In the competitive world of cake-making, it takes more than a dab hand at drip icing to stand out from the crowd.
Sydney-based Kat Logan, the owner of bespoke cake boutique Buttercream Bakery, is a custom cake artist whose free-hand creations has elevated the artform to new levels.
Her hand-painted butter cakes, which she produces out of a studio in the city’s inner-west, are all edible masterpieces, each one crafted with an artist’s flair for colour, composition and texture.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Kat, who is a graphic artist by trade, explained each cake is painted in the same way an artist paints a canvas – food colouring and icing are mixed on a palette and applied by brush to a cake ‘canvas’.
Kat, who is a graphic artist by trade, explained each cake is painted in the same way an artist paints a canvas
Her edible masterpieces are created using food colouring and icing which are mixed on a palette
Her breathtakingly beautiful cakes are commissioned ‘artworks’
‘We treat the whole thing as an art process,’ she said.
‘We think of the customer as commissioning an artwork. They give us a brief with a colour scheme and an idea which I then translate into the kind of cake they want.’
While the 32-year-old hasn’t always been a cake maker, she reveals she’s always had a passion for baking and creating to-die-for desserts.
‘I learned everything from my Aunty Grace who was the local cake maker for all the Filipinos in our community. She showed me that in the world of cake decoration, anything was possible.’
Kat’s Aunty Grace showed her that in the world of cake decoration, anything was possible
Her baking business started out as a weekend venture in 2009
Although she’d learnt to bake ‘as a hobby’, Kat said she was always artistic by nature, spending her time as a child drawing, painting and sculpting.
While she would go onto pursue a career in the commercial world of graphic design, Kat’s love of cake was something she couldn’t ignore, and in 2009 she made her first tentative steps towards owning her own baking business.
Luckily for her at around the same time, her brother was also looking to make a change, and so armed with Aunty Grace’s recipes, a hand mixer and a whole lot of determination, Buttercream Bakery was born – in her parents’ garage in Western Sydney.
Kat said creating cakes gave her a way to bring both of her passions together
While the new venture would be a weekend operation for three years – the pair moved to full-time in 2012 – Kat said taking the leap finally paid off.
‘Even though I really like graphic design, I wasn’t able to have full creative control of what I could make because I was working for someone else.
‘Doing the cakes I was able to bring both of my passions together which was baking and design.’
The former graphic designer would foist her hand-painted cake ‘experiments’ onto friends and family before she realised their popularity
Her now-signature technique which has earned her a multitude of fans started out as an experiment, which became a sensation once it hit social media.
‘I would bring friends and family a cake as a gift that was always something I had painted. It was a way to keep painting alive after I’d opened up the bakery,’ she said.
‘I posted a cake I’d created for myself on Instagram about three years ago which was then reposted endlessly and it really grew our following.
‘From there we decided to push the painted cake product and see where it could go. We had created something that was uniquely our own.’
Kat recommends honing your cake decorating chops by practicing everyday to perfect your skill
While her journey to cake queen hasn’t always been smooth – there was a café venture that didn’t pan out in 2015 – Kat embraces the concept that risk-taking is key to business success.
‘Explore your ideas and no matter how crazy it is, like painting on a cake, go for it and you’ll never know,’ she told The Sydney Morning Herald.
For other aspiring cake-artists, she recommends honing your cake decorating chops by practicing every day to perfect your skill.
‘Always be on the look out for inspiring art because I believe what I do is an art form,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
Following your passion takes patience, Kat said, so be ready to work hard and be prepared to learn from others
Kat’s cake canvas provides a delicious backdrop to her impressionist works of art
And on following your passion, she closes on this simple sentiment ‘Give it a go, but have patience and be ready to work hard and always try to learn from other people.
‘Someone has always gone through what you’ve gone through.
‘Once you’re running your own business you’ll meet other entrepreneurs, stay open to learning from them as well,’ she concluded.