Lizelle won
“In the end you don't bake just for yourself. You bake to share,” said Lizelle Solomon.
LIZELLE Solomon of Alberton is the lucky Lancewood Cake-Off winner who will soon be on her way to the Big Apple, home of the cheesecake itself.
Although only the third cheesecake she has ever baked, her Summer Berry Swirl cheesecake features fresh figs and almonds and has earned her the trip of a lifetime. Her originality, as well as the taste, texture and crust of her entry stood out for celebrity judges Zola Nene, Tina Bester and Neill Anthony.
It was pure luck that Lizelle entered the inaugural Lancewood Cake-Off competition.
On the very day the competition closed for entries, Lizelle heard about the competition. Just the day before she’d made a fig and berry wedding cake and on a whim decided to use those ingredients to enter.
“I know that berries and chocolate go exceptionally well together and since I was pressed for time I knew I had to use what was already in my house. It was a bit of a chance but the result was so great that I knew it was good enough to enter.”
Lizelle, a self-taught baker, opened Le Petit Artisan Treats, a small bakery adjacent to her home, a year and a half ago. “I was fed up with not being able to purchase excellent-quality red velvet cakes and macaroons in my area, so I started trawling the internet and immersed myself in recipe books, learning as much as I could about all the various treats out there, and before I knew it, people started paying me for my goods!”
Today her bakery is well known for its French flair and naked wedding cakes and she has plans to expand her studio into a cooking and baking school, sharing her passion and love for the art with those around her.
Jeanne-Mare Africa, Lancewood’s marketing executive, said it was the creativity and generosity of South Africans in sharing their recipes that were the main inspiration for hosting the first Lancewood Cake-Off.
“In today’s modern world of technology and convenience we know that many people find enormous pleasure in creating something from scratch. And baking is such a creative outlet! It’s also a great stress reliever and lets you shut off from the world around you. There is nothing quite like the anticipation and the challenge of trying a new combination of ingredients, and the magic that happens when you bring them together and transform them into something quite extraordinary, and the moment of promise when you take your cake out of the oven.
“In the end you don’t bake just for yourself. You bake to share.
“The pleasure of baking something and saying to someone: ‘There, have one, have a slice, I made this for you.’ That’s why we create products at Lancewood to offer consumers the best quality ingredients. This competition was our way to reward South Africans for being our inspiration.”
*Sources : DKC (De Kock Communications)
