He is the praised sugar king, a cake can sell 200,000, his sugar flipping works, because it is too realistic, was almost considered cheating by the judges.
He perfectly integrated sugar turning technology and sculpture technology to win three gold medals and one bronze for China's "Oscar" in the international cake industry. How did he play so many tricks with a small cake?
This issue's Ziya Childlike Fun Classmate Junior will take you to understand the story of Sugar King Zhou Yi.
The story of Zhou Yi and flip sugar
Zhou Yi was born in Sichuan, a post-80s generation, because he was naughty since he was a child, his mind was never focused on studying, and Zhou Yi, who had poor grades, was a scumbag in the eyes of everyone.
Before coming into contact with the fondant cake, he did hard physical work every day, although he was not interested in learning, but Zhou Yi has been interested in face sculpting since he was a child and wants to be a craftsman.
Face sculpture is China's intangible cultural heritage, in order to make a face sculpture work, Zhou Yi usually stays up all night, day and night to ponder.
Because he was so attentive, sometimes he didn't even remember to eat, until he was hungry and hungry and realized that he had been doing it for so long.
Zhou Yi because he likes face molding, once wanted to live by face molding, on this road, he encountered a big problem, although face molding is very precious, but not many people like it in real life, using face molding to support the family is really difficult.
Not only that, face molding gradually began to disappear in this fast-paced society, which made Zhou Yi, who was intoxicated with face molding, very uncomfortable, and how to let the face sculpture pass on became Zhou Yi's heart disease.
Zhou Yi ushered in a turnaround when he participated in a pastry competition, where he saw the technique of fondant cake, and he was amazed by the beauty of the fondant cake.
He came up with a new idea, why can't he combine dough molding and sugar flipping technology? In order to realize this dream, Zhou Yi has since embarked on the road of learning sugar turning technology.
At that time, no one expected that this ordinary Sichuan young man would go so far on the road of sugar flipping cake.
After coming into contact with the fondant cake, Zhou Yi found that most of the fondant cakes on the market were characters in Japanese comics or American comics, and Chinese IP products rarely appeared.
In his opinion, fondant cake is an ingredient, should not be limited to any country or region, China should also have its own style of fondant cake, which makes Zhou Yi determined to make a Chinese fondant cake.
Create a fondant cake of Chinese IP
After discovering the fondant cake, when Zhou Yi made the fondant cake, he did not use the conventional production method to make the fondant cake with a whole piece of fondant cake, but put the technique of dough molding into the fondant cake.
Before he became famous, because he devoted himself to sugar turning technology, Zhou Yi was questioned by many people, and they all felt that he was not doing his job.
At that time, Zhou Yi's age was not young, seeing that he was addicted to studying sugar turning technology, many people around him advised him to find a serious class, and it was a big thing to support himself to get married and have children.
Zhou Yi did not care about these words, in his opinion, love is more important than the future. What's the use of engaging in this, and it's not serious work, what's there to learn from a small cake.
Fortunately, Zhou Yi did not choose to compromise, and it was precisely because of his unwillingness to compromise that China produced this sugar king Zhou Yi who won glory for the country.
Zhou Yi's love for noodle sculpture and his dedication to fondant sugar are integrated into the production of Chinese style fondant cake, in his hands, the fondant cake has become a work of art, Jingwei, Sun Wukong, these well-known characters have been created by him.
If you don't say it, I'm afraid few people will be able to find out that this is just a cake, and he also uses characters from classical literature as materials, Tang Wan, Wu Zetian, Li Qingzhao appear in another way in his hands.
Even the calligraphy and paintings are his models, and Zhou Yi has also created a candy cake with a hanging painting, and the words on it are the same as those written.
In order to make better works, Zhou Yi likes to integrate himself into the character, he often said that if you want to do a good job of flipping sugar, the important thing is not the appearance, but the bone, as it is often said, beauty is not in the bone.
When making fondant cakes, he is very strict with the details, even if it is a flower and a tree in the background, it needs to be carefully pondered and carved, in order to make a good background, Zhou Yi even went to the Suzhou garden to take materials.
Although Zhou Yi registered for the British International Cake Competition early, he was not well prepared. No one could have imagined that the man who created the amazing world of fondant cakes had only started making fondant cakes a year before entering the competition.
When I went to the competition, I even had the intention of traveling, and I only began to prepare half a month before the start of the competition, because of the long distance, there were several small cracks in the works of Wu Zetian.
Won three gold and one bronze
Even Zhou Yi did not expect that it was this Wu Zetian who won the highest award in the British International Cake Competition. According to the rules, the judges need to cut the cake, but because Wu Zetian is so beautiful, the judges are only willing to cut a little corner.
Wu Zetian in this work has bright eyes and teeth, and the flowers behind him seem to be swaying gently with the breeze, and if you look closely, even a millimeter or two of stamens can be seen clearly.
The most absolute is the gauze on the beauty, although there are seven or eight layers, but it can show the flesh color lightly, making the judges wonder for a while whether Zhou Yi used paper to make the gauze clothes, until after cutting, Zhou Yi returned his innocence.
In order to do a good job of Wu Zetian's work, the work team does not know how many nights they stayed up, in order to pursue perfection, just one finger, Zhou Yi did it seven or eight times before he was satisfied.
The most extreme gauze is boiled out with sugar and crushed, and then draped layer by layer on the beauty's body, in order to pursue the thinness of the yarn, Zhou Yi does not know how many kinds of sugar paste he tried, before making this gauze that can reveal flesh-color.
Zhou Yi has a total of two entries, and the other work, Drunken and Forgetful, is his most satisfying work, and this work also made a small mistake.
On the second day of the competition, Zhou Yi found that the drunken sleeper was missing, and only after asking the staff did he know that because the lake under the drunken forgetfulness realm used the technique of pulling sugar, which could not be cut, which violated the rules of the competition.
But because this work is so beautiful, even the judges are reluctant to give up such a work, they put this work in another group and won the bronze medal, although it is only a bronze medal, but in the hearts of the judges, this is the most perfect work in this competition.
In China, many cake shops in order to make profits, the cost of the sugar cake is pressed and pressed, resulting in the cake made empty appearance, the taste is difficult to say, which makes many Chinese people misunderstand, thinking that the sugar cake is so unpalatable.
Zhou Yi hopes that he can save this situation, he is now trying to find a recipe that suits the taste of Chinese people, for this goal, Zhou Yi has put all his energy into research and development, in order to use his life to teach more excellent cake chefs.
He has also published more than ten textbooks, and although the road is full of thorns, Zhou Yi will not give up, and he will dedicate his life to the candy he loves.
For Zhou Yi's work, which one do you prefer? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.
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