If you have tasted one of Nicole's cupcakes, you will probably be heading back to the market to buy one from her every month - they are addictive! Find out more about Nicole below.
Tell us a little about yourself – who are you? Where do you hail from?
My name is Nicole and I was born & raised in West-Berlin the very exciting, arty & now once again capital city of Germany. I crossed the big ocean via giant steel bird and set foot on Aotearoa in December 1996.
Tell us a little about what you make?
I make/create edible Artistry for the sophisticated & discerning customer. I have to say a little “toned down” for the markets but give me a special occasion and you’d be surprised what I can come up with.
I specialize nowadays on cupcakes (No they are NOT muffins!) small table cakes and small top tier cutting cakes as part of cupcake towers.
I love baking with liqueurs, champagne or port wine…needless to say I cater mainly for the “grownups”. I just absolutely love to decorate my little sweet creations in a less then ordinary way) lush & opulent appeals to me naturally. I also study Interior Decorating & Design, I am in my second year
Have you always been a cupcake maker?
No, not exactly…I started baking at the age of 4 with my beloved Grandmother (nope, not your typical Nan but a very flamboyant woman, read about our story on my website but I have been in the Industry for a long time. When I came to New Zealand I bought & hands on operated a Café-Bar-Restaurant on Ponsonby Road for 11 years (Café Logos formerly Expresso Love) it was one of the funkiest places in town. It was all about healthy and tasty Food & a (very) unusual stimulating atmosphere. I was baking up to 6 large cakes a day and heaps of vegan muffins, wholesaling my savoury pesto filled muffins to other cafes, making all soups for “SUJU”, making Birthday-Wedding & other Special Occasion cakes and being the head chef were only part of my daily tasks. Prior to that adventure I was trained & worked as a nurse for 17 years in Germany, mainly in Intensive Care Units, Organ Transplant Units, Operating Theatre, as a Head Nurse, Nurses Teacher & a few years at the second largest Psychiatric Clinic in Germany. Oh, and I was a chauffeur for a while in my life to a few posh business clients..that was great fun and I got to drive the most amazing and expensive cars one could imagine..once a Corvette Stingray with 24 Carat gold interior and mahogany dashboard....hilarious…
Your flavour combinations are amazing – where do you draw your inspiration from?
I have traveled a lot and have tasted the most amazing foods. I like unusual flavours and taste sensations and I just have to close my eyes, imagine a place or an event from my past or hear a certain music/look at a picture/ feel a beautiful fabric etc and voila - a new flavour combination pops right up in my head. I am an intuitive baker, I never follow recipes and my cupcakes are not made using a standard cupcake recipe. Once you understand how ingredients relate to one another it is (almost) “a piece of cake” to put it all together.
What is your favourite cupcake?
Ooohh..too many to pin me down on just one. My mud cake combinations are definitely in the top part of my fav list but at the moment I really like my “Marie Antoinette” - Black Doris Plum-Almonds & Pinot Noir.
Aside from The Devonport Craft Market, where can people find your work?
People can order directly from me on my website.
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