LEITHS Foodstyling Course session 4 with Katy Greenwood

It's taken me a while to get round to writing this blog post, I've had the busiest few weeks recently, having to reapply and re-interview for my job (it's a long and very boring story- I got it though which is good news), but better late than never!

So our 3rd foodstyling session was with Katy, and it was cake night. Katy gave a few demonstrations of different icing techniques, and showed us how to make the filling look abundant, whilst still creating a nice clean picture. She also showed us ways to cut it, to make a nice clean slice, and some techniques for dribbling icing down the sides of the cake. She said that she particularly likes doing cakes, because you get a bit more freedom and can be more creative with them, which I can understand.

We were then put into groups, and got given a challenge on a piece of paper. My group had to make a 'homely, achievable, women's institute' style cake. It was a lot of fun, and nice to try out some of the techniques she showed us. Here are some photos from the night, enjoy!

Working on our filling- doesn't it look delicious

My groups 'Women's-institute' style Victoria sponge

Pretty tasty looking hey?!

Mastering the controllable-ooze with the filling...

We made a stencil out of strips of baking paper to create this criss-crossed top

One of the other groups 'Afternoon tea' inspired cake- isn't it lovely?

Lovely piping on the Donna Hay inspired cake

I think this was my favourite - the Marks and Spencers cake- I love how clean it is, they piped the icing on beautifully.

All of them together- comparing cakes. (NB this is showing the bad side of our cake- the other side was it's front!)

LEITHS Food Styling session 3 with Jennifer Joyce

Despite the tube strikes, I managed to make it to my third food styling session, in which we met our second tutor, Jennifer Joyce. Jennifer is a food writer, author and stylist, who has worked for the likes of BBC Good Food, Olive and Elle Decoration. She has written several cook books including 'Skinny Meals in Heels' (her latest), 'Small Bites' and 'The well dressed salad', so she knows what she's talking about!

During this session, Jennifer spoke to us about the importance of props, and how they can make or break an image. They tell a story, and can mean the difference between an amateur and professional looking image. She gave us loads of great ideas for things that you might not think to use as a prop, such as shooting food on newspaper (may work for a rustic/authentic look) or using old rice bags if you are maybe shooting an Asian dish. So I'm off to scour the charity shops of London for props over the weekend!

The prop table- lots of lovely things!

Gorgeous blue plate selection- mix up old plates with new ones in the same colour scheme for an updated, together look.

Jennifer then gave us a few demonstration on styling some lamb kebabs and couscous, pasta, an Asian noodle salad, some dip, some soup and a chocolate mousse. These were all done in a matter of minutes, whilst we all watched on in awe! It was great to see her work and hear her little tricks and tips. Here are a few photos from the session that totally don't do the food justice, but at least they give you an idea of what she was doing:

A gorgeous spaghetti with pine nuts, herbs and chilli- how lovely and rustic does this look?

Asian noodle salad and dressing- love these colours. Apparently there's a trend at the moment for serving salads in trays like this.

Dip served on a plate (never a bowl)- love the touch of charring the bread slightly.

Soup- Jennifer takes different sized bottles and tubes to shoots for doing swirls like this with dressings and cream. 

My favourite photo of the evening- this was put together with an originally rather nasty looking packet chocolate mousse! I think it's amazing how the blue plate makes the food 'pop' so much, and I love the touch of the swept away spoonful.  

Had to add this one in too- look at all those lovely saucepans!