Osborn Fiber Studio

Let’s talk about THPARKLETH! I mean, sparkles. I’ve watched a good number of cake videos, mostly by a couple of artists I like, and I admit, I didn’t really understand the obsession with gold and sprinkles. But having decorated a good number of cakes now, I totally get the sparkle obsession. A lot of times, … More Eleven Excesses of Sprinkles

Let’s talk about piping. Piping is one of those areas where there there are a near-infinite amount of tutorials on the interwebs, most of them better than I can do. But how can I NOT talk about piping? It’s also an area where it doesn’t matter how much you learn; you just have to give … More Ten Piped Rosettes

Let’s talk about multi-tier cakes. Cake is heavy. If you’re doing a one-tier cake, you can do what you want. But as soon as that cake starts holding up other cake, you need to start thinking in terms of building something, not just baking something. You can start with a nice, sturdy cake. The vanilla … More Nine Dowels for Stacking

Happy New Year! Let’s talk about fondant. What fondant? I hear from lots of customers, “I don’t like fondant, don’t use it.” When this is the case, I don’t use it at all. But hear me out. I actually make my own fondant. I use this recipe from Sugar Geek Show. I tried it because … More Eight Fondant Details

Let’s talk about food colouring. I happen to be publishing this on the eve of our Wool n’ Spinning “Year of Colour,” so it seems appropriate! Colouring cake You can absolutely use food colouring on your cake as well as your frosting. I love making vanilla cakes with different colours inside. I don’t get a … More Seven Colours of Frosting

Let’s talk about buttercream. There are umpteen recipes for frosting. To run a cake decorating business, I needed one buttercream recipe that was excellent and reliable. I wanted it to be easy to make, to look amazing when piped, and to hold up well. This was literally the first one I tried, again from that … More Five Pounds of Buttercream

I thought I would share with you the one recipe that I make most often now. Vanilla is by far the most commonly requested flavour of cake. The oil-based cake I used at first stopped working for me; it just didn’t bake through anymore. So I went back to that old faithful Craftsy class, took … More Four Layers of Vanilla Cake

Let’s talk about tools. When I started home decorating, just for family, I didn’t buy anything fancy. I slowly added to my tools as I decided what would be most useful. So I will talk about what tools I use now, plus alternatives I used before investing in something specialized. Mixers: Let’s jump in at … More Three Drawers of Tools

Let’s talk about recipes. If you are into baking, you are probably already a better baker than I am. The actual baking is my weakest point in cake decorating. But I will share with you a few of the recipes that I use, and why I use them specifically in a northern context. Maybe you … More Two Recipe Types