Cake Bake & Sweets Show in Sydney – Update

It was early last year when we had first been considering to join the 2014 Cake Bake & Sweets Show in Sydney. We had contacted with organizers to exhibit our local cake business Yeners Cakes. At first we thought it was a good idea but later on realized it wouldn’t really make sense as we were based on the Gold Coast and exhibiting in Sydney (1000km’s away) wouldn’t really work. So we changed our mind and decided not to go.

In April last year, we started with Yeners Way online cake art tutorials. Within a couple of months after launching the website, we already had our first 2000 registered users from all around the world. Since we were creating online tutorials as opposed to actual cakes, we were no longer limited to our local area. Anyone from anywhere with an internet connection could learn from our tutorials!

It now made sense for us to exhibit at the Cake Bake and Sweets Show. So we decided that we would go to the Melbourne show, which was in October. We had plenty of time to prepare as we were still in April at this point. We got in contact with organizers, filled out all the application forms and paid a deposit for the stall. We thought of everything we needed to do/prepare and we were on track for October. It was all going to plan until we realized that somehow our previous enquiries we had made last year (2014) for Sydney were mixed up with our new enquiries for Melbourne (2015). So all the while we thought we were applying for Melbourne when in fact we were actually applying for Sydney, which was in June. Initially we had a big shock because we still had so much to do but soon after we realized that it was a good mistake. We initially wanted to go to Melbourne because we would have more time to prepare but carrying everything (all the stall stuff plus the chocolate centerpieces etc.) would be difficult via airplane. Now however, we could drive from Gold Coast to Sydney in 10 hours and transport everything comfortably.

Apart from being logistically more suitable, Serkan’s in laws lived about 15 minutes away from Olympic Park (where the event was held) so we could stay with them for a few days. Further more, my older son Orcun also lived just across the street from Serkan’s in laws. With this event, all the grand children would also come together and we would all have a much needed family gathering. We still had about 2 months to prepare our selves and it was all good.

I committed my self to make a 30 minute demonstration on the last day of the event (Sunday). Question was, what I am going to do for such a short amount of time that people would find interesting and educational? I wasn’t entirely sure of what I was going to do but I had a rough idea that I wanted to do something with chocolate. In the end I decided that instead of rushing to finish a chocolate centerpiece within 30 minutes, I would just demonstrate the 3 different techniques on how to use chocolate, and just have finished pieces on display.

Everything was packed and ready to go. Serkan, his wife, 2 kids and their dog Minnie went in their car while me and my wife Jo went in our own. We took off at 5am Tuesday and after 12 hours, we arrived at our destination. All the centerpieces had made it with no damage. It was a good idea to arrive in Sydney one day before the event to spend the Wednesday with family and watch all 4 grand kids playing together.

We arrived at Sydney Olympic Park (where the 2000 Olympics took place) early to avoid any unexpected issues. It took us about 5 hours to set up our stall and then we had some time go around meet with other exhibiters.

We arrived at the venue at 9.30 and there was already a big queue in front of the doors. Thousands of people were expected to attend the event and it was very exciting. The doors opened and we started meeting with visitors in front of our stall and handing out our flyers. Saturday and Sunday flew by and we had given out thousands of fliers and talked to hundreds of people. Sunday came around and it was time to do my presentation. There were about 100+ people who came to watch me. It all went quite smooth but there just wasn’t enough time to do everything I had hoped to do and demonstrate. Despite this, I still received a lot of positive feedback and I think people still enjoyed it so I was happy. Here’s a video of some of the demonstration…

In the end the event was a great experience and we all enjoyed being there. It was so great to personally meet with some of the most amazing and well known cake artists around like Margie Carter, Verusca Walker, Handi Mulyana and many more. Best of all, I met with so many Yeners Way fans in person that came to say hello and take a picture with me.

At 5pm Sunday, it all ended and people started to pack up there stalls. Setting up took us about 5 hours and clearing up only took an hour. We packed everything in the car and the next morning got back on the road at 5am towards the Gold Coast.

We are all back home now, cameras are ready to roll and I am very excited to continue producing online cake decorating tutorials and courses at Yeners Way.

Here are some pictures from the event.

With Verusca Walker

With Paul Delaney

My grand daughter Ayla

With Toni O Grady

With Merryn Holder

With Miguel Maestre from The Living Room

Thanks for reading!