Nicola Keysselitz

Hi, I´m Nicola, I´m German, but I spent 30 years living in Madrid, Spain. Due to the very hard economic situation in Spain, I returned to Germany in 2014, the place where I grew up, and opened my cake school - Key for Cakes, where I run classes with the main emphasis on modelling human figures.

Throughout my life I has always made special presents for my friends and family, all related with caricature/cartoons. I first draw them, then I knitted them and later I made them out of clay and finally started making them from marzipan and decorated simple cakes with them, but this was a long time ago...

I started again in 2012 when purely by chance I came into contact with fondant......I was amazed by the possibilities this material gave me.....so I started making cakes again for friends and family and every cake had at least one fondant caricature on it. With time my techniques got better and the expressions turned out much more expressive. Modelling figures grabbed my passion and I really do love it.
The idea for my business name came from my daughter. I originally had a food-blog when I was in Spain called “Naranjalimon”…When I decided to go back to Germany I had to recognise that this name was impossible to pronunciate in German. A new name was needed and as my last name is Keysselitz my daughter just used part of it… it was perfect!!! …a double sense - Key for Cakes.

My style of cakes is simple, harmonious but above all “personal”. My figures are expressive, individual, and a mixture of reality and Cartoon. When People order a figure I just ask for some photos and then start modelling, always trying to give a very personal and positive message.

Right now I´m still a hobby baker because laws in Germany are very hard but I do however sell my figures. Predominantly, I give classes in my little cakeschool or as a guest lecturer in other schools throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Participation in cake competitions was and still is important for my career in Germany...last year I recieved several awards which made me very proud indeed:

•Nov. 2016 – Cakes International Birmingham – GOLD
•Nov. 2015 – Cakes International Birmingham – GOLD
•Mai. 2015 – Cake & Bake Dortmund – GOLD
•Apr. 2015 – Kuchenmesse Wels – GOLD + BEST OF CLASS + BEST OF SHOW
•Jan. 2015 – Tortenmesse Wien – BRONZE
•Okt. 2014 - Cake World Germany Esslingen – SILBER

Due to my continuous and successful participation in cake competitions, I became member of the german jury team of IGT (Interessengemeinschaft Tortendesign e.V.) and since 2017 also of Cake International in England, currently the world's largest cake fair.

Web: https://keyforcakes.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Keyforcakes1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keyforcakes/
Pinterest: https://pinterest.de/keyforcakes/