What’s better than cakes and colour to kick off your Saturday morning? Cakes by Cliff and wearing colour to support a good cause! In October, I had the pleasure of attending Loud Shirt Day in support of deaf and hearing impaired children across Australia.

Held in the iconic Sydney Tower, the morning kicked off with drinks, delicious treats and was topped off with a one of a kind cake demonstration from cake master Clifford Luu.

Just one look at Clifford’s Instagram page, and it’s easy to see that his creations ooze talent.   Filled with geometric shapes, patterns and an elegant flair, Cakes by Cliff offers a sensory experience for your eyes and your mouth!

Being diagnosed with a hearing impairment at birth, Loud Shirt Day is especially close to Cliff’s heart and because of this we were able to witness a VIP step-by-step demonstration on how he makes his awesome cakes.

Lucky for you, I’m here to share with you some of those secrets!

1. Cliff’s secret icing is….DUN DUN DUUUUUN~ buttercream.  Yep it’s just buttercream.

2. After cutting the cake bases into 3 even sized layers using a cake slicer, Cliff stacked the layers on top of one another, separating them with a layer of buttercream between each (you will want to make sure your cake is stacked on a turntable).  After, generously spread a layer of buttercream roughly around the cake.

3. Using a cake smoother at a 90 degree angle, gently turn the turntable and scrape off the excess buttercream icing.  This will ensure all gaps are filled and that the icing is spread across the surface evenly

4. Cover up any areas where cake is still visible by piping another layer of buttercream and smoothing down with the cake smoother.

5. To get the watercolour look, Cliff pre-prepared 3 different servings of buttercream icing – blue, pink and yellow.  He then dashed splotches of each colour around the cake and used the cake smoother to slowly smoothed out the splotches, blending the colours all together.

6. When the cake’s icing is completely smooth, heat up some chocolate and pipe along the edge of the cake so that it drips off the edge.  TIP: pool the chocolate a little bit away from the direct edge of the cake, so you get a nicer dripping effect.

7. To recreate the abstract decorations that often adorn Cliff’s cakes, add food colouring to gelatine plastic and let it harden for a couple of minutes.  While the gelatine is still malleable,  sculpt it into abstract shapes to use to decorate your cake.  Don’t forget to also add some fresh fruit and edible flowers as decoration!

The final product?  Well, I’m so glad you asked!

Seeing Cliff demonstrate his talent showed just how important role models like Cliff and organisations like The Shepherd Centre are in shaping the perception hearing impaired children have of themselves and their opportunities. Cliff’s creativity and achievements is testament to these children that hearing loss is no barrier to success.

Please note that this was an invited event I attended on behalf of ningjaeats.