Sun, May 10, 2020 page3

• FEATURE: Fondant artist uses stage to hail Taiwan

  • By Yang Yuan-ting and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  “Standing on international stages and letting more people see Taiwan is the happiest thing for me,” said Lee Kuan-ying (李冠瑩), a fondant artist who incorporates Taiwanese culture into her sweet delights.

  The 32-year-old cake maker in February won gold at the Culinary Olympics in Germany with her sugar sculpture Princess of Rukai — a work that stood out among about 2,000 from more than 60 nations.

  With fondant cakes often depicting royal weddings, a cake inspired by the wedding of an Aboriginal princess was sure to be more of a phenomenon, Lee said, adding that Aboriginal cultures represent some of Taiwan’s most iconic cultural assets.

  

  Fondant artist Lee Kuan-ying poses with a piece based on the earth god at her studio in New Taipei City on April 3.

  Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

  To ensure an authentic representation of the Rukai, Lee said she conducted extensive research on wedding garments worn by royal women in the community — the gowns, headwear, floral accessories and jewelry, as well as the embroidery and totems.

  Gathering the information took about three months, Lee said, adding that having seen several cases of Western people misrepresenting Eastern culture, she paid extra attention to the use of ethnic elements.

  It was a painstaking process, with nearly 10,000 designs drawn and discarded, but the reading, video watching, visiting of Aboriginal museums and asking around paid off, as the journey opened up opportunities for her to befriend Aboriginal artists and gather a more in-depth understanding of their culture, she said.

  

  A work titled Princess of Rukai by fondant artist Lee Kuan-ying is pictured at Lee’s studio on April 3.

  Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

  Lee said that she stumbled across intricate fondant cakes on the Internet and became obsessed with the edible designs.

  “The moment I entered the world of fondant cake design, I vowed to dedicate myself to making original creations that reflect the land I grew up in,” she said.

  Then a storyboard artist at an animation studio, she could only learn the craft after work, but that did not deter her from pursuing her passion, which eventually led her to quit her job to establish a cake design studio, Lee said.

  She teaches people how to turn creative ideas into cakes and cookies, she said.

  Wanting to test her skills, she signed up for the 2016 Cake International — the largest global competition of its kind, which is held annually in the UK — and won not only a gold medal in the International Class, but also the International Best in Show award, the highest honor, she said.

  As she grew up in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重), a region packed with temples, she incorporated Taiwan’s religious culture in her entry — a cake representing Tianhou Temple in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which worships the sea goddess Matsu.

  The temple’s architectural style is distinctive and uses vivid colors, she said.

  She studied every tile and brick of the temple during her surveys, and even climbed to study the decorations along the edges of the rooftop, Lee said.

  “Preserving the design is the most challenging part of a fondant competition, because the icing is extremely brittle and faces a high risk of damage during transportation,” she said.

  However, her creation had sustained no damage upon arrival at the competition venue, the only work she has submitted abroad to do so, she said.

  “The goddess did bless me with good luck,” she said.

  Fondant design is a field that Taiwanese are less familiar with, but competitions are where cake artists can have deep exchanges with each other, she said.

  Contestants gasp in awe at the sight of one another’s works, and even shed tears, she said.

  Despite the many languages spoken at events, their designs are a shared tongue, she said.

  These “magical moments” of connection became what drove her to participate in more competitions, Lee said, adding that promoting Taiwan is another major fuel for her inspiration.

  “The more oppression Taiwan faces, the more resolved I am to make creations based on the nation,” she said. “I want to use my works to tell everybody about Taiwan.”
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