Email{When in Galway} LizzieMay’s Cakes, Cupcakes and Cookies
Posted under: I like to test the theory ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ from time to time .. especially as ‘the old dog’ aka my handsome Chef, knows everything quite a bit about cooking and baking. A few weeks ago I noticed a few images flitting about on Facebook and I clicked my way back through the myriad of friends that had been ‘liking’ the images to a very cool landing page of LizzieMay’s Cakes, Cookies and Cupcakes.
There was a few images on her page that made me think of my dear friend Paula over at VanillaBeanBaker blog . And I thought ‘bummer . . another highly skilled cookie decorator that – probably – lives on the other side of the world’.
Except this highly skilled cookie decorator lives right here in Galway and only a stones throw from us really. I sent her a message tout sweet (ha ha) and asked her if she could come out to the house and give us a lesson on ‘how to decorate cookies’.
Gail Porter, owner of LizzieMay’s Cakes, Cupcakes and Cookies got back to me straight away and was only too delighted to oblige.
At the very tender age of 30, Gail decided to take advantage of being made redundant at her ‘proper job’ with Nortel and followed her passion for food. She enrolled in a twelve week course at Ballymaloe but had no interest in working with sugar or making cakes. I think that is the cool thing about food; whether you like it or not, when you are good at something it weaves its way in to your world and you sometimes end up going down a road you had not planned to travel. After she graduated from her course (and needing to find a way to pay for her education loan) she launched her new business and called it LizzieMay’s after both her Grannies.
Gail arrived out to our house with her, eh, guns loaded and icing whipped and sorted in small little cling film pouches. This made clean up a snap later and I would encourage all of you to do the same should you attempt to decorate a few cookies any time soon.
Explaining as she worked, that the secret to becoming a pro at icing cookies, is first patience, followed by fabulous icing, followed by a steady hand. We had a few (duck) egg whites left sitting at room temperature and whipped up a small batch of royal icing (90 g egg whites/480 g icing sugar) and stood to attention waiting for her tutelage.
The peanut gallery looked on with eagerness. For future reference, this is an excellent way to keep the kids entertained for a while and keeps the kitchen that wee bit cleaner too!
When you want to learn ‘how to’ do something new, it is first best to admit that you know nothing and start fresh.
When icing cookies, start by piping a border using a heavy consistency of icing. By the time you have ten cookies iced, the border icing has set up enough for you to start filling in the rest of the cookie with the flood icing.
Once you have that part done, place the cookies in a fan oven on (almost) zero heat for twenty minutes. This hardens up the royal icing greatly and you can carry on and finish your cookies with a bit more bling.
While Gail worked away on her cookies, teaching and talking away, we gave an icing bag to the Chef to see if he could match her skill.
His cheerleading squad looked on with interest and were delighted that he did not screw it up!
When you remove the cookies from the oven you will have a fabulous hard icing with a beautiful matte finish on your cookie. The No. 1 icing tip is best for piping the border and writing.
But be forewarned folks. This.Takes.Time, and an incredible amount of patience, skill and creativity.
And it gets messy. Learning how to decorate cookies means you are working with sugar and food colouring, meaning you end up having a sweet sticky colourful mess on your hands for the afternoon.
And you know … someone has to clean it all up …
As we were mixing and matching colours I was getting a little confused over which ones were border/piping icing and which ones were flooded – because once wrapped up in little cling film packages it was hard to tell the consistency of the icing. Of course, and because I am so slow to catch on, the answer is easy … the little ones are the border icing (which you use less of) and the bigger ones are the flood icing, which you use lots more of.
A steady hand and the ability to not laugh or sneeze while working is vital .. because one false move can screw up a cookie. In Gail’s line of business you can’t just throw one out if you mess it up half way through the process. She likes to use a damp paintbrush to clean up her messes – but we did not see her put that into action once!
Supporting local business’s is something we strive to do more and more of each day.
Discovering a new local business woman making and baking her product from scratch only reinforces our way of thinking, buying and eating.
We will think of her now when we have a special occasion looming but are strapped for time and still want something real and delicious.
We are going to continue to buy local and support local business’s because we like to – and NEED to – know where our food is coming from. We like to see where it starts and how much work has to be done to the raw ingredients before they end up ready to go on our plate or cupcake stand.
Maybe you are wondering what to buy your Mum for Mother’s day next weekend? (March 10th here in Ireland and UK).
Gail can whip up a dozen cookies with a few days notice and can ship them to you!
Or maybe you want to get something for a client for a special Paddy’s Day party or for an Easter celebration?
Or maybe you will break down and give it a whirl yourself and even let the kids try their hand at decorating a few cookies.
No matter what you decide … there will come a time when you want to buy someone a beautiful gift from Galway and in our opinion this is one of the best places to start – so make a note of Gail’s contact details.
When you are popping in and out to our website (and we are ever so glad that you do) please note we have added a new tab called ‘When in Galway’ and this will make it easier to find all local business’s that we blog about. There are only a few on there right now but that will change over the next few months once I am finished with college …………..
and have a bit more time to tell you about all the Galway Food heroes we have in this tiny fabulous city by the sea.
Those are all the WiseWords I have for today,
WiseMóna
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About MónaI am a native Galway girl that seems to be drawn to professions that rhyme with 'err'. Writer, Mother, Restauranteur, Wedding Planner, Dishwasher, Grass cutter, Cocktail maker. I suppose you could say I am a well rounded entrepreneur.
You can find me here
About the ChefYou can't find the Chef here.
You might as well just come visit.
He prefers face to face communication.
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oh i am glad you did a post on this. i was so envious when i saw your pics on instagram! i love it when you say about ending up with sweet sticky fingers because that’s how it is for me when i start baking/decorating!
Peggy,
I am even more in awe of her now… Such an amount of creativity this girl has!
Looking forward to meeting you at Easter!
The MOM ones are stunning:)
Marian … I had to give them to my Mum for an early Mother’s Day present.
I love that ‘lace’ or lattice pattern too and will do my darnedest to make them …
But the cool thing about this is that now I can just call Gail and order some!
What fun! And how thrilling that you found someone like Gail so close to you. And isn’t it funny that she reminds me of my friend Gail of One Tough Cookie who basically has the same story to tell…. and now makes gorgeous decorated cookies like this. I wish one of the Gails would come to my house to teach me. I think these cookies are stunning and it does take a great talent along with that steady hand. But why were the “peanuts” relegated to the outside to watch through the window???
I know … It is very nice to find someone so close to us.
I have such admiration for people when the follow their passion all the way over to the
self employment (albeit it riskier) side of life. Her work is meticulous and it shows in everything she puts her hand to. I am going to shoot her first wedding cake in June for her and cannot wait to see it!
Thanks for all the sharing on Twitter/FB etc. you are a gem Jamie xx
Love love love the photos of the kids outside looking in!!
and love the idea of when in Galway on your web. How clever 
well done as always.
Ha ha …. Me too! They were supposed to be mucking out the hen coops but it was nice out so they were playing and got delayed …. But still found a way to wrangle their way into the shots. The other two lassies were right beside them too!
These cookies are so gorgeous! Wish I were close enough to enjoy. I have tried cookie decorating but I do not have the required patience nor steady hand. I know you are not surprised! Great post and I love the photos–especially the kids through the window!
Ha ha! I know…patience is required. I am determined to master this skill MS because oddly enough
it relaxes me…. As long as the munchkins are not underfoot that is…because when they are it just turns not a sugar filled frenzy with food colouring everywhere!
The cookies are just fab. Looks like such a fun afternoon and Gail’s story is so inspiring! I will also be making my first ever wedding cake this year, though it’s not until NYE so I have plenty of time to practice, practice, practice!
That is the name of the game Annie…practice does make perfect!
I am sure you will do a fabulous job xx
And yes…I do love the stories about inspiring women… It keeps me going!
The cookies are stunning and I’ve just picked up loads of tips and tricks for icing my own. I’ve always been afraid to ice cookies as I could never figure out how to get the royal icing to set properly. Now I know! Thanks Móna for this blogpost.
Thanks Caitríona… The little baggies and the fan oven tips might be life savers in this house 0)
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Mona,
Your photographs capture what appears to be a lovely day learning a new skill and making a new friend.
I’m not close enough to support a local business in Galway, but I agree with your words to support local businesses around you. Every week I am grateful for the farmers from my CSA farm share whose efforts grace our table.
Thank you.
Hi Kirsten,
Thanks so much. We live in the tiniest city but it is a very friendly city :0)
And supporting local business’s is the best way to help a growing community thrive.
Gail is just starting out on a very exciting journey and we are only too delighted to have found her!
Thanks for popping in for a visit.
Fun or what? I SO admire Gail’s patience. And fair play to her for going down the Ballymaloe route, My brother has done courses there. My niece only went over with him once and Darina remembered her. Now Kayla has become the baker in the house.
You can’t beat the personal touch,or the real strength of the buy local/use local ethos that Ballymaloe engenders.
Lets hear it for Gail and people like her!
I know! We really had fun. Becca even got to decorate one .. But Rory stole it, ‘fixed it’ and then eh, ate it!
I have stashed a few for safe keeping and hope they do not find it so we can have one with a cup of coffee on Friday afternoon … I am already looking forward to it!
yeah for Galway and yeah for those yummy looking cookies. Love those pictures of the kids at the window ! Today I have a lovely Galway artist on the blog ! Looking forward to seeing more Galway inspired posts here x
Hi Brenda,
I am working on one for The House Hotel right now. I love that hotel.
Must check out your Galway artist. I love promoting everything local and the cool thing about our
tiny little town and island is that everything is very local!
Hope you have started to thaw out over there in Boston and you are looking forward to Spring!
Those cookies are amazing! I’m one of life’s weirdos who doesn’t like cupcakes … but cookies are a different story altogether. I will definitely keep her in mind for any future occasions (I’m assuming she can ship to Dublin) All of those cookies are fabulous. They’d be a real talking point at any ‘do’. Great post and looking forward to reading more about your ‘When in Galway’ section. Helen
Hi Helen,
She does ship to Dublin and she also gives classes so you could always call her up and organise a class up in Dublin some weekend!
Her skill is evident in the photos. She has all these designs and doodles in her head and I was fascinated to watch her doodle away on the cookies. Mine would NEVER look like that – but once I am finished with college I am going to practice!
I am working on another Galway post right now so stay tuned – especially if you are interested in a little get-a-way over Easter weekend x
I just loved reading this post Mona and I’m so happy that you have found Gail and that she came over to visit and teach you how to decorate cookies. The photos of the *cheering section* at the window are priceless and I have a feeling that they are going to keep at you to continue working on your new skill of decorating cookies so that you can teach them.
I must look up Gail on FB and start following along. That you for introducing us to her. The cookies you all made and decorated together are wonderful.
Hi Paula,
I was just tickled PINK when I found her and you were the first person that popped into my head.
She is very talented and we chatted about needing and coveting a CopyCake machine too!
I can’t wait to practice truthfully … I find it very relaxing so know if I put my mind to it I will
get better over time. Thanks for popping in for a visit Paula and yes – the cheerleaders have very high expectations indeed!
Wow, I can only hope to some day have the kind of patience that this requires. They look amazing!
They are amazing. I hope to improve my own technique too!
But she does ship them all over Ireland so upkeep her in mind for a special occasions :0)
until you are as fabulous at cookie decorating, of course.
I love the photos with the kids watching from the windows! So cute. I haven’t tried cookie decorating before but looks the ideal way to spend a wet Saturday afternoon.
YOU can totally do this. You have such a great eye for colour and a decorators
mind. I know you can do it! I will have to have pictures and drawings to look at
but I am totally going to try it!
This cookies design looks really lovely and even now I want like this designs in my cookies too.
[...] was done by a local food artist (Gail Porter) and I blogged about our recent rendezvous with her right here and now, if you are in Galway, you can buy her cookies right here! Go buy some for your family. [...]