A bit about me

I began making cakes as a hobby to give to friends and family. My mother and her sister were both expert cake decorators during the Jane Asher years, and would create fantastic novelty cakes, so I guess I inherited the bug from them.

I actually worked full time and then freelance as a business and law journalist for 20 years after university, and continued to write while bringing up three boys.

I would always decorate a cake of some description for family birthdays and friends parties, but it wasn't until I came across Valerie and Christina of Queen of Hearts Couture Cakes demonstrating their piping skills at a Cake International show that I had ever really seen what you could do with buttercream.

A very early buttercream wedding cake! I think this was 2014

I was instantly hooked! (I'd always hated the taste of fondant) and within a month had attended all of their courses. I knew that if there was a chance for me to make a living from cake decorating, I had to sell wedding cakes, and here was an alternative to the conventional fondant wedding cake topped with sugar flowers that I had no interest in learning to make.

We piped flower cupcakes, flower baskets, tapestries, glossy stained glass, lace embroidery, all sorts. I spent every weekend practicing my piping on dummies and creating floral buttercream cakes and cupcakes for friends. 

My first piped flower wedding cake: all the statement flowers perched on the ledges! Delivery was SO stressful

Soon I was getting customers; in fact the second ever cake I sold was a three tier tapestry wedding cake. I remember stopping the car every ten minutes to check it was still in one piece.

I started selling piped buttercream wedding cakes in earnest and stopped writing. Within the first year my cakes had appeared in Vogue, the Metro, Rock my Wedding and I was approached by Harrods to supply the store’s custom cake offer. (This didn’t happen by the way, it sounds super glamorous but the contract would have devoured my fledgling business).

I loved what I was doing and still spent most of my spare time practicing and experimenting. Soo I became became frustrated with having to fix heavy piped flowers on the ledges between tiers. Small flowers and foliage could be piped onto the sides of cakes, but statement piped peonies and roses would invariably fall off. This became more of a problem as the fashion for tall cakes really took hold. 

I wanted to create designs that flowed more naturally and BIGGER blooms that could be seen across a large venue.

Then I discovered a bunch of Russian artists who were sculpting flowers with plaster, using palette knives. The clocks and other products that they were making didn't appeal to me at all, but I could see that the technique could be applied to buttercream. I wasn't the only cake maker thinking along these lines but I was the only one in the UK. 

My first palette knife cake! American buttercream. I exhibited at the National Wedding Show and came away with 13 orders.

With practice, I learned how to paint with the palette knives and then to increase the volume so that I was actually sculpting with buttercream. It was the way forward: I could sculpt large roses peonies and dahlias onto the sides of cakes and they'd stay there. 

Also I noticed a distinct style emerging, which had character and made my cakes unique. This became hugely popular with couples seeking a wedding cake that was stylish and delicious, and that complemented their flowers, had texture and character and was completely edible.

I stopped freaking out about delivery: even over cattle grids and speed bumps these sculpted flowers held on and soon I wasn't even remembering to pack an emergency kit bag for repairs.

I also stopped baking!!! I’m not an expert baker and no longer could afford to spend two days a week baking for my wedding cakes. Buying in top quality fresh cakes is expensive but has made my life so much easier, it’s a way of working smarter not harder that has enabled me to plan my working week more effectively and still fit in things that are really important to me - going to the gym, cooking for friends and family, walks with the dogs and so on - and TEACHING!

I started holding workshops at my home to teach palette knife decorating and was overwhelmed with inquiries. Professional and hobby bakers turned up bursting with enthusiasm to learn a new skill and I was fascinated to see how different their cakes were at the end of the class. We were all employing the same technique with the same tools, but each cake had an entirely different character, it was like watching someone's handwriting evolve. 

Then came lockdown and I lost around £60,000 of wedding cake orders in the first week. Compared to many families, apart from the financial hit, we had a calm, almost enjoyable lockdown. My husband was able to continue working and my two eldest boys returned home for eight months.

Filming the Floral Cake Revolution, which has transformed cake businesses around the world.

I used the time to start playing with white chocolate ganache. Even more stable: smooth and delicious and a dream to work with, ganache takes sculpting to another level as you create shapes and transfer them to their destination, rather than sculpting onto the cake itself. This means you can create loads more texture and volume. Most of my cake orders now are for sculpted ganache designs.

I also created the outline of an online palette knife cake decorating course: over 25 technical lessons, accompanied with business modules around pricing cakes, photography, delivery, building a website and making reels. We started filming the course in 2022 and now have over 100 students working through the modules!

My dream is for these techniques to take cake makers into business on their own terms as creatives: no longer copying other peoples' cakes; and no longer working through the night modeling intricate sugar flowers for minimum wage that people can't even eat. Forging an individual style will enable you to work smarter - bringing the customers who love your work to you. No more sugarpaste anglers or rugby pitches!