Baking custom-made cakes is an art. Alison Chan, the owner of Dear Harley Bakery, is known as the master of wonderful cakes that look like other things.
Her skill for turning sponge cake and fondant into replicas of any object is so amazing, the K11 Musea mall is now showing an exhibition of her "illusion cakes". It will be on show there until September 11.
This is a good result for a self-taught baker!
"I started making small desserts at home to give to friends and family," Alison says. "It was nothing complicated, just small cupcakes and macarons. That's how I started baking."
For her K11 Musea display, the exhibit looks like a long table after a party.
"We have things there like candles, napkins and other items. Fifteen of the objects are made of cake," she says.
"The visitors will have to figure out which are real and which are not. So it's pretty fun. It takes me about a day to make each cake with all the carving, painting and decorating."
TV shows like Cake Boss, Extreme Cake Makers and The Great British Bake Off have inspired a wave of interest in the artistic side of making cakes.
Many people like the dazzling cakes, but few people know about the hard work needed to make such ingenious creations.
"If you don't practise, you get nothing," Alison says. "Some things, you just have to do a hundred times before you get it right."
This Hong Kong cake queen likes to make small cakes that resemble real objects.
"For children, I do a lot of characters from Marvel and Hello Kitty. But I've made all kinds of cakes.
"For me, the priority is the cake needs to be yummy. That's how I can keep people coming back. But to make my bakery successful, the cakes have to look good too. People eat with their eyes first!"
Five things to know about
1. Baking is a kind of cooking that uses an oven. The oven gets very hot.
2. Baking is used to make cakes, bread, pastries, pies, tarts, cookies, biscuits and much more. These foods made by baking are called "baked goods".
3. The ingredients used in baking include flour, water, yeast, salt, baking soda, baking powder, shortening (fats and oils), eggs, milk and sugar.
4. These ingredients are all mixed together to create dough or batter. This is then put into a pan or a sheet and heated in the oven. The yeast makes gas bubbles that get trapped in the dough. This makes it rise.
5. Cakes are often baked to celebrate special occasions like birthdays or weddings. What is your favourite kind of cake, and why?
