By Dorothy Dale / Sun contributor
Jan Sugrue, of Fairfield Glade, will be demonstrating the art of cake decorating at the next Cumberland Artists for Creative Expression (CACE) meeting on Nov. 4. This meeting is open to the public, and everyone is invited to come and learn the “tricks of the trade.”
Sugrue and her husband, Pat, moved to this area from Temperance (Monroe County), Michigan, in 1992, when he retired from GM. Both are very active at the Fairfield Glade Methodist Church, where she is chairman of both the bereavement and communion committees and he is a member of the choir.
While back in Michigan, Sugrue decided to do something special for her son’s third birthday. She tried making an animal cut-out cake from a recipe she found in a Baker’s Coconut book. It was very successful, so she began making cakes for special occasions for other children. As more and more people asked for her creations, a business was born. At her church she was making fudge eggs and chocolate lambs and crosses for Easter. Over the years she collected a vast array of baking pans and icing tips.
After her move to Tennessee, Sugrue worked as a cake decorator at Kroger for about a year until she injured her back in a fall and was no longer able to stand for long periods of time. She states, “The only thing about doing it (cake decorating) there is that you can’t do your own thing.”
She loves doing her own thing. She has made cakes for weddings, birthdays, and once even for a funeral. However, she says that, like most artistic endeavors, there is not a lot of money to be made. Most people don’t realize the amount of preparation and time involved.
I asked her about some of the favorite cakes she has made. She loves to create pictures in icing from a photo. She once did a picture of a 100-year-old house on a cake for an elderly man who was so overcome with emotion when he saw it that he cried.
One of the most elaborate cakes she has ever decorated was for her daughter’s wedding—for 800 people. It included a fountain and stairways coming down both sides.
Photos of many of Jan’s creations can be seen at the presentation where she will be decorating a cake and answering questions. Come join CACE on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 10 a.m., at Crossville City Hall for a “sweet” experience. A CACE business meeting will follow, beginning at about 10:45 a.m. For CACE information, check the Web site, www.cumberlandart.com, or contact President Sharron Eckert, 277-5425.
