From lavish sugar flowers to extravagant marble finishes cake artist, Laura Palmieri, a talented young artist can do it all. She’s only 21-years-old but has taken people’s breathes away with her art. She is an artist when in baking mode that creates cake art that doesn’t just look good but tastes great too.

“I never thought I would actually pursue a career in the baking industry, but here I am and it makes me happy every morning I wake up”

Palmieri has had a passion for baking since she was younger but was discouraged to pursue baking because she was told it wasn’t a good career path. Today, she is booked up for the majority of the rest of the year including many wedding cake orders for 2019.

So, where did she start? Palmieri graduated from high school and went to Ryerson University for graphic design, a realm of study completely opposite from her passions. After a year there she dropped out and then attended George Brown College for Pastry Arts. She learned a great deal of knowledge from there, but her artistic capabilities came from hours of practice during her own time.

“I was discouraged many times that taking a career path in baking wasn’t a good idea.” 

Edible Wine Barrel made by Palmieri

Wine Barrel Cake made by Palmieri

She has catered to a variety of different events including a wine and cheese event in Toronto hosted by The Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization. As seen in the image on the left, she made a cake in the shape of a wine barrel that you could not differentiate from a real barrel for the event. Some were in disbelief that it was a real cake.

Edible Cake Flower Box made by Palmieri

Flower Box Cake made by Palmieri

She has also made a flower box cake for Ulyana Aster’s master class here in Toronto as well. Aster is a world class bridal hairstylist from Australia.

The Power of Social Media

“My clients usually contact me through word of mouth or seeing my cake displayed at events, but my biggest client base comes from Instagram”, said Palmieri. This era has boomed with social media advertising and Palmieri has taken advantage of that. She mentioned, “most of my wedding cake orders are actually from Instagram, it has helped me get so much exposure that I’m grateful for”.

Laura Palmieri's Instagram Page

@alittlesweeter_byLaura

Palmieri says she gets more direct messages on Instagram for inquiries than she does through email. She encourages everyone to get on Instagram if they want more exposure for their business. She mentions that even if you’re not a start-up company, Instagram is the go-to social media platform for showcasing your products or services as it’s been working great for her so far. “The demographics on Instagram are mostly younger adults, but I’ve been getting direct message inquiries from an older age range as well”, says Palmieri.

When she provided the cake for Aster’s master class, Aster posted and tagged her business page on her Instagram page that has almost a million followers worldwide. “It was great exposure for me, people from all over got to see my work”, said Palmieri.

According to a recent data analysis done by Statistica, there are over 800 million active users on Instagram. Below is a graph outlining how popular this social media platform really is.

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There are 500 million daily Instagram users and 300 million occasional users.

Master Class in New York with World Famous Pastry Chef, Ron Ben Isreal

In the beginning of November, Palmieri got the opportunity to travel to New York and take a specialized sugar flower class with celebrity pastry chef, Ron Ben Isreal. He has been a host and judge on many popular television shows such as, Everyday People, Sweet Genius and the most recent show of his Cake Wars. He specializes in custom wedding cakes and elaborately designed sugar flowers.

She explains that the experience and knowledge she gained from only a three day class was beyond what she expected. “It was a lot of money but I thought of it as an investment towards my business and knowledge. It was definitely worth very penny, I was  actually really sad when it all ended”, said Palmieri.

Palmieri with celebrity pastry chef Ron Ben Isreal

Palmieri with celebrity pastry chef, Ron Ben Isreal

At the end of the three day master class, Palmieri received a certificate of achievement.

Q & A About her Master Class Experience

Q: How would you describe your experience at Ron’s master class?

A: “I got a lot more out of it than I had expected with the three days I was there. He was a humble person and an amazing teacher. Ron was willing to share any knowledge he had with us and answered any questions or concerns we had.”

Q: Did you go into the class not knowing how to do a certain element, but know how to do it now?

Hand Made Sugar Flowers by Palmieri

Credit: Laura Palmieri

A: “It was certain things that I already had some knowledge in that I learned how to master through that class. He taught me new and efficient techniques that allowed me to perfect my skills that I had previously started developing on my own. Even little things like organization and how he organized his classes taught me a lot that I could apply to my business. His techniques are unique to his style that certainly can’t be replicated by another instructor or chef.”

Q: Did Ron reveal any industry secrets or provide any tips?

Cake Palmieri made in the master class

Credit: Laura Palmieri

A: “There were people in my class from all over the world, so even for them he provided some useful tips in regards to how to bake in certain climates to ensure safety of the food. He also told us that he offers an internship position at his shop in New York which I wish I could attend one day. Overall, it was really cool to be learning with aspiring pastry chefs who want to grow their business just like I am.”

The Other Side of the Baking Industry

It’s not always rainbows and butterflies in the baking industry, Palmieri says pricing the cakes can be a workload in itself because she wants to make it as fair as possible. Time goes into sketching the cake, baking the cake, masking and decorating – which takes a huge chunk of time. She makes everything from scratch when she can and stays away from pre-made products. Also, anyone who shops knows that the cost of food is on the rise and when buying quality ingredients it doesn’t help that food items are getting more expensive. “When I tell clients the final price of the cake, they sometimes don’t expect it to be as much as it is”, says Palmieri.

“When you want quality and rich taste you have to spend the extra dollar. I make sure that in all my recipes there is quality in every bite, so I only use ingredients that I know have rich taste, I think that is what gets my clients coming back”

Some cakes take up full day hours of just decor time. Below is a chart showing approximately how much time Palmieri spends making each cake.

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“There’s a lot of hard work that goes into the thought process and practical work in making and designing a cake.”

Palmieri only purchases high quality ingredients and she mentions that the average price of one vanilla bean is around $4.50. Some other ingredients that she uses are Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans and Valrhona chocolate, which is a rich quality chocolate to use in baking.

Sugar Flower
Hover over this sugar flower to see a close-up of the realistic details.

A Little Bit About the Talented Artist in 60 Seconds

Find out more about the talented Palmieri in under a minute in this Q&A segment.

Enter the Gallery of Sweetness

Can’t get enough of this sweetness? Check out this gallery for more work done by the talented cake artist, Laura Palmieri. By the way, everything you have seen and will see in the gallery are fully edible cakes. Mmm delicious and beautiful, can’t get better than that.