Cake

52If you weren’t making cakes, what do you think you would Interviewbe doing today?I would be involved in my other passion, interior design. Eventoday, I sometimes help friends with interior designs. I alsolove floral design so I could, perhaps, have my own flowerbusiness.``````How would you describe your style in three words?Classic floral elegance...``````Why lime green?It is actually Nicholas Lodge Green PMS368C. Ten years ago,when we remodelled my teaching classroom at my school inAtlanta, the International Sugar Art Collection, I was trying tofind an accent colour to go with the existing white, grey andblack walls already in the classroom space. One day, I wasin IKEA and saw a shelf and table in apple green... and thatwas it! Everyone now calls this green Nicholas Lodge Greenand it has become my signature colour. The following year,I introduced the Nicholas Lodge Collection and brand usingthis signature colour on my chef’s jackets, products and logoenhancements.``````Where do you get your design inspiration?From my love of fashion, interior design and gardens. AsI travel all over the world, I’m always exposed to new andexciting things in fashion, interior design, gardens and floristrythat inspire my work and the colours that I use.``````You make the most amazing flowers. What is yourfavourite flower to make?I have made over 400 different flowers in sugar! I do not haveone favourite, but I love all white flowers, especially highlyfragrant ones like gardenias, jasmine and lily of the valley.``````You judge a lot of cake shows. What do you love and hateabout this special role?I love judging cake shows. I take judging very seriously. I havethe position of Head Judge at many of the major cake shows inthe US and overseas. Since many competitors spend countlesshours on their entries, they deserve the respect that theirworks be judged fairly and correctly. I select the best teamof judges for each competition, based on their expertise inspecialty areas of the sugar arts.``````The thing that I hate the most is when the competitor doesnot read the rules properly and their entry is not judged ordisqualified because they did not follow the rules. Sometimesit comes down to a cake being 2cm too tall. Please, READ THERULES!``````Tell us about your booksI have written twelve books for Merehurst and LettsPublishing as well as several self-published books. Altogether,my book sales are over two million copies to date.``````What has been your career highlight so far?In 2010, I was awarded Top 10 Cake Artist and Top Ten PastryChef in the US. It was the first time those two awards weregiven to the same person in a single year. In 2001, I was theyoungest person to be inducted into the Cake Decorating Hallof Fame.``````Tell us something that cake decorators will not knowabout youMy favourite colour since childhood is actually orange!``````What are your two favourite cakes to date?My most recent favourite is a wedding cake I created for LeahJacoby, a friend and fellow cake artist. It was a suspended