1. Making the dahlias pt 1
For the full tutorial see Circle of Love
Here Anna Maria shows us how to make the cute dahlias using a dahlia cutter, along with a clever way of using a very thin cell stick or plastic knitting needle. She then goes on to show us how to add the petals to the styrofoam ball without damaging them, using soft foam which is very helpful.
2. Adding the last dahlia petals
Here she shows us how to arrange the final set of petals on the Dahlia now that it has dried. She then sets it aside to dry a little longer before moving onto dusting it.
3. Finishing Touches
In this lesson she finishes off the design completely by dusting the Dahlia and then arranging the flowers onto the cake using posy picks and some sugarpaste. What a stunning cake! In the following lesson she’ll be sharing some other ideas you can use when making this cake.
Anna Maria Roche
Since she was a child, Anna Maria has loved baking, drawing and creating weird and wonderful things with clay. Having parents who were restaurateurs in a small village in Austria, Anna Maria grew up to appreciate food and the work that went into it. Being in a family with five boys, she loved escaping to the kitchen cooking sweet treats for them, although there were many fights with cookies and cakes being taken before they were decorated!
At sixteen, Anna Maria started as an apprentice chef and later specialised as a Pastry Chef. After training she worked in some leading hotels in Austria and Switzerland.
Whilst working in Switzerland, Anna Maria came across her first piece of sugar art and was immediately hooked on this exciting and creative aspect of the industry. Her first and lasting inspiration was a wedding cake loaded with sugar flowers, making it love at first sight.
From that moment in 1987, Anna Maria knew she wanted to specialise in traditional wedding cakes and sugar art.
This made her cross the ocean and migrate to Australia
Anna Maria arrived down under with very little knowledge of the language, planning initially to work for a year and learn the art of cake decorating. However, she fell in love with the country and calls Australia her home.
She worked for some of Sydney’s top hotels and cake shops, including Sweet Art and Planet Cake, designing and creating cakes for people from all walks of life.
During her seven-year career at Planet Cake, she pioneered the teaching programmes for the successful school and was the creative force behind some of the most recognisable and original cake designs. Anna Maria was also the creative force behind three of the books published by Planet Cake and her work has been featured in many magazines.
She was also a popular personality in the award-winning Lifestyle Channel TV series, “Planet Cake”
Anna Maria has successfully taken part in many prestigious cake competitions and has won many awards; She likes to get out of her comfort zone to challenge herself, inspiring others in the process.
In October 2013, Anna Maria founded her own business; “Anna Maria Cake Design”. Besides designing and creating gorgeous cakes, she creates tutorials for companies to promote their cake decorating supplies and equipment. She conducts private lessons and small workshops in her studio in Sydney and teaches cake decorating in other schools across Australia and overseas.
Her diverse combination of qualifications, abilities and passion, together with her formidable creative skills has enabled her to inspire students around the world. She is very proud to see how their individual journeys have progressed. Many have gone on to have successful businesses of their own in Australia and overseas.
