Cake artist Sophia Stolz: ‘I’m sad when the party ends’

My personal style signifier is my eyeliner, which I’ve worn since I was 14. When all the girls in my school started wearing make-up, I tried this cute French eyeliner situation. I looked like a Picasso painting; it was not working. Then I created this Michèle Lamy eyeliner look – bold, dark triangles on the corner of each eye – which has got smaller over the years. Now everyone thinks I’m ill if I don’t wear it. I honestly don’t care what brand – whatever comes my way. Sometimes, the cheaper the better.

The last thing I bought and loved was a beautiful, weird Niccolò Pasqualetti skirt. It’s very dramatic; the top is leather and it’s silk on the bottom. It’s like a sculpture. 

A place that means a lot to me is New York. I feel at home there, even though I’ve never actually lived there for a long period. I love walking around, being exhausted from walking around and then continuing to walk around. I’m happy in the Financial District, Chinatown, Canal Street – just New York! Every time you cross the bridge, it’s like, ugh. The dream. 

If you want a good souvenir, go to the Ritz Paris. Don’t get a drink. Don’t get anything. Just walk in, spend five minutes in there, then go out and say, “Oh, I forgot my lighter.” They give you these beautiful big matches for free. 

The work of art that changed everything for me was Backen: Die Neue Grosse Schule [Baking: The New Big School], an old cookbook from the ’60s. I was bored one day, so my mum and I baked a cake from it. It turned out so well because it’s an honest book, not like a lot of cookbooks now where there’s a secret ingredient missing or something’s wrong with the measurements. After that, I started baking all of the book’s recipes. Cake was the only thing I could talk about. 

My obsession with cakes is based on three pillars: craftsmanship, ephemeral creativity and the fact that everyone loves cake. Cakes are canvas. But there is also something sad about them because they are gone at the end of an event. I really want to make a 3m-high steel cake – so not edible. I’m kind of done with eating cake. But if I have to, it would be a dark chocolate cake with a bit of salt and maybe some Nutella ganache. 

I couldn’t do without egg whites and sugar – with that, you can make meringue. And that’s the easiest, most beautiful thing you can do. 

I don’t do yoga. Just smoking, drinking Diet Coke and making cakes

The best book I’ve read in the past year is Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, her memoir about struggling with depression, then becoming the total opposite because she feels so sad. So she’s acting extremely happy and enjoying life to the fullest, and it helps her to forge new relationships and meet new people, to open up and work through the depression. It’s sad but funny. I struggled with depression as a teenager, so I really understood her.

The most romantic thing I’ve ever done was when I was young and still believed in love, big time. I had a boyfriend in New York – he was my New York love – and I missed him so much that I jumped in a taxi, went to the airport, bought a ticket and surprised him there. I’d been out at a club in Vienna, so I had my passport on me for ID. It was one of the most spontaneous – and expensive – things that’s happened to me. 

The podcast I’m listening to is a German one called Geschichten aus der Geschichte about little stories in history that led to big events. It’s nice if you work long hours alone like I do. Then, when I’m tired of intellectual podcasts, I listen to Call Her Daddy, which is just yapping, yapping, yapping. I’m not proud of it, but I enjoy it.

My style icon is my mum, who was always – and still is – so into fashion. She explained Dries Van Noten to me when I was four, then went to the store and made baby Dries clothes – she was at fashion school. Everything I know about fashion comes from her. Otherwise, I’ve loved Leandra Medine Cohen since I was a teenager, and if I don’t know what to wear, my style icon is Courtney Trop, aka @alwaysjudging. She’s very punk but still high fashion. 

The best gift I’ve given recently was a ’90s Dries Van Noten denim jacket from a private shopper who has a massive archive of Dries and Raf and Haider Ackermann, to my best friend. He loves Dries. He loves denim. He loves black. So it was a good gift. 

And the best gift I’ve received is a Chanel Camellia brooch my mum bought when she was pregnant with me. For my birthday this year, she passed it on. I was obsessed with it as a little kid. I rarely wear it because I’m so afraid to lose it. It’s a real treasure. 

The last item of clothing I added to my wardrobe was the JW Anderson cake-slice bag. It’s a Victoria sponge clutch. I had to have it.

The last music I downloaded was by Fakemink, a niche artist from the UK. And then a playlist by Bitschu Batschu, an Austrian DJ, which is ’90s techno-inspired and very bipolar. There’s Cher, Whitney and Johnny Cash, but also Scooter and Joost. We have a big techno scene here in Vienna – very extreme and very good. And it’s fun – not like Berlin’s techno scene.

I have a collection of McDonald’s Happy Meal toys that has been going since I was a little kid. They’re everywhere in my house. I have almost the entire Little Mermaid collection, and The Jungle Book, Mowgli and all that. More recently there’s been a lot of Pokémon going on at McDonald’s. 

The most extravagant cake I’ve created was a white one with different shades of red and orange edible wafer elements that I made in the Moroccan desert for a VIP client. It was so difficult to work there. Cakes don’t belong in the desert – and this one was massive. Then I made a really pretty cake in Florence for a crazy wedding. That was a very big, very extra vanilla, white chocolate and strawberry cake with gold and pink elements. 

In my fridge you’ll always find Diet Coke and frozen peas. I’m a massive pea person. I barely work in Vienna any more, so most of the time my fridge is kind of empty. But I do have a lot of emergency pre-baked cake layers in my freezer in case I get a last-minute request – like today! I might have to be in London tomorrow.

I believe in life after death because I hate endings. I don’t even want to think about an end. I’m sad when the party ends. I’m sad when my birthday is over. I’m even sad on New Year’s Eve because the year is gone and can never come back. I have a big imagination. 

An indulgence I would never forgo is chocolate, which I eat every day, no matter what. I like milk chocolate – and then I don’t really care. I could say dark chocolate with a little bit of salt, blah blah. But I just love Galaxy Minstrels and Cadbury Buttons. 

An object I would never part with is a little monkey I got when I was one day old. It comes on all of my travels – to my graduation, to big jobs. Otherwise, a pair of sparkling Chanel heels. I’d already tried them on about 25 times over the year. And then I saw them in Selfridges after doing a big job in London where, for some reason, I’d been paid in cash. I paid for them in £20 notes. I love those shoes. 

The best way to spend €20 is on a Diet Coke, olives and Marlboro Lights. Sit at Hôtel Costes in Paris and people-watch.

The artists whose work I would collect if I could are Robert Nava – his work is so childish, but also punk and intense – and Daniel Spoerri, who was known for his food pictures. If you see one of his tablescapes, you imagine a fun dinner with friends; they’re beautiful, but also dirty and cool. And Cy Twombly, who was influential when I was falling in love with cakes. When I see a Cy Twombly sculpture, I see a cake.

I’m really bad with skincare – like, really bad. I do wear perfume – currently I’m wearing Bottega Veneta Colpo di Sole – and I like Isamaya’s products, but mainly because of the packaging. She makes me interested in beauty. Otherwise, I could not care less. I don’t own a gua sha. I don’t go to beauty treatments. I don’t do yoga. Just smoking, drinking Diet Coke and making cakes. Bottega Veneta Colpo di Sole, £350 for 100ml EDP

Dover Street Market in Paris always calms me down. I don’t even buy much – I just touch the clothes

My favourite building is Dover Street Market in Paris. It’s so stupid, but it always calms me down. I don’t even buy much there – I just touch the clothes. Before a big exam in high school, I always went to Zara to calm down. And – also a bit weird – if I pass soft white bread in the supermarket, I just have to touch it. Then I’m like, which loaf is the softest? 

Love is trust and feeling at home with someone. You can be your true self without any compromises. It’s not always happy, it’s just comfort and knowing that someone is there. No matter how crazy I am, no matter how far away I am, that person is waiting for me. I don’t know if it’s sparkles and stuff; those fade. Maybe love is being a best friend, with the desire to kiss someone. 

In another life, I would have been a plastic surgeon. I love optimisation. When I was a teenager, I wanted to become a doctor. I even studied medicine for a year. But then I was too obsessed with cakes. I mean, the sculpturing part is kind of the same, and it’s all about symmetry which I love. 

I’ve recently rediscovered my love for Austrian food. I spend so much time in the US, I’m always like, “My mom’s soup – a bone broth with dumplings, carrots and chives – or sauerkraut would be so good right now.” Everything’s so processed out there – it just doesn’t taste real. There was a long period where I only wanted Asian food or sushi; Austrian food was not cool and very beige. But actually, it’s really good… and pretty. 

My Instagram “For You” page is mostly made up of old ladies talking about their relationships, how they do their hair or how they’re dressed. And also a lot of art stuff – like artists explaining exhibitions. A bit boring. 

A way to make me laugh is to be funny without realising it, like being clumsy. I also have one friend who has had so many dating fails. They’re all really bad… I don’t think I can tell you about them.

When I need to feel inspired, I check out certain Instagram feeds, mostly fashion brands, usually Maison Margiela because it is so artsy and there’s so much darkness to it. If I have total freedom, my cakes are dark or very structural. Margiela is my number one inspiration. Otherwise, I leave my apartment, listen to extremely loud techno and run around the city. 

My favourite room in my house is my wardrobe. It used to be my bedroom as a kid; I took over this apartment when my parents moved out. One day I decided to kick everything out of my old bedroom – I destroyed the floor because I was pushing everything – and built a wardrobe in there, which is very chaotic. It’s my little treasure room. 

My favourite apps are Momondo, where I book all my flights, and Vestiaire Collective to go to sleep with. I never buy anything, but I fill my wishlist. Then I fall asleep. The best thing I’ve bought is a beautiful pair of Hermès horseriding boots for literally no money. They were so cheap… I think there was a mistake.

The best bit of advice I ever received was from my dad when I started my business. I was very young – 19 or 20 – and he told me to keep every receipt for my taxes. I’m not very good at accepting advice, so I threw away all my receipts for two years. Then I had a massive problem with my tax guy. I started listening to my dad.