Sannah Mehmood, a cake artist turned to baking to alleviate exam stress. Here she explains her love for baking and her inspirations for these amazing creations.
Sannah, of Bradford began baking cakes when she was in the midst of her GCSEs, finding it a therapeutic way to manage the pressure of studying.
Sannah explains how her hobby has now become a much-loved profession. “I actually have not trained anywhere for baking or decorating. I am completely self-taught.
“I began initially after borrowing a recipe book from my aunt when I was a teenager.
“It has been a long journey of trial and error in order to improve.
“You can see the progression by looking at my work from three or four years ago and comparing it to my work now.”
The cake designs can be seen on Sannah’s Instagram page @cake.atm.bradford. It was this social media platform that inspired her to launch her business.
“I saw so many talented bakers on Instagram and that really encouraged me to take the leap and establish my own business.
“Although I knew I wasn’t as good as some of the professionals on Instagram, I knew that practice would make perfect and I started off selling cupcakes and I slowly worked my way up to where I am today.”
Pictures: @cake.atm.bradford
Sannah works from home, referring to her recently renovated ‘Cake Room’ as her “dream haven.” It is there where she conducts her consultations, saying that she has had some unusual requests.
“I was asked once to make a ketchup flavoured cake!
“My most challenging cake has to be a VW camper van cake which I created. The customer also requested an edible figure be hanging out of the passenger side with the effect of her hair blowing in the wind.
“I had one bride who loved elephants and she had included a royally decorated elephant in her wedding invitations and also wanted to incorporate this into her cake. She also loved SpongeBob! So when I sketched a rough draft of the cake for her I included a hidden back to the cake which had a SpongeBob theme.”
Pictures: @cake.atm.bradord
Planning a wedding cake, Sannah revealed, requires much thought, planning and research, with the process sometimes taking days before a final look is agreed upon. With ample styles and types to choose from, Sannah says cake artists are getting more and more creative.
“The wedding cake needs to suit the bride and groom and their particular wedding style.
“The majority of my customers come to me with a rough idea of what they want, whereas some of my customers will book a consultation with myself which consists of going through my portfolio, tasting samples of their choice of flavours and sketching ideas of cake designs.
“My part of the planning can go on for days as once everything is finalised it’s very time consuming finding the right shade and type of flowers and certain designs.
“It takes weeks to make sure everything meets and exceeds the bride and groom’s expectations.
“Cutting the cake is such a poignant tradition.
“Every girl dreams of her perfect wedding and her perfect cake. I think many grooms just go with the flow. Like the saying goes, happy wife, happy life!”
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