Cakes N Creations scoops Gold award
Their wedding cake shone in the world contest
Madhubashini Yatagama has a passion for making cakes, not just any cake but for weddings. The local artistic baker is the brains behind Cakes N Creations. Her love for making wedding cakes shone at the just ended Cake Champions. The virtual competition for cake makers from all over the world saw her being bestowed with a Gold award under the Wedding Cakes in Bloom category. The international competition was hosted by South Africa.
Upon hearing that she was the winner in her respective category, Madhu was literally jumping up and down. She remembers how she was only expecting to get a commendation award but nothing as big as this award.
“I had been confident that I would at least get positive comments from the judges but didn’t expect this achievement. But when I saw the Gold award, I was so thrilled and just screamed,” she explains.
Madhu further says that she is very passionate about her chosen craft, and the work that she has been doing in Botswana. She is originally from Sri Lanka, and has been growing her footprints in the cake world, both locally and internationally.
The inspiration for entering the competition, she explains, was that she wanted to understand herself as a baker, and tap into her potential. She also wanted to see where she stood globally as a cake artist. “One of the best ways to judge yourself is by taking part in competitions of this nature,” she explains.
She also notes that this is her second award. She has previously won a silver award in Sri Lanka.
One of the best things to come out of the Covid- 19 pandemic period is that she is able to participate in some of these international awards virtually. She has wanted to participate in other international competitions such as Cake Star and cake International, but could not due to health issues.
“For me, making cakes is not a source of income but it is my true passion,” she explains.
She also highlights that her journey as a cake designer allows her to combine all of her culinary skills. With a background as an Analyst Programmer, and going into this path years ago, she says was something that has opened many doors for her and brought her so much joy
. “Quality is my number one key ingredient to success. Quality is everything. I get joy from seeing the satisfaction on my clients’ faces, and that is much more than money,” she notes.
For this particular work of art, she used a traditional leaf weaving method and bullock cartwheel as her major design elements. An extraordinary masterpiece, the 3- tier cake comprises of a cart wheel on the first and second tier with handcrafted gum paste flower bouquet on the wheels and crowning on the 3rd tier. The colour pallet was randomly picked for the most part but ended up having a lot warmer tones and colours such as green, yellow, cream, bronze, pink, white as well as some shades of pink.
“The wheels are airbrushed in a metallic, bronze/ gold colour to give a rustic metallic look and the surface of the cake is coated in a peach and silver mix, giving it a brilliant shine when it catches the light,” says the winning description.
The Gold Award comes on the backdrop of another recent win for Madhu. The win was in the form of a cake collaboration initiative that she recently organised. The initiative attracted participation from cake designers from across the world who joined hands to take part in the African cake sculpture project.