I began cake decorating in 2003 as a hobby. I have no culinary or art degrees. I have a head full of ideas and an eye for detail. My art skills stop at cartoon drawings....I'm hopeless at real life! Animation amazes me! In November of 2003 I entered my first competition at the International Cake Show held in the NEC, Birmingham, England. I won a Bronze Award. I already owned a small shop which was leased to a florist. When she decided to close her business earlier than planned, I took the opportunity to find out if I could make a successful business for myself. I decided on a 3 month trial period but 5 years later, I'm still going strong! I have entered the International Cake competition each year since 2003 and have won Gold Awards since 2004 to date!

In 2006 while browsing the internet for baking equipment, I discovered Cake Central. Having never seen a forum of this kind before, I was very intrigued and wanted to know more about it. I joined the site and had a look in the galleries. I was amazed at all the different designs and thought I would share my own. It was soon very clear that there was much interest in my style of work and I found myself struggling to cope with the private messages and forum requests for help. I created a little slideshow on How to Make a Face which was much appreciated by so many and from this came the idea to create Online Tutorials....mini projects with step by step instructions along with an abundance of photographs to help the visual learner. These have helped me to answer most of the questions all at once and give people the opportunity to recreate their own little masterpiece.

I was approached at the end of 2006 by a group of ladies from Edinburgh Sugarcraft Guild to demonstrate my skills for them. I joined the Guild and agreed. Since then I have been demonstrating for various branches throughout Scotland. At the end of 2007 I started offering workshops in my Studio and found that instead of local people coming to take my classes, they were travelling from all over the world!

I have just finished my first International Workshops in Austin, Texas which were organised by the amazing Kyla Myers from Capital Confectioners. I am proud to say that the classes were a grrrrreat success and I will be returning in 2009 to do even more! I receive invitations from many countries to take classes and consider the possibilities as they arise. With teaching and demonstrating taking over, I am lucky enough to be able to pick and choose the cake orders I take. My business is going in a different direction and I am more than happy with that.

I am still a part-time carer to Paul, a young man with complex special needs. Mondays are ours! We lunch and shop and have some fun. The rest of the week I can be found in my Studio work shop. Weekends belong to my grandsons!

Would my life have turned around so much without the recognition from Cake Central?? This is where it all began and I am so grateful. Who knows what the next step will be.....I'll just have to keep you informed every step of the way. Don't I always! ;o)

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

If you need any more from me just let me know! I could go on forever. Thank you so much.

With kindest regards
Lorraine
The Icing on the Cake www.extraicingonthecake.com