The Lui sisters, Annabel and Emily, are a force to be reckoned with. Their mission, in short, is to make cakes cool. Both with backgrounds in high—powered city jobs (Annabel in corporate finance and Emily in law), they had a brain spark after a batch of bad cupcakes. With a father who is a chef by trade and a mother who bakes traditional wedding cakes, it’s in their genes. “I guess it kind of rubbed off on us”, says Emily. “But when it came to the idea of us doing our own thing as a business, we wanted it to be unique”.
Behold, The Biskie—the signature sweet treat that launched their brand. Imagine a combination cake—cookie—biscuit sandwich housing a scrumptious, creamy filling made with no artificial additives (all their flavors and colours come from natural ingredients) and 40% less buttercream. Flavors include green tea and raspberry, salted caramel, lychee pearl, Nutella—and many more. After 10 months of product development and tastings, they created a home for their Biskies along with their Dream Cakes (large cakes served in generous slices): Cutter & Squidge, so called because Annabel was the one to cut the sandwich elements of the Biskies (the Cutter) and Emily made the soft filling (the Squidge).
We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We just want to sell cake and happiness.
Not surprisingly, the cakes have inspired somewhat of a cult following. Based on Brewer Street in Soho (the same street that is home to the hub of London Fashion Week), the store itself looks like something from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. With good reason, too. It was designed by Callum Lumsden, the retail designer for all the Harry Potter stores worldwide. To wit, the “outdoors—indoors” ethos of the shop is decorated with butterflies and fake grass, and downstairs in the basement, there is a Secret Garden, where the sisters plan to debut their new Afternoon Tea, featuring all of their hero treats served in cute Chinese steam baskets. “You can come have tea in the garden in winter when its raining”, says Emily. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously”, adds Annabel. “We just want to sell cake and happiness”. Can’t argue with that.
The Blush Cake
Tying together their love of baking with their love of makeup, the Lui sisters were inspired by Pure Color Envy Sculpting Blush to create this exclusive Blush Dream Cake. Here, they break down how you can make your own at home:
1
Sandwich layers of your favorite classic sponge cake recipe with vanilla buttercream. Cover the surface of the cake with more buttercream, and smooth all over using a palette knife and cake scraper.
2
Next, add colour: individually purée fresh raspberries, passionfruit, carrot, beetroot and pomegranate to create your five favorite blush colors. Mix each purée with a few spoonfuls of buttercream. The more purée you add, the stronger the colors will be.
3
Place dollops of each color all over the cake, then use a clean palette knife to swirl and smooth the colors across the surface. Alternate between light and dark shades as you add each swirl to create a beautiful ombré effect.
4
Once you’re satisfied with your color scheme, sprinkle touches of gold leaf flakes for a sparkling ’Blushlight’ finish.
Follow the sisters on @LuiSisters and @cutterandsquidge
www.cutterandsquidge.com