We Love Sharon Wee

Her creations include designer handbags and shoes, Vodka and wine bottles and adorable animals ready to play. What started as a hobby for Sharon Wee a couple of years ago has turned into a full-time career.  Sharon creates custom cakes, cupcakes and cookies for birthdays and weddings and when she’s not running her regular workshops (I highly recommend attending the designer cupcakes workshop) – she’s busy designing cakes for the likes of Sunrise and Kyle Sandilands. This is one busy girl and she's not slowing down anytime soon. 

A few of Sharon's beautiful creations

With Sharon when I attended her cupcake workshop

I had the privilege to chat with Sharon recently. She even shares her full-proof cupcake recipe! Maybe this is the perfect vanilla recipe I’ve been looking for…

 
Tell us a little bit about how your business got started?
SW: I have always loved desserts and would always be the one to make birthday cakes for my friend. I then decided to take a community college course to learn new decorating techniques... It was supposed to be a hobby but with encouragement and persistence by my friends it's now turned into a business!

 
Do you remember the first cake you decorate?
SW: Aside from the cake we had to decorate in class, the first one I did on my own was for my friend's christening. It was a little strawberry shortcake cake which looked decent but had terrible piping on it. That was a good 3 years ago and it now seems like a distant memory!

Favourite cake/cupcake flavour?
SW: I love my chocolate mud cake with dark chocolate ganache - it's so rich and sinful :)
As for cupcakes, I love the red velvet with lemon white chocolate ganache. The flavour of red velvet is hard to describe but I love it.

Which sugary treat do prefer making – a) cakes b) cupcakes or c) cookies?
SW: a) Cakes! I prefer cakes only because it's more satisfying when I finish decorating them as there is a lot of work that goes into designing, setting up the cake, covering it and decorating it so it kind of feels like finishing a masterpiece when I'm done.

What’s the most impressive cake you’ve made so far?
It would have to be the cake I made last week for Kyle's (from the Kyle and Jackie O show) birthday. It was by far the biggest cake and one of the heavier cakes I've made. The cake just made it out my door too. Side note: if you listen to Kyle and Jackie O regularly - you'll know that Kyle often likes to reference that a certain part of his anatomy is the size of a Foxtel remote control. Perhaps this was the inspiration for his cake?? 

  
What’s next Sharon Wee Creations?
SW: More awesome cakes! I would love to have the opportunity to make really crazy and fantastic looking cakes - the bigger the better I say!

I will also be looking at running more beginners workshops and some more advanced ones... as I love meeting other cake decorators and also helping aspiring decorators discover their potential :)

Click on the links to find out more about Sharon's workshops or check out her really cute blog called "Wee Love Baking".

SHARON'S FAVOURITE CUPCAKE RECIPE
Adapted from Planet Cake with slight adjustments.

Makes approx 12 cupcakes

175g butter, softened
160g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 eggs
160g self raising flour
100g plain flour
200ml milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and line the cupcake tin with paper cases. 
2. Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla until light and creamy.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift the flours together. Fold in the flour and milk alternately into the creamed mixture.
5. Spoon into paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cupcake. 
6. Leave to cool before decorating