Let them BE CAKE!

Emma Jayne Morris, 55, transforms sugar, chocolate and marshmallow into showstoppers fit for royalty

- WORDS: JANE COHEN, ELAINE HAYWARD

If someone told me 20 years ago I'd one day sculpt a life-size King Charles out of chocolate and marshmallows, I'd assume, of course, that they were joking. My life back then was a world away from cakes. I was a full-time carer for my daughter Jasmine, diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 3 at three. My days were filled with physiotherapy, hospital visits, and everything else that came with her condition.

In my spare time, with my background in fine art, I painted portraits for family and neighbours. It was a hobby that came naturally as I'd inherited my mum's artistic talent. Then, when Jasmine turned 17, I decided to bake her a cake because my husband, Owain, was always teasing me that buying one from the supermarket was 'cheating'. I knew how to make a sponge, but decorating one? Not the first clue. Realising I could buy ready-made sugar paste was a revelation. Jasmine loved Twilight, so I created a cake that looked like the book cover, with the apple on it. Seeing how much she loved it sparked something in me.

After all, cake-making was still art, just using a different medium. So, I set about teaching myself through books, and before long, friends and family were asking me for cakes. Word spread, and by 2012, with Jasmine, then 19, living more independently, I opened a small workshop in my home town of Aberdare. Orders for celebration cakes grew, and eventually I was persuaded into doing wedding cakes.