Sarah Nagy – cake maker

Programme outline

Sarah Nagy chooses Brighton Pier as the subject for her cake. A photograph taken on site is her stimulus once she leaves the location. Back in the kitchen, blue sugar solution (made from heated sugar, glucose syrup, water and food colouring) is used to create the sea on a cakeboard base with chocolate struts forming the pier structure. The struts had to be made from dark chocolate containing 70% cocoa solids or they would not have supported the structure. Cake covered in soft icing is modelled into the varied shapes of the building. Sarah uses various tools to create the architectural details: finer line effects are added with icing squeezed through the fine opening of an icing bag. At this point the need for a steady hand is particularly apparent. Subtle colour changes in the icing create the various shades of the external walls. Every detail of the original is shown including the sign advertising the pier. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and we see a family apparently tucking into huge pieces of cake while parallel sections of the original footage of the pier disappear accordingly – a fun end to the programme!