Baker's Dozen - Edna De La Cruz

Hello Cakers!

I know I just posted a cleb interview, but this one has been a while in the making!  I talk continuously of having cake crushes, and I have been fortunate enough to interview yet another - the wickedly talented Edna de la Cruz!  Edna is probably best known for her gumpaste tutorials on Youtube and her amazing DVD tutorials (I have them all!).  This is being posted just as her latest DVD is being launched!  Visit her online store to see what I am talking about! 

Edna's latest DVD, now available!



I first learned of Edna through the Cake Central forums where she regularly would offer advice and chat with her fellow cake artists.  See what Edna has to say:

Morsels By Mark: How did you get into the world of cake?

Edna: I always wanted to learn cake decorating. My best friend was going to take a Wilton Class and I jumped at the chance.


MBM: Your flowers are beautiful! How do you go about developing the techniques you teach?

Edna: I try to make flowers easy to do. I try to reach beginners. I do the flowers many times to see what can I do to make it better and easier. Trying to find cutters and veiners that are easily accessible. I teach them so people can make pretty flowers for their cakes that look realistic. But I always tell them that for competitions they can make the flowers even more realistic. It's a matter of taking what I taught a step farther.

MBM: What made you decide to start the DVD series?

Edna: People started asking me for the DVD's. It was never something I thought of doing, but people wanted more information and details on how to make beautiful flowers and actually even how do I make my cakes. I did it for those who asked.

MBM: Your DVDs are great! What can we look forward to in the future?

Edna: I have a list of things people ask me to do. I usually need to find the best and easiest materials and ways to do the flowers. So the DVD usually comes after I gather all the info I need for my DVD. My DVD's are not about selling one way to do a flower, it shows options so people can achieve the flowers in different ways. Not everyone has the same materials or they have some things that they can use already. I dont do DVD's to try to sell materials. I do DVD's so people can learn to do flowers. And my goal is to give them options so they can choose what is easier for them to do.


MBM: Which is your favourite flower to create?

Edna: Roses are my favorite flowers..

MBM: Who would you love to design a cake for?

Edna: Oh..Good question..no idea!


MBM: What is your favourite cake flavour?

Edna: I love cake! I love Key lime, Amaretto, and Rum Cakes.

MBM: What is the one cake decorating tool you absolutely can't live without?

Edna: My Celboard and Ball Tools are a must!

MBM: How much lead time is there in producing a DVD before it is available for sale?

Edna: It takes me a few months to film a DVD. I have so many things to deal with and filming does take more time than people realize. I have a family, a house and a son to take care of too. My days are crazy. And my emails too. Sometimes the only time I have to answer emails is at 1 am to 2 am. I keep trying but it's getting harder to answer all of them. I came back from ICES really sick and my inbox is packed. It can be overwhelming. But I do try my best to keep in touch with my cake friends. [Edna does reply to her cake pals often and timely - I know that for a fact ;) ]

MBM: How do you decide which flowers you will teach in the DVD?

Edna: People want for me to have the cutters available. Making sure I can get them for them is important for me so I make sure I can get them for them or at least they are easy so find.

The beautiful Edna!

MBM: It is no secret, you are one of my cake crushes! Do you have any cake crushes?

Edna: Thanks for the compliment! You are a sweetheart! I love Kerry Vincent for her passion and her drive to put the sugar world on the map. I love Colette Petters, Mike McCarey, but there are so many of them out there it would take me pages to mention them all.

MBM: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Edna: My inspiration can come from everything. I love fabrics because I started as Fashion Designer. But I see art in anything..

MBM: What piece of advice can you offer up and coming cake artists?

Edna: Some people have art already in their veins and things can be learned really easy. Others have the desire to learn but they feel they don't have the art. I always say, if you have the passion, it can be learned. Practice is very important. I still practice to this day, and never think you know it all.. The day people think they know it all is the day they stop learning, and there is so much out there to be learned..

Stay tuned for more to come in the next month or so....I have ALOT going on, including a review of Edna's latest DVD!

Until Next Time,
Happy Caking!

Baker's Dozen - Scott Clark Woolley

When I first began delving into the sweet world of cake design, I did a lot of research online (I still do!).  One of the ways I continue to learn is through DVD.  Some of the best DVDs for making sugar flowers, are those by Scott Clark Woolley.  Scott's lessons are straight forward and clearly laid out to guarantee success!  When you are done reading this interview, please head over to Scott's website and check it out!  He has everything you need to make beautiful works of sugar art!  Check out the interview:

Morsels By Mark: How did you get into the world of cake?


Scott Clark Woolley: In between singing and acting work from 1978-1987, I preferred selling deserts to local restaurants from my apartment, and then cakes privately, to avoid having to waiter for regular monies. As a kid I always loved making deserts for the family.  All my knowledge in the kitchen is self taught.

MBM: Your flowers are some of the most realistic out there. How do you go about developing the techniques you teach?

SCW: I sat down for ten years and studied each flower and its process thoroughly, developing my own way of working.  I never took a cake decorating class, and only two, one day classes with two experienced gum paste artists in 1988.  All the rest of the gum paste techniques I developed were discovered by trusting myself and delving into the art form deeply.


MBM: Congratulations on the re-printing of your book, "Cakes By Design" ! Any plans for a follow up book?

SCW: Not in my plans. With publishing, one gives up one's power and energy too much I found out. So all my focus is on creating a long series of DVDs on the subject of cake and gum paste flowers. That way, I get to decide everything and am totally in power.

MBM: Your DVDs are great! What can we look forward to in the future?

SCW: I am working now on "Holiday Flowers in Sugar," my DVD #7. Planned for the future are many DVD sets covering Spring, Summer, Fall, Aquatic, and more wedding flowers in sugar.

MBM: Which is your favourite flower to create?

SCW: I enjoy creating any members of the Orchid family like the Cattleya taught in my DVD#1, or the Cymbidium, one of five flowers taught in my DVD#3 "Sugar Orchids.". And of course, my greatest challenge was the Passion Flower, each flower taking 3-4 hours to create. And too, butterflies are my symbol in life for personal transformation. So in sugar, they are a great pleasure to paint and sculpt.

MBM: Who would you love to design a cake for?

SCW: I am not star struck since I was in show business. I prefer working for more humble people who are not so desperate for attention and who do not generally demand as much.

MBM: What is your favourite cake flavour?

SCW: My lemon cake recipe in my book, "Cakes By Design" was voted by students at the French Culinary Institute as their favorite version of that cake in all the books in their library.


MBM: What is the one cake decorating tool you absolutely can't live without?

SCW: My quality chrome balltool. Throw away the horribly seamed, plastic balltool by Wilton, people!
It destroys beauty and sugar flowers. Wilton should be ashamed of its cheap plastic set which diminishes the art form. To describe how the Wilton industry can be greedy with its use of plastics, I reference the career advice given to "The Graduate" in the 60's movie....a man whispers in his ear, "Plastics!" That was to show how our society has reduced quality in everything by using plastics too much with only the almighty dollar in mind.

MBM: How much lead time is there in producing a DVD before it is available for sale?

SCW: I take about one year to create each one. I do all the camera work, scoring and editing myself. My latest, DVD#6, "Practical Tips before Starting a Cake Art Business" took two years to create and cost $30,000 worth of cartoon animations to illustrate everything I wanted said visually. I enjoyed too doing all the voices for the cartoon characters, including my evil character named, Gertrude Gautrocks, of "Gautrocks Unlimited." She is the consummate symbol of the rich, controlling, spoiled, East Side customer that I frequently had to deal with in New York City. The animation makes the DVD set entertaining as well as informative teaching how to win the power play that always occurs at cake consultations.

MBM: How do you decide which flowers you will teach in the DVD?

SCW: Not all flowers apply best to wedding and specialty cakes. I try to teach those flowers that I found very useful and practical in the creation of my cakes for three decades. Also the flower categories as described above will help select what goes into each DVD set. In the first one though, I chose the most important wedding flowers to get the series of DVDs going.

MBM: Any plans on teaching live in the future?

SCW: After twenty years doing that, I have closed my school, "The Academy of Cake Art," permanently. I then moved to a new house near Albany to create DVDs and sell gum paste products online.  A one time class is fine for learning, but the repetitive use of DVD lessons with all the steps in perfect order, makes it easier to learn and practice with me. In my DVDs, I don't just teach steps, but constantly adjust a viewer's technique, sharing as well, all the years of experience teaching those flowers in person.

MBM: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

SCW: Nature all around me.

MBM: What piece of advice can you offer up and coming cake artists?

SCW: Try not to focus on getting attention and fame too soon. When you are ready, Spirit will put you in the spotlight when your work is refined. That takes years to accomplish. If you rush too soon to a store front or wanting fame, it will be a flash in the pan. A wise "master builder," when forming his powerful pyramid structure, creates a firm foundation before moving upwards to the next level, otherwise, the structure will collapsed. Let go of ego gratification! Just love what you are doing and beauty will spring forth from one's hands eventually! The result will be timeless and an example for future generations of what commitment to one's art form can truly achieve.

Peace and Light of Creation,

Scott

 
Thanks Scott for such a great interview!  Be sure to visit Scott's site and see everything he has to offer.  To see trailers from Scott's DVD's:
http://cakesbydesign.cc/AmazingArtofGumPaste.html
http://cakesbydesign.cc/AdHeart.html
http://cakesbydesign.cc/SugarOrchidsDVDTrailer.html
http://cakesbydesign.cc/GardenFlowersDVDTrailer.html
http://cakesbydesign.cc/TropicalFlowersDVD.html
http://cakesbydesign.cc/CakeArtBusinessAd.html

See what people are saying about Scott's DVDs:
http://cakesbydesign.cc/Reviews.html

Check out Scott on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.409006046311.183619.751546311

Keep checking back - later this week I'll have a review of a new online store I stumbled across, as well as another baker's dozen with yet another of my cake crushes!

Until Next Time,
Happy Caking!