A Little Nostalgia: Bringing Back Traditional Cake Decorating

Nostalgia hits me like an almost physical ache. I suspect I'm not alone in feeling this way, although I know not everyone experiences it quite so strongly.

I can still remember the previously burned birthday candles tucked away in a tin at my grandparents' house. Even those little candles brought back memories of the birthday parties they'd been used for. We don't tend to save used candles these days. Compared with years ago, they're inexpensive and easily replaced. But back then, even the smallest things were worth keeping.

Perhaps that's why I've always had such a soft spot for traditional cake decorating.

Although I didn't start Kiwicakes until I was 30, I often wonder whether I was destined to have a cake decorating shop.

As a child, I loved baking, cake decorating and making chocolates. But I also loved exploring my grandparents' pantry. I'd smell all the little bottles of essences, sneak a silver cachous from the jar to crunch on, and spend ages looking through the contents of a metal tin that held Christmas cake decorations, candles and cake frills.

I would sit there remembering birthdays and Christmases past, looking at the little decorations and imagining the cakes and celebrations they'd been part of.

I also adored dragging out any recipe or decorating books that had photographs in them, dreaming about my next birthday cake, Christmas cake or party food creation.

Granny and Grandad would even let me put Play-Doh into a cup and make pretend cakes. When I had finished, everything went back into the tin, ready for another day of playing.

Over the years, some of those little treasures disappeared. Items were used on cakes that were given away or taken along to pot luck dinners, and gradually things from the family tin were lost.

Now, as I get older, I find myself feeling an increasing need to replace some of those things. Perhaps one day, my grandchildren (I don't have any just yet!) will be able to rummage through that same tin and make their own pretend cakes, just as I did.

Maybe it's something about getting older that makes us appreciate these little connections to the past. Or perhaps it's simply that certain things carry memories that are worth holding on to.

Over the last few years, I've chatted with many Kiwicakes customers who feel exactly the same way. They've been delighted to discover that we stock a lovely range of cake decorations imported from the UK, with that distinctly traditional, old-fashioned feel.

I'd go so far as to say you won't find a better selection of this style anywhere else in New Zealand.

From pretty cake frills and traditional figurines to plaques and decorations that take us straight back to the cakes of our childhood, we've gathered together a range that celebrates old-school cake decorating. And, of course, there are plenty of designs that bring a more modern twist to these traditional favourites.

You can explore our Christmas cake decorating range here.

As for me, my choice this year has been the miniature Christmas crackers and a Merry Christmas plaque. They're going straight into the family tin, ready to become part of its story.

My tin doesn't have all the items it once had, some have been lost or tossed. But I am starting to fill it back up. The beautiful old tin, is a "Sovereign" toffees tin