The Tamesis
Many of us have a story about the vibrant candy that epitomized Easter when we were kids: staring at the intricate, panoramic sugar eggs we wanted to eat but couldn’t. Misleadingly cramming as many peeps into our mouths as possible. Marvel at the carved chocolate Easter bunny in our basket.
One such sentimental treat—sugar egg dioramas—is a lost art that dates back to the 19th-century Victorian tradition of making small spring dioramas from molded sugar shells. But now, sugar artist Dawn Nemec of Sugarscape Eggs and others are selling her creations on Etsy, bringing traditional edible decorations to a new generation. In her pastel-hued creations, Nemec uses crystal sugar shells, royal icing and icing sugar to create magical scenes of lambs and rabbits amid miniature flower fields.
Based in La Selva Beach, California, Nemec spent about 20 years decorating wedding cakes and high-end, intricate pieces like the ones you see online before launching her own small business in 2020 Is it a cake? , A Netflix show about desserts disguised as surreal objects.
Growing up, she often received sugar panorama eggs in her Easter baskets. She always found them extra special because she loved The country rabbit and the little gold shoes, A 1939 children’s picture book written by DuBose Heyward and illustrated by Marjorie Flack. In the book, the bunny heroine is tasked with delivering a panoramic candy egg that “sparkles like a diamond” to a sick child. Nemec eventually started making her own sugar eggs based on the book’s designs and found they were her shop’s most popular product.
