From Sugarcraft Magazine, May/June, 1994
New York Show Cakes :Charmaine Jones
Charmaine was just inheriting the family business when she began creating cake sculptures in 1990. The daughter of a French pastry baker and an architect/artist father, she obtained a masters in Fine Arts, become a successful model find then quit to form
ISN'T' SPECIAL:OUTRAGEOUS CAKES.
Affectionately known as the "cake diva". she makes 5 wedding cakes per week ranging in price from $150 - $2,800. "I work in all mediums but I prefer sugar paste with a butter cream filling. I love to work with all techniques but like to experiment and create my own'. Her cakes are personalized to her client's taste and she uses dozens of different fillings such as chocolate and raspberry, champagne, vanilla with pineapple, banana-coconut and even lemonade and bubble gum flavoured kiddie cakes!
"There used to be a time when most cake decorators worked with butter cream. But nowadays especially in New York a variety of mediums are being used. A lot of imagination is becoming more prevalent. Stacked cakes and theme cakes have become all the rage".
Charmaine's style is eclectic and saturated with "visual decadence". She describes her cakes "as the moment when style and palate are equally satiated". She is also famous for her Afrocentric cakes featuring African ancestral themes. Her motto is "everyone deserves a great cake at least once in their life and I am here to fill that need".