For 24 years, Ron Zammit replaced his worn heels and soles at his shoe repair store in Gold Tree Plaza.  To relax after work, he baked cakes - gorgeous cakes decorated with beautiful hand-made sugar paste flowers.  Soon, friends and relatives started asking him to make special occasion cakes, until he was making about two or three cakes a weekend.

About five years ago, he came home one night and told his wife Crystal that he had sold the shop and was ready to start a cake shop.  Today, some of the grandest weddings along the west coast of Florida feature creations from his Beautiful Cakes.

Every cake is made from scratch, and while they are all unique, often hand-painted a rainbow of colors with a fine brush, its Zammit's flowers that are his claim to fame.  Every flower is built petal by petal by Zammit and looks remarkably lifelike.  ("I tried to help him, but my hands are too hot," says Crystal, explaining that the icing melts too fast in warm palms.)

Zammit has baked everything from traditional tiered wedding cakes to a cake for a concert pianist's wedding in the shape of a life-size grand piano, complete with black and white keys - that one took two weeks of planning.  He recently baked 500 individual cakes, one for each guest, for a high-profile Sarasota wedding.  People pay thousands for one of his confections - one bride spent $14,000 - but he's just as happy to do a simple birthday cake for a small family party.

At times, the pace is hectic.  "Especially Friday nights," he admits.  "Sometimes I go home at 4 a.m.  Sometimes I don't go home at all."  But Zammit says the work is more satisfying than shoe repair.

"This is a happy business, and people want to spend their money," he says.  "I have very much a servant's heart, and I like to make sure my brides are happy."

Sarasota Magazine, April 2000