Sweetcheeks Cookies + Cakes
www.sweetcheekscookiesandcakes.com.au
Danielle has taken the fashion industry by storm, and without a sewing machine. Instead, another creative talent that everyone loves, and that's food! Creating specially designed custom cakes, cookies and cupcakes for all occasions. But why the fashion industry you ask? Well, because she has a very special talent in creating bite size Chanel, Tiffany & Co signature blue boxes, shoes and more! Having worked with the best in the industry such as Tiffany & Co, Guess and L'oreal just to name a few. She is the IT decorator that every brand wants to get their hands on her mouth watering show stopping designs!
I sat down with Danielle as she told me about her passion for creating such dainty bit size beautiful creations. I was obsessed by first seeing her Chanel mini perfume bottle biscuits at the Melbourne A La Mode event, and been curious ever since....
How did you get into being a cake decorator?
I'm actually a third generation cake decorator - my Mum and my Nan both were cake decorators - and both were dressmakers as well actually! While I haven't touched a sewing machine since I was about 15, I definitely inherited the genes for cake art from them.
Did you always want to become a baker?
Not always no, when I was 8 I wanted to be a vet, it was at the age of 8 that I also started learning my first musical instrument (who knew I would go on to learn 8 different instruments?!) I studied music at uni and have been teaching music since the age of 13! When I moved from Sydney, to Melbourne, I left behind the private music studio business I'd built up, and gave all the students, to the teachers who were working for me. So, a clean start in Melbourne, and I started experimenting more with Cake and cookie decorating - which was HUGE in the USA at the time, but not in Australia. Apparently I was a natural, and the skills developed, and so became the start of Sweetcheeks!
How did your brand name come about?
Well, i wish i had a really cool story to tell you, but literally i was sitting at the computer and the name Sweetcheeks just came to me. It was meant to be! I sometimes think my Nan helped me out there - she had passed away 4 years before, so never got to see Sweetcheeks..... or maybe she did!
How do you create such unique different cookie designs! They're absolutely amazing! Tell us the process?
Thank you! Well, I draw inspiration from everywhere and everything in life, a piece of fabric, shoes (my Mum calls me Imedla Marcos ha ha) holidays, illustrations - oh I'm obsessed with illustrations and illustrators at the moment - I just did some cookies with Aaron Favaloro of his 'Miss Dior' work - they went nuts on Instagram! I myself am not so great at sketching/illustrating so the designs are all up in my head, and I then work to create them in cookie (or cake) form. I have a guy who does custom cutters for me now too so that I don't need to hand cut designs that are unique.