Thursday, May 1, 2014

Peggy Porschen : The Academy


5 weeks of classes. 4 modules. 8 weeks in UK. 3 weeks bercuti, muahahaha. Bought the classes through Peggy's website in July 2013. Sangat awal sebab nak berebut tempat. Maximum 6 students per class. Semua classes pun memang penuh 6 orang. The academy is at Victoria. Naik bus memang senang and dekat je dengan Oxford Street.


Warning : Entry sangat panjang with pictures sangat banyak. But if you wish to take the courses, it's good if you take some notes.







The pink building.
The day before. Sebelum the first day of class haruslah try macam mana nak pergi ke kelas dari tempat tinggal. The bus that I took from where I was staying tu turun dekat Victoria Station. From there jalan lah 10 minutes to the academy.






In the pink chef jacket.
No make up to class ok.




First week : Decorating Techniques





Sooooo cute kan. Tea cakes dipped in fondant with royal icing decorations.




Tiny fondant roses.




Gift box.




How to cover mini cakes, brush embroidery and piping.


I like this module. Sebab I learnt new techniques. Same things as I had learnt before but different style / steps. Tak pernah sebelum ni rasa senang buat brush embroidery tapi their techniques make it so simple.





Second week : Flowers




The slightly simple flowers.




First time belajar buat bunga pakai dawai.










Trip to the fresh flower market.






Dummy cake with fresh flowers.
We each got to choose our own flowers.
Best tengok the end results of other students' cakes with their choices of flowers and colours.










With the sugar flowers.
The cake sangat cantik that I had to bring it to Hyde Park untuk tangkap gambar.


The only 2 weeks module. Memang belajar macam-macam. After the first week of this module, rasa macam nak pengsan. Penat mentally, ahahaha. But bila dah masuk second week, the flowers membentuk gituw.
On Thursday, pergi trip to the fresh flower market with a florist. MasyaAllah, it was just awesome. Betul-betul macam pasar but wangi and bersih and sejuk. And after that the florist yang ajar how to assemble the cake using fresh flowers.
I think the second last day baru everyone pun nampak excited. This was the first time ever I did designs like these. Bangga dengan diri sendiri. Heee.





Third week : Tiered Cakes & Business Know-How



Brush embroidery lagi.
And piping lagi.




Decorated sugar cookies.
Tapi tak belajar pun how to bake the cookies.




 

Oh lupa nak cakap, everyday pun they will hidang tea and cake or cupcakes.
Haihh lah gula.


This module agak interesting. Only few days je betul-betul hands on in the kitchen. Other days we had talks with wedding planner, cake consultant, cake stylist, Peggy's husband. Belajar about costing and all. More to theory tapi sangat lah tak bosan.




Fourth week : Baking, Layering & Icing





Semua pun pink.








Sticky toffee cake.
First time rasa ni and memang in love..!!



We did many more cakes. Alcohol, belum sempat bagitau memang they know my cakes need to be alcohol free. Some cakes memang ada. Some tak ada. The one yang ada problem was the fruit cake. The fruits that they use already soaked in alcohol since last year lagi. So I just didn't bring that back. Don't like fruit cake anyway. 






My two out of three instructors.












Overall how did I find about Peggy Porschen's Academy?

The cons, repeat...!!! That's the biggest geram I feel. With the price (google and see the price to each module), I was really expecting something new in each module. Tapi terkejut juga belajar piping and brush embroidery in both Decorating Techniques and Tiered Cakes. And a little bit of piping in Flowers module juga. Memang rasa tak perlu plus wasting time.  
And I lost count how many times we learnt about how to cover a cake with fondant. Totally understand since we need to deco the cakes but by the final module, bosan bila dengar step by step to cover a cake.

But I can say almost more than half of what I learnt is totally new to me. This might be different for other people. I really enjoyed it.

If you completed all four modules baru dapat Diploma. If not, dapat certificate to each module. So if anyone yang interested in joining Peggy's Academy tapi tak nak ambil Diploma, I would suggest to only join the Flowers and Decorating Techniques modules.

And one thing good about this Academy (sama juga dengan Wilton courses and PME courses), you can take the courses anytime in no particular order. Nak ambil satu module satu tahun pun boleh. I chose berderet because of the flight ticket and my business. Senang cuti panjang terus. But that's why I had the 3 weeks gap. Sebab timetable courses and my timetable tak ngam so wujud la 3 weeks gap tu.  






Alhamdulillah, now I have PPA Professional Cake Maker Diploma. Yeayy..!! 











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