A WEST Devon businesswoman has been earning national recognition for her artistic skills and a feature in Cosmopolitan Brides is the icing on the cake!
Poshcakes is the name of Lindy Adams Foster?s celebration cake-making enterprise and posh they certainly are ? forget the bride?s gown, it is the cakes that are dressed to impress these days.
Lindy, of Tavistock, has left people stunned by her creations and her biggest commissions to date include a spectacular sandcastle cake for a beach wedding, made of tiered vanilla sponges with fresh flowers and hand-made chocolate sea shells at the base, and a rich chocolate cake for a millionaire insurance broker at Lloyds in London which featured replica banknotes made from icing.
The sky is really the limit when it comes to cake decoration, says Lindy, who has been making cakes professionally for three years.
She trained in the hotel and catering industry, but her heart has always been in design and after a career of designing and making wedding dresses she has turned her artistic hand to cakes.
?I would always turn up at a party with a cake ? it was just something I liked to do and after years of making them for friends and family I took their advice and decided to make some money from it,? she said.
?The Lloyds job was for a broker friend of mine who was celebrating 20 years at the company,? she said.
?He started off with nothing and is now a multi millionaire so I heat-imaged banknotes onto sheets of icing and started at the bottom of the cake with £1 notes going up to £50.?
Chocolate buttons resembling coins were pressed into the cake which was covered in American chocolate frosting and on the top stood a working model of the Lutine Bell, the original of which is displayed in the entrance hall of Lloyds of London and is traditionally rung before announcements of ships lost at sea or reports of overdue ships.
The creative construction, which fed 160 people, was transported to London on the train in reams of bubble-wrap and a huge cardboard box.
?We managed to get it there in one piece but it was a bit nerve-wracking,? said Lindy.
?It was worth it to see the face of my friend who knew nothing about the cake and what a wonderful backdrop ? a huge oak-panelled room at Lloyds.?
The tiered sandcastle cake, which was made up of 60 individual sandwiched vanilla sponges covered in icing sugar and gold dusting, was put together in a marquee on an uneven field in Thurlestone in Devon: ?It was a bit precarious and I was praying it was not going to fall over at the last minute because it was wobbling about rather a lot,? added Lindy.
The elegant beach-themed wedding was featured in the February edition of Cosmopolitan Brides and, not surprisingly, the cake is one of the stars.
Lindy has already received more than 20 calls as a result of the article: ?There seems to be a lot of interest which is great ? people are getting more adventurous with their wedding cakes and want something no-one else has got.?
Lindy?s client list is growing and she hopes to work with local restaurants in the future. Her specially commissioned cakes start at £350 and go up to £800.
One of her latest commissions is 180 mini iced cakes with sugarcraft roses on the top for a wedding which will be displayed as one large cake on tiers.
?It can be very labour intensive and there is a lot of baking,? added Lindy. ?But it?s great fun and that?s what my cakes are about ? they are big, fun celebration cakes presented with lots of ribbons and fireworks ? it?s the whole Over the Top deal.?
To find out more about Poshcakes contact Lindy Adams Foster on 01822 610219.