Georgia-Rose Fairman Made Us a Dead Mouse Cake

Shot on the Huawei P9 In collaboration with EE Photographer: Cieron Magat

From the column 'Snap Judgement.'

As part of a collaboration with EE, we gave photographer Cieron Magat a Huawei P9 and asked him to shoot the baker/artist Georgia-Rose Fairman at work.

Georgia - who has a day job as an assistant to sculptor Phyllida Barlow in London - precision-carves blocks of marzipan-covered sponge cake before painting them with food dyes. The final results sit somewhere between sculpture, watercolour painting and confusing but delicious treat. We spoke to Georgia about her cakes, because enquiring minds want to know.

Hi Georgia! How did you end up make these hyperreal cakes?

I wanted to make a roast chicken cake with all the trimmings for a friend's birthday. I'd never done anything like that before so I just made it up as I went along. To my surprise it turned out rather well. It went from there!

Hyperreal cakes, photorealistic cakes or trompe l'oeil cakes. What do you prefer they're called?

I call them cakes.

Who taught you how to do make these?

I taught myself, but my time in the prosthetics industry has probably helped quite a lot. My mum taught me how to make sugar flowers.

How long does take?

Every cake is different. Some larger cakes take days and days to make.

Give us a breakdown of how to make one.

I usually bake a few Madeira cakes to start, then I carve the cake into a simplified version of the final piece.

Then I cover it in marzipan and then sculpt and colour using edible food paint. It really is that simple.

Who have you made them for?

The cakes I've most enjoyed making were for Carven, AA Gill and Alison Goldfrapp.

You made a mouse for us, which was kind of you. Why a mouse?

Last year I had two pet mice named Brian Harvey and Prince Naseem. Naseem was amazing, he even starred in music videos and photo shoots. Naturally Brian Harvey got jealous and killed him. The whole ordeal was extremely sad, so I made a cake in honour of the late, great Prince Naseem.

What else have you made?

Fish, birds, foxes, pigs, fruit, humans, chickens, flowers.

What would you like to have a go at making?

I think I'd like to stick to making naked people for a while.

Do you sell these cakes anywhere?

Sometimes, but it's really just a personal project.

Does it hurt to see them eaten?

Not at all, I guess that's what they are there for.

Thanks Georgia!

These photos were taken on the Huawei P9 with the new dual lens camera co-engineered with Leica.

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