ARTIST IN SUGAR AT LONDON HOTEL

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29389, 16 December 1960, Page 2

ARTIST IN SUGAR AT LONDON HOTEL

(By

R F. LAMBERT]

LONDON. Louis Bozzim, head pastry chef at the Dorchester Hotel, London, is an artist. His creations have probably been enjoyed by more famous people than those of any other artist in London. His material, sugar, can be tortured into as many beautiful and unexpected shapes as stone, marble, terracotta or bronze. The difference between Louis and these artists is that his works, unlike theirs, are destroyed almost as soon as they are made. What does it feel like when a scene in icing on which you have laboured for days is broken by a single stroke of the knife? "It feels grahd,” says Louis “After all. that’s what you’ve made it for. What is frustrating is when a waiter brings it back untouched, then Smashes it by putting it down too hard on the table.” Actually most of Louis’ cakes never are eaten by the people he baked them for. Members of the party either haven’t the heart to cut them or else feel they have eaten enough already. They send them to a children’s charity. Model Cars This happened to Louis’ greatest cake, a monster four feet in diameter he made for Lord Nuffield's 80th birthday party. On it he placed sugar reproductions of tiie earliest and latest models to come from the Nuffield factories. Lord Nuffield sent it to a children’s hospital. Louis, born In England of Swiss parents, served a four-year apprenticeship at Claridgeis before he was considered fit to ice cakes by himself. He worked at the Park Lane Hotel in Switzerland and in Devon before coming to the Dorchester after war service in 1946.

With spun and pulled sugar he makes dazzling fantastic reproductions of baskets, flowers, and other objects which most people think must be fashioned out of some more durable material such as plaster. When icing a Christmas cake. Louis mixes 11b of icing sugar with three whites of egg and a teaspoon of lemon juice. He beats the mixture up well, then lets it stand, adding a little water before using in order to get a smooth finish.

He applies the icing with a palette knife, smoothing it down by drawing an 18in ruler across the top.

Louis uses few tools or appliances When putting on the piping. Mostly he makes a cone out of greaseproof paper and by the pressure of his thumb squeezes the mixture through the tiny aperture at the bottom. For shell work he inserts a metal piping nozzle in the bottom of the cone. Edible Colours

“When working out a colour scheme for your cake,” says Louis, “take care to include only the edible colours. Blue for instance, is not an edible colour. Pink, red, green and yellow are.” Louis colours the sugar himself with his own vegetable colouring materials. In the course of a year Louis makes about 20 Christmas cakes, mainly for children charities. He does not make one for the home in Fulham where he lives with his wife and daughter. "Cooking at the Dorchester spoils you for cooking at home,” he says. “My wife says I dirty too many things.” Usually Mrs Bozzini makes a small chocolate sponge which the family eats over the holiday.