Simone Clarke The Icing Artist Interview

Simone Clarke The Icing Artist Interview

Do you love cakes?

Girl.com.au chatted with Simone Clarke, founder of The Icing Artist and cake enthusiast while she decorated a 'Drip Cake'.  A mouth-watering Mud Cake covered with fondant icing and chocolate ganache decorated with Maltesers, Kit-Kats, meringues and got the inside scoop on what drives her passion to create cake masterpieces.

 

The Icing Artist will cater for Birthdays, Weddings, Business Functions and Special Occassions. 

 

The Icing Artist

10a Locinda St, Highett VIC 3190

P: 0431 783 649

http://www.theicingartist.com.au

 

Interview with Simone Clarke

Question: Where does your passion for cake making come from?

Simone Clarke:  I've always had a creative element, to me, but I never really knew how to put that into context. In London, I was working for a cake company which did sugar pastes and fondant work; I got a job, working in the shop as a shop-assistant where I unpacked loads of boxes and helped out with all that sort of thing. From there I became Kitchen Manager and fell in love with the art of sugar-craft; it's such an interesting area to replicate some pretty cool things out of sugar, that's the fun element, which is what I love about it and gets me excited about making cakes and tailoring them to peoples requirements.


Question: What are some of the creations you've made?

Simone Clarke: All sorts of things! At the moment Paw Patrol is definitely one of the big things for 3 – 5 year olds where I create 3D Marshall (Paw Patrol dog) cakes where he sits up, as the cake which is pretty awesome. PokemonGo is the latest craze which is very popular. The trends change so fast it is hard to keep up with what is happening.


Question: What is your favourite type of cake?

Simone Clarke: I'd like to get into more corporate work and I love doing birthdays with bespoke designs. Today I got an order for a lady whose husband is making a pizza oven, in the backyard and she'd like that recreated for he's 40th birthday cake, which gives a personal touch for the persons birthday and I really enjoy that.

I also love doing large volume orders, in terms of corporate work.


Question: Can you tell us about the cakes under the fondant and sugar work?

Simone Clarke: A lot of them are Mud Cakes although I offer eight different types of cake including a classic Victorian Sponge which is what I learnt in the UK, a Lemon Sponge and Red Velvet.

Most wedding cakes are not Fruit Cake, anymore; the Fruit Cake comes out around Christmas time, I love fruit cake (laughs) but not a lot of people do and it's kind of a thing of the past for weddings, in Melbourne.


Question: Do you have a signature cake?

Simone Clarke: One of my favourites was a cake I did for myself for the Cake Bake & Sweets Show in Sydney earlier on this year where I did a London Bus Cake for a Candy Land Party theme. I wanted to do something different and I recreated a Double Decker Bus that looks the same as when you walk into M&M World in London and created a back-drop with M&M World including stairs with the The Beefeater M&Ms influenced by Abbey Road. I came third which was pretty exciting for my second competition, I've ever entered.

It was good to see where I sit in the industry against peers.


Question: Can you tell us about your upcoming celebration for The Icing Artist?

Simone Clarke: The Icing Artist will turn one on the 11th of September, 2016, which is all very exciting. I will be working on a new window display to celebrate that. And, as of the end of August, it will be 20 years I've been doing cakes which is insane to think. I do enjoy it which is what I hope comes out in my creations.

Question: Where do you think the next phase or trend will come from? Do you think it will be corporate logos and branding?

Simone Clarke: Definitely, I'd love to do that because I have an eye for that type of detail in terms of what people are after. If it was a car company, I would be able to make a 3D BMW or whatever the logo may be to match a launch. The corporate market is such a big, broad area and something I'd love to get in to.


Question: Can you tell us about the very unique graffiti cake, how do you go using images clients supply for recreation on cakes?

Simone Clarke: Really good. You have to really nut-down what the cake is and what the person is after and it's important to interpret everything correctly. I work out in my mind how to structure and create the cake before bringing it all together and turning it into real life. I do like to design cakes if people are after a certain type of cake (like the Pizza Oven cake) but I enjoy working with the client to work out exactly what they'd like too.

 

Check out some of Simone's new creations and order your own special Birthday, Wedding, Business Party or Special Occassion cake now from:

 

The Icing Artist

10a Locinda St, Highett VIC 3190

P: 0431 783 649

http://www.theicingartist.com.au

 

 

Interview by Michelle Warmuz

Watch Simone Clarke Interview for The Icing Artist