A sugar portrait artist’s sweet journey to success

It’s a thrill for me to meet people who are gifted at what they do.

I am a fan of Lalaine Calaguian Quintos, an ultra talented professional sugar craft artist whose career as a cake decorator began 25 years ago.

She honed her skills locally, and then in Dubai, UAE, where she later trained and worked as a cake decorating instructor.

She later moved to Singapore where she became an executive pastry chef, then to Doha, Qatar, where she took on the job of head of cake decorating.

Lalaine Calaguian Quintos —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

In her spare time, Quintos delved into teaching kids how to decorate as an after-school activity.

In 2018, Quintos was hailed as the Philippines’ “Royal Icing Ambassador.” And since then, life’s been good.

“I come from a broken family, and there was a time when my mom couldn’t afford to pay for my studies,” Quintos said.

At some point she stopped going to school, and got a job to sustain herself. She applied as cake artist at Art Cakes Inc. in San Juan. It was an occupation she badly needed to pay for her university studies. She toiled during the day and went to school at night.

Quintos’ expertise is royal icing portraiture.

After she graduated, she found herself piping away at a royal icing manufacturing company in Mandaluyong City; the company was affiliated with the Dubai Cake Decoration Center. Quintos’ talent was noticed. She was sent to Dubai by the company. It was there that her dreams slowly started to unfold.

But for her, there is no place like home. With her savings, she began supplying sugar flowers and royal icing toppers to specialty baking stores and bake shops around the Philippines.

Her talent extends way beyond just piping flowers. Her true expertise is royal icing (color flow) portraiture.

Of her works, it was the sugar portrait of her lola that garnered much recognition online.

Seeing the potential of her handmade creations, Quintos studied the technical and production side of the business.

In 2017, she established her home-based business called Pipe Me Sweet Confectionery (formerly Quins Sugar Art). Apart from sugar flowers and cake toppers, she began crafting customized cookies for her clients.

By “combining my love for arts and craft plus my passion to create edible pieces, I saw a business opportunity,” she said.

It was a brilliant move. Quintos put her savings to good use.

She enjoys being one of the country’s most talented and respected sugar artists, and a major supplier of cake embellishments.

For Quintos, knowing that the work of her hands contributes to making milestones such as weddings, birthdays, and holidays unforgettable is rewarding. Further, imparting her skills and experiences through teaching makes her profession truly gratifying. (For some of the most impeccably done sugar cookies, visit Pipe Me Sweet Confectionery on facebook.com/Pipemesweetcon and Instagram:@lainepipemesweet.)

Juice ingredients for a healthy heart

We continue this list from last week:

Barbados cherry (acerola) and passion fruit are rich in bioflavonoids.

Carrot juice has ingredients that can reduce cholesterol levels and increase excretion of fat by way of the stool.

Garlic juice contains substances that can help delay stiffening of the aorta, the body’s main artery. Garlic can also help other arteries remain elastic, and has been shown to decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Ginger has been shown to lower cholesterol levels.

Parsley juice is rich in bioflavonoids, magnesium, and vitamin. Intake should be limited to a safe, therapeutic dose of 1/2 to 1 cup per day. Parsley can be toxic in overdose, and should be especially avoided by pregnant women.

Pineapple juice contains bromelain, an enzyme that inhibits platelet clumping.

Sweet orange, pomelo, green mango juices are rich in vitamin C, beta carotene, potassium, and magnesium.

Calamondin, calamansi, musk lime, Panama orange, calamondin orange, golden lime, China orange, limau kesturi: From the ingredients prescribed by Dr. Christine Gonzalez, I asked Mike Canlas, a barista and liquid chef, to create some juice recipes.

These are Canlas’ juicing tips and tricks:

1. Always scrub and wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly.

2. Best to chill overnight.

3. Cut/slice “juicy” fruits and freeze for easy handling and preserving more of the juices.

4. Pre-portion your juice recipes before hand.