Laqueata Donaldson serves up Mukbang masterpiece at SweetArt Bake Expo
Published:Thursday | June 5, 2025 | 12:09 AMKrysta Anderson/Staff Reporter
When Laqueata Donaldson first heard about the Fast Food: Mukbang theme for this year’s SweetArt Bake Expo at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, she was both excited and delighted to take on the tasty challenge of creating a cake that mimicked real food.
And all of her hard work paid off when her masterpiece caught the eyes of patrons, as well as the judges, and emerged victorious in that category.
“I always want to pick a category that is different, one that I feel is going to offer me a challenge! This year, it was Mukbang; to make cake look like real food,” Donaldson told Food.
The cake artist and baker, who started her business almost 10 years ago, explained that she happened upon baking by chance, sparked by a need to mark a very special occasion.
“After having my twins, I decided that I would always want them to have a birthday cake, even if I couldn’t afford to have a big, elaborate birthday celebration. So I learned more about how to bake and taught myself how to decorate cakes! From then on, it has been this great passion of mine,” she revealed.
Her favourite part of her work is making her clients’ visions come to life and going through the process of actually decorating the cake.
“When they tell me what they want and then to see their face after I created a cake specifically for them, it’s literally the icing on the cake for me,” she shared.
She has participated in the expo since 2016 and continues to love every minute of it.
“I see the vision that the event’s co-director, Andrea Green, has for the expo. And I just love the atmosphere that this brings! I enjoy meeting other like-minded cake artists and seeing their work,” said Donaldson.
With that in mind, Donaldson had a fairly good idea about the sweet sensation she would be bringing to the table. Her intricate and exquisite interpretation of the theme was definitely a showstopper for the occasion.
“It took me about four days to make all the little parts, so that they can dry and settle, which is awesome for me because I enjoy making the details,” she said, adding, “The fact that someone judged my hard work and saw the love, care, attention to details and techniques that went into my piece and said this is a winner is the best feeling.
Other pre-decorated cake categories included from Wedding: Winter Wonderland, Cartoon: Bluey and Games and ‘80s ‘90s Arcade Games, to Celebration: Love in Bloom – Valentine’s Edition, as well as Sugar art: Necklace and Tiaras.
The competition involved evaluating cakes, which were only identified by a number. Neither the judges nor the patrons would know who designed the cakes beforehand. The cake artists were only revealed when the winners were announced.
Noteworthy mentions include Cake NC, the sole entry of the Cartoon: Bluey category. In second place for the Fast Food Mukbang category was Auriel Swaby, with her presentation of a hamburger. Speaking of Swaby, she won the top spot for the arcade game theme with a life-size Super Mario.
Wedding Winter Wonderland had two majestic competitors. In the end, it was D1 Kake King who collected the gold, while Indulge Your Taste Buds took the silver.
J & S Cakes brought the ‘tiers’ in the Celebration: Love in Bloom – Valentine’s Edition category, with the red and white display coming in second place. Kita’s Cake Artistry emerged as the winner for the rosy rendition of a bouquet of flowers, while placing second in the Sugar Art: Necklace and Tiaras section. KayDeen McKenzie copped first place in that category.
“We are grateful for the support of vendors, sponsors and patrons. But I am particularly pleased that we were able to showcase new exhibitors this year. The industry is growing and these bakers are already putting their talents out there in fantastic fashion, utilising the expo as their platform of choice,” co-director Andrea Green highlighted.
Out of the nine exhibitors that were present, she revealed that there were only two repeats. All of the others present were newcomers.
Green, pleased to mark the expo’s ninth staging this year, is already looking ahead to an even bigger showcase to celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2026.