Bengaluru team takes the cake at ACADA 2026

A team from Bengaluru represented India at the International Cake Show Australia 2026 and submitted the winning entry for cake sculpting

Updated - November 03, 2026 06:07 pm IST

Arati Mirji, Anna Austin and Samie Ramachandran with their prize-winning entry at ACADA 2026 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

What could an artist, sculptor and baker have in common? At the recently-concluded International Cake Show Australia 2026, Anna Austin, Arati Mirji and Samie Ramachandran from Bengaluru won the World’s Best Extreme Cake Sculptors title, placing first among contestants from Australia, Japan, and Taiwan.

Team India’s winning entry was a jallikattu bull and tamer, based on the theme of Adventure and the trio had to sculpt a piece within a 12-hour time period, over two days. The cake show was hosted by the Australian Cake Artists & Decorators Association (ACADA).

While cake is a sweet something to enjoy or mark an occasion for most of us, Anna, Arati and Samie view it as their canvas. As a cake artist, Anna had interacted with Arati, a sugar flower artist, and Samie, a cake-and-sugar sculptor, so often over the past 12 years that they had forged a friendship.

Anna, founder of Cake Canvas, believed each member of Team India possessed a specific set of skills that could win them the title. While she had established a name for herself as a creator of life-size, life-like edible scultures, Arati was known for crafting sugar flowers that could fool the bees and Samie had mastered the art of sculpting cakes that could go up to 24 feet.

“Each of us had become proficient in our own set of skills and were regularly invited to teach at the same workshops and classes. Though we’ve known each other for more than a decade, this was the first time we were working on a project together,” says Samie, founder and director of Sugar Sculpt Academy.

“When the competition was announced I was sure the three of us stood a winning chance,” says Anna, adding, “The theme was chosen by reigning champions, Team Australia and our application was among the first to be selected.”

The team held two trial runs in India before they left for Brisbane, the contest’s venue in Australia. “We had nine months to chart out our plan of action — from what we would be creating to our individual roles in bringing it together,” says Arati, a world renown sugar flower artist, who partnered with Italian brand Saracino, to create Saracino’s Flower Paste by Arati Mirji.

Team India’s piece underway at ACADA 2026 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Anna continues, “We had decided our roles based on our strengths — I would work on the faces and legs of both the figures and Samie would do the bodies. Arati was in charge of the fine detailing of bells, flowers and colours.”

“We had to translate a high-energy sporting movement into cake,” Arati says, adding the contest had specifications; the figurine had to be approximately 1.5 metres in height, comprising at least two-thirds edible material. “We got more points if we increased that ratio,” Arati says.

Organisers bake cake slabs as per participant requirement and provide them at the competition venue, while teams are allowed to carry the structure or frame on which they would fashion their piece. Everything else had to be crafted at the venue.

According to Samie, the team faced three, huge challenges. “We were planning to create two figures when our competitors would be perfecting just one. Second, we would be using material from brands different from those available in India, which could take some adjustment. And finally, it was winter there and the chocolate was hardening faster than we expected.”

“Moulding the chocolate to make it pliable took quite a bit of our time, and we had to tweak our plan for the second day so we didn’t fall behind,” says Anna.

Good old-fashioned, Indian jugaad also came in handy, adds Arati, who says the team used paint rollers instead of airbrushes over the figurines.

Team India at work at ACADA 2026 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

They admit the thought of working in front of a live audience was daunting, but, “once we began, the audience ceased to exist. Each of us knew what we had to do and we went ahead doing just that. There was no room for mistakes,” says Anna.

“We worked seamlessly and in sync. There was no confusion or extra chatter and we finished with 30 minutes to spare,” says Arati.

Team India utilised around 15 kilos of rice crispies and marshmallows each, 60 kilos of modelling chocolate and 20 kilos of white chocolate ganache, apart from edible colour, decorative supplies, flower paste, cocoa butter and other material.