Are these the best cakes you have ever seen? From Moate, County Westmeath, Tanya Ross is an award-winning decorator who has made cakes for the likes of Google, the Late Late Show, Conor McGregor, Bob Geldof, and the late Shane MacGowan. Her business is called ‘Novel-T Cakes’ and she specialises in creating custom-made cakes for all occasions, which include curved cakes, gravity defying cakes, birthday cakes, baby shower cakes, graduation cakes, novelty cakes, corporate event cakes, and custom made cupcakes.
Novel-T Cakes Win Gold
Tanya’s design of two men on a motorbike (see picture) has won Gold in the Small Decorative Exhibit Class at the Salon Cullinaire competition in London. Representing Team Ireland, all didnt go to plan as her entry was badly damaged going through airport security in Dublin. She had to spend the night before the competiton fixing the sidecar, one of the heads and a wheel before the competition. She believed it was beyong repair. Despite the setback, she managed to fix the cake as much as she could and was shocked to discover that she had secured Gold for the cake. The inspiration for the design came from a chance meeting at a filling station; “There were two lovely old bikers I met at a filling station. I was chatting to them for hours and I based it on them.” Last month she won Gold and Best in Class in both the wedding cake and carved cake categories at the IFEX Salon Cullinaire in Belfast.
Background in Engineering
Tanya moved to Ireland from South Africa where she had her own engineering business. She married an Irish man and they moved to Moate where she worked in recruitment. She always enjoyed making cakes as a hobby for her kids. It was during the recession that she decided to go full-time into creating cakes. Ten years on, she believes “it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.” She doesn’t believe she is an artist, but “makes art you can eat.” She may not be a trained artist but her attention to detail is amazing. The idea for the design of the asylum (see picture below) came from the family of a couple who worked there, “when people come to me with an idea and they put real thought into it, I love that, because it makes it so much more personal” she says. She admits that she gets “caught up in the design sometimes” and when you see her pilot duck design (pictured below) you can see how ‘getting carried away’ can be a good thing! For more see her Novel-T Cake facebook page.
