Jean Schapowal is a woman on a mission.
The Hicksville resident has a booming cake business called Cakes With Character and has received awards and accolades for her baking accomplishments, even appearing as a finalist on CBS’s “The Great American Bake-Off.”
She has also participated in quite a few “cake collaborations” over the past two years. Cake collaborations are events where sugar artists and cake decorators work on pieces based on a particular theme. This year, Schapowal is participating in nine collaborations, as well as organizing one of her own based based on the 25th anniversary of “The Simpsons.”
“I was looking for a fun collaboration that I felt I could get a great response from,” says Schapowal. “I looked into events or anniversaries for 2014/2015 and came across the Simpsons. I felt we could definitely do something amazing with that theme.”
More than 40 of the world’s top cake and sugar artists have signed up to be a part of this prestigious event. Although they all share tremendous similarities and likes, the most important component is that they all share a monumental love for anything that smacks of “The Simpsons.”
The concept of presenting and recreating a Simpsons character in a famous art piece was conceived after Schapowal spoke with several other artists, in the hopes of doing something that had never before been done. Not only would this add to the challenge of the competition – it would also serve to educate the public on various, little known art forms.
Each person in the Simpsons cake collaboration has been assigned a single character from the series, which will in turn be transformed into an artistic form, such as expressionism, pop art, and other artistic interpretations. The bakers recreated characters such as Bart Simpson, Moe, Apu and Ned Flanders into elaborate creations composed of mostly edible ingredients.
But the collaboration is more than just pretty cakes. As Schapowal was organizing the collaboration, she heard that Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon had been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, and was given a bleak prognosis. Simon formed the Sam Simon Foundation, a charity dedicated to rescuing animals, and gave away his funds, knowing that his life was short. As the wife of a colon cancer survivor, Schapowal felt a personal affinity with his plight. She felt that the cake collaboration would be a wonderful way to honor Simon not only for his work with “The Simpsons,” but for his charitable works.
A graphic artist, Schapowal designed a t-shirt for each artist in the competition to wear, which not only has the iconic Homer Simpson donut on the front, but a blue colon cancer ribbon emblazed upon it, as well.
The event has garnered international attention and Schapowal has also reached out to organizations such as the North Shore Healthcare System, Stand Up To Cancer, The Sam Simon Foundation, The American Cancer Foundation, and Chefs For Cancer Awareness. Her driving force and focus is to make as many people aware of the event, especially because of Sam Simon and the illness that he endures.
“My goal was to be able to put something together with all of these talented artists that they and I would all be proud of. To have something fun and to make people talk,” says Schapowal. “And last, that we could have someone who visited the page who may be going through a health crisis and came to see something fun, but in turn was able to get some information or support to help them through their time of need.”
See the finished cakes now at www.Simpsononymous.com.
