October 11th 2018

This cake was made for a showstopper competition held at Cakeology 2018. It was indeed a huge honour to be invited by chef Nicholas Lodge himself for the same!! Thank you chef and thanks Malani Khushi 🙂

Here are the details of the cake I made :

India is a country of vast heritage. Also known as “The Golden Bird” in the ancient time, India has been a country very rich in its culture! 
In my cake, I have tried to portray this rich royal heritage.

As a custom, we always start any good things with praying to the lord Ganesha and getting his blessings. I started my work in this cake in a similar manner by paying my respect to lord Ganesha (modeled in Saracino paste. )

Sugar flowers – made with homemade Gumpaste
Jasmine (also called Mogra), red hibiscus and orange Marigold – these are all flowers used for worshipping. Red hibiscus being lord Ganesha’s favourite flower.

Samayee ( Lamps) – placed on both the sides of the cake, are 2 auspicious lamps usually lit during festivals. These are made with Mexican paste.
Under the lamps is a depiction of rangoli – a beautiful design made with coloured sand in every house in india on festivals and auspicious occasions. I have depicted this art form using coloured rice flour.

the base tier which represents the artistic windows in the beautiful Mughal palaces in India. These windows are made of a combination of Mexican paste and royal icing work. The intricate mesh of royal icing gives it the window look.

Royalty is depicted in the next 2 red tiers followed by the flora represented in the tall white tier. This has been made using the bas relief technique.

All over the cake, in various places, is the mehendi (henna) design piped using royal icing.

The colours Red, white and subtle gold were selected to portray the royal india!

Although I had more elements planned out for the cake which got damaged in transit, including a beautiful golden peacock, I am still quite happy with the outcome.

Getting judged by the best in the industry and getting lovely comments from them has surely motivated and encouraged me to keep going!!

Thank you Karen Marie Portaleo, Nicholas Lodge, Rosie Mazumder