Decorator turns wedding cakes into works of art

STAFF PHOTO / CHARLOTTE SOUTHERN Ron Zammit of Beautiful Cakes by Ron in Sarasota said he once created a wedding cake that was a full-size replica of a grand piano.

By JOHN HIELSCHER - Sarasota Herald on July 29, 2002

Ron Zammit's business isn't a piece of cake.

Zammit designs, bakes and decorates hundreds of wedding and all-occasion cakes every year. Business is brisk year round but especially busy during the peak wedding seasons in the spring and the fall.

"We'll do 15 to 20 weddings some weekends during the season," he said. "It's nonstop once March hits until the end of April. October and November are big wedding months, too."

He also makes cakes for parties, including birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, bar mitzvahs and other celebrations.

His Beneva Road shop has a display room to show various styles, but many customers show up with magazine photos or their own ideas of how they want their cake to look.

"I love to use my hands to create things," Zammit says. "When people come to me with new ideas, I love that challenge."

Zammit once created a wedding cake that was a full-size replica of a grand piano. The groom was a concert pianist; the project took two weeks to complete.

Wedding cake prices run from $3.50 to $5 a serving, depending on how elaborate the cake is, he said.

"Everything is done by hand here, nothing is brought in," he says.

Zammit's first job was as an 11-year-old working at his parent's shoe repair business in the Ringling Shopping Center. He later began helping out at a cake store next to another business they owned. He took some basic decorating classes and was making cakes for family and friends out of his home, while working at his own shoe repair business, before deciding to go into the cake business full time.

"Most of what I've done is self taught," he says.

It's a family business, with wife Crystal handling the business side and doing a lot of deliveries in her SUV. Their children also help with delivering on weekends.

"I work a lot of weekends," he said.

Sarasota Herald Tribune - Last modified: July 29. 2002 12:00AM

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"Let Them Eat Cake"

For 24 years, Ron Zammit replaced his worn heels and soles at his shoe repair store in Gold Tree Plaza.  To relax after work, he baked cakes - gorgeous cakes decorated with beautiful hand-made sugar paste flowers.  Soon, friends and relatives started asking him to make special occasion cakes, until he was making about two or three cakes a weekend.

About five years ago, he came home one night and told his wife Crystal that he had sold the shop and was ready to start a cake shop.  Today, some of the grandest weddings along the west coast of Florida feature creations from his Beautiful Cakes.

Every cake is made from scratch, and while they are all unique, often hand-painted a rainbow of colors with a fine brush, its Zammit's flowers that are his claim to fame.  Every flower is built petal by petal by Zammit and looks remarkably lifelike.  ("I tried to help him, but my hands are too hot," says Crystal, explaining that the icing melts too fast in warm palms.)

Zammit has baked everything from traditional tiered wedding cakes to a cake for a concert pianist's wedding in the shape of a life-size grand piano, complete with black and white keys - that one took two weeks of planning.  He recently baked 500 individual cakes, one for each guest, for a high-profile Sarasota wedding.  People pay thousands for one of his confections - one bride spent $14,000 - but he's just as happy to do a simple birthday cake for a small family party.

At times, the pace is hectic.  "Especially Friday nights," he admits.  "Sometimes I go home at 4 a.m.  Sometimes I don't go home at all."  But Zammit says the work is more satisfying than shoe repair.

"This is a happy business, and people want to spend their money," he says.  "I have very much a servant's heart, and I like to make sure my brides are happy."

Sarasota Magazine, April 2000