Shaile Socher - Sugar Artist - pieceakake@earthlink.net - 714-334-8931

A bit about me

Always having an interest in art and many different crafts over the years, taking just one cake decorating class about ten years ago got me hooked. Cake decorating was another wonderful way to create art in an edible form. It has been fun learning many different styles and techniques and finding what I enjoy the most. It was the one gumpaste rose class I took from Nicholas Lodge that changed my path in cake decorating. It became my passion and I love the idea of being able to make a flower out of sugar to look absolutely lifelike. After my six month internship at "Let Them Eat Cake" I gained actual experience decorating which I enjoyed immensely, but it is the gumpaste flowers where my passion lies and the path I have followed.

How I began

Beginning with basic decorating classes I followed up with several advanced and specialty classes of royal icing piping and designs, different fondant techniques and ideas, buttercream decorations and gumpaste flowers. I have taken several one day classes from various sugar artists learning new techniques and skills. I studied gumpaste flowers under Nicholas Lodge a very well-known sugar artist as I mastered my skills and I have been creating life like flowers ever since.

My Experience and Teaching

I had a six month internship with "Let them Eat Cake" in Costa Mesa in 2008, assembling and decorating cakes for all occasions and learning many new techniques and skills. I have been teaching cookie decorating for the past three years to adults and kids and hosting cookie decorating parties for the past several years. I enjoy designing cakes around the gumpaste flowers I create so they are the focal point.

Last year I began teaching gumpaste flowers and have held gumpaste flower demos for the cake club I was a member of, the Orange County Fair, and small groups of people interested to learn about gumpaste flowers. I have also been commissioned on several occasions to create custom gumpaste flower arrangements.

Accomplishments and Awards

At the 2008 San Diego Cake Show, I was awarded Best of Show for a tropical flower arrangement and the previous year I was awarded First Place for a decorated cake entry. This year at the 2010 Orange County Fair, I was awarded both First Place and Best of Show for a cake entry that displayed a large gumpaste flower arrangement.

I was one of the featured sugar artists at the 2010 Orange County Fair displaying several of my gumpaste flower arrangements. I also had on display in the floral department a three tier cake displaying roses and orchids in gumpaste. Lastly, I did a demo of a gumpaste peony.

For the past several years I have donated decorated cookies and a custom gumpaste flower arrangements for the Venice Historical Society fundraising events.

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