Luo Dan and her works Photos: Courtesy of Luo Dan

Elegant, is my first impression of Luo Dan, or Dann as she calls herself online. Wearing a camel dress and a shoulder-length pageboy hairstyle, she talks with a slow and pleasant voice and graceful gestures as she sits on a leather sofa throughout our interview.

On November 12, Luo posted a group of photos on her Sina Weibo account showing off her dessert designs for the APEC banquet held especially for China's first lady Peng Liyuan and the spouses of the leaders of 21 other members on November 11. Showing delicate and detailed lotus flowers made from sugar and decorated with stones and pieces of wood that made the cakes look like something out of a traditional Chinese painting, these photos immediately captured the imagination of netizens, who forwarded Luo's pictures more than 20,000 times.

Before she knew it this dessert designer, who was used to quietly posting her designs online and writing her blog, had become an overnight sensation.

Nominated in the Catering category for the 2014 Life Design Awards in China back in September, Luo told the Global Times that she got the APEC job thanks to a recommendation from a friend. "The organizers in charge of the event agreed that making sugar flowers for dessert was a good idea. They studied my previous work and saw how delicate my designs were. They thought it would be the perfect fit for the dinner, and so invited me to design some desserts for it," said Luo.

After handing over some preliminary designs for the dinner the organizers only asked her to make some small changes. Luo explained that the idea for making flowers came from all the female guests at the event. "Lotus flowers were very Chinese in style, but were just part of the overall designs for my desserts," Luo said, explaining that sugar-made pomegranates and fish were also part of the desserts. "Each of these symbols have auspicious meaning in traditional Chinese culture."

Icing lover



Luo first became interested in desserts a decade ago when she first started baking as a hobby while still a student of graphic design at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

"I enjoyed making different kinds of cakes, starting with really basic ones. I was absolutely delighted when my friends praised the desserts I made." As time went on, simple designs were no longer able to satisfy her creative itch and she began experimenting with icing and fondant to create increasingly attractive desserts.

"Maybe it's because I'm a Virgo. I try my best to chase perfection," noted Luo.

Unlike nowadays when people can easily buy DIY ingredients, molds and other baking supplies on e-commerce sites, Luo had to purchase her tools overseas. It was also hard to find any related textbooks in China as well, so Luo depended on her fine arts training to create a style all her own.

Learning to make such delicate features required a lot of patience. Not only were some thin curved lines, sometimes only 0.1 mm thick, difficult to control, but some materials such as royal icing quickly become hard and fragile as soon as it hits the air. Some decorations were so easily broken that it wasn't unusual for her to have to make them over and over again. "My hands would usually tremble and I didn't even dare to breathe," she said, explaining that it took years for her to maintain a calm and peaceful demeanor when creating her desserts.

It takes about over a week to complete a cake, sometimes even longer. She hardly ever accepts commercial orders and only makes wedding cakes for close friends. "Thanks to my husband, he totally supports me in developing my hobby as a career. He helps me focus on my own designs. I mostly work on whatever I really want to create," said Luo, explaining how the lack of financial pressure has allowed her to grow as an artist.

"The most difficult part is designing things in my mind. Once I decide on something, the rest of  the process is pretty pleasant and the happiest moment comes when I complete something, of course," Luo said.

Although many of her techniques and tools come from the West, her artistic style leans more towards to a Chinese aesthetic.

Having studied traditional Chinese painting since she was a child, it's easy to see the correlation between this art form and her work. For instance, the curvy waves of icing she uses on her cookies are reminiscent of the brush strokes one would see in these traditional paintings.

"For me, Western techniques are tools that  help me present my ideas. I use them to create very Chinese things. We too have traditional handicraft that shapes sugar into artwork-like deserts. I'm really interested in this and hope to use this in my future works," said Luo.