Pippa Middlehurst | Luxury Wedding Cake Designer, East Sussex

I am Pippa Middlehurst, a wedding cake designer with over two decades of experience in the world of luxury hospitality and bespoke events. After twenty years spent conceiving, curating and delivering extraordinary weddings and celebrations, I chose to devote my expertise to one of the most meaningful centrepieces of any occasion: the cake.

Guided by leading industry professionals and master bakers, I founded Sugar and Spiced Cakes in 2015 — a studio dedicated to the creation of refined, one-of-a-kind wedding cakes for a discerning clientele. Each design is conceived as a true work of art, crafted to complement the elegance and individuality of every celebration.

WHERE I WORK

The studio is based in Heathfield, East Sussex, and I design and deliver wedding cakes throughout the South East of England — including Battle, Eastbourne, Hastings, Uckfield, Royal Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead and across Kent. Every cake is delivered and presented personally at your venue, because the final moments of assembly matter as much as the weeks of work that precede them.

MY SIGNATURE: HAND-CRAFTED SUGAR FLOWERS

If there is one thing that defines my work, it is the sugar flowers. Every bloom is shaped, wired and coloured entirely by hand in the studio, petal by petal, to mirror the flowers in your bouquet or the season of your wedding. It is slow, exacting work, and it is the reason a cake finished with sugar flowers needs considerably more notice than a buttercream design. Nothing is bought in, and nothing is repeated exactly.

THE EXPERIENCE, FROM FIRST CONVERSATION TO FINAL DELIVERY

From our initial consultation, where your vision is translated into a considered and highly detailed design, to the many meticulous hours of baking, hand-finishing and refinement, every stage of the process is approached with absolute precision and care. The experience is completed with seamless delivery and presentation at your chosen venue.

Consultations are available in three forms: a Classic Consultation, a Luxury Consultation, or Letterbox Samples paired with a Zoom call for couples planning from a distance. Each includes a tasting of your chosen flavours, so that no decision is made on description alone. A retainer secures your date in the diary.

COLLECTIONS AND FLAVOURS

Designs begin with the Micro Collection, from £250, created for intimate gatherings of up to fifty guests, and extend through the Heritage Buttercream and Alternate Collections to the Gilded and Signature Tier Collections for larger, more elaborate commissions. Every collection is a starting point rather than a fixed menu — the design is always built around you.

The flavour menu is extensive and includes a full vegan range, made to order. Most flavours can also be prepared as an allergen-friendly alternative on request, so that guests with dietary requirements are considered from the outset rather than accommodated as an afterthought.

WHEN TO GET IN TOUCH

As a general guide, I ask for at least three months' notice for a buttercream-finished design, and six months for a design involving fondant and hand-crafted sugar flowers. The Luxury Traditional Fruit Cake also requires six months. Cake samples need at least seven days. Couples often approach me a year or more ahead, particularly for peak summer dates, and I would always rather have an early conversation than turn away a wedding I would have loved to be part of.

The studio holds a 5-star food hygiene rating from the Food Standards Agency and is fully covered by public liability insurance

WHAT COUPLES SAY

Sugar and Spiced Cakes is rated 4.8 out of 5 from seventeen reviews on Google, with further reviews on Bridebook and a 100% recommendation rate on Facebook. I answer every enquiry personally, and I respond to every review myself — this is a studio of one, and I would not have it any other way.

Couples commission Sugar and Spiced Cakes for aspirational, exclusive designs, exquisite hand-crafted sugar flowers, the finest luxury ingredients and an uncompromising standard of personal service.