The Sugar Cove is proud to welcome internationally renowned cake designer, Ayoma Fonseka from Toronto, Ontario. What first began as a desire to celebrate her daughter's birthday, soon gave way to cake creations that have won over sixty-five awards and been featured in publications such as Toronto Life, Wedding Bells, Canadian Living and Wedluxe. So sugar friends, strap on those cake shoes as Ayoma shares with us what ignited her passion for all things sugar.
My interest in cake decorating was first peeked when I had my first born daughter.For her birthday, I wanted to have a special cake. Even though I had no knowledge of baking or cake decorating, I set out to make a cake for thirty people...at least that was the plan. As I had no concept of quantity, I ended up baking an 18" round cake where the batter overflowed all over the oven. You can imagine the mess. I didn't even know how to hold a piping bag, so I ended up using cookies and candies to decorate the cake. It brought me such joy to make my daughter's cake, that I remember thinking, "Wow! Some eggs, with a little sugar and flour together creates such beauty." Thereafter, I caught the "cake bug" and from that point on my passion for sugar was ignited.In my desire to learn more, I had the good fortune to find many great teachers who taught me the basics, as well as more advanced techniques as I progressed. Skills
and techniques learned over the years include Australian String Work, gum paste flowers and figurines, airbrushing, up-side down string work, royal icing collars, filigree, run outs and the list goes on. I've been cake decorating for many years now and am still a sucker for learning. I am a forever student as they say. One person person cannot know it all and over the course of my cake career, I have had a multitude of wonderful opportunities to learn from many talented cake artists. Each one specializing in one or more techniques. This is what keeps me motivated, my knowing there is always more to achieve and ample room for perfecting skills and technique.As my skills progressed, cake decorating provided me with an immeasurable amount of satisfaction by being able to customize cakes for my clients. By replicating the design from a dress, an invitation or any chosen item, it was witnessing their dre
am cake become a reality through and edible work of art that made me decide to make cake design a career. I also cherished the idea of being able to recreate edible keepsakes, whether it was life-like flowers, figurines, shoes or dolls. By creating an edible keepsake, the client always had something to cherish for years to come not only for that day.Cake has taken me many places, introduced me to clients and cake artists who have become friends. My cakes have enabled me to teach, share my knowledge with others and showcase my God given talent via competitions, television and media. In media, I have been especially blessed, as I've had the opportunity to feature my cakes and sugar work in Weddings InStyle, Brides by Demetrio's and Wedding Cakes a design source, and created the cake for the movie "Cake" with Heather Graham and Sandra Oh.
I have also judged local, national and international competitions and recently was sponsored to judge a cake competition in Edmonton, Alberta. But there's nothing better when your cake work comes full circles. Just last year, I had a client drive all the way from New York to pick up her wedding cake, as I had created her First Communion cake when she was a child. She had kept the gumpaste doll, I had made all those years ago as a memento. Can you imagine!Ayoma Fonseka
Ayoma Cakes
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