11/3/2008

Business News in Surrey

National award is icing on the cake

LIFE is sweet for cake designer Denise Bristow-Burrows whose life-like animal creations impressed the judges at this year’s Hotelympia Salon Culinaire competition.

The mother-of-two, who runs Enticing Icing cake design from her home in Claygate, walked away with two medals in the novelty cake class at the London awards.

She scooped a silver medal for her three-dimensional hen and chick design and a bronze medal for a hanging basket filled with sugar nasturtiums.

She said: “I am thrilled with these awards, as Enticing Icing is a relatively new guy on the block, it is a real boost.”

Her award-winning creations are currently on display at Nathan’s Patisserie in Claygate.

Denise who originally worked in a bank and as a bookkeeper for various companies, first discovered a talent for cake design a few years ago.

Following the death of her husband, the mother-of-two decided to pursue a career that would allow her to remain at home with her children.

After taking evening classes in sugar floristry, Denise was accepted on to a four-year diploma course at Brooklands College in Weybridge.

Her sugar creations soon began to catch the eye of the judges, earning her a silver medal at the Hotelympia Salon Culinaire de Londres 2006 and a Bronze Medal at Cake 2006, held at the NEC, Birmingham.

She said: “I set up my business a couple of years ago. It was a hobby to start off with but it came at just the right time.

“There’s nothing better than working doing something that you love.”

She added: “Sometimes I look at the cakes and think, ‘How on earth did I do that?’”

For more information visit www.enticingicingcakes.co.uk.

First printed in: News & Mail Series