Premium quality icing for cake decorating and moulding

Business Spotlight - Coast Cakes

Business Spotlight: Coast Cakes

Danielle from Coast Cakes has had her shop for almost 7 years now. Danielle’s cake origin story all began while she was pregnant with her first child and decided it would be a nice idea to make her kids cakes. She says, and many of you may agree, “cake kind of spirals out of control quickly”. After making so many cakes over the past 15 years, Danielle doesn’t have an absolute favourite cake she’s created. Her favourites change as she creates new cakes; some cakes she loves, and others she doesn’t! Her favourite at the moment is her Beauty and the Beast two two-part cake set – two separate cakes (one Belle and one Beast themed) for the same person which she just fell in love with.

Beauty and the Beast Cake by Danielle Bale - Coast Cakes

Danielle knows all about how challenging cake decorating can be, particularly having to consistently learn new trends. Cakes have made her cry on multiple occasions, whether it’s something not going well or if they break (ouch)! Thankfully, Danielle has a few words of advice in minimising cake dramas, and they are to always put your cake on the floor of the car when transporting them! One afternoon while Danielle was out delivering a large baby shower cake on her lap, they had a close call with a truck and “the cake went smush – into the dashboard”. About 5 minutes away from the delivery address, they quickly turned around back to the shop for a quick half hour of cake repairs before heading back on the road for delivery. Now she follows her own advice!

Cake decorating has taught Danielle that sometimes it’s important to stop. It may be easy to keep going, fixing, touching; but she’s learnt when to stop and take a step back. That is pretty hard! For someone just starting out, she’d recommend finding a cake mentor or someone you can bounce ideas with. She says, “Having a second mind has made things so much easier. There are many times over the years where having a second person has really helped. Had it have been one person, [she’d] definitely get stuck”. She also reminds us that we don’t have to try everything. Find the things you enjoy and stick to those!

On teamwork: Having a second mind has made things so much easier. There are many times over the years where having a second person has really helped. Had it have been one person, I'd definitely get stuck.

VW cake by Danielle Bale - Coast Cakes

Nike shoebox cake by Danielle Bale - Coast Cakes

Cake me happy!

Danielle likes how cakes bring happiness to the world, like with this Baby Grogu cake. She loves how a small slice of happiness brings a person a moment to feel happy and know they are thought of. She’s content with where she is at the moment with cakes, she loves the little business they’ve created! She’s looking forward to the upcoming Christmas time rush, especially this year, as she gets to go back to the UK to visit family and friends, how sweet!

My favourite Pettinice colours are white or black!

Pettinice quick fire questions...

What’s your favourite Pettinice colour?

White or black! Black because it’s impossible to create. White because its the perfect base. You can create anything from white except black!!

What’s your favourite way of using Pettinice fondant in your cakes?

To cover cakes, Pettinice is a lovely product to work with. Gives smooth finishes. And I use it to model all sorts of things too.

Any special tips or tricks you can share for using Pettinice?

When using black and white, use snowcream, kremelta or krisco to apply to the white. Stops any colour transfer and can be easily removed if a mistake happens. Cornflour is also much better to use than icing sugar. Icing sugar dries out the fondant quickly and is grainy. Cornflour is smooth and doesn’t engrain in the fondant. You can then use a piece of the same colour to remove any excess corn flour.