SWEET AS SUGAR INTERVIEW
Last time we brought you a bread making experience … this week, dig into another delicious treat – cake decorating in Surrey! Here at Experience Days, we love to delve deep into the heart of the companies that provide our experiences, so when it came to this tasty activity, we couldn’t wait to find out more. Check out what Laura, the owner of ‘Sweet as Sugar’, had to say about her cake decorating classes.
Hi Laura, could you please tell us about your journey as ‘Sweet as Sugar’ so far?
Certainly! I have always had an artistic streak and have turned my hand to many crafts and creative activities. My first cake was made in 2010 for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. I wanted to make her something special, and as her favourite cartoon was Peppa Pig, I themed the cake around this. Upon reflection, the cake was surprisingly bad; however, the whole experience was so enjoyable that I wanted to fine tune and learn more. Hours of time spent on the internet, YouTube and reading books taught me simple techniques and skills which allowed me to progress slowly over the next year.
After practicing, more friends and family started to ask me for cakes and the progression started to unfold very quickly. Brilliant shows such as Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss really inspired me to want to make exceptional artistic cakes, which I am very blessed to be able to now do. There are two best parts of my job; seeing the reaction from clients when their cakes are unveiled, and teaching my skills to new decorators and cake makers, helping them learn and enjoy the experience.
That sounds like such a great way to enter the cake decorating world! So far in your decorating world, what would you say has been the most memorable moment?
The most memorable part of my cake decorating journey so far was delivering the sculpted Alice in Wonderland cake to a beautiful London Embankment wedding. As I was putting the final parts on the cake from behind me I heard the groom shout “Oh my f****king God, I knew it was going to be epic but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing.” I was really proud of that cake.
From your daughter’s Peppa Pig cake to a wedding cake … incredible! This brings us nicely on to your classes – what can you tell us about them?
My 3.5 hour sugar flower classes are a great introductory way of learning the skills and processes behind making sugar paste flowers. They teach you the techniques to help you progress and base making other flowers around this. I wanted to offer classes at reasonable prices to ensure that this amazing skill is accessible to everyone who wants to enjoy it.
If you want to make beautiful sugar flowers and are practising at home and Googling images, don’t look at other people’s sugar flowers, look at real flowers. Why copy something that is already someone else’s interpretation? Make your own from looking at real flowers, or better still, visit the florist. I have dissected flowers to see the petal shape and how they are formed!
Do you have any exciting plans for the future that you’d like to tell us about?
The future … that’s a lot of time to think about, but personally, I really believe that your dreams only work if you do. So I am going to work as hard as I can, progress, continue to learn, make cakes and hopefully, the work I put in will one day lead me somewhere amazing.
For all of you just starting your journey –
Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
(Maya Angelou)
Thank you for talking to us today Laura, you’ve definitely made us drool at the thought of cakes! If you’re interested in cake decoration, check out what we have to offer:
Learn to make sugar icing cake decorations in Surrey
Price: £29
Learn to work with sugar paste in Surrey with a cake decoration class
Price: £99
