Turning cakes into pieces of art

NORMAN DAVIS is one of the world’s most celebrated cake decorators. The award winning chocolatier is in the country to share his cake decorating expertise with top hoteliers.

PETER MUIRURI caught up with him

It is not every day that you get to taste a cake made by one of the world’s top ten cake decorators. Thus when such an opportunity presented itself recently, I did not hesitate.

NORMAN DAVIS, one of the world’s most celebrated cake decorators

Norman Davis is an award winning pastry chef and chocolatier who also owns The Sweet Life Inc, a custom design cakery in Annandale, Virginia, USA. In addition, he is an award winning chocolatier, famous for his White Chocolate Curl Cake and his three-dimensional chocolate figurines.

Armed with a sweet tooth, I met Norman, a certified sugar artist, at Sarova Panafric in Nairobi where he had been invited to share his meticulous cake decorating expertise with the hotel chain’s pastry chefs.

He did not disappoint and invited guests were mesmerised by the elaborate display of his work in creating edible art.

Visitors could not hide their joy as they tasted with relish some of Norman’s works that were on display. The jovial and humorous chef openly shared with those present the secrets of his trade, without bombarding them with heavy jargon.

A grand finale of his presentations was conducted at the Sarova Mombasa Whitesands last weekend.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1960, Norman looks much younger than his age, perhaps due to his love for the sweet things in life. At 14, he moved in with an auntie, helping her baby-sit her child. It was here that Norman got to do other odd jobs including assisting her in baking.

When he completed his schooling at Northern Cambria High School, Norman got some work at a bakery, a job he hated.

“To begin with, the bakery was in a grocery store. Scrubbing floors and washing dishes was not my idea of fun. There were two full-time cake decorators, meaning there was no chance of me joining the fray,” recalls Norman.

With time, however, Norman was ‘promoted’ to a mixer, edging closer to a baker.

By his mid 20s, Norman moved to Virginia and became a property manager for the next eleven years.

One day, Norman, together with his best friend and current business partner Zane Beg decided to go to Europe on a two-week vacation. Upon their return home, Norman found out — to his disappointment — that several managers in the real property firm, including him, had lost their jobs.

FANTASTIC IDEA

Zane implored Norman to open a bakery, a move he (Norman) vehemently resisted.

“My friend did not seem to understand my dislike for baking owing to my earlier disappointment at a bakery,” recalls Norman.

With time, Norman mellowed somewhat and warmed up to the idea of establishing his own cakery with Zane’s assistance.

Today, Norman is one of the most celebrated cake decorators in the world who has showcased his work to millions of TV viewers across the globe. In addition, he and Zane Beg are among the few who have no objection to sharing their knowledge of cakery with others, hence their recent trip to Kenya.

He has also worked extensively with Lucks Food Decorating Company in the US, further enhancing his artistic style.

His cakes come in all sizes and colour, demonstrating his unequalled sense of creativity. Ranging from the white bow wedding cake to the crab’s basket anniversary cake and the snowflakes cake, Norman has done them all. These are the conventional pieces, but there are the peculiar ones too.  The golden and silver shoes, the old church and the handbag cakes fall in this category.

“The hospitality industry is changing rapidly around the world with much emphasis being in having a presentable product. Wedding parties are demanding a more lavish cake and we must rise to this challenge by turning an ordinary cake into a piece of art,” says Norman.

To this end, Norman has never shied off from accepting any challenge thrown his way. Many are the times he is featured on American TV show Historic Tours and Recipes, together with appearances on Fox 5 News in addition to completing tens of Food Network’s challenges. More recently, Norman was on Dubai TV where he helped decorate a five-foot cake infront of  a live audience.

He prides himself in having made a cake for former US President, Bill Clinton.

Decorating Competition

His work is not only meant for those who wish to delight the palate. Norman’s participation in a Celebrity Cake Decorating Competition event sponsored by the New York based TJ Martell Foundation for leukemia, cancer and HIV and Aids research helped raise millions.

In America, Norman has held pastry demonstrations and has tutored at the prestigious Stratford College School of Culinary Arts. In December this year, Norman and his team will be part of a cake cruise extravaganza that will tour several locations in western Caribbean.

Kenya, he says, has a bustling hospitality industry that has great room for growth if given the right tools and proper exposure to current market trends.

“My interaction with friendly Kenyans has revealed a people who are willing to learn  new tricks,” says Norman, who also showcased his cake decorative prowess to the pastry team at Sarova Shaba Game Lodge.

The cake decorator says he would just have stayed home and kept this knowledge to himself but thought “the world will be better off if those in the know shared such information with others”.

With a renewed passion about Africa, Norman is already proposing a series of TV reality show, Cake Survivor Africa, where top pastry chefs would compete on decorating cakes.

He says: “Such a programme would give the local chefs the expertise and speed needed to do cake decoration. Survivor Africa would also give the Kenyan housewife a chance to improve the flavour and colour of that homemade cake.”

According to Norman, cake decoration ought to be a family affair with children getting fully involved, something that he says will get them off the TV box to doing something creative for some hours.