From her sculptural ‘bog-cakes’ covered in moss and ferns to whimsical cupcakes laced with flowers, enter the exquisite world of one of the most creative bakers in West Yorkshire.
Rose Abbott’s business is unlike any others. La vie en Rose organic, based in Hebden Bridge, is as much of a bakery business as it is a playful adventure in a world inhabited by faeries, witchcraft and folklore.
“I want people to gasp and feel like they’re in a dream,” she said to me. And gasp I did the first time I came across her marvellous creations.
It feels something of an understatement to refer to her edible works as cakes – it would be like calling Alexander McQueen’s haute couture pieces ‘outfits’. A cake is something you eat to accompany a hot beverage and satisfy a sugar craving. Her intricate designs, however, are one-ticket journeys into her mind, a magical world where nature is turned into sweet treats and childhood games of make-believe become reality.
Chocolate and lavender sponge decorated with edible rosemary, rose, lilac, lavender, corn Flowers, elderflower, hawthorn blossom and forget-me-nots (Credit: Rose Abbott)
Her interest in art and sculpture started when she was a little girl, growing up in Brighton.
“My mum said I would drag welly boots and bricks and build these three-dimensional structures in the garden. It’s always been about sculpture for me,” she said.
It would be much later in life that, after training as a chef, she took up a job making cakes in a bakery in Brighton, and that was when it clicked. Finally, sculpture and food had met, on a dessert plate.
“I was loving it, and I was like, this is the connection that I’ve been missing, the food and the sculpture.”
However, something about traditional cake making wasn’t quite working for her. There was something in her soul that wasn’t ‘coming alive’, as she put it. That’s when she left sunny Brighton and moved to West Yorkshire, working on an organic farm near Hebden Bridge, in Calderdale.
That’s when things finally fell in place for Rose – the surroundings, the lush nature, the abundance of wild plants, mushrooms, mosses and flowers started inspiring her. She immersed herself in the landscape, started researching the plants she encountered, and discovered that so many are not just beautiful, but also edible.
Nettles and thyme, lilacs and mosses, everything from the canopies to the undergrowth finds a place in Rose’s workshops.
“At the beginning of the season, I will try and bring out seasonal flavours. I’ll see what’s out, see what’s blooming, and then I will use those for inspiration.”
And the icing on the cake? All her edible creations, from sweet to savoury, are vegan, to be as radically inclusive as possible.
Cover image: lemon thyme and blueberry cake decorated with foraged wild flowers including daisies, currants, magnolia, mahoni, cowslip, pansy and apple blossom (Credit: Rose Abbott)
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