06/01/2014
When did all of this start? My closest guess is when I was around 7 years old.
When Mum wasn't around I would sneak into the pantry (yes, it really was an old fashioned pantry .... another room, that had a cellar underneath) and take coconut & cocoa powder and I don't remember what else I added, but I would make some sort of morsel which I put in the fridge to firm up before eating.
I also helped Mum make apple pies at this age, and by age 10 I had taken over decorating the Christmas cake from Mum and my first design was an ice rink with figurine skaters.
I won my first competition at 15 with a very traditional royal iced cake design.
When I was 18 I wanted to make icing stand by itself unsupported like a piece of silver filigree jewellery.
I made the individual pieces; 2 wings of a butterfly, but I couldn't get them to stick together and support their own weight. I forget how many times I tried with the fragile pieces.
It came to me in a dream...yes really... I dreamed how to get the two wings fixed together, and it worked.
