3rd Generation Cake Design

My Story

Family and Cake history:

I am a 3rd generation cake decorator, following in the footsteps of my grandmother and my mother. I grew up with cakes and have spent many, many hours watching, whether consciously or not, dozens of masterpieces in the making.

My Grandmother started cake decorating in the late 1950’s, she initially learned from other family and friends but developed quickly with her natural artistic talent to being a real expert in her field. She eventually took a city and guilds course before going on to teach for years in night schools around North Yorkshire.

My mother had no formal training either but took a very similar route to Grandma, we had to move 150 miles away from the resident family cake expert however for her to realise her potential and start up on her own. Like Grandma she quickly earned and sustained a reputation for fantastic cake decorating which she did from home as well as also teaching at night schools.

Mum and Grandma both added personal touches to their cakes despite having quite different styles. I remember Mum making the top tier of one wedding cake into a local pub where the marriage proposal had taken place; another was a John Deere tractor! And my brother’s wedding cake was designed to match the beautiful art deco palace in Prague where his wedding reception was held. Those personal touches were winners.

In the 1960’s and 70’s the fashion in cake decorating was for Royal icing, swirly borders and intricate piping. By the time Mum started cake decorating in earnest about 1980 the Royal icing was becoming lighter and there was a move towards smooth fondant icing with no top borders at all, but at that time heavy layers of frills around the sides of the cake were popular. As the borders were no longer a feature of the cake top, more elaborate bouquets of wired and moulded flowers became the focus of the decoration, and as these flowers became bigger and more elaborate, the actual cakes became plainer and plainer. By the mid to late 90’s it was all about the flowers.
Throughout all of this time the traditional cake was always a rich fruit cake, whether it was a christening, birthday or wedding cake, and tall wedding cakes were almost always 3 or 4 tiers stacked on pillars. The occasional “American style” cake without any pillars was a welcome change from the norm.

Nowadays the fashions seemed to have moved on again and rarely do wedding cakes have pillars, nor is there a great demand for fruit cake. Though cakes are fun and bold now there is a sad lack of those old piping skills, fine workmanship and tradition which have been seen in the past. My personal aim is to keep those old skills and traditions alive as far as I can whilst adapting them to current times and to individual tastes. I learnt from the best and I owe it to myself and my talented predecessors to continue to develop those fine skills.

How I started cake decorating:

For me, it all started with Sam and Alex’s wedding cake, friends who wanted something a bit different and had no idea where to find it. Sam loved the idea of a fairy tale castle wedding cake but wasn’t sure where to get one, I on the other hand thought – blimey that’s different, it will cost her an arm and a leg!! At that time my experience was limited, but I gave it some thought and offered to make and decorate the cake as a wedding present – little did I know at that point just what a thrill it would give me to do this and how it would eventually lead to more extravagant cakes in future.
The fairy tale castle cake was a huge success, it suited Sam and Alex perfectly and for much of the wedding reception there was a crowd of admirers around the cake, pointing out details to one another and talking about the meanings of some of the features. The “icing on the cake” for me however was the when the wedding venue maitre d’ sought me out, not once, but twice, to first compliment the cake as the best he had seen, and then again to say it was also the best cake he had cut and tasted.
I was so proud that day yet it still took several years and many more cakes for friends to eventually persuade me that this was actually something special that I could do. This is where I am now, on the brink of a new adventure and looking forwards to creating many more individual celebration cakes.

My aim:

I aim to make every cake unique and personal to you based on your story, heritage and interests. Cake designs will evolve as we build a relationship and I will take my inspiration from you. Fashions and specific techniques will take a back seat in favour of the personality of the cake and its story, though the end results can be formal, informal, vintage or modern depending on your tastes. Most importantly, I am determined to make the cake a talking point of your celebration with details which will be as remarkable upon close examination as the overall vision of the cake when seen across the room.

I look forward to working with you.