80后中国小伙做出绝美武则天，拿下国际蛋糕金奖，裁判惊呼“Amazing！” | China’s Sugar King

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Did you know what these delicate works are made of?

猜猜看，下图这些精美的人物、动物和花卉，真身是什么？

Are they like special Barbies, or garage kits?

是精致的芭比娃娃，还是树脂手办？

The truth is, they are fondant cakes that taste likecreamy candies.

其实，它们全都是翻糖蛋糕！掰一块细细品尝，味道有点像大白兔奶糖。

They're created by Zhou Yi, the best fondant artist inChina.

它们的制作者，是中国翻糖第一人，周毅。

Born into an average worker's family, his parents hadalways been holding high hopes for him. The young Zhou felt the path too hardto take though. He considered himself an underachiever who'd often fail testsin middle school.

周毅生于一个普通的工人家庭。小时候，父母期望他能好好读书，将来出人头地。但这条路，在年轻的周毅看来，很难走通。他自称“学渣”，中学时代的功课经常不及格。

Nevertheless, anyone can make a difference. After highschool, Zhou entered a culinary school in Sichuan Province to become a chef.

但毕竟三百六十行，行行出状元。高中毕业后，周毅在四川一家烹饪学校就读，开始了自己的厨师生涯。

Everyone is trying to make pastries both mouthwateringand eye-catching. For the traditional flower buns and dough sculptures, thebrilliant craftsmen bring them to life with the most vivid figures. Thosepastries were one of the childhood memories of Zhou, whose father is already adough sculptor. That's what got him interested in making creative pastries inthe first place.

把面点做得又好吃又好看，在中国并不是什么新鲜事。花馍、面塑，都是历史深厚的传统工艺。各种动物、人脸，都被技术高超的匠人塑造得活灵活现。也许是童年时代见过的面塑和花馒头给他留下的印象太深，而且父亲也是一名面塑师傅，周毅对制作精美的糕点格外有兴趣。

Zhou has learnt the sculpting techniques from severalmaster craftsmen. During the festivals, he could earn over a thousand yuan perday selling dough sculptures. But that's not enough for him.

于是，周毅拜不少传统工艺大师为师，苦练雕塑。逢年过节，销量好的面塑摊子，在庙会上一天就能卖出上千元。但他并不满足于此。

He was eager to make a breakthrough and turn thepastries into real artworks. The traditional dough, however, couldn't fit hisneeds.

他不想拘泥于传统，要将食品做得像真正的艺术品一样美。传统的面食材料，暂时做不到这一点。

In Suzhou, southern China, he learnt by chance offondant, the material that's widely used in Western pastries for decoration. Ithas good ductility and can be made into all kinds of colors and figures. Plusit's easier to keep it in shape and to preserve it than the traditional dough.

到苏州之后，他偶然见到翻糖这种广泛用于装饰西式糕点的材料。它的延展性极佳，可以做成各种各样的颜色和样态，而且比传统的面团更不易变形、保存的时间更长。

"That's exactly what I wanted." Zhou wasvery excited, and dedicated himself completely into making fondant figures.

“就是它了！”周毅像发现了新大陆一样，全身心投入了翻糖人偶的创作。

"We're good at dough sculpting, so fondant isjust another choice of materials." Thanks to his past experience, Zhousoon learnt the tricks of making fondant figures: "Just shape theeyebrows, adjust the face, and brush the lips with glitter gloss…" Thevivid face of a Chinese beauty comes out in minutes. "A few variations canmake them more lifelike.”

“我们做面塑也做很多造型，这个对我们来说，就是材料的变化。”多年的面塑功底让周毅很快就掌握了用翻糖塑造人物的技巧：“文一文眉，整一整形，然后上这种亮闪闪的咬唇妆……”很快，一个活灵活现的古典美人的脸就出现在他手中，“只要多一些变化，就能看起来像真的一样。”

Yet Zhou wanted more: "In other countries, theyalready use one piece of fondant to make the whole figure." He wants everysingle detail of his works to be more delicate and lifelike.

但周毅还不满意：“国外原来就是用一块翻糖做所有的东西，花啊，人啊什么的。”他想要的效果更佳精致、逼真，每一个零部件都精雕细琢。

He spent a year improving the recipe of his fondant,make it more flexible. The new material can be rolled into paper-thin pieces tomake the clothes. The figures are dressed layer after layer like humans, but inthe nearly transparent fondant clothes.

他花了一年时间改良翻糖的配方，让相对坚硬的翻糖变得极有韧性，擀得像纸一样薄，用来做人偶的衣服。这样的衣服，和真人穿衣一样一层一层地披上，薄得似乎能透出肉来。

At UK Cake International 2017, Zhou and his team wonthree golden and two bronze medals. It was the first time that a Chinese teamgot any rewards in this competition. The cake "Lady in the Palace",which portrayed the young Empress Wu, won the International Best in Show”prize.During the competition, the juries couldn't believe that the dress was made offondant until they tasted it.

2017年，周毅带着他的团队参加了英国国际蛋糕比赛，夺得3金2铜。这是中国队伍首次获得奖项。描绘少女时代武则天的《粉黛佳人》则获得大奖“国际组别最佳”。比赛现场，评委只有在品尝了人偶的服饰之后才敢确定，它们真的是翻糖做的。

Besides the exquisite figure and dress, thedecorations on the cake also presented the beauty of ancient Suzhou city: theTaihu stone, a gilding censer, a blue and white porcelain, and a palace lanternusing traditional sugar-blowing methods… The world was stunned by the Chinesebrilliant techniques.

除了精致的人偶和华服，蛋糕上的其他装饰将苏州的古韵之美一一呈现：太湖石、鎏金香炉、青花瓷，还有用传统吹糖人手法制作的宫灯……中国风和精湛技艺让比赛现场的国际友人啧啧称奇。

The fact that many competing teams adopted their newfondant material made Zhou even happier.

更让周毅高兴的是，许多参赛队伍都采用了经过他们革新的翻糖材料。

After the competition, Zhou's works became viral onWeibo (China's most popular social network), attracting tens of thousands offollowers. He then expanded the themes of his works to all kinds of popculture, such as celebrities and ACG characters. Netizens say that his works"Seckill most of the garage kits.”

获奖之后，周毅的作品在微博上爆红，吸引数万网友围观。他顺势而为，在古典美人的题材之外，与流行文化跨界合作制作蛋糕。从明星到动画、游戏角色，应有尽有。用网友的话说，“秒杀一众手办”。

In addition to making fondant cakes, Zhou now has hisown company researching and selling fondant materials and tools. Meanwhile,more people are taking his fondant classes. He does all this because he hasbeen "trying not to disappoint the industry, nor myself.”

除了制作翻糖蛋糕，周毅还自己成立公司，研发、销售翻糖的原料和工具，慕名来参加他的翻糖培训班的学员也越来越多。他说，这些都是为了“力争不负行业，也不负自己”。

Cameraman:Li Fei

Filmeditor: Yang Yue, Ma Mingyuan

Storywritten by: Zhu Siqi

Englisheditor: Charlotte Bates

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