The winner of Spicelines Camel Cookie Contest is Lee-Ann Welsh, a Londoner who bakes cakes professionally in her West Hempstead home. She covered her cookie with runny royal icing, then hand-painted the details with a fine brush and edible red paste. But there's more to her story....
Lee Ann-Welsh!
So many great photos were sent for SpiceLines’ First Annual Cookie Contest that I’ve been dithering. But in the end I fell for this jaunty little camel. I love the dreamy contented look on her face, (yes, I’m quite sure she’s female) and the ankle bells, not to mention the elaborate tasseled saddlebag. Actually she looks a bit like the camel I rode in Morocco.
Lee-Ann, who lives in West Hampstead, London, is a talented cake decorator and “stay at home mum.” To see her adorable creations—the Penguin and Igloo cake featured in Women’s Weekly is one of my favorites—go to her blog, Beyond Imagination, at www.allof mycakes.blogspot.com. (Don’t miss the Royal Cupcakes on her homepage, a sweet tribute to last Friday’s extravaganza.)
Lee-Ann, who has two sons—the younger is 14 and still in school—fell into cake decorating when looking for a hobby. She loves working with royal icing which she describes as “a dying art.” Her mentor was Eddie Spence, the “master of royal icing,” who has not only made cakes for Queen Elizabeth, but also created the wedding cake for Charles and Diana. As she said in an email, her work is “all sugar, all edible.”
For the camel cookie, our winner kept it simple, hand-painting the details, but it wasn't easy. I’ll let her tell you in her own words how it went:
“You may think I only made one cookie but I did in fact make many more."
“The first batch, their skinny little legs broke when removing them on my spatula whilst they were still warm. 2nd batch I learnt my mistake and let them cool on the tray. I made some royal icing and coloured it a camel colour. I piped an outline of the cookie and then flooded it with a runny royal icing. I placed the camels under an angle poised lamp to create a nice sheen on the surface.
“My first thoughts were to have gold leaf blankets on the camel’s back, I painted a clear gel on the cookie in the areas I wanted gold, but the leaf adhered to the entire cookie. I then decided on hand painting them. I used an edible red paste color and a fine sable brush, I painted several, but as I was experimenting I found them more desirable to eat, when I was not satisfied with my painting skills. Royal Iced Coookies really are delicious.........
I was not going to let you down after your efforts of sending a cookie cutter to the UK, so persisted and finally was happy with the camel I sent you.”
Well, I am happy too, Lee-Ann. Your prize—Alice Medrich’s wonderful book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies, a jar of Nielsen Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste and a set of stainless steel measuring spoons that will last a lifetime—is now winging its way across the Atlantic.
Lee Ann sent a few photos of her other work. I can’t resist showing you this one, a dozen cupcakes she made for Sophie E.'s birthday:
Comments (2)
Beautiful!
Posted by Lynn | May 4, 2011 6:32 AM
Posted on May 4, 2011 06:32
Congrats to the winner. Hope you'll let us see some of the other entries too.
Posted by Joan | May 8, 2011 7:04 PM
Posted on May 8, 2011 19:04