Cake Design By Joanna Clarke

Joanna Clarke trained as a pastry chef and worked in award-winning restaurants and country house hotels, rising from Pastry Chef de Partie to Head Pastry Chef. She holds a Grande Diploma in Patisserie and Confectionery from Westminster in London, where her tutor was Chef Yolande Stanley MCA, and she is a member of the Association of Pastry Chefs and the British Sugarcraft Guild.

Today she designs and bakes wedding cakes from her studio and professional kitchen in Crowborough, East Sussex. Each cake is made individually and shaped around the couple during a consultation and tasting, and a tasting menu for wedding cakes is available on request.

Designs draw on a wide range of techniques, among them royal icing piping, appliqué, pastillage, sugar flowers, ruffling, quilting, brush embroidery, hand painting and modelling. Details can echo the wedding dress, the shoes, the venue or the flowers, so that each cake is one of a kind and moist as well as beautifully presented.

For couples who want something less conventional, she makes French classical croquembouche filled with light mousseline and creams, decorated with nougatine and royal icing if requested, as well as naked and semi-naked cakes. Afternoon tea catering for weddings is also offered, with its own tasting menu.

Delivery covers the South East of England, East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Essex and Central London, and other parts of the country can be arranged with planning. Joanna attends masterclasses around the country and, with her team, two of the largest wedding exhibitions in London, where appointments can be booked through social media.