Cake Shoe Diaries Welcomes Jacqueline Butler

The Sugar Cove is thrilled to welcome Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet in San Diego. California. What first started as a way to get out of yard work as a child, and let me tell you people, if it's a choice between raking the leaves or baking a cake, cake'll win every time. Jacqueline's passion for sugar has evolved into a career that promotes the art of sugarcraft by teaching others the beautiful art of sugar flowers. As you'll see by the photographs throughout this entry, sugar flowers is an art to be savoured. So sugar friends, let's strap on our cake shoes as Jacqueline shares with us what ignited her passion for all things sugar.

Honestly, I started baking at a young age to get out of doing yard work! My parents would schedule "work weekends" where we would spend all day Saturday and Sunday helping trim back all the trees and bushes around the house, and then haul all the pruning to a large yellow bin. My mom needed help preparing dinner both evenings, and I happily volunteered to bake desserts for my family. One I started, I was hooked --- and I loved seeking how happy it made everyone.

I baked for friends when I was in college, and then participated in a five month baking program at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco that was designed for working profressionals. We baked only on the weekends, learned our way around a commerical kitchen, and also how to bake with great recipes in large quantities

Afterwards, I thought I really wanted to open a bakery, but my career took another path, and I worked for over 15 years for an amazing non-profit organization that provides Assistance Dogs for people with disabilities. I trained dogs professionally for many years, and then moved into staff training and management positions. The organization is still a very important part of my life today, and I continue to work with them in a consulting role.

I baked and decorated wedding cakes while I held my other job, for both family and clients, and eventually I created a small cake business, and Petalsweet was born. I travelled a lot for work, but I knew when I was going to have time available to bake, so I took on orders when I had time to create them, and found commerical space to use as I needed it. It worked this way for about 10 years, and felt very fortunate to be doing two things I realy loved.

I first learned about sugar flowers from a small book I found at the bookstore. I took it home and taught myself the fundamentals, and discovered that I really loved it. In 2003, I was fortunated enough to take a trip to New York to take private sugar flower lessons with Scott Woolley for a week, and those lessons really opended my eyes to the art form, and took my skills to a new level. I took additional classes with Colette Peters, Nicholas Lodge, and Ron Ben-Israel, and practiced the techniques I learned as much as possible. Over time, I found myself creating my own style of sugar flowers, and using them to create arrangments and toppers for my cakes.

About 18 months ago, I decided that I wanted to change the focus of my business from baking cakes to creating and teaching the art of sugar flowers. I find it very rewarding to work with students and share their moments of understanding, and then watch them use that knowledge to create something so delicate and beautiful. Sugar flowers are truly a unique art form.

My favourite moments in class are when we start adding colour to the flowers to bring them to life, and then again when individual petals are taped together to create a larger flower. I love the student's excitement, their sense of accomplishment, and the huge smiles they have on their faces because they are so thrilled with what they have created. I still occasionally create wedding cakes for a family member or a special client, but I spend most of my time traveling to teach sugar flowers to other decorators, professionals and hobbyists.

I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to teach in Australia this summer, and am looking forward to attending my second ICES Convention in early August. I am currently looking for a space for my own teaching studio, with the goal of offering Petalsweet sugar flower classes as well as hosting workshops by sugar artists from around the world.

However, without having the wonderful opportunities to learn from a lot of very talented artists, I would not be in the position I am today and I am so grateful to them for sharing their knowledge. It means a lot to me to be able to do the same for others.

Jacqueline Butler

Petalsweet