At Squires Kitchen, we work with a team of over 15 tutors who are the very best in their specialist areas, ensuring you get expert guidance every step of the way.
Not only are they great teachers, they are lovely people too who will share with you their vast experience and tricks of the trade, giving you the confidence to bake, make and decorate like a professional.
Paddi Clark
Squires Kitchen’s Senior Tutor, Paddi Clark, is one of the UK’s leading figures in sugarcraft and is a proficient and qualified teacher. Paddi always strives to study, design and develop new techniques and skills, which enables her to continue to be creative at the top and forefront of her profession. She is a popular tutor and demonstrator both in the UK and overseas, and has won several medals for her work. A qualified teacher, Paddi has taught all the certification courses of the governing bodies in the related sugarcraft and cake decoration areas. Paddi is a founder member of ‘Taste of Art’ and her work is featured regularly in Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine. Paddi is also the author of the popular book, Sugar Flowers for Beginners (B. Dutton Publishing Ltd).
Mark Tilling
Mark Tilling, UK Chocolate Master 2006-2010, is Squires Kitchen’s Master Chocolatier. Mark has worked as a pastry chef at top hotels including The Lanesborough, Lainston House Hotel, Hotel du Vin and Le Pave d’Auge in Normandy, France, which boasts a Michelin star. Mark twice represented the UK in the Chocolate Master world finals in Paris, where he was ranked 12th in the world in 2007 and 7th in 2009, the UK’s highest-ever placing. He has also won many other gold medals in chocolate work and patisserie. Mark is now an ambassador for chocolate in the UK and has authored two books, Squires Kitchen’s Guide to Working with Chocolate and Squires Kitchen’s Guide to Making Macaroons, both published by B. Dutton Publishing.
Eddie Spence MBE
Eddie Spence MBE started his career as an apprentice baker for J W Mackie in Edinburgh. He then went on to study confectionery and cake design and began teaching the skills he had learnt at a wealth of prestigious colleges, including Napier College in Edinburgh, Kedleston College and Wilmorton College in Derby. Eddie’s renowned royal icing skills have earned him the opportunity to decorate many cakes for the royal family, including Her Majesty The Queen’s golden wedding anniversary cake. He also won the British Open Confectionery Trophy and was awarded an MBE in 2000. In 2010 Eddie wrote his first book,The Art of Royal Icing, an amalgamation of over fifty years’ teaching experience for cake decorators of all abilities (B. Dutton Publishing).
Alan Dunn
Alan Dunn is a world leading sugarcraft designer, author, teacher and demonstrator and teaches all over the globe. His highly realistic sugar flowers are simply stunning and he has a wonderfully uninhibited style of his own and is well respected for his artistic talents in producing lifelike sugar and cold porcelain flowers. Alan started cake decorating at an early age and has become one of the sugarcraft world’s leading authors with books such as Flowers and Foliage for Wedding Cakes (B. Dutton Publishing). Alan is an accredited demonstrator for the British Sugarcraft Guild.
Carlos Lischetti
Carlos Lischetti's passion for cake decorating, baking and pastry started over 20 years ago. It began as a hobby at first and, as his curiosity grew, he slowly started to take different local cake decoration courses that eventually helped him to master various sugar modelling techniques. These first steps as a sugarcrafter started in Rosario, Carlos' home town in Argentina. When his hobby became a career, he continued to work in Rosario until his ever-growing curiosity led him once again to take a few more courses, this time in France and England. Since then he has always been self-motivated to try and learn as much as he can from well-known sugar artists around the world.
Now a leading name in sugar modelling, Carlos has passed on the skills and knowledge that he has gained over the years in several international culinary schools and is a regular contributor to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine. Published in September 2012, Carlos’ highly-anticipated first book Animation in Sugar (B. Dutton Publishing) was so popular that the first print run sold out in a matter of weeks.
Naomi Yamamoto
Naomi Yamamoto is a well-respected Japanese sugarcrafter who has been teaching sugarcraft for over 25 years. She studied in the USA and the UK and is certified to teach sugarcraft to a high standard by Brooklands College. Naomi taught at the Genteel Academy in Tokyo, sister school to Brooklands College, as an executive instructor for 13 years and now teaches at two technical colleges in Tokyo as well as overseas. She has demonstrated at the BSG’s International Exhibition and at Squires Kitchen. Naomi’s creations often appear in Japanese media, including TV, as well as international media such as Wedding Cakes – A Design Source magazine. Her work is elegant, meticulous, shows a high level of creativity and draws recognition not only in Japan but also from enthusiasts worldwide, particularly her beautiful sugar flowers. Naomi is the author of Delicate Sugarcraft from Japan (Shibata 2007), foreword by Squires Kitchen’s MD, Beverley Dutton.
Kathy Moore
Kathy Moore is a professional cake consultant and decorator who has dedicated over 20 years to the design and creation of stunning and inspirational cakes. She gained her initial qualification in Cake Design and Decoration, went on to start her own cake decorating business from home and won a Salon Culinaire award for her amazing work. To further her desire to share skills with others, Kathy gained her teaching certificate and her talent and enthusiasm has led her to teach and demonstrate all over the world. Before Kathy moved back to her hometown of Lytham St Annes, she was resident tutor at Squires Kitchen for many years, continually sharing knowledge. Kathy has written two books, Cakes from Concept to Creation and Starting a Cake Decorating Business from Home of which there have been three updated editions (B. Dutton Publishing Ltd.). Her passion for everything cake and her constant pursuit of new styles and market trends provides her with the inspiration to create pieces which are both stunning and practical, sharing them through publications, teaching and workshops. Kathy also uses her skill as a British Sign Language Interpreter with those cake decorators who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing and whose first language is BSL.
Susan Griffiths
Susan Griffiths is a popular tutor with a relaxed and friendly style of teaching. Celebration miniature cakes, couture cupcakes and sugar flowers are a few of her specialist subjects. Susan is the author of Making Sugar Teddy Bears and Making Sugar Cats for Cakes (B. Dutton Publishing Ltd) and is also well-known for her projects in Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine. She demonstrates in Squires Kitchen's shop on Saturdays and Sundays and is always happy to offer advice and tips, helping you to achieve that perfect cake!
Jan Clement-May
Jan Clement-May started sugarcrafting in 1995 after being inspired by a novelty cake book. Having originally qualified as a graphic designer, Jan applied her artistic talent and creative flair to cake decorating and began to make cakes for her two children, as well as for other family members and friends. In 2001, she set up The Too Good to Eat Company from home and shortly afterwards began to contribute projects to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine. Since then, Jan has become a tutor at the Squires Kitchen International School of Cake Decorating and Sugarcraft. She has established herself as a popular contributor to both Wedding Cakes – A Design Source and Cakes & Sugarcraft magazines and continues to run her successful business. She has written four books, Merry Christmas Cakes, Bob the Builder™ Celebration Cakes, Squires Kitchen’s Guide to Making Sugar Animals and Squires Kitchen’s Guide to Making Sugar Figures (B. Dutton Publishing Ltd.). Due to popular demand, her book Squires Kitchen’s Guide to Making Sugar Animals has recently been translated into both Spanish and Italian.
Ceri Griffiths
Ceri Griffiths was born in Cardiff and trained as a Master Baker and Confectioner at the South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education. After three years of studying he achieved his City & Guilds certification, obtaining distinctions for all cake decoration and design qualifications. During this period Ceri’s creations won several gold medals and acknowledgements at competition level within the bakery field. Living in America and Australia for several years, he has taken on some of their own unique decorating styles which can be seen in the designs he produces today. Ceri regularly travels internationally teaching, demonstrating and judging at major events. He is a regular contributor to both Cakes & Sugarcraft and Wedding Cakes – A Design Source magazines as well as being the author of three books on the topic of royal icing, including most recently Squires Kitchen’s Guide to Making Iced Flowers.
Susanna Righetto
Susanna Righetto is a talented sugar florist and creates flowers that are stylish and feminine with a romantic flair. Susanna started out as a professional photographer before discovering that she could combine her passions for photography and baking through sugar floristry. After studying under sugar floristry experts Alan Dunn and Paddi Clark, Susanna obtained her Master Certificate from Squires Kitchen's International School in 2011. Having achieved her certificate, Susanna now teaches sugar floristry in northern and southern Italy. She has demonstrated at both The Cake Show and the Cake Design Italian Festival, two major sugarcraft exhibitions in Italy and starred in two episodes of Le Torte di Toni, an Italian TV show hosted by Australian sugarcrafter Toni Brancatisano. Susanna is also a regular contributor to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine and her work has featured in Squires Kitchen’s Bake School and Wedding Cakes–A Design Source (SKMP), as well as several Italian magazines.
Kaysie Lackey
Kaysie Lackey is a Food Network Champion and acclaimed sugar artist. Graduating from Belmont University with multiple degrees in the fine arts, Kaysie found her ideal medium in cake. Only a few months after opening her signature bakery The People's Cake in Seattle, WA, she won her first two consecutive Food Network Challenges, Extreme Villain Cakes and Paranormal Cakes. With her elegant yet whimsical style she constantly pushes the envelope of what cake can do, and she teaches students across the country and the world how she makes her sweet creations come to life.
Ann Skipp
Ann Skipp has been teaching and demonstrating the art of cake decorating for over 25 years. As Corporate Home Economist for Safeway for 14 years, Ann developed her passion for working with food and has spent a great deal of time working with Squires Kitchen to create new products. She now teaches and demonstrates in our baking school as well as our sugarcraft school. Ann is also an accomplished food stylist and contributes regularly to Inspired by Food and Cakes & Sugarcraft magazines.
Alyson Reynolds
After leaving the RAF in 1996, Alyson took a two-day resettlement course in sugarcraft and since then has not looked back. Working in both sugar and cold porcelain, she is totally self-taught and specialises in floral craft where her creativity and natural ability for making beautiful lifelike, flowers and arrangements is displayed.
In 2003 Alyson started up Perfect Petals, a successful business specialising in weddings making bridal bouquets, cake decorations and many other bespoke floral arrangements. She has been a guest judge of the Floral Arrangement Competition at Squires Kitchen’s Annual Exhibition and has also demonstrated and exhibited her work in the UK, USA and Europe. Most of all, however, Alyson enjoys teaching students to explore their own creativity and now runs workshops at home in the UK and abroad. She has contributed projects to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine and in March 2012 published her first teaching project book, Autumn Glory (A M Reynolds Publishing), a collection of autumnal flowers and berries.
Vivian Lee
Vivian Lee joined the Squires Group as a new tutor in 2010 after her work was spotted at the Squires Kitchen Annual Competition. From growing up in a humble Hakka family in Hong Kong to graduating from Westminster Kingsway College and gaining her diploma in patisserie, Vivian has a true passion for cake decorating. This passion has in turn brought many related successes: an Advanced Sugarcraft Diploma at Brookland’s College; a teaching post at Westminster Kingsway College for six years; and 23 cake decorating competition awards in just four years, including 13 gold, 11 silver, and two bronze awards. Vivian's enthusiasm for cake decorating complements the skills she has acquired to offer great promise and deliver rewarding results to bakeries and sugarcraft institutions alike.
Claire Fitzsimons
Following 25 years working as a fulltime schoolteacher, Claire embarked on a career change and retrained as a chef, gaining a diploma in cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School in London. She subsequently attended several sugarcraft courses at Squires Kitchen’s International School and a three-year wired flowers and sugarcraft diploma course to Advanced Level at Brooklands College. Claire is a member of the British Sugarcraft Guild and has received many private commissions for her work. She was a medal winner in the wedding cake category at the prestigious Salon Culinaire competition in 2011 and 2012. Claire’s patience and excellent teaching experience are ideal for students wishing to learn new sugarcraft techniques. Claire also works in the Squires Kitchen shop in Farnham as a demonstrator, where she specialises in making wired sugar flowers.
Helen Mansey
Helen Mansey discovered her passion for cake decorating while she was taking some time off from her career as a professional chef to raise her young family. With a background in fashion design and cooking, her creative instincts fuelled the conception of her successful wedding cake business, Bellissimo Cakes, based in Surrey.
Much of Helen’s work is inspired by the clean lines and sharp sugarpasted edges of Australian cake design and these features are now part of her signature style along with hand-piping, a skill she learnt from Eddie Spence MBE. Self-taught in the art of sugar flowers, Helen’s delicate skill in their construction means that intricately made sugar flowers regularly adorn her stunning wedding cake designs.
Helen has been awarded many accolades for her beautiful cakes over the years. In the Squires Kitchen 25th Wedding Anniversary Cake competition Helen was awarded Gold, and was invited to exhibit at The Cake & Bake Show 2012 to demonstrate her skills in piping lace pieces. Helen is a regular contributor to Wedding Cakes – A Design Source and her work is also often featured in many bridal magazines and blogs. In 2012 she was shortlisted in the Hitched Breakthrough Awards for Best New Wedding Cake Designer.
Helen Penman
Helen Penman began cake making in 1994 when her triplets were two years old. Having ordered a birthday cake for her father’s 60th birthday which was a great disappointment, she decided to try herself by borrowing books from the library and making cakes for family celebrations. Demand grew so she started evening classes then attended Bath College to achieve a City & Guilds qualification in Sugarcraft and Creative Design. As a result, her successful business, Too Nice To Slice, was created. Helen designs cakes for commissions along with regularly contributing innovative cake designs to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine. She has a flair for carved cakes and her first book, Squires Kitchen's Guide to Cake Shaping, was recently published by B. Dutton Publishing Ltd.
Cookie Bellair
Cookie Bellair is a fine artist who has been passionate about cooking since childhood. Alongside her career as a painter and illustrator, she has always enjoyed baking at home and has undertaken private catering commissions as well as teaching her friends. Cookie writes a regular column in Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine in which she shares tales from the kitchen as well as her favourite recipes, giving the novice home baker simple yet irresistible treats to make at home. Cookie’s enthusiasm for cookery and her creative flair combine to make her an exciting new addition to our team of tutors in 2011.
Eden Blooms
Eden Blooms (previously known as Patricia Knowles) was established in the 1960s and is Farnham’s leading luxury flower and floral events business. It is the only florist in Farnham with Good Florist Guide status. Eden Blooms specialises in providing classic, contemporary bouquets and floral designs for homes and businesses, weddings and events. Hazel Shaw runs a team of highly qualified and skilled florists who provide the most amazing flowers all over the South of England and London.
George Thomopoulos
George Thomopoulos has four decades of experience in the baking industry. Born in South Africa, the surfing champion obtained his City & Guild qualifications in baking at London South Bank University and went on to travel the world with Unilever. He lived and promoted baking ingredients in countries as far flung as South Africa, Brazil, Holland, Japan and the UK. Recently retired from his position as Chairman of the international baking company Rich Products in Hampshire, George looks forward to sharing his passion for all things floury.
Angela Nilsen
Food writer Angela Nilsen brings a wealth of creative experience to her teaching style. Her career has involved all aspects of food, either teaching or writing about it, but her passion has always been baking.
She was a food journalist and food stylist in Vancouver, Canada for many years, where she also gained a diploma in Fine Arts. On her return to England she wrote several cake decorating books before becoming Food Editor of BBC Good Food Magazine, a position she held for 10 years. She now enjoys a successful freelance career, writing, editing and more recently photographing food and occasionally drawing it, too. Angela is the 2004 winner of the Glenfiddich Cookery Writer Award and the Guild of Food Writers' Cookery Journalist of the Year Award for her work on the 'Ultimate' series in BBC Good Food Magazine. She is author of several books, including 'The Ultimate Recipe Book', BBC Books.
Ayako Saida
Ayako Saida is a passionate and creative flower designer who brings a wealth of experience from Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. Her work is realistic and classic yet has a unique urban flavour and is influenced by her love for fresh seasonal flowers and knowledge of interior decoration. After acquiring a diploma in Floristry Management at the Constance Spry Flower School, Farnham in 2001, Ayako has worked as a freelance florist for corporate clients as well as teaching individuals at home.
Linda Garnham
Linda Garnham
Linda is a qualified tutor with a wide range of skills who has been teaching and demonstrating sugarcraft for over 15 years. She has been a British Sugarcraft Guild member for 20 years and is also a judge, accredited demonstrator and an assessor and trainer for the Demonstrator Training Programme.
Linda started sugarcraft when her children were young and she attended a part-time evening course at Thurrock College. She then went on to be formally trained at Barking College, gaining the City and Guilds 7900 and 121 qualifications in the design and decoration of sugarcraft and cake decoration as well as Centra floral qualifications. As a result, she has worked both commercially and privately in the UK and overseas.
Linda has also entered many competitions at branch and international levels for the BSG, Le Salon Culinaire de Londres, Heart of England Culinaire, Le Festival International de la Gastronomie a Malte and Squires Kitchen’s UK Exhibition, gaining gold, silver and bronze awards.
You can also see Linda’s work in Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine.
Tessa Whitehouse
Tessa Whitehouse has enjoyed decorating cakes since she was very young. She first learnt about sugarcraft from books and was never one to shirk a challenge, even making sugar flowers for the first time for her own wedding cake just three days before the wedding! Tessa has an honours degree in home economics, further improved her cake decorating skills with courses at Squires Kitchen and developed her chocolate skills at the Callebaut Academy.
While Tessa enjoys all aspects of sugarcraft, royal icing remains her key interest and for the last four years she has attended classes with Eddie Spence for the pure pleasure of working with a master of his craft. Tessa has undertaken private commissions for a number of years and was inspired and encouraged by Eddie to share her interest through demonstrating royal icing in the Squires Kitchen shop in Farnham from September 2011, a role she very much enjoys. With a relaxed style, Tessa aims to share her passion and inspire others to work with the amazing medium of sugar.
Liz Aplin
Liz Aplin has been sugarcrafting and cake-making for the last 10 years and focuses on big and bold figure modelling. She endeavours to give cuteness and character to all of her models and her main aim is to make people smile with her creations. Liz has taught sugarcraft in a variety of informal settings and believes that everyone can enjoy the process of creation and create something to be proud of. She is largely self-taught and has also benefited hugely from various courses at Squires Kitchen’s school. When she’s not sugarcrafting, Liz works as a training manager within local government and has a passion for training and supporting people to raise their skill levels and confidence. She has been a trainer for the last eight years, using the principles of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) and working with groups and individuals to challenge their self-limiting perceptions about their abilities to enable them to become more confident and creative without worrying about failure. Liz is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and has been awarded their certificate in training practice with distinction.
Makiko Searle
Makiko Searle is one of the UK’s leading names in wedding cake design. Her professional skills as a cake maker combined with a unique creative style have earned Maki a reputation for creating truly stunning and original designs.
Maki began her career as a pastry chef in Tokyo then moved to England to improve her skills by taking a sugarcraft course at Brooklands College. She later worked at the prestigious Great Fosters Hotel, Surrey and at the acclaimed Mandarin Oriental Hotels in Hyde Park, London and Tokyo.
Since completing her sugarcraft course, Maki has been awarded with several medals from many competitions. She currently runs Maki’s Cakes, a cake design company in Surrey which produces unusual and exquisite cakes for all occasions. Her work is regularly featured in the UK’s top wedding magazines, including BRIDES, You and Your Wedding and Cosmo Brides, and she is a regular contributor to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine and Wedding Cakes – A Design Source (Squires Kitchen Magazine Publishing).
Ayako Saida and Makiko Searle
Ayako Saida is a passionate and creative flower designer who brings a wealth of experience from Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom. Her work is realistic and classic yet has a unique urban flavour and is influenced by her love for fresh seasonal flowers and knowledge of interior decoration. After acquiring a diploma in Floristry Management at the Constance Spry Flower School, Farnham in 2001, Ayako has worked as a freelance florist for corporate clients as well as teaching individuals at home.
Makiko Searle is one of the UK’s leading names in wedding cake design. Her professional skills as a cake maker combined with a unique creative style have earned Maki a reputation for creating truly stunning and original designs.
Maki began her career as a pastry chef in Tokyo then moved to England to improve her skills by taking a sugarcraft course at Brooklands College. She later worked at the prestigious Great Fosters Hotel, Surrey and at the acclaimed Mandarin Oriental Hotels in Hyde Park, London and Tokyo.
Since completing her sugarcraft course, Maki has been awarded with several medals from many competitions. She currently runs Maki’s Cakes, a cake design company in Surrey which produces unusual and exquisite cakes for all occasions. Her work is regularly featured in the UK’s top wedding magazines, including BRIDES, You and Your Wedding and Cosmo Brides, and she is a regular contributor to Cakes & Sugarcraft magazine and Wedding Cakes – A Design Source (Squires Kitchen Magazine Publishing).
Chloe Coker
Chloe Coker started out as a city lawyer before deciding to follow her passion for cookery. In 2009 she started a wedding cake business and began training as a chef at Leiths School of Food and Wine. She graduated from the professional diploma course with a distinction and won the ‘Wine Student of the Year’ award. Chloe now runs CityCook, a bespoke cheffing and teaching company with her business partner, Jane, whom she met at Leiths. Chloe's first book, Super-cute Cookies, was published in September 2011, soon to be followed by The Vegetarian Pantry in spring 2013. Chloe is passionate about teaching cookery and encourages people to think about local, seasonal food. When she is not teaching, cheffing or writing cookery books, Chloe spends her time in the country growing vegetables and inventing recipes.