Edible slices of art

By Venessa Deosaran

Saralise Ming’s masterpieces are way more than a piece of cake, it’s an art. She talks to Guyana Times Sunday Magazine about telling fascinating stories through her cake creations.

Sunday Magazine: Where did your interest in cake decorating begin?
Saralise: Cake decorating has always been around me. My mother was a hobbyist cake decorator, and as a child I was surrounded by yummy cakes, cake decorating tools, cake magazines and recipe books. Religiously, I browsed her magazines and books. They never got old, no matter how many times I browsed the pictures. There was just something about these edible pieces of art, and it drew me in!
Sunday Magazine: How did you learn the techniques behind cake decorating?
Saralise: Armed with a few basic skills taught by my mom, my sister and I took cake decorating classes in the US, while I was on semester breaks from graduate school. After taking these classes, I spent countless hours reading and researching cake decorating tips and looking at cake decorating television shows.
Sunday Magazine: What are your other academic qualifications?
Saralise: My most recent academic accomplishment is earning my Master of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Marketing and New Product Development from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in upstate New York. RPI is considered one of the newer Ivy Leagues and is ranked among the best research Universities in the US. Entrepreneurship is the focus of the business school and it is built into the foundation of each course offered. Thinking like an entrepreneur was a foreign concept to me prior to business school, but after graduation, it became so passionately wired into my brain that I could think of nothing else but being an entrepreneur. My cake company, Noodle Cake Creations, isn’t a small time business in my mind. It is the beginning of an empire under the Noodle brand. Also, I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Guyana.
Sunday Magazine: Is there any common style to the cakes you have done?
Saralise: I enjoy creating cakes of simple contemporary designs. From time to time, I step away from that preference when customers request styles which are busier and more complex. So with that in mind, I would imagine contemporary is the common style but it’s a flexible one.
Sunday Magazine: What are your biggest projects and what have you been working on this week?
Saralise: Tiered cakes for weddings and other big celebrations are always my biggest projects. Most people assume that for these stacked cakes, smaller layers are simply placed on top of larger ones, but that isn’t the case. A well constructed tiered cake requires that a supporting structure is build into each layer of cake in order to prevent mishaps. This is especially true for the heavier fruit cakes and Guyanese rum cakes. This week I’m working on several smaller cakes as well as one three tiered cake. For this three tiered cake, each layer is a different flavour (sponge cake, cheesecake flavoured sponge cake and carrot cake) and each is filled with a decadent icing filling. The surface decoration was simple and modern and was created using both butter icing and fondant.
Sunday Magazine: Where do you look for inspiration?
Saralise: For years I have been looking at cake decorating television shows and magazines, so they have definitely left a glowing impact. More recently, I look to nature and the world around me. However, in some instances, customers bring an image of exactly what they need and I replicate with a slice of Noodle personality!
Sunday Magazine: What has been the most difficult aspect of your craft for you to learn?
Saralise: Strange enough, the most difficult aspect would probably be cursive lettering. As basic as that might seem, I’ve always preferred block lettering. However, with lots of practice, one tends to get the hang of it.
Sunday Magazine: How long would you spend working on a cake?
Saralise: I’m meticulous about getting every aspect as neat as possible. A cake can take anywhere from an hour to a full day to decorate depending on the level of detail. That doesn’t include the baking time. Each cake design has different time requirements but generally, wedding cakes and other tiered cakes take the longest to prepare, properly stack and decorate.
Sunday Magazine: Can you outline the typical process behind decorating something like your fondant cakes?
Saralise: Fondant is the smoothest and most flawless looking style of cake decorating. It is a pliable sugar paste which needs to be rolled out using a rolling pin. After being rolled out, the fondant sheet is placed over a plain cake and carefully stretched to fit the cake without trapping air bubbles. This is the foundation step and is the most difficult. Next, embellishments are added. They can either be piped on using icing, or adhered using edible gum glue if they are fondant or gum-paste.
Sunday Magazine: What do you find most pleasing about cake decorating?
Saralise: Without a doubt, it’s always a magnificent feeling when a cake begins to come to life and represents a fascinating story. There’s something euphoric about going from idea to creation.
Sunday Magazine: Why would you suggest cake decorating to someone looking for a new hobby?
Saralise: Cake decorating is a very peaceful and internally rewarding craft. It allows for creative expression but requires a lot of time and patience. As a new hobby, it’s a challenge since there’s so much which needs to be learned. So anyone looking for a challenging and creative hobby, cake decorating is always an excellent option. My advice is to be patient. Expect to make a few less than perfect lines but there’s no right and wrong. Your imagination is the only limitation.
For more information on Saralise’s edible creations visit her Noodle Cake Creations on Facebook.