In 1980, after leaving school with only 2 ‘O’ Levels (Art & Cookery) with a resume of artwork and fuelled with a passion for basic home baking and cake decorating at home with his Mum, David was kindly accepted into Colquit Street Nautical and Catering College in Liverpool, where after 2 years of receiving intensive training from grand masters of bakery, cake decorating, food science and food technology, 16 year old David achieved City and Guilds with Distinctions, as well as receiving student of the year award and was presented with the prestigious Renshaw Cup, plus an all expenses paid scholarship to study at the world famous Richemont Bakery School in Switzerland which is where his childhood dream to one day open his own cake store was finally realised.

In late 1982 an ambitious 18 year old David MacCarfrae quit his full-time bakery job in London and headed back to Liverpool in order to pursue his dream.

Unemployed but very determined, David (with the unconditional support of his parents) started a very small business called ‘David Cakes’ from a converted spare bedroom at his family home.

Working with his Mum Hilda, the ambitious business partners showcased a small collection of wedding cake designs at many local bridal fairs, it was not long before David started receiving wedding and celebration cake commissions, as well as being asked to teach his art.

In the early summer of 1983 David Cakes retail cake store opened and David began teaching local students basic cake decorating at his business premises. This was only for a short time as increased demand for bespoke cakes and the evolution of his creative career and phenomenal business success forced him to put his teaching journey on hold.

In 1991 David Cakes embraced the arrival of the internet and launched a brand new website which over time gained both David MacCarfrae and the David Cakes brand national and international recognition with David receiving more and more requests to reveal the secrets of his technique

In 2009 David decided that the timing was right in his career to share his free-hand cake decorating techniques.

After working a 9 hour day, David closed his retail store and set up tables and chairs in the middle of his cake store and weekly training events began with 4 hour basic cake decorating workshops. Due to high demand from students to learn more David then introducing follow-up 1 day and 2 day master class courses during weekends, sharing commercial cake decorating secrets of his trade to hobbyists and beginners.

David and Edward celebrate with international students

David Cakes Academy in Liverpool

As the months passed David’s training events gained more and more momentum and increased popularity with not just local, but now national UK students travelling to Liverpool to attend and learn.

David’s cake decorating masterclass courses were made up of a mix of first time cake decorators, owners of small cake decorating businesses and students sponsored by large corporations – all eager to discover the secret of David’s free-hand method of cake decorating while embracing over 30 years of David’s retail cake store business experience, teaching philosophy and unrestricted ‘no rules’ creative mindset.

Understanding the importance of creative innovation, product development, marketing and re-invention to ensure long term business growth were topics David mixed (and still does) into his training programmes, which students embraced, along side learning centuries old free-hand cake decorating techniques he had been passed down from his grand masters during his time at college.

With David having 30 years of retail cake store experience under his belt, students soon realised they had come to the right place!

Besides having the honour of welcoming UK students, David has had the pleasure of welcoming international students who flew into England from all over the world to attend his masterclass courses in Liverpool.

USA | Canada | Argentina | Brazil | Venezuela | Uruguay | Colombia | Mexico | Saudi Arabia | United Arab Emirates | Oman | Iran | Iraq | Kuwait | Bahrain | Egypt | Turkey | Greece | Israel | Russia | Nigeria | Kenya | Ghana | Zambia | India | Bangladesh | Hong Kong | China | Macau | Japan | Vietnam | Taiwan | Philippines | Sri-Lanka | Malaysia | Brunei | Singapore | Australia | Trinidad & Tobago | Puerto Rico | St Maarten | Maldives | Mauritius | Cuba | Ireland | Iceland | Norway | Sweden | Denmark | Austria | Switzerland | Germany| Italy | Spain | Portugal | Mozambique | Angola | France | Netherlands | Belgium | Poland | Estonia | Lithuania | Latvia | Romania | Hungary | Bulgaria | Croatia | Slovakia | Czech Republic