‘Cake boss’ of Bealeton wins edible fashion show

 

(Photo:sexy prom dresses)Marilyn Bawol of Bealeton is considered by some to be one of the best edible fashion designers in the world.

Creating dresses out of sweets is a relatively new phenomenon, but Cake artist Bawol is at the helm of the new fashion sweets frontier. She recently won first place in the edible fashion show at the North Florida Cake Show and Competition. She will show off a new design at that first annual Americas Cake and Sugarcraft Fair in September.

“I’ve gone way beyond what anyone else does with the edible material,” said Bawol in her home and cake studio on Monday. “Nobody else can do it. The judges are coming up to me saying that I should teach them classes. And they are masters. They’ve been in the industry for 30 years.”

Bawol has always been an artist. Though she isn’t classically trained, she taught herself how to paint, sculpt and draw.

The cake designer received an art scholarship, but never finished college. The artist said that she opted to marry instead.

Bawol followed her husband to Germany, where the military stationed him. While in Europe, Bawol studied art in museums. The masterpieces she saw inspired her to create her own works.

Growing up with a Polish family, Bawol always loved to cook. Though she doesn’t have a sweet tooth, she started baking cakes for friends.

“Every time I’m invited to a birthday party, that would be my gift,” she said. “My friend across the street said, ‘You do this all the time, why don’t you go into business?’”

Seven years ago Bawol took her neighbor’s advice. She licensed her new business, Unique Cakes by Marilyn, out of her home.

Since her children were grown and her husband was retired, creating cakes became a way for Bawol to occupy her time.

Just as Bawol taught herself traditional art techniques, she taught herself to make art out of food. She said that she only has taken a couple of workshops of fondant and sugar blowing.

“I just put my own twist on things,” said the cake artist.

Over the years Bawol’s skilled cake work piqued interest from high profile figures like Sarah Palin. She created a bear cake for the presidential candidate’s birthday party in D.C. several years ago.

One cake prompted Bawol to find a new technique that would gain her even more recognition in the culinary arts community.

“I needed to make a birch tree cake for a wedding,” recalls Bawol.

The artist saw a similar cake in a magazine that had the aesthetic that she was going for. The article said that the baker used gelatin and wafer paper for the edible paper effect. However, there wasn’t any explanation of how to recreate the look.

“I tried to put things together that I though made sense,” said Bawol.

She was able to recreate the edible paper even more successfully than her original inspiration. This concoction lead Bawol to try something that no one has ever accomplished before: an edible cloth that will not harden.

The cloth is made out of gelatin, chocolate and wafer paper. Bawol said that the recipe and process will remain secret. She is considering patenting the product.

“It’s not hard to do, but no one else has ever done it before,” she said.

Bawol used the material to create the couture dress that won her a first place two weekends ago. The rules mandated that the dresses had to be 80 percent edible, but Bawol made hers to be 98 percent edible.

“I always go overboard,” she laughed. “If someone tells me to do something, and the least is 80 percent, I’m thinking I can do better than that.”

The only inedible part of the dress is a small Velcro strip on the side and a few decorative buttons.

Edible couture is a new and rare art form, said Bawol.

“Not very many cake artists can do it,” said Joe Bawol, the baker’s husband and business manager. “It’s hard to get competitors to get into the groove. I think once they see her gelatin techniques it’ll spark some ideas for creative manufacturing.”

Because Bawol is so excited about the possibilities of her techniques, she recently began teaching eager students.

Last Saturday Bawol taught a free workshop at True Value CK Home & Hardware in Bealeton. About 35 students showed up to participate.

Helen Wyckoff, owner of the Bealeton True Value, said that Bawol gets all of her cake sculpting supplies at the store.

“All of her three dimensional cakes start with us,” said Wyckoff.

Joe Bawol produces all of the structures for the sculpted cakes, she added.

“They’re both very talented,” said Wyckoff. “It’s the coolest thing that we have these world-class cake artists in our town.”Read more at:one shoulder prom dresses