Adora Adora-Penn (rightmost) teaches the Jaycees how to stick edible paper with the Jaycees 50th year logo on the Golden Anniversary cake. The Junior Chamber International (JCI) Philippine-New York shows no sign of slowing down as this multi-awarded JCI chapter celebrates its golden year in 2013. On the other side of community service and diplomatic gatherings, exists a fellowship stuffed with constant dancing, marathons, partying and on Feb. 21, 2013 with great sweet kick cake decorating. 1 / 6
Led by its 2013 Chapter President, Bel Molina, JCI Philippine-New York jumpstarted their year-long 50-year anniversary celebration of excellence and leadership by designing the chapter s anniversary cake. We want to get creative and go all the way with buttercream and frostings as we look forward to a magical year ahead, said Molina. The men and women of JCI Philippine-New York, who have extra-specialized skills for project management but rely mostly on creative intuition as survival skills for cake decorating, made their way to the workshop to show their prowess in kneading, smoothing and painting a cake. The Adorable Chef (Adora Adora-Penn), one of New York s up-and-coming pastry sous chefs and a YouTube sensation, brought her knack in decorating cake to the young community leaders. Adorable Chef Adora has been baking custom cakes that included Louis Vuitton bag-inspired designs. You always have to start with a great tasting cake before you try to amaze people with aesthetics, Adorable Chef Adora said as she shared her secrets and special techniques in cake decorating through easy-to-follow steps. The venue was filled with sugar and laughter as the members flipped through cupcake flavors and fillings. Among the first major decisions that evening was to either use cream cheese or peanut butter cream frosting on Adorable Chef s signature baked cupcakes of chocolate, vanilla and red velvet. The decorators scooped buttercream frosting into the pastry bag and dedicated artistry in every 2 / 6
swirl. Make the center of the rose first, hold the bag in an angle and squeeze the pastry bag as you move the tip up and down in an arch, Adorable Chef Adora guided the young leaders to becoming real pros in cake decorating flowers. The cupcake decorating was like a batch of practice to get the feel for the big cake decorating. Perhaps the most anticipated part was the cupcake tasting which the members were allowed to have one out of three as they were meant to adorn the two-tiered golden cake, later premiered at the Induction Ceremony of the 2013 Board of Directors on Feb. 23, 2013. Most cupcakes did not make it to the set as members bargained that taste-test is a fundamental part of the culinary arts. The members made their first foray into fondant with the actual designing of the 15-inch mocha-flavored anniversary cake baked by Adorable Chef Adora. The members learned how to roll the fondant into a thin even sheet, mold it over and skirt the base cake. Designing followed with the painting of the base cake that was open to all skill levels. As the fate of the cake is a matter of utmost importance, the chef assured everybody that it is all about passion and ambitious creations even if it only involved painting gold shavings dipped in vodka on leaves. Most imperfections were hidden by more creativity. 3 / 6
The special feature had to be the JCI logo designs printed on edible paper that covered the flaws of the cake and added a collective appeal to the presentation. The cake decorating class kicks off with adorning cupcakes using cream cheese and peanut butter cream frosting. 4 / 6
The Golden Anniversary cake. 5 / 6
The President Adora-Penn; creative Bel team and Molina; Project is all VP smiles Chair for Individual for Reggie some Torrejon. Development cake-worthy Loren celebration. SanDiego; From Adora left, Jaycees 6 / 6