I think we all have people we look up to, find inspirational and even aspire to be like. I have many cake heroes from all over the globe. Such is the blessing of social media, where pictures of the best cakes in the world are at our fingertips. I thought it would be fun to write a blog about what I admire about my favourite Cake Heroes.
She sold her successful bakery business years ago, but Michelle Green is the reason I could even build a business, rather than just make cakes. She started her company, The Business of Baking, after exiting her shop front to focus on coaching "cake ladies" all over the world. She writes totally honest, totally helpful blog posts, as well as runs live classes (I am going to meeting her in November and I can't wait!), has an excellent course you can enrol in and has Facebook groups where you meet a whole community of like-minded business owners who can give you some great advice. Michelle also has triplets, so she totally gets what it's like to be a mum and business owner.
Her modelling skills are renowned worldwide and imagine my joy when I realised the person whose YouTube tutorials I found so useful was only a stone's throw away in Horsforth. Taking a class with Zoe not only taught me a lot about modelling, it gave me the basics in understanding how to run a class myself. Zoe also accomplishes a huge amount with the time she has.
A Brit who moved to California several years ago, Lesley's eye for perfection coupled with her sense of humour make her page one of my favourites to follow. I don't think there is any cake this woman has made that hasn't made me draw a sharp intake of breath. She is so FUN with her designs and everything she does is at a level of excellence I dream of! Plus, she's very generous with sharing her knowledge on her page and on Craftsy with her easy-to-follow tutorials.
There is nothing to say apart from her work is at a level of beauty and detail that makes me speechless. She is so inventive with her techniques and I would genuinely struggle to tell her sugarwork from the real thing with flowers.
I met Jacqueline and discovered her book, Modern Sugar Flowers, at Cake International last year. The book went straight on my Christmas List and Jacqueline herself was so lovely to talk to. I have since used the book a lot and it's fantastic. If you follow 'petalsweetcakes' on Instagram you will see how skilled Jacqueline is and she's done an incredible job of making the flowers and leaves easy to make with step by step instructions that have a photograph for every single one. I really recommend buying this book if you want to learn how to make sugar flowers!