Cake! magazine by Australian Cake Decorating Network August 2016 | Page 70

Stevie Auble interview with Written by Kellie Rudland for Cake! magazine You began as an interior designer. What drew you to cake design? I never set out for a career in the cake industry. I wholeheartedly believed that I was to be in the interior design field throughout my professional life. However life is never that certain, and as opportunities presented themselves my perspective altered a bit and I found myself with new possibilities. I LOVE to challenge myself and I found that the cake world gave me so many chances to grow and learn while still being able to design, create and voice my personal style. You are well known for your bold, whimsical designs. What inspires you Literally everything! But if I really narrow it down, I am still completely obsessed with interiors and textiles and I find that immersing myself in that world really inspires me and helps me continue to push the boundaries of my cake designs. Your signature style often utilises bright pops of colour. How do you put together colour combinations? I love contrast & juxtaposition so using complementary colours really just comes naturally to me. I am drawn to colour combinations that in theory seem unorthodox to most but very appealing to my personal aesthetic. I also tend to have an unwritten rule that I follow when it comes to colour combinations - three colours max. You can use different shades and tones from the three colours for added depth and interest. But typically trying to work with a colour palette consisting of more than three lends itself to a busier design and challenges the overall sophistication of the design. Wafer paper is something you use in a lot of your cake designs. What drew you to working with that medium? When I first started designing cakes I was looking for something visually lighter than gumpaste to create decorative elements with, and a local cake store had a few sheets of wafer paper hanging on the wall. I was completely smitten with its translucency and lightness. From there I did a lot of research and found that there was not really any information on how to use it in the ways that I was interested in. So I had to do a lot of experimenting. Talk us through your design process. For my design process I collect as much from the client as possible that has nothing to do with cake. I really want to see every element that they will be incorporating into their event, flowers, invitations, menus, linens, tableware, even fonts. I really want to know all of it. I also take a lot of verbal cues from the clients in terms of what they want the overall aesthetic of the cake to feel/look like. Graphics and textiles typically seem to be what I gravitate most towards and what usually sends my mind spinning with ideas. After accumulating the information, I let the client know that it can take me a week or two (sometimes more) to come up with some initial ideas. Once I have a design the clients are sent my digital rendering of it for approval/changes. I let them know that I am completely open to criticism or even complete redesign if they feel I am off target but usually the initial design gets approved. What are your must-have cake tools? A brand new exacto (love a clean cut!), clear acrylic fondant smoothers and acetate. I’m a minimalist.