How To Cook Behind The Scenes Of The Confectionery With Svetla By Vanilla & Me - Recipe

It's time to pay attention to the confectioners! :) And what better start than Svetla from Vanilla & me, who brought gold from London a few days ago for her work. She makes cakes and unique biscuits and is among the best masters of decorated cakes in Bulgaria, without a doubt! I have been following her work for several months and she definitely deserves attention. I'm a fan of biscuits rather than cakes, but it's pure and simple because I prefer one to the other. Vanilla & me is proof that Bulgarian artists are as good as the world, and access to materials in our country is not to be underestimated. See what Svetla herself told us and enjoy her work!

Tell us about yourself, who is behind the unique sweets?

My name is Svetla Petrova, 33 years old from Sofia. I have been married for 11 years and have two wonderful daughters - 7 and 4 years old.

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawing, decorating, designing. I graduated in fashion, then I worked for a while in graphic design. It so happened that my eldest daughter was diagnosed with Atypical Autism, which requires additional work and care on our part. Due to these specifics, I never returned to work, but stayed at home, which in turn allowed me to meet and develop my new hobby - the art of sugar. It has really become my greatest passion and now all my time and energy is divided between family and decorating cakes and biscuits.

At the end of 2014, while browsing Facebook, I came across a picture of many beautiful biscuits. They were the work of a friend of mine who is not a professional. They were simple. Dark gingerbread for the base, decorated with lines of white icing. I remember watching them for a long time and I said to myself that I wanted to try to do something similar. Until now, confectionery has never attracted me. On the contrary, I deliberately avoided doing sweets because I was trying to eat healthy and exercise… My little daughter was only a few months old and I told myself that when I put her to bed, I would make some quick sweets. I was definitely wrong in my judgment. It took me much longer than I expected, some of them burned, and my glaze spread everywhere ... The next year I decided to continue with the experiments. The little one was a little bigger, her sister and I were visiting my mother, and I had more time to experiment. This time the result was much better. Gradually, I started buying tools and materials and this new venture became more and more interesting to me. On March 15, 2016, I made my first birthday cake. I was proud of everything I created and uploaded them to Facebook, so my friends gradually started wanting cakes for their holidays.

Cake International is the largest exhibition of sugar art in the world. It has been held twice a year since 1994 - in London and Birmingham. Decorators from all over the world take part in it, new techniques and products in the field are demonstrated. The exhibition is also known for its competitive part, in which anyone can participate after pre-registration. There were 17 categories, including: "Floral composition", "Holiday cake", "Cupcakes", "Sugar sculptures", etc. There can be more than one gold, silver or bronze medal in each category, depending on the number of points the participant has collected, based on the criteria of the jury. There were also categories without a gold medal. The overall vision and idea, the level of complexity, the quality of workmanship and the attention to detail are evaluated. The jury is extremely strict, examines the exhibits very carefully from all sides. It also happens that participants with wonderful works are disqualified because their work exceeds by centimeters, the pre-set dimensions or because they used inedible material for decoration. At the end of each group, the first three with the most points are awarded. I decided to participate in the category "Cookie Display" because I decided that I was the strongest there, and carrying them to London seemed easier than carrying a cake, for example. There was no limit to the number of cookies used in my category, nor to their size. The theme was also optional, so it gave me the opportunity to unleash my imagination. During the Christmas holidays, I made a gingerbread house with a bear on the front, which I really liked how it turned out and I decided that my cookies, with which I participate in the exhibition, should be in this style and concept. I chose to make 3 large birdhouses of different shapes and sizes in which to live cute animals. The competition also evaluates the use of as many techniques as possible, so I complicated my composition as much as possible by relying on three-dimensional painting with icing as a start, then painting the details with crayons, made and sprayed small flowers and leaves, and a few details from waffle paper and sugar paste. The hardest thing for me is to always imagine everything finished - the composition, the color scheme, but this is always when you do something of your own and not copy someone else's model. In the middle of the first week of my work on the project, I decided that I was not happy with what I had done and started all over again.

Do people appreciate your work?

I feel appreciated, yes. It charges me a lot that people like the things I do and look for me. I can say that of all the art things I've done so far, I feel most appreciated here, which gives me the opportunity to develop it even more.

What I would give as advice is to find a blog that describes tried and tested recipes and follow them exactly. So you are less likely to make a mistake. One of the first blogs I looked at for hours was that of Irina Kupenska, Sunshine kitchen. She also takes extremely beautiful photos of the finished desserts, which captivated me from the very beginning. I still make some of her recipes because they are great! Otherwise, everything else is a practice and to develop your skills.

I can advise them to be themselves, to do what they love and to develop it, instead of trying to imitate someone else.
The other thing that is very important to me are the good photos. Very often I have seen wonderful cakes photographed in low light and inappropriate background, which takes away from their beauty. And it's no secret that well-presented and photographed things sell!

My biggest goal is to develop my own skills, experiment with new techniques and create more and more beautiful and impressive works.