Our Year 11 Food Science General class have been learning how food advertising influences adolescent food choices, by investigating on-trend food products for special occasions.

After investigating and learning about the buttercream and ‘naked’ cake decorating process from Hannah of Hannah Bakes Cakes Perth. The girls have worked cooperatively, to create their own amazing special occasion cakes. The girls also learnt a selection of food styling and photography techniques to develop their own food advertisement, appealing to the adolescent market.

The class has practiced many aspects of critical and creative thinking, as well as problem-solving skills. The girls worked on costing and estimating quantities for ingredients and decorations and collaboratively working through production plans for the difficult process of decorating special occasion cakes. This experience has given the girls much confidence and practical skills in dessert making.

Below are reflections from some of the girls.

Working on the Naked and Buttercream Decorated Cake task was a great experience for us. It tested both our individual and collaborative skills. It tested our individual skills because we were required to be creative when designing our cake, while also taking our partner’s ideas into consideration. It also tested our collaborative skills because we were required to work with our partner in a way that was inclusive, respectful and efficient. We had to include each other’s ideas and try to complete this task efficiently, remembering to take care with things like presentation. Rachel Gilbert

I have learnt some skills from baking the cakes. These skills include creativity and problem-solving. It was helpful that I developed these skills as they helped me when icing my cake, as my partner was sick on one of the days we were decorating, which meant I had to make up our design on the spot. My cake turned out to look really pretty. Molly Walsh

When designing and making the cake I had to do some problem-solving. The problem was that there were different layers on the side of the cake with holes (as we froze the cake overnight), some were small, while others were big. I had to figure out how to first use a flat metal spatula and figure out how to get the sides of the cake even and fill the holes in while trying to still make it pretty. Overall, I enjoyed the designing and planning of the cake and the experience of working with a partner.  Ashlee Timmermans

The task we were given was to make and decorate a cake with buttercream icing. Collaborating with others was a fun experience as we worked as a team and used all our ideas to make this cake. This task also allowed me to use my creativity and go crazy with decorating and the design of how the cake would look.  Maddie Downing