The art of creating a cake
Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labor of love. —Steve Pavlina
Every time I get commissioned to create a cake for an event, I am usually very honored to be chosen. To create something centrally dramatic to highlight a milestone in a person’s life is always an exciting venture for me; it shows the value and respect the client has for my work and at the same time, the pressure of being able to produce something totally unique and exclusive to my client is present.
One of the cakes I did lately was for the 18th birthday of Kylie Tinga. For this piece I collaborated with one of the rare design talents of the Philippines, Gino Gonzalez, and I have teamed up before for iconic cakes that have made their mark. His remarkable genius in making design elements flow into a coherent whole is both refreshing and challenging; his design input gives me a full perspective of the overall effect the cake design hopes to accomplish. This distinguished gentleman has single-handedly taken designing in the Philippines up a notch by making breathtaking set designs, as well as being able to translate his vision into reality, which is very hard to do for a lot of creative people. A lot of times I have encountered people who will talk about being able to do a lot of things but once the concept goes out of the designing table and into the production process, most of the time people fail to deliver. I am grateful this is not the case with Gino; having to work with someone as talented and equally passionate as he is, is always a welcome change of pace for me.
Since every cake design is exclusive to the client, there are several brainstorming sessions before a final design is agreed upon. The process of making a cake is not as simple as people may expect, as with any good work of art. Initially a concept is agreed upon, then you need to be inspired to even come up with a decent proposed design. Each step is meticulously scrutinized and inspected for construction, a mockup is made, and then the final work is done. For his particular cake the color palette was set to blue and white, so research was done on different patterns. Since blue and white are predominant colors in most porcelain designs, I bought books that showcased different elements and distinctive looks. I was especially fascinated by the different patterns of toile design. When I had a visual of what design I wanted to achieve, the production process began. Using cream cheese pound cake as the cake base, I painted the pristine white marshmallow fondant base with blue royal icing as a medium, and embellished it with various shapes and sizes of blue-and-white jars. The overall structure was as colossal as it was impressive. I also set up the complementary dessert buffet for this cake and to say that I was satisfied with the finished product would have been an understatement.
Subtle elegance will always prove to be effective in making a successful cake the centerpiece of any event. Every aspect and dimension is crucial to making the event more dramatically stunning. Careful attention to detail, as well as having the right attitude and passion will always make what I do naturally enjoyable. Being there from start to finish is like seeing a painting come to life. I am blessed to have a job where I don’t consider what I do to be painstaking labor; instead, learning new things and perfecting my techniques has become second nature and a pleasurable process for me.
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You may e-mail the author at info@henysison.com or visit www.henysison.com.
