National recognition for incredibly realistic sugar floral art

A local cake decorator best known for her sugar floral art has been nominated for a national award, along with others from Australia and New Zealand.

Cake maker Pam Orton.

A Toowoomba cake decorator has received national recognition for her sugar floral work.

Pam Orton has decorated cakes for weddings, birthdays and gatherings for 40 years but is best known for her sugar craft.

She has been nominated for the ACADA Australasian Cake Oscar Awards in the Sugar Floral category.

Ms Orton said she was both shocked and delighted at the news, considering she didn’t even have a business.

“I don’t have a web page, Facebook or a business. I cake decorate as a hobby, and through word of mouth people in town hear about my work,” she said.

Sugar flower art made by Pam Orton.

“It is such a big honour to be nominated with some of the biggest and best cake decorators in Australia and New Zealand.”

Ms Orton said she began her hobby when she was younger.

“When I was in my early 20s, I got a few books and started fiddling around, but it soon became an obsession,” she said.

“To a large degree I am self-taught, but since I joined the Queensland Cake Decorating Association 30 years ago I’ve learned so much.”

Ms Orton loves the challenge of trying to replicate flowers and sees it as her “me time”.

Sugar flower art made by Pam Orton.

“I am a keen gardener, and it’s where my appreciation for flowers and foliage comes from,” she said.

“You can’t just sit down in one go and make a flower because there are many elements and each have to dry before you can start the next.

“I enjoy competition work too, but not because I am competing against others, I compete against myself and try to do better each time.

“They make me go beyond my comfort zone and try new things and allow me to achieve new things I didn’t know I could do.”

To contact Ms Orton phone [phone].