April 13, 2010, Winnipeg – It looks like a high-end purse. It has the crocodile-patterned leather, the finely stitched seams, and the tasteful gold accoutrements. You might be inclined to slip your hand into the Hermes-style pink handbag sitting on the counter and just walk off with it.

But you'd end up with an armful of icing and cake.

That's exactly the effect that Cake Studio's Nina Notaro is going for. Notaro, who was an IKA Culinary Olympics and International Culinary Exhibition gold medallist in 2008, has become her own "cake boss" and taken her penchant for creating beautiful and delicious things – things like botanically correct flowers or a three-dimensional "to-scale" 1957 Chevy Bel Air – and turned it into an extraordinary way to celebrate weddings, birthdays and holidays.

Ably assisted by her husband David Latour and her mom Nora Notaro, she tries to make each item something different for her clients. She especially loves weddings.

"It's a special day in someone's life and to be part of that is a huge honour," she says.

Couples about to be married will often bring in magazine clippings, but Notaro encourages them to use pictures as a starting point.

"I'll ask: 'How can I make that cake special for you? It's your day, it's about the two of you,'" she says.

Her passion has kept her standards at the gold-medal level – the cakes have to be delicious and they have to be accurate in appearance. Notaro explained how she was able to pull off such a spectacular-looking bag.

"The bag is a retro handbag, and the inspiration was from Hermes. I think they start at $10,000 and it takes one person 18 hours to produce, which is pretty much how long it took to make this cake," she says. "I chose crocodile, and it's all hand done with modelling tools."

Notaro used pink fondant and a pearlized pink finish to give the bag its shine and some gold lustre to give it "bling."

She says that working with fondant (which is the icing on the cake) is a lot like working with Play-Doh, and that it is very forgiving. She uses sculpting tools, brushes, and food science – such as the process of spherification, which allows a drop of juice to be formed into a perfectly round ball) to get the effects she wants. When it's called for, she will also incorporate internal structures that help to give the cake form and stability.

The creative part is realized by careful study of her subject. Her process is similar to a storyboard to accurately reproduce – right down to the colour – the turquoise Chevy Bel Air. From there, she bakes and builds.

Notaro is hesitant to offer a price range, but says that a cake for 10 people might start at a base price of $5 per person and go up from there, depending on how elaborate and labour-intensive it might be.

Here is a recipe from Notaro for cake and buttercream.

Cake Studio Elegant White Cake

500 ml (2 cups) cake and pastry flour

425 ml (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour

11 ml (2 1/4) tsp baking powder

300 ml (1 1/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

750 ml (3 cups) granulated sugar

3 ml (3/4 tsp) salt

10 ml (2 tsp) pure vanilla extract

2 ml (1/2 tsp) almond extract

2 ml (1/2 tsp) grated lemon zest

250 ml (1 cup) egg whites (pasteurized in a box, or separated fresh egg white)

375 ml (1 1/2 cups) whole milk

Shortening, for greasing pans

All-purpose flour, for dusting pans

Method

Preheat oven to 160 C (325 F). Grease sides and bottom of three 23-cm (9-inch) cake pans with shortening, then dust with flour. If making cupcakes, line pans with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, sift together cake flour, all-purpose flour and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light and airy. Slowly add sugar and beat on medium speed until uniform and fluffy. Add salt, vanilla and almond extracts and lemon zest.

Set mixer on low speed and gradually add egg whites. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl often. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to mixer bowl in two batches of each, starting with flour. Scrape down bowl between each addition and beat until fully combined and uniform in appearance.

Increase to medium-high speed for about 20 seconds, then stop and scrape down bowl for the last time. Divide batter evenly among pans or cupcake papers.

For 23-cm (9-inch) rounds, bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out dry. For cupcakes, bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until they spring back when touched lightly.

Let cool in pans on wire racks for at least 20 minutes and then invert onto the racks to continue cooling to room temperature before icing.

Makes three 23-cm (9-inch) rounds or 24 cupcakes.

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Cake Studio Old-Fashioned Buttercream

250 ml (1 cup) butter, room temperature

125 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk, room temperature

10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla extract

1 kg (2 lb) icing sugar, sifted

In a large mixing bowl and using the paddle attachment if using a processor, combine all ingredients at slow speed or, if mixing by hand, use a wooden spoon and mix until a smooth, spreadable consistency is reached. If stiffer icing is desired or if the weather is very warm, add a little more icing sugar.

Makes about 1.25 l (5 cups).

Chocolate Buttercream

Add 125 ml (1/2 cup) Dutch-processed cocoa powder and 10 ml (2 tsp) cold espresso coffee.

Coloured Buttercream

You will need toothpicks, food colouring gels (available at specialty stores), buttercream and a small rubber spatula.

Dip the end of a toothpick into the desired colour gel until lightly coated. Then dab the toothpick into the buttercream. Use your spatula to mix thoroughly to a uniform colour without streaks.

Hint: Always divide your buttercream into separate small bowls before colouring it and save some uncoloured buttercream as well in case you need to add more buttercream to adjust a colour or mix a new one.

On the Web:

Nina Notaro at Cake Studio: www.cakestudio.ca