Dear All at Cake Central:

I have good news on this day, Australia Day, in fact I have had a bit of a grin on my face all day.
So many good things happening, I hardly know which order to put them in.
Indeed I have had a very fortunate life.

I am very grateful to be the cover girl of the inaugural issue for Cake Central magazine; add to that things to share about being a competitor on reality TV. Rather nice at my age to be a ‘cover girl’ don’t you think? Readers have many questions about where I came from and where I have been. I think they will be more than happy to find a glimpse of my personal story.

This is not the only news that is breaking in my life, there is more and it follows.

BRIDES MAGAZINE WEDDING STYLE DIRECTOR MARIA McBRIDE WRITES:

<<January 25, 2010 I am delighted to announce that your cake will be included in BRIDES March 2010 issue celebrating America’s Most Beautiful Cakes. Thank you for creating an exceptional cake for our annual showcase of America’s best sugar artists. Your technique is truly beautiful and will be an inspiration to readers. The issue goes on sale February 9. Congratulations, it’s a pleasure to feature your design. Sincerely, Maria McBride Wedding Style Director.>>

HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCEMENT

MATTHEW STEVENS, Editor, Dessert Professional announces that:

<<The April issue of Dessert Professional will feature our selections of the inaugural Top Ten Cake Artists in America; awarded to cake professionals whose dedication to their craft has ensured that the cake continues to be our premier celebratory dessert. From the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show, to the Food Network, and innovative sugar techniques Kerry Vincent has promoted (and demanded) fine cake artistry long before the cake became a TV star.

After initially listing Kerry as one of the sure Top Ten selections, I realized that the breadth of her contributions placed her in a different category than the very talented cake artists on the Top Ten list.

So, as one who embodies the spirit of the award, I have invited Kerry to become Dessert Professional’s first Cake Artist Hall of Fame inductee. There is no candidate more deserving of being the inaugural inductee.>>

This is my second Hall of Fame Award.

++ ANOTHER BIG STORY for American Culinary Federation members will appear in the National Culinary Review, February issue out soon.

Best wishes,

Kerry.

The Magazine Preview is Here! Cake Central Magazine March 2010: Kerry Vincent dishes about reality cake t.v., lots of cake pictures and more.  You don’t want to miss this, order your subscription now.

CakeCentral Magazine’s First Issue arrives March 2010

http://cakecentral.com/magazine

Cake Makers, Foodies, and Cake Enthusiasts alike have been waiting for a first-class cake decorating magazine and that wait is over. Cake Central’s Glossy Printed Magazine is coming in March and currently taking subscription orders.

The cost of the magazine is only $60/year with FREE shipping within the USA. This is a monthly magazine that will be mailed 10 times per year. 2 months of the year will feature our special Double issue, so that means your subscription price is only $5 per magazine

Right Now the magazine is only available in the USA however we will be adding worldwide circulation in the coming weeks so enter your information here to get an instant notification when it will be available in your country.
http://cakecentral.com/magazine/cakecentral-magazine-worldwide

The pages of Cake Central the Magazine will feature:

• high quality cake pictures
• up-and-coming and celebrity cake decorators
• recipes
• tutorials
• product reviews
• and more for the novice
• and the professional cake decorator.

This premium publication is ideal for anyone who bakes, makes cakes, aspires to make cakes, watches cake decorating shows, or has an interest in beautiful food

A very heartfelt “Thank You” to every one of you that participated in our initial interest survey, we have been overwhelmed by your outpouring of generous information and positive feedback.

The 2009 Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show (OSSAS) was so much fun! The trip from Seattle to Tulsa was so worth it.

View the amazing cakes entered in the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show competition here:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&aid=194

The Grand Prizewinner: Mercedes Strachwsky Florida

1st runner up: Robin Van Hoozer Oklahoma

2nd Runner Up Flora Aghababyan Nevada

3rd Runner Up Edith Hall Missouri

4th Honorable Mention Amelia Carbine Utah

5th Honorable Mention Carolyn Wanke-Gold Colorado

Some more CC members I met up with!

UPDATE: Read the follow up here http://cakecentral.com/jackie/151/2009-ossas-followup

October 3-4, 2009
I will be attending the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show at the Tulsa State Fair!

http://www.oklahomasugarartists.com

I will be in Tulsa Oklahoma at the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show From October 3-4 taking photos, meeting with you and blogging about the contestants and the contest winners!

Please let me know if you will be there too, I would just LOVE to meet you!

UPDATE:

Official meet-up times are as follows:

Saturday Oct 3 11:30 a.m – near the main entrance of the Sugar Art Show

Sunday Oct 4 11:30 a.m – near the main entrance of the Sugar Art Show

If you make it to the show later in the day, or miss me don’t worry I will be there from start to finish both days milling around and talking cake!

Look for me! I will be the crazy person asking everyone if they are from cakecentral LOL

Wedding Cakes Wars airs on WeTV Sunday, Sept. 20th at 10pm|9c

Wedding Cake Wars was filmed at the Westminster, MD Great American Cake Show, tune in and set your DVRs!

I was fortunate enough to attend the live filming of the contest for 2 days.  All of the contestants were incredible, every cake just beautiful, intricate, and overall amazing! To top it off, they only had a few hours of prep and decoration, with cameras right there filming every single move.

See some “behind the scenes” photos of some of the contestants in action, while being filmed
http://cakecentral.com/jackie/31/wetv-wedding-cake-wars-contest

Here are some photos me getting to meet some the talent!

The contestants included amateur and professional cake decorators:

Charmaine Jones, Amanda Shafer, Kristyn Zaenklein, Carolina Lara, Clara Gold, Anna Weisend, Cynthia Knox, Ruth Rickey, Sabrina Kuratana, Vanessa Greeley, Terry Tuttle, Dana Herbert

On a personal side note… At the time I thought it most useful to take a photo of myself with everyone, in hind-sight, putting myself in EVERY photo .. not one of my better ideas.

Ron Ben-Israel, Host I’m Ron Ben-Israel, and I have been baking and decorating wedding cakes since 1994…

Jay Ellis, Judge At the age of 27, Jay is the young, brash owner of Cakes by Jay. Considered the premier wedding cake maker on Long Island, Jay has had to prove himself to the industryʼs established pastry chefs and decorators…

Colette Peters, Judge Colette Peters is the reigning queen of cakes. Since 1991, she has made Coletteʼs Cakes one of the most prestigious cake shops in the country and has written five, highly-acclaimed books…

Jill Hudson Neal, Judge Jill Hudson Neal is a former fashion reporter and style editor for Washington Post Magazine who recently became bridal editor for Washingtonian Magazineʼs new offshoot Washingtonian Bride and Groom…

Amanda Shafer Amanda is a bright and fresh-faced artist who never dreamed that she would be designing cakes for a living. She has a degree in studio art and always considered herself a sculptor, even though she had no idea what to do after she graduated…

Carolina Lara Carolina is a former fashion designer from Puerto Rico and proud mother of three. Always creative – she makes jewelry, does glass fusing and bead making – her designs always come back to fashion…

Dana Herbert Dana is an expert sugar artist with lots of names. Heʼs known as “The Sugar Daddy” because of his work with pulled and blown sugar. Heʼs called “The King of Cakes” because his six-year-old business, “Desserts by Dana,” is so successful in Delaware…

Learn more at: http://www.wetv.com/wedding-cake-wars

We have received countless emails from members who have asked if they could pay a monthly fee to use cakecentral.com without seeing all the advertisements.

We are happy to announce that we are making that option available beginning today.

Now there are two ways to use Cake Central

1. FREE – Ad Supported
2. SUBSCRIPTION – $4.95 per month – No advertisements displayed.

Both types of user accounts have access to all the same great features and content, the only difference is the display of advertisements. Also Subscribers might find page load times a bit faster since they won’t have to wait for their browsers to load the advertisements.

I just wanted to put this information out there so no one panics and thinks that Cake Central has become a fee based site, or that they will miss out on content if they don’t subscribe.

Hopefully this option strikes the right balance of keeping Cake Central freely available to all who want to participate, but provides an option for those who would prefer to pay a membership than to be distracted by advertisements when using Cake Central.

If you have any problems subscribing, please use the contact page to submit a support ticket and we will help you get it sorted out.

Click here to subscribe : SUBSCRIBE

7 days with Colette Peters, Norman Davis, Zane Beg, Susan Carberry and me!

CakeCruise 2009 will be a 7 day round trip from San Diego, CA departing on Dec 05, 2009 for a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise.

This cruise will visit Mazatlan,Peurto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas aboard Holland America’s ms Oosterdam

Visit the Cake Cruise Presentations page to learn more about the presenters and classes schedule, the presentations will be MC’d by yours truly!

I will also be attending the group dinners so we can really get to know each other in person.

RESERVATIONS ARE OPEN
CakeCruise.com still has available a selection of great staterooms and suites ready for booking. CakeCruise is also able to offer payment plans for those who do not wish to make the final payment as a lump sum in September.

Cake Cruise Brochure 2009

I have already booked my reservation! I hope to see you there!

DON’T MISS THE BOAT!!
Find out more by visiting www.CakeCruise.com

This is a photo follow up from the May 2009 Washington State Cake Show. Let me know if you are in any of the photos!

Above photo from left to right, Lisa , Jeanette, Jackie, Leanne, Katy

UPDATE: Wedding Cake Wars Airing on Sept 20

Right now there is a tentative date of September 2009 for the airing of the Wedding Cake Wars cake challenge on WeTV.

Find out if WeTV is in your area

Here are some photos of the contestants in action:

I will be attending the Great American Cake Show May 2nd – May 3rd 2009 in Westminster Maryland!

I will be in Baltimore/Westminster From May 2-May 3rd taking photos, meeting with you and blogging about the contestants and the contest winners!

Please let me know if you will be there too, I would just LOVE to meet you!

http://www.greatamericancakeshow.com/

OFFICIAL MEET-UP TIMES

SAT May 2nd – 12:40 pm – 1pm
Inside building near front entrance
I will have some Lanyards and CakeCentral.com nametags for everyone! (and no, it will not hurt my feelings if you opt not to wear the nametag )
This will probably be a pretty quick “hello” for some of you as there are some classes and demos starting at 1pm

I will be at the show all day, attending some classes, and floating around, so we might end up sticking together for part of the day.

SAT May 2nd – 5:00pm – 6:45pm DINNER!!
Outside building near front entrance
Applebees Bar & Grill is very nearby and I am comfortable arranging car-pools if we need to. ( I will be able to fit 3 people in my car)
Anyone interested in meeting after the show for dinner at Applebees please PM me by April 29th so I can set a reservation for our group.
APPLEBEES
634 Baltimore Blvd,
Westminster, MD 21157

I will be returning to the Cake Show to attend the 7pm – 10pm EVENING OF SHARING with Colette Peters, Geraldine Randlesome and Beth Parvu.

——————————————————————-

SUN May 3rd – 1:30 pm – 2pm
Inside building near front entrance
I will have some Lanyards and CakeCentral.com nametags for everyone!

I will be at the show all day, attending some classes, and floating around, so we might end up sticking together for part of the day.

SUN May 3rd – 5pm – ?? DINNER!!
Outside building near front entrance
After the awards ceremony is complete. (it may by 5pm, or it may be a bit earlier or later)
The Olive Garden is very nearby and I am comfortable arranging car-pools if we need to. ( I will be able to fit 3 people in my car)
Anyone interested in meeting after the show for dinner at the Olive Garden please PM me by April 29th so I can set a reservation for our group.

OLIVE GARDEN
500 Gorsuch Rd
Westminster, MD 21157

The Washington State Sugar Artists Cake Show (WASSA) is April 24th – April 26th 2009

I will be at the cake show on Sunday along with fellow CC’r Momkiksbutt! Will you be there? We would love to meet up with you. I will be taking photos and blogging about my time at the show. For more information please visit: http://www.freewebs.com/wassacakes/

Talk to me about it here http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6357766.html#6357766