Designing and baking unique cakes for showbiz parties isn't out of the ordinary for extreme cake makers and in Lancashire Molly Robbins has a very tall order - a celebration cake for a flamboyant customer to help him celebrate 35 years as a drag artist. The cake will be a life-size ball gown, complete with 50 edible peacock feathers and 3000 gold flowers. Elsewhere chocolatier Tracy Kindred has been asked to produce a four-tiered wedding cake covered in over 30 kilos of chocolate and decorated with hand painted, edible scenes from the bride and groom's lives together. Celebration cakes really don't come more extreme than this!
The popularity of baking has left us a nation clamouring to try it ourselves, but for those show-stopping cakes only a few can rise up to the challenge. For one lucky little birthday girl, Extreme Cake Maker Michelle Wibowo is creating a five foot edible Wizard of Oz mural out of Genoese sponge and covered in painted icing and sweets. Meanwhile, Nastassja Lusengo is bringing out the bling - decorating one of her famous red velvet cakes in edible gold leaf while Cornish based bakers Phil and Christine Jensen are creating a four-tier cake inspired by the Queens House in Greenwich, complete with 28 edible tulip decorations.
When it comes to extreme cake making you have to think outside the box, and for chocolatier Tracey Kindred the more imaginative the better. She's been tasked to produce a gruesome two foot tall wedding cake that pays tribute to the bride and groom's love of all things Gothic. With four tiers, copious amounts of chocolate wrapping and covered in hand painted Halloween themes, creating this cake could be a thing of nightmares... Also, in London Nastassja is producing a cake for an 11-year old to include the colours of the Nigerian flag, a hand-carved, sugar silhouette of the London skyline and a secret compartment for her favourite sweets.
At the heart of any extreme cakes lies a brilliant idea and, when it comes to dreaming up these original designs, 31-year-old Nastassja Lusengo knows the sky's the limit. She's been commissioned by a client to produce a cake for her brother's wedding, inspired by a geode rock and will split open to reveal shimmering sugar crystals carved into the cake's interior. Essex's Eloise Durrant has a totally different challenge on her hands - producing cake for a Hawaiian themed party that includes a fully working cocktail dispensing water feature, four tiers of cocktail flavoured sponge cake and is decorated to look like a Pacific volcano.
The pinnacle of baking is the wedding cake and nobody beats Karisha Pithwa when it comes to designing the most elaborate wedding cakes of all. She's taking inspiration from Bollywood to create a seven-tiered wedding cake for a dance instructor who wants everything just right for her special day. Covered in 1000 fresh and silk flowers, the cake will also feature a hand-piped henna design specially created by the bride and groom. Meanwhile, Nastassja Lusengo is helping her clients celebrate the expansion of their website. They want a four foot tall cake that will celebrate motherhood and have left the design entirely up to Nastassja.
Sugar craft specialist Eloise has received an order with 'wow' written all over it - a four foot tall replica of the Statue of Liberty made entirely of cake - but with over 10 kilos of icing for the famous gown, will this lady be able to stand on her own two feet? Meanwhile, in west Wales, chocolatier Tracey is commissioned to produce a surprise 21st birthday cake that will feature edible, chocolate sculptures of all the important places from the birthday girl's childhood.
Molly, who's 25, runs her own cake business in Lancashire. Her best friend and cat lover Liz is turning 30 so Molly has come up with the purr-fect birthday surprise - to bake her a cake that will look identical to her two favourite cats. Meanwhile, in West Wales Tracey and her assistant Jess are planning a wedding cake that's personal to the bride and groom who want their cake to display a storyboard of the 12 years that they have been together.
To be an extreme cake maker you need bags of skill and even more passion: traits of sugar craft specialist Eloise Durrant. And in Chelmsford, one of Eloise's returning customers has a very different dream - a cake that is edible for both humans and dogs - but can Eloise avoid this tricky task turning into a dog's dinner? Meanwhile, in London Karisha has had one of her most extravagant commissions to date - a towering seven-tier wedding cake that will include 150 handcrafted sugar flowers.
In Lancashire, Molly Robbins is focused on bringing her latest commission to life - a two foot square beach scene complete with jelly sea, crispy marshmallow rocks and dozens of hand carved bathers enjoying the seaside. Elsewhere, Michelle has received a commission for a portrait that's good enough to eat. For a forthcoming birthday party, she must bake a two foot by three foot cake canvas on which she will create an identical portrait of the birthday girl using her icing and edible inks.
Londoner Nastassja's latest commission is from a record producer who has ordered a salted caramel cake with waffle pieces - and the trickiest bit of all will be a super-sized fist made from rice cereal and marshmallow that will burst through a drum that's also made from cake! Meanwhile in Saddleworth, Suzanne has been invited to display her cakes at a prestigious wedding fair. With so many potential clients in attendance, she must bake a show stopping cake that will wow them all.
In Lancashire, Molly has received a commission that will push her baking skills to new heights as she attempts to build a life-sized, edible cow cake for the Bakewell Festival - but will it be the best in show? Elsewhere, wedding cake specialist Suzanne Thorpe hopes to impress grooms-to-be Jeffery and Thomas by individually hand sculpting over 200 sugar leaves for her stunning, succulent-themed showstopper. Also in this episode, former fashion designer Nastassja Lusengo creates a two-foot-wide edible art installation for a street art exhibition.
In this episode, husband and wife team Christine and Phil Jenson design and build two cakes for Prince Charles and Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall - but will they get the royal seal of approval? In Lancashire, Molly Robbins tackles a larger-than-life chameleon cake to raise money for a local college's new animal unit, and wedding cake designer Karisha Pithwa embarks on a five-tiered Asian wedding cake, complete with working water fountain.
For one lucky birthday boy, 26-year-old Molly Robbins is making a two-foot-tall, dinosaur-covered cake complete with royal icing volcano. Meanwhile, Lancaster-based Rosie Dummer hopes to wow her former Army Airs Corp colleagues with an impressive, six-foot-wide, gravity-defying helicopter cake. As an ex-helicopter pilot herself, Rosie knows that getting every detail right will be vital if she's to impress her military colleagues. Also in this episode is Karisha Pithwa, who is producing a stunning seven-tiered, carousel wedding cake decorated in 11 and a half stone of sugar paste.
In this episode, it's a family affair as sugarcraft specialist Eloise Durrant attempts to make her daughter a spectacular mermaid birthday cake to celebrate turning nine. Meanwhile, 28-year-old Karisha Pithwa juggles bridesmaid duties with baking a seven-tiered wedding cake, adorned in 15,000 hand piped sugar pearls for her cousin's civil ceremony. In Lancashire, Molly Robbins lets her imagination run wild with a knitting sheep cake for the opening of a yarn shop.
Lancaster-based Rosie Dummer faces an epic challenge to make an edible scale replica of a planned 110-foot dragon monument for project leader Simon. In Penzance, husband and wife team Phil and Christine Jenson receive a commission that gets their engines revving, as they attempt to make a cake that doubles up as a remote control Mini. Elsewhere, sugarcraft specialist Eloise Durrant reveals her sporty side as she makes an extreme cake, complete with working plasma ball, for her roller derby teammate.
Lancashire baker Molly attempts a mammoth build with a 100 kilo life-sized baby elephant that uses 49 kilos of fondant! Phil and Christine capture the nautical charm of a prestigious hotel for its 20th anniversary, including mosaic tiles, sting ray lights - and even the hotel's classic sailing boat. Ben makes a birthday boy see double with his one and half foot high cheeky caricature cake. Sculpted from vanilla cake, it's covered in three kilos of skilfully airbrushed fondant.
Cake engineering boundaries are pushed as Suzanne's birthday cake for a very special 12-year-old hangs in the balance - only a 25 kilo, two foot wide masterpiece will do! Phil and Christine grapple with a tiered forest of poplar trees. Inspired by the location, their cherry flavoured tiers are held aloft by white fondant tree trunks and adorned in more than 700 handmade petal paste leaves, all topped off with festival lighting. Ben tackles an 'S' shaped Chinese dragon with 200 individually applied fondant scales, spines and whiskers.
London cake artist Nastassja gets her groove on with a spectacular exploding champagne bottle birthday cake, made from 20 sponges covered in black buttercream topped with fizzing champagne made from gelatine bubbles. East meets west as Suzanne is asked to make an extravagant pink wedding cake complete with a hand-painted stunning marbled effect. The cultural union of the bride and groom is captured by an English rose and two Indian elephants. Meanwhile, Molly creates a hockey bag cake that sums up the birthday girl's love for hockey and snowboarding and even includes a modelled beagle, all hiding in a deliciously decadent chocolate sponge.
Molly turns to the silver screen to bring a touch of glamour to a 100th birthday celebration. Her creation steals the limelight, with a hand painted 1940s style image of birthday girl Mary staring in her own 100 years movie. Rosie also takes a trip to the movies for her stunning Bollywood dancer cake. Containing 13 kilos of chocolate orange cake and 30 kilos of fondant, the masterpiece takes a whopping six days to make. Eloise heads west with a Canadian tepee wedding cake. Standing three feet high, the cake is covered in hand painted native North American designs.
Lancashire cake maker Rosie battles to stay on track with a replica steam engine cake, with a working track and an intricately decorated engine, it's surrounded by an edible country landscape, complete with a fully functioning model train. Eloise uses nature as her inspiration for a stunning wedding cake, decorating the four foot tall beauty with hundreds of handcrafted edible flowers. And Molly's away with the fairies for a first birthday cake, where she sets herself the challenge of hand sculpting over 40 items, including a fairy's tea party inside the hollowed out tree.
The gloves are off as Dunstable baker Karisha tackles a boxing themed cake for a charity event, which sees her making two fully edible boxing gloves set in a fondant boxing ring. Molly attempts a deep sea sponge with a giant squid birthday cake for a 10-year-old girl. Phil and Christine make an astonishing solar eclipse wedding cake, that includes a hand painted image of Mount Rushmore and two intertwined willow trees decorated with 4000 hand piped royal icing leaves!
Lancashire based cake maker Molly proves 'that's the way to do it' when she makes a one and a half-foot wide replica Punch and Judy cake, complete with stage, striped awning and a full cast of edible characters as a special surprise for a puppeteer. Suzanne creates a towering five tier white on white intricate hand piped wedding cake with an unusual peplum shaped base. Phil and Christine tackle another challenging bake as they create a picture perfect working projector cake, full of personal memories to celebrate one couple's 25th wedding anniversary and joint 50th birthdays.
It's full speed ahead for Rosie with a vintage car cake for an 80th birthday party, that must replicate the recipient's beloved Bentley Speed Six, as well as reference Le Mans 24 Hour Car Race, as a nod to the car's winning streak in the 1920s. Suzanne keeps it in the family as she attempts to defy gravity with a cake in the shape of a tube of paint, to celebrate her cousin's new exhibition opening. Christine and Phil tackle a very personal African inspired bake, as Christine's invited to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo with an intricate tiered cake to celebrate her old school's unique involvement in this spectacular event.
Welcome back to a new series of the world of extreme cake making, where bakers dream up ever more elaborate creations. A high-flying show biz sponge, a Remembrance Day centrepiece, and a cake take on an iconic military vehicle - it's another challenging day for our extreme cake makers. Former army helicopter pilot Rosie faces her most precarious cake build to date, as she attempts to suspend a life-sized edible figure over the heads of the cast of a West End musical. Suzanne must impress with a detailed cake replica of the Lloyd's of London's Lutine Bell - which forms the focal point for a Remembrance Day service. Taking 130 hours to create, it includes 75 sugar poppies that look like they are falling around the cake. And Ben battles to make a cake replica of a tank, good enough to astound tank enthusiast Tommy-Lee on his 18th birthday.
Lancashire based cake maker Molly faces an animal first, as she bakes cake replicas of some cherished pets, creating two huge guinea pigs complete with party hats and presents, as a special surprise for birthday girl Isabella. Rosie takes on one of her most complex commissions to date as she tackles a five-foot wide Egyptian mummy, wrapped in fondant bandages, bursting out of a sarcophagus, covered in intricately hand modelled decorations and hieroglyphics. Suzanne takes on a monochrome cake challenge as she's asked to produce a three-foot tall wedding cake, that needs to be stunningly intricate to look at - but decorated in nothing but black.
Cake artist Michelle's world almost comes crashing down as she tackles a three foot wide rotating planet earth cake to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a travel guide. Phil and Christine must miniaturise their skills, as they tackle their smallest wedding cake to date for a couple who've eloped to Cornwall to get married. Consisting of two tiny Mr and Mrs cakes, they're surrounded by a 'moon gate' of sugar flowers and each one is decorated to match their wedding outfits. Molly makes a spectacular life-like, regal leopard cake, complete with a sugar paste crown, to help raise money at a charity auction. Built from eight vanilla Genoese sponges, it sports a sparkling black and gold, intricately marked 'fur' coat.
Molly digs deep for her latest commission as her Gran needs a cake to celebrate Older Peoples' Day. Her stunning two-foot square allotment themed cake comes complete with a cake and biscuit tool shed, florist paste picket fence, fondant crazy paving, and even a pair of edible muddy boots. Nastassja must make a birthday cake as glamorous as the birthday girl herself, to take centre stage at a dinner party. Made from amaretto and red velvet cake covered in buttercream and gold leaf, her toughest challenge will be adding over 200 wafer paper discs and getting this two-and-a-half-foot tall cake to hang upside down. Rosie makes a Big Ben replica.
Lancashire baker Molly hopes to make a splash with her next cake as she's asked to bake a cake replica of a very special carp - the prize catch of angler Andrew, as a surprise for his 50th birthday. Made from red velvet sponge, this two-and-a-half-foot long whopper comes complete with over 150 hand cut sugar paste scales. Wedding cake specialist Suzanne takes a break from the norm as she's asked to make a 30th birthday cake for a modern art fan, who wants an edible installation as a centrepiece for his party. Eloise creates a stylish sponge for a catwalk launch.
More extreme challenges as this time Ben's asked for a cake 'take' on a much-loved motor for a surprise 21st birthday cake, and he's hoping replica of this boy racer's hot hatch will hit the spot. Made from two large vanilla sponges, wrapped in two kilos of fondant, Ben needs all his sculpting skills to replicate every pimped-up detail. Suzanne delves into circus history with a cake to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founder of the modern circus, Philp Astley. Reflecting his 18th century circus show, her two-tiered extravaganza features fondant figurines taking a curtain call at the base, and a hand painted crowd, topped with an intricate figure of the great showman himself. In Essex, Eloise is going 'all in' with her next commission for a Craps Table cake to celebrate the wedding of a couple who recently married in Las Vegas.
It's unicorn fever, as our cake makers are set the challenge of producing three unique unicorn cakes. Essex based sugar craft specialist Eloise uses all the colours of the rainbow to make a stunning two-foot tall 10th birthday cake, compete with over 150 multi-coloured roses. Rosie tackles a rocking unicorn cake for a special christening party. Taking five days to make, and wrapped in a whopping 50 kilos of fondant, her biggest challenge will be hand sculpting the tail, mane, and saddle blanket. Molly conjures up a dappled delight, as she creates a multi-coloured mystical unicorn, complete with a golden horn, edible flowers and butterflies, to surprise eight-year-old birthday girl Maddison.
Nastassja attempts an edible baby's mobile suspended off the ground for a little boy's first birthday. Sculpted from chocolate brownie cake and rice cereal and marshmallow mix, this cloud themed hanging cake has cloud and giraffe shaped cookies dangling from it - perfect for little hands to grab. Rosie's also facing a first birthday challenge as she makes a cake replica of a beloved pet to celebrate TV presenter Lorraine Kelly's dog Angus's special day. Lying on a fondant blanket, Rosie's border terrier is built from chocolate orange cake, decorated in 15 kilos of sculpted modelling chocolate and sugar paste. Phil and Christine create a romantic wedding cake.
In this episode, there's animal magic and a bespoke wedding cake that oozes elegance. In Lancashire, Molly's latest commission ruffles some feathers as she makes a surprise cake in the shape of a real Golden Eagle for a 51st birthday. Called Bella, the creature is perched on a chocolate cake tree stump decorated with edible forest creatures and toadstools. In Penzance, Phil and Christine must earn their stripes with a baby tiger cake for the opening of a new cake school, but snow could put a halt to their plans! In Saddleworth, wedding cake specialist Suzanne's skills are put to the test as she and her team tackle a five-tier floral wedding cake. With an elegant 16' petal shaped base tier, this three-foot cake is adorned in over 50 sugar roses and hundreds of smaller blossoms and leaves which take over 30 hours alone to create.
In London, cake maker Nastassja's pushing the boat out for her latest commission to celebrate little Noah's first birthday. Asked for a Noah's Ark themed cake, Nastassja's planning to position her revolving edible boat on a giant spurt of water made from 12 layers of vanilla sponge, topped with rice cereal and marshmallow waves. Molly's hoping to make a bit of a flutter as she creates a giant butterfly cake for a birthday surprise. Sculpted from vanilla sponge sandwiched with buttercream, she'll use all her sugar craft and air brushing skills to capture the insect's delicate and distinctive blue and pink markings in vibrant sugar paste. In Lancashire, Rosie's aiming to hit the jackpot with a working roulette table cake for a gala dinner. Taking five days to make, and built from chocolate orange cake, it comes complete with an edible life-like, highly detailed croupier!
Penzance bakers Phil and Christine take on a very unusual commission as they make a cake to celebrate a friend's recovery from a broken ankle, and devise a leg shaped cake, complete with a removable plaster cast made from modelling chocolate. Michelle makes an edible work of art for her village's annual arts festival, in the form of a six-and-a-half-foot-tall lime tree cake, with 20 kilos of edible bark and hundreds of hand-coloured rice paper leaves. Nastassja tackles a four-and-a-half-foot-tall wedding cake, embellished with fondant flowers and edible lace, which must also include traditional kente fabric patterns in its design as nod to the happy couple's Ghanaian heritage.
Molly tackles a tricky T-Rex fourth birthday cake for a dinosaur-crazy little boy's big day. Two-foot long and weighing in at 20 kilos, this prehistoric sponge comes complete with piercing eyes, pointy teeth, and a clutch of eggs wrapped as presents. Michelle takes on a commission close to home, as husband Michael asks her to make a technically challenging cake to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his IT company. In Shotton, former tattoo artist turned cake maker Ben's next cake requires military precision, as he tackles a 60th birthday caricature that must show the birthday boy dressed in his 'airsoft' game combat gear. But things don't go according to plan as Ben battles with stability issues due to his cake's oversized head!
Ben must deliver a cake with real bite as he makes a shark's head as a surprise for a 60th birthday. Sculpted from vanilla and chocolate sponge, it comes with realistic eyes and a full set of pointy sugar paste teeth. Baking meets building for Lancashire based Molly, as she sculpts a cake replica of Queen Anne's Summer House to celebrate a construction company's 40th anniversary. Made from red velvet and Victoria sponge, Molly layers the cake like bricks as a special surprise when the cake is cut. Nastassja tackles an unconventional wedding centrepiece, with a three-foot tall, 60 kilo, modern wedding cake. Built from lemon, red velvet and vanilla cake, it's decorated in edible lace, black sugar crystals and fondant petals, but her hardest task is working out how to separate the heavy tiers using a lit and flower filled glass vase!
Phil and Christine face a life-sized challenge as they attempt a juggling sea lion cake for an industry show. Weighing in at a whopping 85 kilos and carved from 30 sheets of lemon drizzle and blueberry cake, covered in 19 kilos of fondant, just moving this massive cake proves problematic - and getting it out of their studio means deadlines are stretched! Molly must reach for the skies with her next birthday cake commission for a little boy who loves aeroplanes. Going for an entire airport theme, this chocolate and vanilla cake comes complete with a terminal building, a biscuit control tower, two giant jumbos and a whole fleet of edible planes - something Molly has never attempted before. Nastassja takes a walk on the wild side with a nature inspired wedding cake for a very exacting bride! Standing four-ft tall, this salted caramel beauty is decorated with a sugar paste petal garland, and hundreds of ruffles that took two days alone to perfect!
A new extreme cake maker joins the line-up. Somerset film set stylist-turned baker Zoe's first cake requires a trick of the light, as she tackles a swan lantern cake to celebrate the end of a community fun day. Measuring almost three feet high, Zoe battles to hide LED lights inside wafer paper wings to ensure her cake lights up the room. In Lancashire, Molly must make a surprise 40th birthday cake based on New York City. Determined to create a walk down memory lane, this three-foot tall cake is crammed with individually modelled iconic New York details, and comes with 20 extra Big Apple themed cupcakes. Phil and Christine feel the need for speed.
This time, a birthday cake reaches new heights, as new extreme cake maker Zoe makes a skydiving boy with an edible parachute for a 10th birthday party. Sculpted from chocolate fudge cake, the whole thing balances on one tiny support to help give the illusion this cake is floating on air. In Lancashire the pressure is on for Suzanne as she tackles a modern asymmetric wedding cake for an old family friend. Full of details personal to the bride and groom, the four tiers feature more than 100 navy blue ruffles, gold leaf and hand piped lace motifs, alongside an edible spray of sugar flowers to match the bride's bouquet. Former tattoo artist-turned-baker Ben takes on one of his toughest commissions to date, as his friend asks him to recreate a favourite 'Day of the Dead' skeleton tattoo in cake form, to mark the opening of his new taco bar. Working in just black and white, Ben struggles to turn a stylised 2D image into a stunning two-foot high 3D cake in time for the party.
In London, extreme cake maker Nastassja brings a touch of sunshine to a sweet 16th party, when she's asked for a cake with a tropical vibe. Going for a two-foot high pineapple head design, this outrageous cake boasts five kilos of gold fondant skin, wafer paper leaf hair, coconut sunglasses and a water melon nose - and hides a sweet surprise inside. Cake art meets street art as Lancashire baker Rosie's asked to make a 3D cake version of a colourful 2D graffiti painted tropical bird for the opening at a new creative space in Manchester. Molly faces a new challenge with a giant spider cake.
It's all about 'girl power' this time as our extreme cake makers pay tribute to women past and present. In Lancashire, Molly is asked to represent women engineers as super heroes in a cake highlighting the contribution women have made to the world. Towering three feet high, her four-tiered red velvet cake features everything from a fondant Brooklyn Bridge to a circular saw blade, alongside chocolate super girls: all destined for the 'Young Woman in Engineering Awards'. Michelle makes a baby shower cake and Karisha celebrates International Women's Day.
Karisha wants to surprise her best friend with a cake based on the things she loves best, so she plans a make-up box cake packed with edible cosmetics and a sweet side of fried chicken. Built from vanilla sponge and iced shortbread biscuits, it comes complete with a gum paste figurine of the birthday girl herself sat on an ornate throne. Nastassja tackles a surprise birthday cake that must look like a concrete sculpture and match the masculine theme of the party. Standing almost three feet tall, Nastassja's royal blue and gold concrete puzzle cake has a deeply carved geometric pattern. Rosie faces a career first as she combines sugar craft skills and technology in the form of projection mapping. Commissioned for a garden centre group's annual awards night, Rosie's huge cake hides two surprises, as its ornate architecturally decorated front spins to reveal a secret water garden, that comes to life as projection mapping makes it look as if water and diamonds are sparkling down the cake.