Interview with Alan Dunn

We are so excited to finally have the king of sugar flowers interview in this issue of Cake Masters Magazine!

Alan is a sugar flower modelling extraordinaire and has written over 17 books on the art of flower making and cake decorating, as well a co-authoring another three books with Tombi Peck and Tony Warren. Alan has been published in several publications and magazines and really is royalty in the sugar flowers arena. Alan teaches extensively throughout the world and his work can often be seen on display on the Table of Honour at sugarcraft exhibitions. It is an honour to have Alan interview with us this month – one of our best interviews yet!

Alan shares his top tips for sugar flowers and gives us a fantastic insight into his world of sugar flowers!

1. For brightly coloured flowers, it is often best to apply layers of petal dust while the petals are still pliable or at a leather hard stage.

2. Always use good quality wires. I prefer Sunrise Japanese wires as the coating on the wires is very fine which helps when making flowers. Hamilworth also do a superior range of wires which I also use. I always just buy white wire as it is easier to keep stock off and, from a flower making point of view, it doesn’t show through the flower petals.

3. Try to always work from a real flower or at least good botanical illustrations or photographs. It is a good idea to dissect the flower and make templates or scan the petals to keep a record of shape, size, colour and markings. Of course, you can still use artistic licence to speed up the process to make the flowers more suitable for use on a cake. This is something that many flower makers forget!

4. Never insert wires directly into a cake. I see this often and it’s very bad practice. Use a food grade plastic posy pick inserted into the cake to hold a floral spray and protect the cake.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF CAKE MASTERS MAGAZINE MAY 2015

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