookies made by our amazing artists was a reflection of the friendship, talent and creativity we find in the group.

So, as asked Silvia, how was the experience of curating her first collab?

Silvia replied…

MY EXPERIENCE IN THE ANNIVERSARY COLLABORATION

March 14, 2021 marked a year of the creation of the group Cake Friends Stay Creative by Cristina Arévalo. A group of enthusiasts and professionals of cake decorating. A space for exchange, sharing and learning but above all, a safe place where all ideas and skills in cake decorating are welcome.

To celebrate this anniversary, among many activities, a collaboration of cake decorators was carried out that reflected their idea about ​​Friendship.

I was in charge of the organization of that event and I honestly faced it with fear since it was the first time I had done it. Yes, I participated in several collaborations, but I had never been on the other side.

The degree of enthusiasm and reception was amazing from the members of our community, was great and gave me the opportunity to get closer to people that I had not had the pleasure of meeting before, in the whirlwind of activities and growing number of members that the group was (and still) having.

Each phase of the organization raised ideas that had to be refined until finding what could best be done, with the knowledge and tools at hand, such as banners, photos and presentation of the participants or the sample video of the work. The best part, was discovering how much more can be improved, always counting on the support and enthusiasm of our community.

The reception by the members of our group and that of other groups was so warm that it moved me, knowing that many professionals already had their experience, but especially, by those who just dared to participate for the first time.

For those people who probably, in these difficult times of quarantine and distancing, an unknown activity was opened to them, I want to welcome them again and encourage them to push their own limits and shyness again. Because a collaboration is that: not a competition with other people, but a continuous improvement of our own skills.

In the CFSC kitchen, a lot of ideas are cooked constantly, as well as in the head of our dear Cristina, who still don’t know how, but she is in everything and for everyone.

I hope that the next collaborations of our group will have more people willing to push their creative limits and outgrown them.

I can only invite you to check out the beautiful pieces made from our creative members and enjoy

I

Thank you all so much for your amazing pieces, your dedication and efforts

Thanks to my dear Silvia not only for helping me but for doing an amazing work!

And thanks to all the members of this amazing group for being there and be part of this great community.

If you liked this post, please comment, share , like and subscribe to my blog.

And remember… Stay Creative!

Love,

Cristina

Science Fiction Cake Collaboration

So far this year I had the pleasure and luck to be part of several cake collaborations and I have to say that each one of them have been a blast to be part of.

However, a true geek is always happy to participate in a cake collaboration that speaks to us and The Science Fiction cake collaboration, organized by our dear friends from Sugar Mad Group is the perfect example.

Sugar Mad Group, with our friends Gerardo Zarco, Vladimir Georgiev and Radoslava Kirilova curated an excellent cake collaboration dedicated to the work of science fiction authors.

I asked my friend Gerardo about his idea behind this cake collaboration and here is what he said:

“The theme of this collaboration came from a conversation I had with my dear friend Vladimir Georgiev, in which we agreed that we liked science fiction. We began to talk about films related to Science Fiction and he transmitted to me his idea that there were many authors who were true pioneers of this topic and not very well known.

 So, he told me, what about doing a Science Fiction collaboration within the group but that it is also totally different from what we are used to seeing in cinematographic images? I agreed and this is how this cake collaboration come about, and about I topic that I love.

We decided to reveal the collaboration on April 1, my birthday.

So this is how this Science Fiction cake collaboration happened, with a known topic but at the same time different since there were many options but it was limited to a totally intellectual format in which it was necessary to choose authors not so well known by all and finally as a great birthday present, all of this idea came from the brilliant mind of a good friend “Vladimir Georgiev”

Hope everyone enjoyed it.”

And this is how this very original cake collaboration came to life.

I loved being part of this cake collaboration as I also love Science Fiction and have to thank Gerardo, Vladimir and Radoslava for inviting me to be part of it.

I participated with the portrait of POE, the Artificial Intelligence that runs the hotel on the book Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan I love the story and Poe is one of my favorite characters. It was a challenge for me as I am not used to make modeling chocolate bust cakes, but the idea behind all of these cake collaborations is to challenge ourselves and push our limits.

I can only invite you to check out the amazing work of many sugar artists that contributed with this collaboration by visiting the official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sciencefictioncollaboration

Let me leave you with the great work of these amazing cake artists.

Hope you like this post, if you did, please like, comment, share and follow!

 See you next cake collab,

Love,

Cristina

Japan- An International Cake Collaboration.

My sweet friends and cake artists; you have no idea how crazy last weeks have been for so many members of the International Cake Community

Seems like the Cake Collaboration Season is open and two weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to be part on three cake collaborations and a cake competition all in the same week.

In the next few days, I´ll be bringing you some insight on each one of the collaborations I´ve participated so far. I just want you to get an idea of the amazing work done by my fellow cake designers, the work behind the organization of each collaboration and it is a way to acknowledge amazing artists and to thank the ones that curated this collabs.

We are starting with this incredible event, put together by our dear friend and amazing artist that we all admire, Raquel Garcia.

Raquel Garcia, form Spain has gathered many of use to pay an homage to the culture of Japan ,curating this International cake collaboration where any kind of edible art was accepted in order to pay tribute to this ancient culture.

I have to thank Raquel not only for inviting me but for giving me the freedom and make me feel so comfortable that I not only made one modeling piece but felt inspired to experiment with a new gelatin technique as well.

Here is the link to the time lapse video on how I made this beautiful Koi Fish Pond Gelatin Cake

I asked Raquel to share with us the reason behind this collab and here is what she shared with us:

Japan is an international collaboration that brings together 117 sugar artists from 37 different countries and representing the five continents of the world. More than a year ago, when I finished publishing my previous collaboration, I decided that I had to do what I had in mind for several months, I had to choose a topic with which people would feel attracted and motivated and together with a great friend from the cake industry (Catalina Anghel) the idea came to life. The rules were very simple, you had to make a piece related to this beautiful country without any type of restriction, it could be cakes, cupcakes, busts, modeling, cookies … Everyone could choose the piece they wanted to reproduce, let their imagination fly and enjoy the experience. Any character, landscape, flowers, temples could be represented … everything was welcome.

The truth is each piece that I received was just as spectacular as the previous one. I could not choose any in particular. All of them are special to me. In the group there were many different styles, and my curiosity was growing day by day to know how far they were able to let themselves go. The mood of the group has been very nice, everyone has always been cordial and respectful. My goal was always for them to be comfortable and to maintain the mystery of what they were going to find on reveal day.

There were many, many hours of work behind the screen, assembling the albums of each artist, videos, banners … but honestly when I finished, I took a deep breath and thought … “I’ve managed to finish it”

I felt happy at that moment when I saw that everything was under control and ready to simply hit the “OPEN”.

For me it has been a great pleasure to be able to direct this collaboration and to be surrounded by great friends, colleagues and professionals in the sweet sector. They are all great, and I will be tremendously grateful to them for the time and effort they have invested in this collaboration, we know that it can be difficult nowadays.

The truth is that all of them have had been excited from the beginning and I believe that this is the force that drives any project. I also want to thank all the members who for health reasons had to abandon the delivery of the piece. All of them will always be part of this collaboration and they are on my mind in case they want to join a new project by 2022.

Thank you all for the great welcome and affection received.”

We could not thank Raquel enough for all her amazing work putting together this collab and as a token of my appreciation, I wanted to dedicate this article not only to her but to all the artists in this Cake Collaboration

The Artists:

I can only invite you to check out the official page; admire and support the work of all these amazing artists.

https://www.facebook.com/Japan-An-International-Cake-Collaboration-103151805158035

And stay tuned my friends because there are many cake collaborations to come and I´ll be here to tell you all about it.

Hope you like this post and don´t forget to like, share, comment and subscribe to my blog.

As always

Stay Creative!

Love,

Cristina

Happy Birthday to us!

One year ago, our lives changed. The whole world stopped because of a pandemic and until today I don´t think we were aware at that time of how all of our lives will be affected by it.

It has been a year of hard times, loss, depression, fear and uncertainty. However, in the middle of all of that I found you!

Yes, all of you my cake family and friends that magically appeared when I needed you the most. Funny enough I think we all needed each other ,and the amazing world where we live in decided to bring us together by the magic of sweetness.

Our amazing cake community Cake Friends Stay CreatiVe is turning one. Happy Birthday to us!

However, do you know how this community came to be…let me tell you the story.

Our dear friend Marta Torres, and amazing cookie artists made a live on Facebook at the beginning of the first lockdown here in Portugal. She was alone and as all of us, uncertain and stressed about what was going on and her family was all away. I saw the video and it got to me, so an idea came to be; to create a small online group, me and some of my cake friends that by the time were about 37. This group was created to share some recipes and keep each other company during these hard times.

Little did I know that not only my friends needed company but apparently many cake artists around the world were looking for the same. And long story short, we grew to a group of over 5000 members from all over the world. I got to connected again with my Latin American cake community, found amazing friends that a year ago didn´t know who I was and today I can call them more than friends, they are my cake family.

Our group transcended from just keeping cake artists entertained and creative to a variety of activities, challenges, cake demos and collaborations for our cake community.

We found the support and the company of our “sisters’ groups” as I like to call them Sugar Mad, Global Cake Artist Unite, and Icing Inspirations Insiders – Sweet Community, as we share live demos, activities and most of our members.

During a whole year without stopping, our group has posted a new challenge every Monday where artists share their work and have fun with silly activities to bring us closer and get to know each other. We have Social Media Wednesday where we share our social media links to follow and support our peers on social media platforms. And finally have Business Fridays for cake artists to promote their classes, cakes and help promote their businesses specially in these hard times.

Even though this group is my precious one year old baby, I couldn’t make this possible without the help of my amazing group of administrators and moderators and some special friends I have found along the way, so today I want to say a special thanks to these amazing humans and artists , you are amazing!

To celebrate our 1st birthday, we have a full week of live demos that I invite you to watch and a very special cake collaboration organized by our amazing moderator Silvia Caeiro . This cake collaboration will be revealed on Sunday March 14th the day of our birthday!

Link here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cakefriendsstaycreative

So, the only question is…What´s next?

For now, I just hope to be there as I have been, to have the strength to keep this community tight and growing and to count on you to do it.

Maybe there will be some news along the way, but for now and as always, just stay. Stay with me, stay safe and above all Stay Creative!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have no idea of what you all mean to me, how much you inspire me, how much you give me a reason to keep going , learn and be better every day and in some way you have saved me!

So, THANK YOU!

Love you lots!

Always

Cristina

Just Keep Smiling!

I must be absolutely honest; I don´t know where I would be today if it wasn´t for you guys.

My cake family and our group Cake Friends Stay Creative have been the fuel that makes me go on every day.

I´ve been quite busy and also a bit overwhelmed with lots of thing lately. And here I am trying to write a post for the blog, which I´ve been neglecting for a couple of weeks now, finding myself not sure of what to write.

Well, I can tell you one thing, I am back!

And I can tell you another, I will be brutally honest today.

Here is the thing: why it took me a while to come back?

I could have given you a recipe, a baking tip, we could have talked about social media or I even made a list of all my accomplishments that would have made me, and you, think that I am in top of the world. Yes, I could have done that, but I wasn´t feeling good.

I believe that part of the path is to be true to ourselves and to all of you.

My cake world, my cake friends and my cake community are my safe haven. It is the place where I go to when the world is crumbling and when things go crazy.

Making my modeling pieces is my sanctuary and is my place of peace and meditation.

But when that world is also crumbling in front of me, when I see so many of us struggling to keep working, to sell our baking goods, to make money out of our art and to try to teach their craft without success, it breaks me. And it broke me for a while.

My real job is not to make cakes anymore, I found that my real job is to help. To be there for you and give you a kind word, a piece of information, a smile.

 Trying to find positiveness and creativity in this time is hard. It has been a blessed year in many aspects, but also difficult and dark.  

So, I´ve been questioning many things, I have lost some of the magic of creativity and have turned into learning and regrouping, that is why I´ve been so quiet lately ( at least here in the blog)

I don´t have a magical solution to get out of this, my only way to deal with it is just keep going, do what has to be done, a lot of to do lists to complete, involve other to make great things and to keep strong.

Today more than ever we need to keep a tight community. It is very important to support each other and to really learn from each other and help us grow.

 I ´ve had the opportunity to meet people from around the world thanks to our online cake community and funny enough it amazes me to hear that the complaints, the issues and the problems are the same to everyone, no matter where they are from.

 Let´s change this together, let´s really understand that by helping my colleague I am helping myself and my cake community. By lifting others, I lift myself!

I am not always happy, I have my days, I have my doubts, my ups and downs, I second guess everything that I do, but well, I have come to terms with that, that is part of me and the only way to go is up and to keep smiling!

My dear and sweet friends let´s keep smiling to the world, we bake cakes because they make us happy and because people are happy eating them, so come on, let´s keep the spirit up and be there for one another.

This past year has brought us difficulties, sadness and depression not to mention fear. But believe me, no one and nothing can mess with what´s inside of us. So, let´s keep the spirit up and stay strong, say a nice word to everyone, be positive with one another, feel proud of your work and be a community. We need each other now more than ever.

So, friends, I can only say what I´ve saying since the beginning: Stay Safe and Stay Creative, and furthermore stay strong!

This blog is one of my babies and it needs me. So, from this month on I´ll be committed to write a post, a recipe a tutorial or even a tip on how to use social media for your cake business.

So yes, I am back!

Love,

Cristina

New Year´s resolutions and old year´s blessings

Here we are, thes time of year when we all like to go back and check at what we did to make our resolutions for a new beginning on January 1st.

Well, that could have been great for a normal year, but we can all agree that 2020 was anything but normal and that one of the things we learn was to put things in a totally new perspective.

So, I don´t want to just talk about this next year as if it will solve all of my problems and having the blind hope that it will be better than this one since nothing can be worse than 2020. No, I want to really take things into a new perspective.

I had so many resolutions last year, the online school, this blog, my YouTube channel and my cake business alongside with my teaching job. Then 2020 came and everything stopped, but did it?

A blessing was about to come for me in the most unexpected way. Cake Friends Stay Creative group was born out of solidarity towards cake friends that were alone during the quarantine and it opened doors that I couldn´t imagine.

I not only met people from all over the world, amazing souls that now I can call my friends, but I had the chance for the world to get to know me and the best part was that I got to get to know myself along the way.

Through the eyes of my new cake friends, I saw my work being recognized, I have been invited to a great number of cake collaborations, have been very active in the international cake community which now has place me amongst people that I admire and couldn´t even dream to meet.  I have taught and touch people from all over the world, my work has been featured in magazines, cake competitions and more.

My biggest gift from 2020 is that thanks to now 4,500 members of our group and so many new friends and followers I found myself.

My biggest gift from 2020 is that thanks to now 4,500 members of our group and so many new friends and followers I found myself.

 I found a purpose that goes beyond cakes, I found that I can help others and that all of you have helped me.

I am not sorry to say, THANK YOU 2020!

So, new year´s resolutions…no way!

I am done with new year´s resolutions, I now believe in hard work, focus, achievement, help others, grow, and just keep looking ahead for the next opportunity to learn. I can only ask for strength and perseverance, I just want to keep growing and learning, for me , for you and because that is how you face an uncertain future and that is the only sure thing I learned this year.

So, keep strong my friends, stay safe and most of all Stay Creative!

Wishing you all a good, safe, and healthy 2021.

Love,

Cristina

Oh, Christmas tree!

Oh, Christmas Tree…

Yes, it is that time of the year. Lights, gifts, love and joy, Santa Clause all around, sweets, family gathering and for all the Christmas spirit one thing has always been the focal point of this holiday: The Christmas Tree

Our friend group Sugar Mad opened the Christmas Season with and amazing cake collaboration about this beloved holiday. And it couldn´t be more original than to pay some homage to the pine tree, main character of this celebration.

Personally, I am a big fan of my Christmas tree and I don´t leave its decoration to anyone. I can be a bit of a freak control; I often joke about having Obsessive Christmas Disorder, and taking the task to decorate the tree very seriously. And when I heard about this great idea to create a Christmas cake collaboration about Christmas Trees, I was in!

Our dear friend Gerardo Zarco alongside Radoslava Kirilova and her husband Vladimir, curated this great collab that holds the amazing talent of cake artists from around the globe that show us a very special, unique, and personal approach to the Christmas tree.

Gerardo Zarco tells us about this collab:

The Pine Tree  –  A Christmas Story Collaboration that was born with the intention of using the advantage and keeping the attention in a project that is very significant for the month of December, but also the intention was not only to do a beautiful job but for the people who participated to be happy creating something that we all like! We wanted to celebrate the Christmas season and forget a bit about the difficult times, for this collaboration I asked for the support of an external administrator and Radoslava Kirilova together with his Husband Владимир Георгиев were in charge of giving life to this idea that came out of my head, putting their touch on it and they really made my idea come to life, resulting in a great visual experience that is incredibly beautiful and that together with the artists they were able to fill a difficult moment in our lives with smiles. It really is a great pleasure for me to be able to have the support for the making  of my ideas or yours too, why not? To such invaluable friends that we have at  the SUGAR MAD AGROUP. Many thanks to all those who were part of such a beautiful exhibition of Christmas work and made The Pine Tree a Christmas Story a true visual spectacle full of color and passion for sweet art.

As Always, I can only ask you to visit their official page, to leave some love and nice comments to each one of the great pieces and to spread the Christmas spirit by supporting this amazing collab.

Link here: https://www.facebook.com/ThePineTreeCollaboration

Here is the amazing job of the talented artists that participated:

I really hope this post will get you ready for Christmas as the blog and my page will be dedicated to this holiday all month.

Happy holidays, merry Christmas and as always

Stay Creative!

Don´t forget to like, comment, share and subscribe.

Love,

Cristina

Sweet Catrina

I know Halloween is long gone, but after the All Hallows eve we have the beautiful tradition of Day of the Death or ” Dia de los Muertos” and one of its most representative figures is the Catrina.

Some of my dear cake artists friends, decided to pay tribute to this beautiful tradition that connects us with death by organizing an International Cake Collaboration called “ The Catrina Parade”

The “ Dia de los Muertos” brings us closer to death in its most beautiful way, the reunion with our loved ones.

  “ La Catrina” being part of this tradition of a day to talk and remember our family and friends long gone through the veil of death, came as a reinvention of a tradition of native cultures transformed and evolved with the influence of the church so these traditions wouldn´t get lost.

Many people, now influenced by merchandise and party celebrations, do not realize that Day of the Death as well as Halloween are old pagan traditions that have endure through ages by becoming part of our culture no matter the influence of where we live.

Dia de los Muertos or Day of the death I believe is one of the most celebrated one in every culture and country, but in Mexico it is a way of life, a tradition that passes through family and that brings together generations.

My dear friend Gerardo Zarco along with Daniele Cannarozzo and Daniela Cabrera organized this cake collaboration. Gerardo wrote to me in Spanish:

“Catrina Parade nace por el gusto de celebrar las fechas del día de muertos que son el 1 y 2 de Noviembre, aunque muchas veces inician desde antes ya que muchas personas tienen la creencia no sólo de que sus familiares vienen esos días sino,que incluso sus mascotas también, en México la cultura a la muerte viene de épocas prehispánicas es una celebración a la vida, la Catrina es un personaje muy arraigado a las fechas aunque no fue creada precisamente para ello fue Guadalupe Posadas quién la dibujó haciendo burla a la sociedad de la época en la que vivió ya que decía “La muerte es diplomática” y tiene razón es lo único seguro que tenemos desde el día en que nacimos, podemos ser rico, pobres, exitosos, famosos, etc todos vamos a llegar a ese punto de sueño eterno y porqué no celebrar en vida!! Así que después de creada se convirtió en imagen de las festividades en la cuál rendimos homenaje . Quizá sea que la muerte no es más que el principio.”

Let me translate his words: “The Catrina Parade was born from the idea to celebrate the Day of the Death that is between 1st and 2nd of November, even though many celebrate even before. People believe that their family and even their pets that are dead return during those days. In Mexico The cult to death comes from pre-Hispanic times and it is a celebration of life itself. The Catrina , created by Guadalupe Posadas became an icon of these celebrations, representing a diplomatic figure of death, since it is the most certain thing we have since the day we are born and death comes to all, poor or rich without exception. So why not celebrate it during our lifetime because death might not be the end but the beginning.”

I can only invite you to see this great collaboration and enjoy all the amazing pieces that many of my cake friends created for this occasion.

Check out this amazing artists and their pieces:

And if you like this post, please like and follow the Catrina Parade official Facebook page and don´t forget to comment, like, share and subscribe to my blog.

Love,

Cristina

Are you ready to be spooked?

I´ve been quiet here in the blog, in one hand a lot has been going on and in the other I was waiting to share with you some amazing cake collaborations that came out during the Halloween weekend.

And for the true fans of horror, gore and spookiness this next cake collaboration has it all!

This is not for the fainted hearted, this is not your cute “Trick or Treat” kids asking for candies, however it is a sweet treat for the lovers of a scary Halloween.

Let me invite you to the Creepy World – Cake Art Collaboration.

Amazingly curated by Brenda Salcedo Cake Artist, with the support and collaboration of The Cake Collective and more than 80 cake artists form around the world showing us the beauty of creepiness.

I asked Brenda about her motive behind this collab:

“I’m Brenda Salcedo, a Peruvian cake artist currently based in France.

I’ve always loved Halloween time, it’s the perfect time of the year to watch horror movies, listen to horror story tales and feel the adrenaline of scare and being scared and who doesn’t love adrenaline, right? I wanted to share this with more cake artists around the globe inviting them to be part of my first collaboration in partnership with “The Cake Collective” called CREEPY WORLD – CAKE ART COLLABORATION, I wanted it to be really creepy instead of cute to try to scare viewers and live the Halloween experience.

We’re more than 80 cake artists looking forward to scaring you, we promise you some crazy goosebumps!!!

Here is Brenda´s amazing work:

Brenda Salcedo

I was part of this one and I must admit that it was a complete challenge, as it pushed the boundaries of what I normally do and made me explore my creepy side. One thing is for sure, my piece is even “cute” compared with the rest os the talented artists that participated. So be prepare and don´t get scared, it is sugar after all…hahahahah ( evil laugh!)

Cristina Arévalo- Creepy Sam- Creepy World Cake Collaboration

I leave you with the work of these great artists and the promise that for next year will be even more creepy!!!!

If you like this post, please support the artists by checking out their work and liking the official page of this cake collaboration,

Link: https://www.facebook.com/creepyworldcollab

and remember like this post, comment, share and subscribe!

Happy Halloween!

Love,

Cristina

Believe the Magic – British Fantasy Collaboration

To Maryiana

If you have followed this blog for a while and know me, you know I am a big believer of magic. And if you are new to this page, know you know.

Magic can come in many ways, not only the supernatural, magic tricks, or fantasy worlds. Magic can come from a piece of art, a few nice words, the hug of a loved one and the smile of a total stranger.

Today I want to share with you magic through edible art and this amazing cake collaboration hosted by our dear Radoslava Kirilova from Bulgaria with the help Elza Baldzhiyska and

  of some of her friends, as well as the talent of many incredible sugar artists from around the world.

Piece: Chernobog (American Gods) by Radoslava Kirilova

This cake collaboration was based on the love of British Fantasy Literature like J.R.R Tolkien, C.S Lewis, George Orwell, Terry Partchet, J.K Rowling and many more.  So, each artist chose a character from their most beloved story and let their talent, artistry and imagination run free.

Amazing pieces of edible art were made, from cookies, to cakes and figurines, I can only invite you to look at their official page and see for yourself the amount of talent packed in this collaboration.

British Fantasy Collaboration

Link here: https://www.facebook.com/BritishFantasyCollaboration/

Here is a selection of some of these amazing work:

I had the opportunity to take part in this one by representing Mr. Tumnus from the Chronicles of Narnia.

Thank you Radoslava for letting our magic come alive through our art, and thanks to all the amazing artists who participated for offering us a bit of their own magic.

I really hope you enjoy this collab and if you liked this post, please like, comment, share and subscribe.

Stay safe and stay magical my sweet friends.

Love,

Cristina