Life is a crazy notion, we don’t know why we are here, when we’ll die or if we go somewhere after that. Yet, we smile and grow and learn everyday. I believe part of the challenge is “What do you want to be when you grow-up” ? We are asked this from such a early age. Normal answers are; a Fireman, a Nurse, a Teacher…. What about a Super hero? or a CAKE DECORATOR ? I started making cakes at 8 years old. I was bored after school ( if it wasn’t summer or snow outside) so I started baking. My Dad had a mild allergy to chocolate, so when he ate, he sneezed and sneezed. So it was fun to bake and watch him sneeze… fun & games 🙂 Cake Decorating was fun, messy and I had no idea what I was doing, BUT I knew I loved it !!

In my early 20’s, I moved to Europe. The cakes at the bakeries and sweet shops were boring…fruit on top , some type of jello glaze ( yuck), no color, no shapes, no flowers. If it was your birthday , there were no beautiful or FUN cakes to find. So I opened FunCakes in Europe and made many wonderful American style Birthday cakes, catering mainly to children…such FUN !! Upon returning to USA, I wanted to continue to make cakes but I was bored with butter cream & wanted to learn new things, especially fondant. This was 15 years ago, so there weren’t any online classes or much on YouTube (YouTube started in 2005, USA FunCakes 2007) . You had to find the classes, instructors and travel to the schools….a whole room filled with crazy cake decorators , it was a dream !!The Cake World is small but the teachers are fierce. I dedicate this blog to Chef Nicholas Lodge, who opened an entire world of cake decorating to all of us Cake Decorators. He taught Sugar Flowers, like no one ever, such perfection, such coloring, such organization, such a pleasure.

So we all have our mentors, our teachers, someone who guides us. We choose our path, and maybe changed it a few times along the way , but our teachers and mentors make us who we are today. RIP Chef Nicholas Lodge