Art Sunday 05/18/08: The Edible Art of Jane Asher

What ever happened to Paul McCartney’s first love ? They had a relationship that lasted five years, but finally ended…

Jane Asher’s love of cake making began when she started baking as a child, helping her mother, Margaret, in the kitchen.

As a young mom herself, she spent hours making novelty cakes in the shape of animals and fairytale characters for her three children.

They were so unusual and good that a friend suggested she try to get a book of her designs published.

This did not prove to be an easy task, but eventually Pelham Books signed her up. The book was a surprise best seller, and this led Jane to take things another step further by opening her own shop.

She found an old art gallery to lease in Chelsea, London, and persuaded her bank manager to give her a loan in order that she could refit the shop and the basement kitchen.

janepic2.jpg picture by lstlight

Jane Asher Party Cakes opened its doors for business for the first time in 1990, and has since grown to become one of the country’s foremost bespoke cake makers. The business is based in London. Jane has built up the business to sell a selection of mail order cakes within the UK as well as a large range of sugarcraft items for worldwide sale. Jane’s two managers, David Trumper and Ruth Clark, have been with her since the beginning, and the shop employs a small, highly skilled team of cake decorators.

Jane’s interesting biography:

Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946) is an English actress, who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television career. She has appeared in numerous film and television dramas.

Her older brother is record producer Peter Asher (formerly one half of the duo Peter & Gordon); her younger sister is the radio actress Clare Asher.

In 1963, Asher interviewed The Beatles. A photographer for the BBC’s Radio Times asked them to pose with Asher . Asher subsequently commenced a five-year relationship with Paul McCartney, getting engaged in 1967. She eventually broke off the engagement because she caught Paul in bed with another woman.

She inspired many of McCartney’s songs, such as “Here, There, and Everywhere”,”I’m Looking through You”, “You Won’t See Me”,”We Can Work It Out”,”And I Love Her”, “All My Loving” and “For No One” (all credited as Lennon/McCartney). Lennon/McCartney penned the number one hit “AWorld Without Love” for her brother Peter.

Asher appeared in Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death in 1964, Alfie, opposite Michael Caine in 1966, and in Jerzy Skolimowski’s Deep End in 1970. Thereafter, she was more commonly seen on television: The Stone Tape (1972); Rumpole of the Bailey (1978); Brideshead Revisited (1981); as Faith Ashley, A Voyage Round My Father (1982) opposite Laurence Olivier; Wish Me Luck (three series in 1987–89); The Mistress (1985–87); Crossroads Mark III (2003) as hotel owner Angel Samson. Although the series was unpopular with die-hard Crossroads fans, and only lasted a matter of months, the sharp-tongued wit of Mrs Samson and brilliant acting from Asher made the part a huge success.

Asher met the illustrator Gerald Scarfe in 1971, and they married ten years later . They have three children – Katie (b.1974), Alex (b.1981) and Rory (b.1984).

She is the President of Arthritis Care and a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. She is also President of the National Autistic Society, in which she takes an active role. She was also a speaker at the launch of the National Autistic Society’s “Make School Make Sense” campaign alongside Joshua Muggleton (ASD speaker/writer). She is also President of the Parkinson’s Disease Society.

The Edible Art of Jane Asher

Box of Flowers

Vogue Cover

3D Car

Birthday Parcel

Thomas Cake

Sushi Cake

Channel Bag

Country Garden

Lady in the Bathtub

Lovers’ Bed

Wedgewood Cake

Jane presenting a dartboard cake to her brother, Peter Asher

Jane in a painted on chocolate dress !

Tags: artsunday

Prev: Theater Thursday 05/29/08: Valley of the Dolls Next: In The Studio: Joan Baez

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14 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

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starfishred wrote on May 16, ’08

Very nice laurita .I remember her as an actress aince we get a lot of brit TV stuff here.

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lauritasita wrote on May 16, ’08

Heidi, I always admired her and constantly read about her in the teen magazines. I saw her in Alfie. I also saw her as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet when she toured with her drama company, The Bristol Old Vic.

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lauritasita wrote on May 16, ’08

Jane’s cake company is called “Sugarcraft” and it is based in London.

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jayaramanms wrote on May 17, ’08

Laurita. The secret of Coke or Coco Cola is brilliantly told you you with pictures. Thanks for sharing. My blog posted for this week’s Art Sunday is – SECRET ABOUT MONA LISA. available at – http://tinyurl.com/5haoxg. Please see.

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lauritasita wrote on May 17, ’08

Hi, Jay, thanks for visiting. I’ll be over soon !

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forgetmenot525 wrote on May 17, ’08

The music is the perfect finishing touch, even now I remember her mostly for being in Alfie and for being with Paul………….oh what a very long time ago all that was.thank you
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/13/ART_SUNDAY_DO_YOU_WANT_TO_KNOW_A_SECRET

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lauritasita wrote on May 17, ’08

Thank you so much for visiting ! Jane is around and doing very well ! That’s no secret now.

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jayaramanms wrote on May 18, ’08

I have posted another blog and photo album of paintings of Daeni Pino -under Art Sunday Links – for blog http://jayaramanms.multiply.com/journal/item/167 and painting album – http://tinyurl.com/5zaulk. Please have a look.

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stillwandering wrote on May 18, ’08

What a GREAT post!! Absolutely brilliantly unexpected, I love it! http://stillwandering.multiply.com/journal/item/235/Art_Sunday

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lauritasita wrote on May 18, ’08

Thank you for visiting my post, stillwandering. I am a big fan of Jane Asher. She’s a wonderful actress, and supports many good causes.

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forgetmenot525 wrote on May 18, ’08

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605130632083/
Thank you so much for your visit and remarks. This, if the link works, is a set of pictures of tiny sugar babies, they are just amazing and your ‘Secret Art Sunday’ reminded me of them. Sorry to send you over to Flickr but for some reasson these pictures will not load onto multiply.

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lauritasita wrote on May 18, ’08

Thanks so much for coming back ! I’ll go over there now !

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wickedlyinnocent wrote on May 19, ’08

She has come back to Portugal, she and Paul used to spend holidays in the Algarve, and she has been seen in tv shows through all these years. I think she was different from the other Beatles wives and girlfriends, she never tried to make money with memoir books about her relationship with Paul. And her cakes look good.

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lauritasita wrote on May 19, ’08

She didn’t need to make money about her relationship with Paul because she was already self-established on her own which included her acting and charity work. She didn’t need his money, and she was very educated and intelligent. She didn’t need to fit in with The Beatles and their wives.