About The Sugar Garden
Where art and baking come together.
Deborah Ryan’s first memory of making flowers began with clay.
As a child, she took a neighborhood ceramics class taught by her mother. She remembers sculpting clay into tiny roses. Years later, that same love of creating flowers by hand found a new medium—sugar.
Today, Deborah is the artist and baker behind The Sugar Garden, where “sugar clay” becomes flowers, ribbons, birds, animals, characters, buildings and almost anything else a client can imagine.
An Artist First
After graduating from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Communications, Deborah returned to her love of art. She studied mixed media and photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Painting, photography and illustration followed, along with a career in event and hospitality management.
Eventually, her love of art, food and special events came together.
Deborah completed the Pastry Arts Program at Harper College near Chicago. She also studied sugar art at the International Sugar Art Collection—known as the Nicholas Lodge School—in Atlanta, as well as at The French Pastry School in Chicago.
The Sugar Garden
The Sugar Garden specializes in handmade sugar art and custom baked creations.
Sculpted sugar flowers and one-of-a-kind designs have been part of celebrations throughout the Chicago area. Cakes and cookies have been created for weddings, birthdays, showers and other special occasions.
Our Corporate Cookies have been given as business gifts and used as hotel amenities. Our award-winning Christmas Card Cookies have even been called “too pretty to eat.”
But beautiful is only half the story.
Made From Scratch. Made to Taste as Good as It Looks.
We believe a beautiful cookie or cake should also be delicious.
There are no mixes or shortcuts in The Sugar Garden kitchen. Our cookies, cakes and pastries are made from scratch with fresh ingredients and careful attention to every detail.
Because the best compliment isn't simply:
“That looks amazing.”
It's:
“Wow. It tastes as good as it looks.”
That has been the goal of The Sugar Garden from the beginning: beautifully made, deliciously baked and created especially for you.