Having your cake and
If you have ever tried to ice a cake, you will know it is not as simple as it loo who are starting a new journey in cake decorating and sugar craft.
started off as little more than a packet of icing sugar.
Dawn Booth, 43, explains that at one time South Africa produced some of the world’s top ornamental icing artists and sugar crafters.
“But then the interest waned and only a few young people wanted to learn this skill. In the last few years, however, there has been a huge resurgence of interest.”
It is this new awareness of icing as an art form that has persuaded Booth and fellow championship master floral icing specialist 63-year-old Edgcumbe to combine forces with a group of local experienced icing artists.
Together they have established the School of Contemporary Cake Design aimed at teaching icing and sugar crafting skills from beginner to advanced levels.
“We believe that with the growing demand for individualised and personalised designs for special occasions like weddings and birthdays, there’s opportunities for everyone to come along and learn.
“We certainly don’t want to step on the toes of other cake decorators, but rather to enhance what they are doing.”
The school will shortly be launched at a business park near Waterfall starting with an initial 10-week course divided into once-aweek lessons.
Helping with the course modules will be three other experienced icing specialists, Jadi Clark, a former jeweller who “fell in love with icing design”, Lorna Williamson, a special needs teacher, who in her spare time focuses on “the bold and beautiful” in contemporary cake design and Candice Leth, who studied fine arts and is a freelance artist of many art forms.
Adding to her art portfolio, Leth now also creates detailed adorable cartoon characters and beautiful lady figurines in icing, which she says are a hit with all ages.
“Our aim,” says Edgcumbe, who also teaches sugar craft at the 1000 Hills Chef School, “is to work as a team to create the sort of awareness that could bring us back on to the national and international stage.”
It’s a subject that is very dear to her. She is one of the few sugar crafters competing on an international level, including showcasing her sugar craft designs at the annual Birmingham Cake International.
“At this level the competition is enormous,” she says. “Being a botanist, my favourite subjects are flowers and plants, but that means knowing every internal and external aspect, right down to the seeds and the pollen.”
Like Edgcumbe, Booth is also an experienced sugar crafter who sees sugar art as a form of artistic expression that “pushes every boundary in both a competitive and collaborative way”.
Multi-tier classic wedding cakes