Last weekend, I had the privilege of seeing the famous duo from the Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes at the Glorietta.
Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes
Bestfriends Valeri Valeriano and Christina Ong are the self-taught buttercream masters behind Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes. Currently based in London, these two Filipinas are renowned globally for their edible works of art. They pioneered many techniques that are now widely used in the industry.
The Filipina duo has been acclaimed as international cake stars in prestigious international Cake Shows and featured in numerous distinguished publications and TV Shows.
They have also written three books on buttercream: The Contemporary Buttercream Bible, 100 Buttercream Flowers, and their latest, Buttercream One-Tier Wonders. Flipping through the pages of my copy of Buttercream One-Tier Wonders, I am awed by the beautiful cakes they are able to create!
Buttercream One-Tier Wonders features 30 simple yet sensational single-tier cake decorating projects for all occasions. Ideal for buttercream beginners, the colorful tome provides step-by-step instruction on a wide range of innovative techniques using piping tips, palette knives, and other tools.
The event, a cake decoration demonstration organized by Bake et al and sponsored by Gourdo’s and Wilton, was also a book signing for their newest book, but the ladies were generous enough to show us some quick tutorials on how to make buttercream flowers. They made it look so easy!
Here they are showing us how to decorate a Wreath Cake, page 84 on Buttercream One-Tier Wonders.
They decorated this Wreath Cake with flowers in real time:
Here’s a close-up of the flowers. So realistic, no?
It actually seems as easy as pointing the tip and squeezing. They taught us how to make a rose, daisies, sunflowers, hydrangeas, etc… all the flowers on the Wreath Cake. They really make it seem so easy that I feel confident I can do it myself, too.
I am sure it’s not going to be as easy as they made it look when I do it myself, but I really want to try my hand at it. It not only looked really fun, but therapeutic, as well. It also feels good when you realize that you’ve created something beautiful.
First step is to buy a set of Wilton decorating tips! This set is P1,370 at Gourdo’s. Haha, they look like little soldiers all lined up… can’t wait to try them out!
Valeri and Christina only use Wilton tips, they say it’s the best, and who am I to argue with the experts?
They fell in love with buttercream and the piping process in 2011. “Our first ever set of nozzles was the cheapest you could ever find in eBay. Then we noticed that the quality of the piped flowers were not good because of the poor quality of the nozzles we were using. We searched online and found Wilton. We never used any other brand since,” related Valeri. “Our favorite nozzle of all time is the Wilton Petal Tip 104,” claimed Christina.
Wilton products are available at Gourdo’s The Fort, Glorietta 4, Trinoma, Gateway, Promenade Greenhills, Robinson’s Magnolia, Robinson’s Manila, Shangri-La Plaza, Greenbelt 5, Alabang Town Center and the soon-to-open branch in Megamall. Swissmar is also at Living Well branches in The Podium, Mall of Asia, and SM Aura.
The Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes ladies with fans. So adorable.
If you’ve been intimidated by cake decorating, like me, it wasn’t really as difficult as I thought it was. After seeing how easy it looked, I am planning to try a small cake decorating project one of these weekends. Their book is easy to read and describes steps in detail. The Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes ladies also offer classes, too. 
If you are interested in attending a cake decorating class, Gourdo’s also offers Wilton Cake Decorating Classes. Course 1 covers a broad set of buttercream decorating techniques that can come handy in for all decorating projects, from cupcakes to cakes for any occasion. Course 2 is about working with royal icing. It also includes an introduction to using fondant and gum paste. Course 3 teaches more fondant and gum paste skills application. Course 4 includes advanced techniques working with gum paste for more realistic flowers.
| WILTON CAKE DECORATING CLASS | |||
| JULY SCHEDULE | TIME | CLASS TYPE | LOCATION |
| 16-17 | 11:00am-03:00pm & 04:00pm-08:00pm | Course 1 & Course 3 | Living Well Workshop – The Podium |
| 23-24 | 11:00am-03:00pm & 04:00pm-08:00pm | Course 1 & Course 3 | Gourdo’s Workshop – Alabang Town Center |
| AUGUST SCHEDULE | TIME | CLASS TYPE | LOCATION |
| 13-14 | 11:00am-03:00pm & 04:00pm-08:00pm | Course 1 & Course 2 | Living Well Workshop – The Podium |
| 27-28 | 11:00am-03:00pm & 04:00pm-08:00pm | Course 1 & Course 2 | Gourdo’s Workshop – Alabang Town Center |
| SEPTEMBER SCHEDULE | TIME | CLASS TYPE | LOCATION |
| 17-18 | 11:00am-03:00pm & 04:00pm-08:00pm | Course 1 & Course 3 | Living Well Workshop – The Podium |
| 24-25 | 11:00am-03:00pm & 04:00pm-08:00pm | Course 1 & Course 3 | Gourdo’s Workshop – Alabang Town Center |
For more details, call the Gourdo’s 24-hour hotline at (02) 8123022 or log on to www.gourdos.com.
