China’s “Sugar King” creates the most incredible cake decorations

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CGTN

Did you know what these delicate works are made of?

Are they like special Barbies, or garage kits?

Photo courtesy of Zhou Yi.

The truth is, they are fondant cakes that taste like creamy candies.

They're created by Zhou Yi, the best fondant artist in China.

CGTN Photo

Born into an average worker's family, his parents had always been holding high hopes for him. The young Zhou felt the path too hard to take though. He considered himself an underachiever who'd often fail tests in middle school.

Nevertheless, anyone can make a difference. After high school, Zhou entered a culinary school in Sichuan Province to become a chef.

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Everyone is trying to make pastries both mouthwatering and eye-catching. For the traditional flower buns and dough sculptures, the brilliant craftsmen bring them to life with the most vivid figures. Those pastries were one of the childhood memories of Zhou, whose father is already a dough sculptor. That's what got him interested in making creative pastries in the first place.

Photo courtesy of Zhou Yi.

He was eager to make a breakthrough and turn the pastries into real artworks. The traditional dough, however, couldn't fit his needs.

In Suzhou, southern China, he learnt by chance of fondant, the material that's widely used in Western pastries for decoration. It has good ductility and can be made into all kinds of colors and figures. Plus it's easier to keep it in shape and to preserve it than the traditional dough.

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"That's exactly what I wanted." Zhou was very excited, and dedicated himself completely into making fondant figures.

"We're good at dough sculpting, so fondant is just another choice of materials." Thanks to his past experience, Zhou soon learnt the tricks of making fondant figures: "Just shape the eyebrows, adjust the face, and brush the lips with glitter gloss…" The vivid face of a Chinese beauty comes out in minutes. "A few variations can make them more lifelike.”

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Yet Zhou wanted more: "In other countries, they already use one piece of fondant to make the whole figure." He wants every single detail of his works to be more delicate and lifelike.

He spent a year improving the recipe of his fondant, make it more flexible. The new material can be rolled into paper-thin pieces to make the clothes. The figures are dressed layer after layer like humans, but in the nearly transparent fondant clothes.

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At UK Cake International 2017, Zhou and his team won three golden and two bronze medals. It was the first time that a Chinese team got any rewards in this competition. The cake "Lady in the Palace", which portrayed the young Empress Wu, won the International Best in Show”prize. During the competition, the juries couldn't believe that the dress was made of fondant until they tasted it.

Besides the exquisite figure and dress, the decorations on the cake also presented the beauty of ancient Suzhou city: the Taihu stone, a gilding censer, a blue and white porcelain, and a palace lantern using traditional sugar-blowing methods… The world was stunned by the Chinese brilliant techniques.

Photo courtesy of Zhou Yi.

The fact that many competing teams adopted their new fondant material made Zhou even happier.

After the competition, Zhou's works became viral on Weibo (China's most popular social network), attracting tens of thousands of followers. He then expanded the themes of his works to all kinds of pop culture, such as celebrities and ACG characters. Netizens say that his works "Seckill most of the garage kits.”

Photo courtesy of Zhou Yi.

In addition to making fondant cakes, Zhou now has his own company researching and selling fondant materials and tools. Meanwhile, more people are taking his fondant classes. He does all this because he has been "trying not to disappoint the industry, nor myself.”

The story is one in The 1.3 Billion series exploring the diverse lives that make up China.