Mini Classes Instructors

Barbara Evans has owned and operated the Wedding Cake Connection since 1981. The business is located in the Peoria, Illinois area and offers custom designed wedding cakes. Barbara is a past Show Director, Board Member & State Representative for ICES. She earned the title of ICES Certified Master Sugar Artist and has served as a Certification Adjudicator.

In 2010 she competed on a TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off team. She was instrumental in the product development and design of the new Wilton Gumpaste Kit. Barb has had her work in several publications including: ICES, American Cake Decorating, British Sugarcraft, Chicago Brides & Florist Review. She is a teacher and judge and has taught a variety of classes including fondant, gumpaste flowers, quilling, stenciling, chocolate, gingerbread, string work and run sugar.

Renowned cake decorator Geraldine Randlesome began her career 25 years ago as a hobby. During one of her classes in 1981, she fondly remembers when her instructor invited her to be one of the team members to assist in decorating the Canadian wedding cake for Prince Charles and Lady Diana. This wonderful but challenging experience sparked her professional career. In the early 1980s, her own original technique for a “Floating Collar” was featured at the International Cake Exploration Society (I.C.E.S.) show in Lexington, KY as well as a class in Cape Town, South Africa. Since then, she has been in demand all over the world as a demonstrator and teacher. She has shared her skills numerous times to cake decorators in Australia, New Zealand, The United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Argentina And throughout Canada.

Geraldine has won numerous national and international awards for her decorating skills and styles, most notably was her win at the 1985 British Sugarcraft Guild show. Geraldine won the St. Martin’s Trophy for the most artistic cake on display. This was the first time a foreigner had ever won this prestigious award. In the years that followed, she has won many other honours, most recently was her induction into the International Cake Exploration Society’s Hall of Fame in 1999. In April 2011, Dessert Professionals Magazine, named Geraldine as one of the TOP TEN CAKE DESIGNERS in North America.

Many notable people and companies including, the Prince of Japan, Francis Ford Coppola, the Walt Disney Company, Toyota F1 Racing and the recent movie 16 Blocks have sought out Geraldine to make one a kind creations. Geraldine’s Creative Cutters was started in the early 1980s, when Geraldine discovered the lack of quality cake decorating tools in the marketplace. She has gone on to create many new tools herself, including the “impression mat,” which has helped to change the way cakes are decorated and the amount of time they take. To see the complete supply list go to www.creativecutters.com. As an author, Geraldine has published 5 books on cake decorating. The Art of Gumpaste Flower Making, Techniques in Cake Design (now considered a collector's item), Simply Elegant, Portfolio, and Unforgettable Wedding Cakes: A Collection of Cold Porcelain Flowers and Impression Mats.

As a result of her passionate involvement in the industry, Geraldine is continuously sought as a speaker, teacher, and writer - for television, radio, and magazines. Currently, Geraldine is working on her sixth book title, “Memories of Favorite Recipes.”

Kathleen enrolled in her first Wilton Cake Decorating Classes Winter of 1980, at the age of 15, sold her first wedding cake at the age of 16; studying and mastering the intricate art of cake decorating and design, since attending her very first class; she was hooked!

From the very beginning Kathleen loved “Sugar Art” and was invited to her first Wilton Cake Decorating Teaching Seminar, in the fall of 1980, at the age of 16; the youngest Wilton Teacher at the time. Kathleen is a member of the Wilton Method Teacher’s Hall of Fame, 1987; The President Club, 1996; and Wilton's highest career achievement award, Imperial Club, 2000; in recognition of her 21 years of teaching between six to eight thousand students during my career with Wilton. (Imperial Club members are considered "Lifetime Wilton Method Instructors").

During Kathleen’s career she has taught and given demonstrations for Wilton Instructor meetings, The Art Institute of California in Sacramento, Oklahoma Sugar Art Academy, Adult Schools, business owners, bakery personnel, several San Diego women's clubs, Girl Scouts, cake clubs and shows across the United States. Kathleen has been featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, American Cake Decorating Magazine, ICES (International Cake Exploration Societe) and San Diego Channel 10 News, San Diego Channel 8 News, interviewed on San Diego Radio Station with Jack White. Kathleen was also honored to be a guest and participant on a few “Get Crafty,” info-commercial segments, for a local craft and floral supply store.

Throughout the years, Kathleen has developed her own recipes and techniques; owned and operated my own bakery, cake & candy supply store, and have taught cake decorating and confectionary classes for Grossmont Adult School District 1986-1987 and 2000-2011. Kathleen started Confectionary Chalet in May 2006, actively since 2009; specializing in cake and confectionary classes.

Today Kathleen continues to share her love for confectionary arts; traveling as a guest instructor demonstrator and judge for cake shows, clubs and culinary art schools, throughout the country and currently at work on a series of instructional DVD’s.

Kathleen is an acting member of the following clubs; ICES (International Cake Exploration Societe) and ICES Approved Teacher, 3 C's (California Cake Club), San Diego Cake Club, Washington State Sugar Artist and Eastside Sweet Creators, WA.

Kathleen’s enthusiasm for confectionary arts is contagious! She continues to be a true inspiration for her students so they, too, can share the same love and creativity for future generations to come; continuing the true art (piping work especially) of cake decorating; keeping all methods of sugar art alive!

Kathy is the owner of Sweet Expressions, which is an independent custom bakery in Abbeville, SC. She has over 25 years of baking and decorating experience. She is an internationally known decorator, demonstrator, teacher and sugar art judge. She has developed her own line of Cake decorating equipment that is sold under her name. Kathy is a member of the Retailer’s Bakery Association (RBA), the Southeastern Bakery Association (SRBA) and the International Cake Exploration Societe (ICES) where she has been President twice and Chairman of the Board 5 times and the Show Director for the 2011 Carolina ICES Convention.

Kathy is an RBA Certified Cake Decorator and an ICES Certified Master Sugar Artist. She recently won the American Cancer Society Cakes for a Cure Celebrity Chefs Challenge. Kathy has been on TLC‘s Ultimate Cake Off as the “Southern Firecracker” and was recently the 2011 inductee to the ICES Hall of Fame.

B. Keith Ryder has been decorating cakes since 1996. Prior to that, he worked in both professional and amateur theatre for over 20 years. He is a shop owner, cake show judge, two-term ICES President, current ICES treasurer, former ICES representative and cake club president, and occasional contributor to American Cake Decorating Magazine. He was the cake room chairman for the 2004 ICES Convention in Washington, DC; Keith was the co-director of the annual Mid-Atlantic Cake Show and Wedding Cake Competition for 3 years, and is now the director of the National Capital Area Cake Show in Virginia.

He has won numerous awards for his unique designs; he placed in the top 10 in the Wedding Cake Competition at the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show in 2005, and can be seen featured in the Food Network Special that was filmed during that event. Keith’s work has been featured in both the Washington Post and the Washington Times, and he is an internationally recognized instructor in the sugar arts.

Lucinda Larson is known for her fine buttercream work, lovely gumpaste flowers, and wonderful use of color. Lucinda owned and operated a custom order bakery, for 14 years and has worked in retail bakeries over the years. She started cake decorating at age 14 and has been teaching since 1981. She has been a demonstrator at the ICES Conventions since 1989.

Lucinda has a Bachelors degree in Visual Technology, and Graphic Design. Lucinda teaches at the Art Institute of Seattle, as a Patisserie Chef Instructor, specializing Wedding Cakes and Portfolio. She also teaches classes and workshops throughout the US incorporating her graphic design background. Lucinda was the senior staff member at Lake Washington Technical College for many years, a graphic designer for the Boeing Company, and Art Director for Just Desserts, Magazine. In addition to her 24 years as an instructor, Lucinda has received many awards and best of shows, and has been featured in many magazines, TV and on the cover many times of American Cake Magazine.

Lucinda is also the Past Show Director for the ICES 1990 Show held in Seattle, WA, and author of Multidimensional Flood work, and several pattern books. Lucinda is a mother to her two boys, Michael age 21 and David age 18.

Previously an Art Director for a major university, Mary Jo Dowling CMSA holds a degree in illustration from Carnegie Mellon University. After relocating to Eastern Massachusetts, she started to explore other art-related fields and took up cake decorating after taking a local course in the subject. Since then she has attended major international conventions on sugar art and taken classes with prominent artists in the field. She also demonstrates her techniques at cake shows and sugar arts meetings. She has recently begun judging cake shows. Her work has appeared in American Cake Decorating Magazine. In 2009 she achieved the high honor ranking of Certified Master Sugar Artist from the International Cake Exploration Societé, ICES. In the spring of 2010 she was part of the green team competing in TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off show and in February 2011 she was featured on TLC’s Fabulous Cakes. She is the owner of MjDesigns, LLC which also operates as Elegant Edibles her licensed Residential Commercial Kitchen.

Since her first competition cake show in 2006 she has earned 6 Best of Show titles, 3 Decorator’s Choice Awards, a People’s Choice Award, A Special Artistic Award, two - “Most Artistic piece in the Salon” Awards, a “Most Novel Piece in the Salon” award, an ACF Gold medal with Citation & Bronze medal, and a Wilton Award. She has garnered over 24 division titles, 41 first place ribbons, 18 second place ribbons, and 6 third place ribbons. At the 2010 Great American Cake Show and Wedding Cake Competition, her wedding cake entry placed 3rd from all the entries. In 2010 she and fellow Master Sugar Artist Barb Evans collaborated on a piece that placed in the top ten at the Grove Park National Gingerbread Competition and earned the 2nd place overall prize.

She is currently the president of ICES, the International Cake Decorating Society, an international member of the British Sugar Craft Guild, and a member of the American Culinary Federation ACF. Currently she holds the position of ICES President and Certification Chairman and is a member of their Board of Directors.

Mercedes Strachwsky, a self-taught cake designer, was born in Popayan, Colombia and came to reside in the United States in 1980. She has been married to architect & pastry chef Alex Strachwsky for 37 years and has three children: Andy, David and Michael.

Mercedes has always been fascinated with art, but she discovered cakes when she ordered a birthday cake for her son and was not happy with the results. She began a hobby in cakes and it continued to grow. Her passion for cake decorating and enjoyment in sharing it with others has led to teaching locally and internationally. She has been an active member and committee member of ICES and was asked to create the 1997 ICES Convention show cake. This show cake, which was 9 feet in diameter and contained over 600 pounds of fondant, proved to be the best of the best. As a true representation of the natural beauty of Florida, it was recognized as a work of art and was transferred to the Orlando Science Center to be displayed as a permanent exhibition.

In 2001, her husband’s dream of opening a small pastry shop coincided with Mercedes' new passion. Together, they opened a shop called Bake Me A Cake Pastry Shop in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Still teaching on the side, Mercedes and Alex spend many hours a week at the bakery.

In 2009, her son Michael thought it was time for the world to see her works of art, and he entered her in the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition, the most prestige wedding cake competition of the United States. On October 1, 2009 Mercedes drove up this massive cake to Tulsa, Oklahoma and was announced as the Grand Prize Winner. Kerry Vincent, Show Director, said these fine words, "Nothing was left to chance," Vincent said. "Every detail was pretty much perfect, even to the embellishment on the edge of her cake board. Truly worthy of being in a museum.”

Mercedes credits her husband with much of her success. “He has always been my biggest supporter and critic,” Mercedes says.

Nicholas Lodge is internationally known for his fun, exciting and motivational classes teaching sugar art with gumpaste and techniques with rolled fondant covered cakes. Nicholas is best known for his gumpaste flower creations and has been teaching his style and techniques for over a quarter of a century. It is his easy and relaxed manner and casual teaching style that has students from around the globe seeking out and taking classes with Nicholas.

Nicholas was commissioned to write his first book in 1985. Currently Nicholas has authored and co-authored over a dozen books and has acted as a consultant to several publishers. Nicholas was inducted into the ICES Hall of Fame in 2001, being the youngest person to receive this honor.

Nicholas currently lives in Atlanta GA, where his sugar art school, offices and product distribution are located. Nicholas has a sister school in Tokyo, Japan and he spends part of his year teaching and traveling between the two locations, as well as special classes held at other schools throughout the U. S. and around the world. Visit his website at www.nicholaslodge.com.

Norman, an award-winning Chocolatier/ Pastry Chef and is the owner of The Sweet Life, Inc., a custom cakery in Annandale, Virginia. He is famous for his White Chocolate Curl Cake and his three-dimensional chocolate figurines. Norman is a member of ICES, GWACC, and is a charter member of CASANOVA. In addition to being a former Virginia ICES representative and former cake club president for CASANOVA, Norman was the Show Cake Chairman for the 2004 ICES Convention in Washington, DC. He is currently a committee member of the annual National Capital Area Cake Show. Norman is an ICES Hall of Fame inductee and a Certified Master Sugar Artist, one of only eleven in the USA.

Norman has demonstrated at the Smithsonian, and taught at Stratford College School of Culinary Arts. He is often featured on the TV show Historic Tours and Recipes, and has appeared on Fox 5 News. He has competed in ten Food Network Challenges and is now filming with TLC/Discovery. He participated in a Celebrity Cake Decorating Competition event with the T.J. Martell Foundation benefiting Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS research and helped raise $16,000. During the event, he was paired up with Country Music celebrities Aaron Tippin and his wife, Thea Tippin. They were given 3 hours to create a cake using one of Aaron songs, "There Ain't Nothin Wrong With The Radio", as an inspiration. They received the People’s Choice Award and took 2nd place with the judges.

Norman co-authored Wedding Cake Ensembles, Cakes for All Seasons and was commissioned by the Washington Post to create a cake for President Clinton. He has also been featured in Cakes & Sugarcraft, Cake Craft & Decoration, Food Art, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, Pastry Art & Design Magazine, People Magazine (A Cake From Every State where he was chosen to represent VA), and has been frequently featured in American Cake Decorating Magazine. Norman is working on a new book, Cakes on the Cutting Edge, with Zane Beg. The book and the Rose Chocolate Curler are available from The Sweet Life.

Zane is a shining star in cake decorating with no formal training, but with an unlimited creative sense. He has worked on cakes for sixteen years and shown no sign of slowing down. He loves to create cakes that have great movement and flow to them. In addition to decorating cakes, Zane enjoys traveling to teach and demonstrate. He specializes in detailed, hand-painted cakes and molded chocolate. He also creates beautiful bows and accessories with Choco-Pan Fondant.

Zane is a real estate broker in Virginia and has worked with The Sweet Life for last sixteen years. He is married to Shazia and has two girls, Malayka who is 6 and enjoys working with fondant (it is never too early to get children started), and Haaniah who is three.

Zane has participated in ten Food Network Challenges; on his first solo challenge, he took 2nd place and is now filming with TLC/Discovery. He has demonstrated at ICES conventions and Cake & Sugar Artists of Northern Virginia meetings. His work has also appeared in American Cake Decorating Magazine. He designed the detailed painting, food styling, layout and editing of the book, Wedding Cake Ensembles. Look for his work in the upcoming book that he is co-authoring with Norman R. Davis, Cakes on the Cutting Edge. Autographed copies will be available for purchase through The Sweet Life.

For more information on Norman R. Davis or The Sweet Life along with class information, please visit www.thesweetlife.com

Lew Chernick is the owner of PhotoFrost ® which is an owner operated business of diverse creative talent.

Innovation abounds throughout our products and services.

Photofrost is a manufacturer and systems developer of cake decorating supplies for photo cake technology.

For more information, go to www.photofrost.com.

Ruth is a former attorney and administrative law judge, who now owns Oklahoma City’s premier bake shop, called Ruth’s Sweete Justice Bakery. She made the switch to cakes in 1994 and quickly fell in love with the creativity decorating cakes offered. After being named the top bakery manager in the world for all the IGA stores, Ruth opened her shop in 1999.

Ruth has been seen on all 3 networks that have cake programming. She and her partner won WE tv’s Wedding Cake Wars, she assisted Pat Jacoby’s team in their victory on TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off and she has been featured in 3 different Food Network specials about the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. Her cakes have graced the pages of national and international publications for years.

Ruth travels the country teaching and demonstrating numerous techniques in the world of sugarcraft. Ruth operates the Oklahoma Sugar Art Academy, which brings in instructors from around the world to teach in Oklahoma City. You will find Ruth at several cake competitions each year, where she regularly takes home lots of ribbons. Ruth has placed in the top 10 a half a dozen times at various wedding competitions from the east coast to the prestigious Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. She is also one of only 13 ICES Certified Master Sugar Artists!

Susan enrolled in her first class over 12 years ago and after that the “Game Was On!” She just couldn’t get enough of this wonderful world of “Sugar Art”. She then began entering cake shows, joining local cake clubs and proceeded to start teaching cake decorating classes just one year later. Another year after that she began working as the Lead Cake Designer for a bakery in Dana Point, California, helping it to become one of the most sought out bakeries in Orange County. During that time, she was also privileged and experienced enough to start giving “Sugar Art” instruction and demonstrations across the USA.

Susan’s “Edible Works of Art” have won numerous awards and have been featured in magazines such as “American Cake Decorator” and “Here Comes the Cake.” She has appeared on the Food Networks show “Top Five” and won 1st place with her unique “3 Dimensional Cookies.” She has also competed on TLC’s “Ultimate Cake Off” twice. On season one (The Pirate Episode) placing 2nd and on season two (The Roller Derby Episode) winning the competition and a check for $10.000. In 2010 she was selected to make the centerpiece cake for the ICES Show in San Diego, California. The cake base alone was an 8 ft by 8 ft platform and the cake stood over 13 ft tall. It featured all the sights and attractions of San Diego which included, a spinning surfboard and palm trees as the topper, a rotating Lego Land helicopter, lights and even a water squirting seal that worked by remote control. Susan even had the famous San Diego Trolley running through the center of the cake and through the various cities of the region.

These days when she is not at her shop “The Cake Cottage” in Murrieta, she is on the road teaching “Sugar Art” classes across the country. Susan is also an International Cake Exploration Societe (ICES) instructor. Susan strives to make her classes fun with a stress free work environment for her students, yet at the same time making sure that they grasp not only the concept but the actually physical techniques needed to become a top notch decorator. She looks forward to meeting many more aspiring cake decorators and passing on some of the knowledge that she has amassed over the years as well as making her shop “The Cake Cottage” a truly unique experience and a much desired destination for her clientele.