The baker creates edible Persian rugs that even Hollywood stars are chasing

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

As soon as modern confectioners trick, wanting to surprise and amaze lovers of cakes. But no one has figured out what Los Angeles-based baker Alana does. The pastry chef creates stunningly beautiful Persian rugs. Patterned in an oriental way and very tasty. Yes, yes, all of her carpets are edible and not just edible, but simply delicious in taste. Carpet cake: unexpected, right?

Alana Jones-Mann has become famous for her colorful cakes, which she makes, inspired by things like antique pile rugs and traditional textiles, not only in America but also in other countries. There was even a long article about her in the Los Angeles Times, where her cakes were characterized as follows: a three-dimensional show with texture and psychedelic color - perhaps too beautiful to eat.

- The most amazing thing about these cakes is that many people think that I deliberately made them look like wool rugs. However, this was never a plan. Themselves so turned out! And other people began to call them carpets - either jokingly or seriously, the pastry chef says.

Alana is passionate about fashion, design and music from the 1960s and 70s, and she notes that while creating "vintage" cakes, she is developing both as a baker and as an artist.

“I found my own style,” she explains.

Alana Jones-Mann was born in San Diego. She spent twenty years in Event Planning and Marketing in New York. The daily work of many hours, coupled with a growing sense of being stumped, made the young woman look for an outlet in homemade baked goods. One day, her then-boyfriend brought her baked cheesecakes to the restaurant where he worked. The dessert was instantly sold out. This gave Alana confidence and inspired her to take baking seriously. She watched online lessons and spent long hours in her tiny New York kitchen. Eventually, she began experimenting with using decorative tips to create waviness and texture, and began focusing her energy almost exclusively on cake making.

- The reason why I switched to making cakes and pastries is their surface area. I felt that I had a real canvas on which I could really express myself,”explains the pastry chef. - Cake is my medium.

In the manufacture of her masterpieces, Alana uses tools that can be bought at any confectionery store. Her specialty is a dense, ultra-moist cake filled with fruit curd, and she has developed an elaborate recipe for buttercream mixes made with strawberries, pistachios and figs. Everyone who has tasted her cakes notes that they taste as good as they look good. But few people know that Alana spent almost a year to create her own recipe, which gives the cakes a unique incredible taste.

- The biggest compliment is when, having tasted what I have prepared, a person says: "It was the most delicious cake in the world." I am proud of my projects and will never give a person a cake if I don’t like it outwardly,”she explains.

Jones-Mann moved to Los Angeles about four years ago. She describes her return to Southern California as a new source of inspiration.

Her cakes are now ordered by celebrities, such as actresses Reese Witherspoon and Adie Bryant, among fans of her culinary arts. Many people order her cakes for weddings.

In his spare time, Jones-Mann goes to the library and looks through old advertising catalogs and art books. She explains that she can spend all day doing this. For example, Alana recently studied ornate 16th century embroidery that she found in a book, and then began experimenting in the kitchen trying to create a cake based on this embroidery.

She knows she could make more money by starting a bakery, or perhaps find other ways to bake her cakes in large batches. However, most of all she enjoys working on one project - as an artist creating a picture. Or an ancient carpet weaver.

“This is such a meditative, pleasant process,” says Alana.

The baker-designer demonstrates his works to subscribers on Instagram. One of the carpet cakes was inspired by an ancient Persian carpet from the renowned supplier of antique oriental rugs, rugs and tapestries, Mansour.

Many of the girl's rugs have a very good "hairiness", but this one is made using a technique called dot edging. In other words, the surface of the cake is made up of tiny dots that have been squeezed out of the tube one by one. The result is a very realistic Persian carpet.

They write to women from all over the world - in English, Portuguese, German … “I am literally obsessed with this cake! And everyone else too! "," He's fantastic "" Highly artistic! "," Is this cake? This is a work of art! " - this is how Instagram users react to Alana's culinary masterpieces.

Let us recall that traditional Iranian carpets, which are commonly called Persian by the ancient name of this region, are highly valued in all corners of the planet. They are made from wool, cotton, and sometimes silk. And now - also from biscuit, butter and cream.

Alana focused exclusively on cakes, cakes and pastries. And in this she really became a master of the highest class. And here a baker from Germany creates pies that look like patterned panels. We offer to compare. Who is more interesting?