This cake was made for a teenager who has a passion for photography. The cake was modeled from a vintage Rolleiflex camera and her! I wanted to mix the two, because adding an additional personal object or person gives the cake more personality and meaning. This was probably my second most challenging cake.

When tackling a project like this you must have a plan. You really can’t just start piecing things together hoping it will turn out. The ability to draw and knowledge of how to build structures also benefits how successful the concept will come out. So before beginning the cake I made a set of templates for each side of the camera and all the basic shapes and pieces that would attach to the sides. All my cakes are custom and everything is done by hand: the cutting, building, shaping pieces and painting details.

I wish I had more time to take…