10/10/2026
🍔 Our 3rd Year of “Sugar Collaboration for NYCC”! This year, the theme for Cake, Cookie & Sugar is RETRO DINER, featuring hyper-realistic food and classic diner items!
My submission is a double-decker cheeseburger with onion rings and pickles. And guess what?
EVERYTHING is edible, including the plate! 🤯🍔 Let me take you behind the scenes and share some of the details, challenges, and techniques that went into creating this piece.
🍽️ THE PLATES — What a NIGHTMARE!
I made these plates FOUR TIMES! 😩 The first few attempts just weren’t strong enough, but the final version finally dried hard enough for me to touch and carry around without worrying about breaking it. Made with gumpaste and LOTS of cornstarch, these plates took approximately 2.5 weeks to dry. Definitely a test of my patience!
🧅 ONION RINGS
I used different techniques and layers of gumpaste to create the onion rings, combining layers of dried gumpaste with edible dust, oil, and sugar sand to achieve that realistic, crispy texture. The little details make all the difference!
🍅 TOMATOES
Ahhh, my tomatoes! ❤️ I invested SO much time in these, and I absolutely LOVE how they turned out! I handmade every tiny seed and hand-painted the details. Then, I used piping gel to attach the seeds to the inner flesh of the tomatoes, helping create that realistic, juicy appearance.
Hyper-realism is all about the details. Sometimes, the tiniest elements take the most time, patience, and experimentation. Every texture, every seed, every brushstroke matters.
This project pushed me to experiment, problem-solve, and look at everyday diner food in a completely different way.
Because when you’re an artist, even a cheeseburger can become a work of art. 🎨🍔
ONLY Satin Ice and paint with Colour Mill 🎂 !
