Sweet success

Fulton mother-daughter duo teach cake decorating tips at Sweet Temptations

Mikayla Burton, 12, rolls out her fondant sitting next to Diane Branch, owner of Sweet Temptations and Wilton cake decorating instructor, during a gum paste and fondant class on Tuesday.
Mikayla Burton, 12, rolls out her fondant sitting next to Diane Branch, owner of Sweet Temptations and Wilton cake decorating instructor, during a gum paste and fondant class on Tuesday.

Gayle Moore, 71, is a busy baker. She's the grandmother of 10 and the great-grandmother of 11, and she enjoys creating baked goods for each one of their birthdays. Every cake fits the birthday girl or boy's personality, she said. She went as far as decorating a safari cake for one birthday, and Moore's oven is often heated during the Christmas season.

"Some of them call me Cupcake Grandma," she said with a laugh inside Sweet Temptations, a candy and cake shop on Ingle Road in Fulton, during a gum paste and fondant class on Tuesday.

Moore developed her baking and decorating classes through the mother-daughter duo at Sweet Temptations. Diane Branch and her daughter Melanie teach beginning and advanced classes for icing and fondant techniques for those in the Fulton area who want to add charm to their baked goods. Diane Branch attended a two-week course in Chicago at The Wilton School, popular cake and baking company, to gain her knowledge. Her final exam in the course was the decorate a wedding cake that sits in her store.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.