Meet the award-winning cake business creating edible art

The business was started by Caroline Middleton in 2016, when she made a 3D Lighting McQueen birthday cake for her son.

“I spent days working it all out, how it would look, crafting it,” she explained. “I was quite upset when it was cut up and served.”

This is something she admits she has got better with over time and she often has people say that they don’t want to cut the cakes she has made for them.

“But I tell them that is what it is there for,” she smiled.

“I want my cakes to taste as good as they look. I remember in the past people saying that they had bought highly decorated cakes that looked great but were really dry, so I made it my mission to create cakes that would be moist and taste amazing.”

This attention to detail both inside and outside the cake has seen her win first prize in the South East at the Cake Professional Awards, which was set up by Phil and Christine Jensen from Peboryon, the husband and wife were featured on Extreme Cake Makers TV show on Channel 4. The awards aim is to celebrate real cakes made for real orders by cake businesses.

She won the award for a three tiered celebration cake. It was created for a mermaid themed party and incorporated elements from the sea, sand and a sunset. Inside was Caroline’s best selling chocolate mud cake with Nutella buttercream.

Caroline says that her speciality is celebration cakes, and while wedding cakes do form part of her business her passion lies in the creativity and freedom she gets with celebration cakes.

“I love modelling and using bold colours.

“I like the challenge of doing something different and playing with flavours.

“It is like with the design people come and ask for different things. Recently I had one for a train made from cupcakes, I have done loads of 3D cakes of trains but this was with cupcakes which was really interesting and I spent ages working out all the finer details.”

She currently offers nine flavours. Many people, she says, opt for either vanilla or chocolate and then add a different buttercream such as chocolate mint or orange.

“I do get a lot of people asking for bespoke flavours, a recent one was lavender and honey, so I found a recipe which I have tweaked and now I have a recipe which I can make or just have lavender or honey.”

Based in Horsham she delivers cakes throughout Sussex and Surrey.

Cakes are usually made two or three days before, it is then sealed with ganache or fondant icing.

Caroline has also added personalised toppers to the services she offers as she noticed people were having to buy them from other people, whereas now it can be added onto purchases from her.

Talking about the cakes she said: “I try to make everything edible so I used to use wood poles to hold things up, but now I use raw spaghetti it isn’t nice to eat but I know kids like to eat the animals I make so at least that is better than a piece of wood.

“The R2D2 was all cake, the hulk hand was made using Rice Krispie mix as it is easier to carve but I try and make it all out of cake. People ask for dummy cakes such as a four tier cake but only one of cake but I explain it is the decorating which costs the money so they can have all cake and it won’t be much more expensive, it is about giving them that option.”

With a flair for creativity her cakes look stunning and all the hard work she puts in is definitely worth it.

She said: “I love seeing a child’s face when they see the cake the pure joy and then their reaction when they eat it. It makes it all better.

“I think of it as edible art.

To see more of Caorline's work, visit sugaredpumpkin.co.uk

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