Icing on the cake: P.E.I. baker gets sweet recognition

Just a year after starting her bakery business Chelsea Willis is thrilled to have one of her creations recognized as one of Canada's Prettiest Cakes of 2017.

Weddingbells magazine has been creating the annual list online since 2012. And it's no cake walk. Only two other Island bakeries have made it City View Bakehouse in 2012, 2014 and 2015 and Lovely Day Desserts in 2014.

'Very exciting'

"Every year I watch for the list and use a lot of the cakes as inspiration," said Willis, the owner of Butter Bakery based in Charlottetown. "It's very exciting. I'm honoured to be amongst such developed talent."

Willis had taken the Pastry Arts program at Holland College but said she wasn't sure she wanted to make a career out of it.

Among the other cakes, there's really no other cake like it.- Weddingbells assistant editor Kimberly Aglipay

She began making cakes in her spare time while working office jobs. As time went on and business picked up, the decision to go full time was a piece of cake.

"I realized I was better suited to something more creative," she said.

Gold is currently a hot trend in wedding cakes, Willis said, and she made good use of it for the cake featured on the Weddingbells list. The top tier, which is covered in buttercream and a layer of fondant, is painted entirely in food grade gold paint. It also features a trail of 24-karat edible gold she placed by hand.

The bottom tier is covered in a textured vanilla bean buttercream.

The cake is adorned with fresh purple flowers.

'Simple elegance'

Willis said the whole process, from baking to cooling to decorating, took about 24 hours to make and would sell for about $500.

She made the cake for fun, and didn't sell it.

The cake evokes a "simple elegance," said Weddingbells assistant editor Kimberly Aglipay.

"Among the other cakes, there's really no other cake like it."

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