There was a time, not too long ago, when a cake with your name written on it in icing was considered the height of sophistication. Add two helium balloon bouquets, anchored either side of it with foil-covered pyramid weights, and you had yourself a dessert table.
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Then Instagram, Pinterest and Shellharbour drip cake innovator Katherine Sabbath happened and celebratory cakes evolved into an entirely new sugary beast.
A bona fide cottage industry has blossomed, and the number of professional cake decorators in the Illawarra has exploded. We asked four of them, each at the top of their game, to take us into their kitchens, where the magic happens.
Here they reveal a less glamorous side to the industry, where long hours, too much paperwork, and social media upkeep are part of the mix. As is, of course, the pride and joy that comes from baking a cake of this calibre from scratch - and showing it off to a crowd.
CHLOE KERR, Willow + George
Haute couture and cakes come together under Chloe's luxe stylings. Thanks to her Greek heritage where "family gatherings always revolve around food" and a background in fashion design, the transition to cake decorating was an easy one for Chloe. Some of her most stylish and lavish designs ("my obsession with piping pearls is real") have achieved an almost-cult status.
As for what's underneath the divine exterior, the self-taught baker says she perfected the different batters over years of recipe testing, trial and error, and "making a lot of mistakes … I mean, a lot!"
And while her cakes are fashionable, her brand has always been the championing of fresh, local produce.
"I really feel ingredients are important and set me apart," she says. "I love that I can take honest, pure ingredients and bake something beautiful."
Her go-to suppliers and producers are local - milk from Berry and free-range eggs from either Mount Kembla or Kangaroo Valley. Since she's yet to find a local butter producer, if she doesn't make her own, she uses high-quality Australian butter.
"You wouldn’t believe the difference quality butter makes." she says. "As my grandmother used to say; butter makes it better."
Behind the scenes, Chloe admits the baking gig is far from glamorous.
"Honestly, it’s a total chaotic mess! Flour and cocoa powder are always everywhere - and also chocolate, a lot of chocolate gets eaten on the side.
"There is a never-ending amount of washing-up to do – and that’s just the baking aspect of it. The mixers are always going so there is a constant noise and bowls full of freshly made buttercream.
"Then there’s the design elements to create or source, sketching designs, trying to incorporate our client's themes and turn them into a centrepiece for their event.
"In my experience there also seems to be an endless amount of admin and constant inundation of emails and quotes – which I do admittedly find difficult to keep on top of, however most of my clients are very understanding.
"If my clients want my products and not just a ‘cake’ they are happy to wait, I’m really thankful for that."
AMANDA PIAZZA, Piazza Cakes
With her flair for vibrant floral arrangements and delicately tinted macarons, it's hard not to fall for Amanda's joyful naked cakes.
She started baking as a hobby back in 2013 after successfully making a fondant cake for her young son’s first birthday.
Excited to have found an outlet for her creative side, she worked hard to develop her skills and quickly found her feet in the competitive cake world.
Over the years, Amanda moved on from fondant to buttercream and ganache in a style she describes as "rustic chic".
"I love using fresh flowers to create beautiful and whimsical cakes and there is so much you can do with buttercream," she says.
Her cakes can take days to make, depending on the size and complexity of the design.
"Simple designs might take three or four hours all up, while others can take 10 or more - there really is no set time frame," she says.
"It’s a lot of time and dedication. And it’s not only baking and decorating. It’s not all pretty flowers and piping unfortunately.
"It’s a lot of time doing admin, replying to emails, Instagram and Facebook messages, quoting.
"In saying that, I get to have a pretty cool job, I can work from home and create beautiful cakes for beautiful people."
For anyone wanting to make the leap into professional cake making, Amanda recommends taking it slowly.
"Baby steps! I feel like it’s important to be a hobbyist and really explore your skills and creativity before just taking on orders and creating a business."
FADWA DARWICH, Bestaste Cakes
A Bestaste Cake (yes, that's one t) is a work of art. While most cake makers use buttercream - a trendy, more forgiving icing - Fadwa is known for her flawless fondant. While her ornate cake toppers - think delicate gold-painted booties, carousels, crowns, roses and bows - look real, every part of her cake is handmade, created over many hours with painstaking attention to detail.
"I never take shortcuts and no cake leaves my kitchen unless I’ve put in it 100 per cent or more to make it the best it can be," she told Weekender.
Fadwa arrived in Australia at the age of 17 and, after starting a family at a young age, she knew she wanted to work.
"I wanted to do something creative to express myself, I wanted to do something that I love and something that I enjoy doing," she says.
She found her calling while making cakes for her own children.
"It was really important to me to bake my kids' birthday cakes," she says. "That's where my love for cake decorating grew."
She has been making cakes from home as a hobby for family and friends since 2012, doing her best to balance the demands of a cake business while looking after her three children.
"It's very difficult trying to juggle family commitments and work but the rewards of the job are well worth it and the fact that I can show my kids what you can achieve with a good will and persistence means a lot to me."
She believes persistence is everything in this job.
"Cake decorating is not always the serene video tutorials you see on Instagram where everything works out perfectly," she says. "Sometimes it's more like the cake decorating show Nailed It!
"It’s not always smooth sailing and success from the first go; sometimes you try, you fail, you learn from your mistakes and try again until you really nail it, and through the process of trying you grow and you learn."
While her work means she's able to contribute to the family income, she doesn't consider making cakes a job.
"I would never look at it this way because I’m a big believer of the saying 'Choose a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life'."
MELISSA COLE, Sweet Petite
Sweet Petite cakes might be dainty and delightfully old-fashioned but the woman behind them is not afraid of radical change. When the daily commute to her Sydney job wore thin, she threw it in to start her small baking biz. She bought a marquee, hand-painted some signs and tweaked her favourite recipes, before staying up late into the night to bake, ice and decorate before each market day.
Her cake stall was a hit around the Illawarra, and when her baked goods attracted the attention of a local cafe owner a wholesale business was born. But after a few years of prepping for markets and stocking local cafes, orders had increased to the point where 18-hour work days weren't uncommon and it became apparent to Melissa that it was time to make another life change. She pulled the pin on her wholesale baking business.
"You can’t survive on three hours' sleep for too long," Melissa said. "Anyone running a food business will tell you that so many hours are involved, especially when you are creating everything from scratch." Now she's able to channel her time and energy into custom orders and she never gets tired of hearing that her cakes taste as good as they look.
"With everyone being more health conscious these days, I think if you are going to treat yourself with a cake, it had better taste delicious," she said.
"Everything is baked fresh to order with the finest ingredients and then my signature finishing touch is a liberal sprinkling of edible flowers, which we grow organically in our garden."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the cooking bug was sparked by a previous generation.
"My Mum is also a great cook - her scones are the best around - so it’s possible we have a baking gene in the family," she says.
"Still I do think there is some magic in the process, turning simple ingredients into something delicious; like sweet alchemy."