Looking at Zoe Hopkinson’s beautifully decorated cakes, featuring everything from superheroes to beaming brides, you’d think she was a seasoned professional who had been doing it for years.

So it’s quite a surprise to learn that Zoe decorated her first cake little more than six months ago.

“Just before Christmas my boyfriend’s mum asked me to make a celebration cake. It was her church choirmaster’s 25th anniversary and she wanted a cake with a figure of him playing the organ,” says Zoe. “I’ve always been into arts and crafts, things like pottery, painting and making jewellery. As a child I used to make little models out of Fimo, (a form of clay) but I’d never tried cake decorating.

“I made the cake, with the little organist, and everyone liked it. I posted a picture of it on Facebook and got a really positive response, then I made a 21st birthday cake and it just went on from there. I really enjoyed it and suddenly friends and family were asking me to come up with cakes for all sorts of occasions.

“I made a big Avengers cake for my sister’s 30th birthday and it got loads of attention so I decided to set up online. Over the past few months word has spread and my cake decorating has really taken off.”

Zoe creates cakes for every occasion, from weddings to retirements. Most orders come via her Zoe’s Fancy Cakes website or Facebook page, and she manages to fit it all in with her day job.

“I work in civil service but I’m being made redundant so I hope to start up a cake business full-time,” says Zoe, 31. “Most cakes take a minimum of a day to complete so I devote a lot of time to it, but I love it. I’m very protective of my cakes.”

As we chat Zoe is putting the finishing touches to a birthday cake shaped like a stack of presents, and a heart-shaped cake for a nurse’s retirement.

Requests often start with a photograph. “People send me a photo of the person they want the cake for, and ask me to make a model of them to put on top,” says Zoe. “Sometimes I get specific requests or I’ll get a list of what the person likes, which I bring into the cake. I like to do something that’s personal to them, and it’s always a challenge when I get the more random requests!”

Among the more offbeat orders have been a birthday cake with someone standing on top of a house, a Beatles wedding cake and a rather saucy birthday cake for a woman in her sixties!

“A man got in touch asking if I’d make a cake for his girlfriend based on his naked torso. The photo he sent in was of a real muscle man – I don’t know if it was actually him or not!” laughs Zoe.

“It’s all a world away from my office jobs in market research and for the Department for Education. I love it and hope that if more people see my cakes it will take off and I can make a real success of the business.”

Zoe bakes and decorates her cakes in the kitchen of her Horsforth home. “I never had any training but I always enjoyed art and design at school and I love to do anything creative,” she says. “Cake decorating is very popular at the moment but mine are a bit different. I specialise in fondant figures, which people seem to really like. They’re quite hard to make, like flowers, and they offer something different and personal.”

Zoe’s designs include a fireman perched on the top tier of a flaming cake; a replica of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA album cover, with a red baseball cap sticking out of mini Bruce’s back pocket; a biker in shades and leathers sitting on a motorcycle helmet; Batman and Robin dominating the Gotham City skyline; a girl splashing about in a bubble bath; and Alice in Wonderland surrounded by the Mad Hatter’s top hat, the Cheshire Cat, a teapot and a couple of playing card guards.

Zoe makes her figures in advance, using icing that sets hard. “They’re edible but they last forever so they make nice keepsakes,” says Zoe. “Most people want chocolate cakes. Fruit cakes are easier to ice than sponge cakes because they’re firm and the icing doesn’t crack. It’s difficult to ice in warm weather, you have to be careful it doesn’t melt as you’re going along.”

With wedding ceremonies becoming more personalised, couples often opt for quirkier wedding cake designs, from cupcake towers to models of themselves. “I get all sorts of requests, but some still have a sense of tradition, with three tiers and flowers,” says Zoe. “Although wedding cakes are bigger, they tend to be less intricate to decorate than birthday cakes as the designs aren’t so detailed.

“I’d like to get more into the wedding cake market; I’m showcasing some of my designs at a wedding fair in September.”

Zoe’s talents don’t end with cake decorating. With a degree in fashion and marketing, she’s also a skilled dressmaker and has just made a friend’s wedding dress. “It takes a long time to make a wedding dress but I really enjoy it. I was just hoping she wouldn’t ask me to make her cake too, as I don’t think I could have fitted both in!” she smiles.

Zoe plans to set up cake decorating classes later in the year. “I’d like to do Christmas cakes, showing people how to decorate them so they can do their own in time for Christmas,” she says. “It’s a lovely thing to do, especially for family and friends. It’s great seeing people’s faces light up when they collect the cakes.”

For more information, visit www.zoesfancycakes.co.uk or www.facebook.com/zoesfancycakes.