70 » pink weddings magazine
Something different
The usual reaction to
Hannah Miller’s
miniature cakes is ‘how
on earth did you do that?’
She explains how a hobby
became an obsession
with perfection
Perfectly tiny
I AM DREADFUL AT DESIGNING MY OWN CAKES
– copying is
my thing. I just love working it out. I spend hours
wondering how on earth am I going to make the replica so
tiny.
It all started with a dolls’ house renovation for my
daughter. It involved making tiny bowls of pasta, sweets and
so on, for her dolls. Seeing these tiny goodies, a somewhat
crazy friend of mine – who hadn't found the right girl yet, but
had decided exactly what her wedding cake was going to
look like when she did – drew a sketch of her cake to be and
said, ‘make a tiny version of that then!’
So that was the start. Her cake turned out ok – not
great, but ok. Next came a long line of varying designs
copied frommagazines, helping me to perfect techniques
and learn many more.
My most difficult commission was a five-tier cupcake
display with more than 100 cupcakes less than 0.5cm wide.
Each cupcake had its own individually handmade case, icing
and miniature gold dusted heart. I had a tiny copy of the
cake stand specially designed and it looked amazing once it
was finished. I’ve since had a couple of tiny cakes sent to
New York, commissioned for first wedding anniversary gifts.
People seem stunned when they see one of the replicas
close up. I regularly get asked, ‘How did you do that?’ ‘Can
you eat them?’ and ‘How long did that take?’
Well, they take quite a long time – hours and hours. They
are made from oven baked polymer clay so unfortunately are
not edible. And I don't know how best to explain how I make
them, other than I must be crazy to have the patience. Tiny
roses made on the ends of pins, each petal placed and
shaped one at a time; dots of clay smaller than 1mm
positioned in just the right place, and miniscule pieces of
fruit in the sponge. I don't like to use moulds or casts –
everything is individually handmade.
The next venture for Tiny Cake is to be called A Piece of
Cake, so each guest can take home a tiny slice of wedding
cake as an everlasting memento.
I can't wait to see which wonderful wedding cake will win
the Tiny Cake competition (see below). It will be great to be
involved in the lead-up to a couple’s wedding day and have a
tiny version of their cake to sit alongside the real one on the
day. Good luck everyone!
www.mytinycake.co.uk
COMPETITION
win your cake in miniature
To enter the draw to win a tiny replica of your
wedding cake, designed by Hannah, send your
names and wedding date to
win@pinkweddingsmagazine.com by 1 September.