Extreme Cake Makers Press Pack

18 April 2017

This series lifts the lid on the successes and failures of a crazy, creative and elite group who go all out to produce the world’s most delicious and breath-taking creations, turning cakes into works of art.

Across the series, we see everything from a life size Shetland pony to a 4ft replica of the Statue of Liberty, a life size ball gown with edible peacock feathers to a 5ft edible Wizard of Oz mural. For our extreme cake makers, anything in possible.

 

 

Interview with Nastassja from the Indulgent Sugar Plum

What’s the most elaborate request you’ve ever had?

Somebody asked me to integrate Kente cloth into their cake design. I then looked up how I could do it and found out I could print designs onto edible paper. It was fun because it gave me more scope for using print on cakes and doing something very different to what I usually do.

What’s your all-time favourite commission?

Every cake is my favourite cake when I’ve done it – that’s the problem! Each cake is very exciting because it’s something different from the last one. Even though I have an idea of the outcome, I usually surprise myself! If I really had to choose, it would be one of the first ones I did in watercolour. It was a trial and error and the watercolour against the buttercream really worked. It was a pink and gold wedding cake with a sequin bottom. I remember calling up the customer and saying I’m not doing you a cake in fondant anymore…I’m just going to hand paint it! I’ve never looked back at fondant…

How do you transit unusually shaped/large cakes - Any nerve-wracking moments?!

People may think that I carry them stacked up as they are – but I don’t! They are transported separately. Very low risk! There has been times when I’ve carried the cake tiered because of a particular design element… a very slow drive. 

When making the show, I’d made a golden cake with ruffles. The cake slightly moved about in the car and when we got to the venue I thought I’d forgotten to bring extra sheets of ruffles just in case – and I had a moment of panic – but I actually didn’t – it was hidden in a box somewhere.

I’ve had one cake that chocolate letters in the lady’s name – and I literally watched the chocolate letters melt before my eyes. The luckiest thing was, when I got to the customer’s house, she wasn’t even there… With that saving grace I was able to go back and redesign it. I learnt my lesson. Chocolate sculptures aren’t the best thing to do in the heat unless you have a freezer van.

Top baking tip?

Read the recipe first! I think it’s the most overlooked thing when baking.

Cake making’s…

…actually a scientific process!

 

Interview with Molly from Molly’s Creative Cakes

What’s the most elaborate request you’ve ever had?

I made a cake like a top table at a wedding, and put all the guests on. I had a list of what everyone is wearing and photos, so they looked like each individual person.

What’s your all-time favourite commission?

Probably the Shetland Pony from the show! It was a frame inside – wood, which I built. Stacked loads and loads and loads of cakes, supported from the inside out. Then I sculpted the neck and head with rice crispies, spouted the legs with modelling chocolate then covered everything in sugar paste. Then I textured it to look like fur and airbrushed it. Then tried to move it – it was so heavy… was it going to fit through the door?! It was about 11 stone by the end of it.

Top baking tip?

If someone wanted to go from baking to cake art, try and study the art side of it more. It’s quite easy to bake a nice cake, but when you put the creativity into it, and look at it from an artist’s point of view. I am a sculptor and artist by trade – I look at things maybe a little bit differently than what a baker would do – l’ll look at things like proportion, pictures… anything they’d tell you at art school.

Cake Making…

…consumes your whole life!

 

Interview with Phil and Christine, Peboryon  

What’s the most elaborate request you’ve ever had?

Christine: I think it was probably a cake we did at the Dorchester – a 90 year cake with 14 mini cakes at the base, and then it was situated in a room that inspires the design. It was handpainted, had life-size chocolate birds of paradise, with gold leaf tipped feathers and it was quite ornate – it transitions from a blush pink up to blue at the top, so it had a colour change in the middle of it as well. It was pretty fancy.

What’s your all-time favourite commission?

Phil: My favourite so far has to be the Wallace and Gromit cake we did. It was everything you dream of in a cake! We got to work with Aardman, we sat down with their design team. A lot of people thought it was designed for us by Aardman – and I thought that was fabulous – the highest compliment you could possibility get! It’s so whimsical and fun and just wonderfully Wallace and Gromit. There was something deliciously British about the whole thing!

Christine: My favourite commission has probably been a wedding cake by a couple of graphic designers. They gave me loads of scope – they wanted something really clean and design-led – something a bit different from your usual wedding cake. It ended up being navy and gold and I just absolutely loved it. And they did too!

How do you transit these cakes?

Christine: We often make custom cake containers for each one because they are all so different they need different packaging and transportation. We use trains, planes, automobiles – whatever gets it there beautifully and in one piece!

Phil: When you are in your studio it’s a very controlled environment. There’s no external factors, so whenever you’re transporting a cake there is a big element of risk.

How long does it take to design and bake a high specification cake?

Christine: It can be months, it can be days – it all depends on the design and who you are working with. Something like the Wallace and Gromit cake was months and months in the making.

Baking tip?

Phil: I hear a lot of amateur baking getting really stressed about decorating cakes and I think, just enjoy it! At the end of the day, if it all goes horribly wrong, at least everyone gets to eat cake!

Christine: Get your bakes right. You’ll be at the party with your friends and your family and you might as well enjoy a really decent slice of cake.

 

Interview with Eloise, The Gourmet Cupcake Company:   

What’s the most elaborate request you’ve ever had?

Most elaborate request has got to be a request for a double bed cake. Life size...

What’s your all-time favourite commission? 

My favourite cake commission has to be the working guitar cake I made. Just the fact that it could be played was mind blowing to watch, even when I was the one that made it! I also loved the process of air brushing the paintwork.

How do you transit unusually shaped/large cakes - Any nerve-wracking moments?!

Every single delivery for me is nerve wracking. I breath a huge sigh of relief when we finish a cake and no sooner have I stood back to admire it does the dread of a delivery set in! Ideally large cakes are transported in sections and assembled, but for a shaped cake this isn't always possible as facilities at venues are limited. Delivery really has to be the worst part of cake making for me.

How long does it take to design and bake a high specification cake?

The amount of time it takes to make a cake completely depends on it's size and the level of decorative detail. We have made some wedding cakes where the baking alone has taken us a full day, I've sat and piped on cakes for 4 solid hours, made thousands of hand made flowers just for one cake which can also take days alone. The amount of man hours that go into making the many elements of any cake is always vastly underestimated - even by me!

Top baking tips? 

I think attention to detail is really key for a successful cake maker, whether it's following your recipe to a tee or taking your time to make the decorative elements really perfect. Also work hard to develop your own style and flair as this is what will set you apart from the rest!

Weigh everything. I'm horrified when our cake course attendees tell me they guess how much of their ingredients they are putting in at home! at the shop we weigh everything right down to how much mixture we put in each cupcake case, or how much sugar paste to colour up for each and every rose.... A common baking problem our course attendees report is having too much of a peak on their cakes and they have cut the tops off! Often people think this is due to not pushing the mixture down in the tin but actually it's the heat of the oven. This can be fixed in a jiffy by simply turning your oven down.

 

Interview with Suzanne, The Frostery:

What’s the most elaborate request you’ve ever had?

The most elaborate request I have had was being asked to create an open Faberge Egg. I spent a week of very long hours, hand cutting 1000 sugar clover leaves and hand painting each one to give an enamelled look to them. The surprise inside was a hand modelled sugar fairy and the whole open egg was stood on a bespoke stand as the real Faberge eggs do. 

What’s your all-time favourite commission?

My all-time favourite commission was creating the wedding cake for Nick Park and his gorgeous wife Mags last year. It will forever be my favourite because I have been a huge fan of Nick's work since I was a little girl and have at times obsessed over his Plasticine creations. The fact that they chose me to create their special cake meant the world to me.

How do you transit unusually shaped/large cakes - Any nerve-wracking moments?

Sometimes it feels like creating the cake is the easiest part; transporting some of our cakes can be so stressful. For the Faberge Egg for example, we had to take the cake to London and so we had to have a special wooden box created to support the 'open' egg and stop it from moving around. We travelled by car, train, taxi and tube to get to the venue and hearts were in our mouths the whole of the time. It arrived in one piece I'm relieved to say! Any cake delivery is nerve-wracking though because you never know what conditions you will face.

How long does it take to design and bake a high specification cake?

I can usually design a high specification cake for a client in a couple of days and the baking of the cake is always done just a few days before the event. There is always a lot of time taken to prepare the components for decorating the cake and if this was a high spec cake including lots and lots of sugar flowers the process would take weeks as they are very time consuming.

Top baking tip for amateur bakers?

My top tip is practice, practice, practice! You can never practice too much. Also I would say don't get confused with all the videos and tutorials on line that you can access, what works for one doesn't always work for others and sometimes watching too many techniques on how to do something when you want to learn how to do something can confuse you and have the effect of making you lose confidence and give up. Find a cake artist you trust and stick with them until you feel you are ready to move on.

Can you tell us something about cake making we didn’t know before?

Intricate sugar flowers and sugar toppers that you have made for your special cake will last years and years and years kept in dry conditions. They can make a wonderful unique keepsake.

For further information please contact Anna Collins on Anna.Collins@twofour.co.uk / 01752 727 484