Tap into your child’s imagination to make their dream cake come true

Our kids are the most precious bundles of love in our lives. When your special little child’s birthday finally rolls around (they’ve been waiting a whole year), naturally you want to make their dreams and wishes come true.

Cakealicious Cakes are Dunedin’s leading specialty cake shop specialising in making the most imaginative and extravagant dream cake designs come true.

To make things less stressful, you don’t even have to come up with the ideas yourself. Just ask your child in advance what their dream cake might look like, what flavours it would be, and what kind of frosting, lollies, and chocolates would be on or inside it. Let their imagination run wild and you can be sure they will come up with amazing ideas that will rock the worlds of their family and friends at the party. Just make sure to write down all those ideas so you won’t forget.

We can make the cake of your child’s beautiful imagination into a delicious creation that will leave everyone at the party in awe. That’s what we do ~

Your child can also have his or her favourite character, pet, or a book brought to life. We can even print any photo you want on to the top of your cake if it’s topped with fondant. The possibilities are truly endless with children’s birthday cakes.

The cake can be a huge intricately designed tiered cake, but it doesn’t have to be. We can design cakes to fit your wishes, incorporate your child’s imagination, and cakes that won’t break the bank.

Contact us early so we can hear your (and your child’s) ideas and start baking ~

Colleen Brent

A training guide to preparing for your first 10km race

Are you stepping up from a 5k race to take on a 10k, or a beginner wanting to go straight for the 10k race? Planning your training can get you there fit and injury-free.

First and foremost, as the experts on the runkeeper blog say, “It’s important to give yourself time to build up to the 10k distance.” While you could be ready in 8 weeks, it’s best to give yourself 3-4 months to prepare to make sure you are fresh and injury-free on race day.

Here are some tips to running your first 10k race:

• Aim for 3-4 runs per week
• Warm-up, cool-down and stretch before and after every run
• Include an endurance run each week
• Include a tempo run each week
• Include an interval run each week
• Drink lots of water
• Have a rest day after each run day
• Brisk walks on rest days will help recovery.

Endurance run

This long, slow run should start at around 6-8km for beginners, and build to 10-13km by race day. Make sure you run this at a slow, comfortable pace. Run at a speed that you could hold a conversation with someone and be able to breathe comfortably the whole run.

Building to running 10-13km by race day will teach your body that the distance will not be a problem on race day. You will finish this race~

Tempo run

A tempo run teaches you to be comfortable being uncomfortable. It trains you to run at a speed slightly outside your comfort zone. This builds mental strength, overall speed and endurance.

Start with 5-10 mins slow jog, then run 20 minutes at a pace just outside your comfort zone. Being able to talk easily would be too slow, and gasping for air would be too fast. Finish with 5-10 minutes slow jog and stretch.

Interval Run

These are short, intense runs followed by slow jog/walk rests to recover and catch your breath. The fast pace helps to boost your speed each week along with the jogging rests to improve endurance.

After warm-up, run 400m at hard uncomfortable effort, then slow jog 400m to catch your breath and recover. Repeat this 6-10 times.

 

If you can follow these tips for 3-4 months, you’ll be burning up the road come race day.

Leave a comment and let me know how your training is going ~

 

The tip to running a faster 10k… that works

Improving your 10k personal record (PR) can be difficult and frustrating, but by adding speed workouts to your training plan it is possible. As Beth Shepard says on her blog at acefitness, “to perform faster, you have to train faster.” By including a speed workout once a week into your current training plan, you’ll see improvements on your 10km PR within 4-6 weeks.

These speed workouts aim to further develop your speed and endurance so you can maintain a faster pace for 10km.

The idea behind speed workouts is running at, or faster than, your usual 10k pace, but for shorter periods, and then jogging during rest time to help improve endurance.

The best speed workouts to include in your workout are:

• Interval training
• Tempo training
• Tabata training

Interval training

Interval training is running at a high-intensity for short intervals followed by equal length of jogging to recover. This will boost your speed as well improve your endurance.

Shorter distance interval workout: Warm-up 10-15 minutes. Cool-down 5-10 minutes after run.

• 10-12 x 400m at goal 10k pace followed by 400m jog recovery.

Longer distance interval workout: Warm-up 10-15 minutes. Cool-down 5-10 minutes after run.

• 4-5 x 1500m between current 10k pace and goal 10k pace followed by 1500m jog recovery.

Tempo training

Tempo training is running at just under your race pace for 20-30 minutes. This will extend the point at which your body fatigues, so you can run at a higher speed for a longer distance. This will also build your mental strength. You need to remember to slow jog before and after this run to maintain endurance and perform at your best during the fast part.

Tempo workout: Warm-up 10-15 minutes. Cool-down 5-10 minutes after run.

• Run at a hard pace (just under race pace) and slightly outside your comfort zone for 20 minutes without rests.

Tabata training

Tabata training is a very high-intensity form of interval training. One rep involves running at your maximum effort for 20 seconds then slow-jogging for just 10 seconds as your recovery. 8 of these reps is 1 set. This popular form of training is proven to boost both your aerobic and anaerobic fitness.

Tabata workout: Warm-up 10-15 minutes. Cool-down 5-10 minutes after run.

• 1-4 sets of 8 x 20 seconds running at maximum effort (sprint) followed by 10 seconds jogging recovery. Rest 1-2 minutes between each set.

 

Including one of these speed workouts once a week into your current training plan will have you shaving time off your 10k time in as little as 4-6 weeks.

Leave a comment and let me know how your training is going ~

Andy

Does the Cake match the venue?

Will your beautiful wedding cake design fit into its surroundings on the big day?

It’s important to take your venue into consideration when deciding on your beautiful wedding cake design. You don’t want your cake to appear overwhelmed by the size of the venue, or to look out of place because it doesn’t match the décor or its surroundings. You want your Cakealicious Cake to stand out and wow people for all the right reasons.

Cakealicious Cakes wants to hear what your dreams are for your wedding cake. We will then ask detailed questions about your venue size and its décor, your dress, how many guests will attend, and even the flowers you’ve chosen.

Here are some things to consider when designing a cake that will tie in with its surroundings:

·         If you’re having a relaxed style wedding in a venue that has a less formal feel, you might like to go for a rustic style cake. This does not mean small and boring. It can still have intricate detail. It could even have a vintage feel to it, to help it fit into rustic surroundings such as retro flowery wallpapers and antique tables and chairs.

·         In a rustic setting such as a country cottage feeling venue, a smaller cake can look just fine, especially if you’ve kept your guest list to a minimum.

·         If your wedding is more formal in a large grandeur venue, you will want to make sure your cake can still stand proud and not disappear into its surroundings

·         If you’re inviting a large number of guests with a big dance floor and high ceilings, then you want your cake to match the scale of the wedding. A taller cake with an extra tier or two will better match the grandeur of the venue.

·         There are tricks to making your cake appear bigger without having to spend too much money – using a dummy tier or a cake plate, can provide extra height with little extra cost. Your Cakealicious Cakes designer can advise you on the appropriate size and tiers for your wedding cake.

We at Cakealicious Cakes have valuable experience, and are there to work with you to come up with the perfectly designed and appropriately sized cake for your wedding day. Our main goal is to make your dream cake come true ~

Colleen Brent

 

Specialty cake designs at Cakealicious Cakes Dunedin

Cakealicious Cakes is Dunedin’s premium specialty cake design bakery. Award-winning cake designer, Colleen Brent can offer a range of beautifully detailed cakes for your next event. Make an enquiry now for a free consultation and cake tasting session. We are about to design the cake of your dreams!

Cakealicious Cakes provides specialty cake designs for:

• family events
• weddings
• big birthdays
• baby showers
• children’s parties, and more!

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Visit our Cake Designs page to look at some of our most popular cakes. If you see a cake you like and want something similar or if you have your own idea, fill out an enquiry form and we can help you. Our testimonials page is filled with positive comments and photos from our customers, so you can trust you will be getting the very best cake in Dunedin.

Cake Designs

[Images: Photos of popular Cakealicious Cakes under anchor-linked cake categories that would take the user straight the category photo gallery]