Natalie Sideserf

Considered by Sideserf as her breakout opportunity, her submission of a bust made in the likeness of country music singer Willie Nelson won best in show at a cake competition hosted in Austin, Texas. When her brother posted an image of the cake to Reddit, it reached number-one on February 23, 2013, garnering over 1.2 million views. Although it was Sideserf's first attempt at a sculpted bust, the positive reaction prompted her to launch her own company, Sideserf Cake Studio.

In October 2013, just eight months after receiving global attention from the Willie Nelson cake, Sideserf took on a much darker subject as a follow-up: the decapitated heads of her and her groom-to-be. “I was heavily influenced by the Halloween season, my husband's love for horror movies, and the venue which was the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema,” she told FoxNews.com in an email. “While we do a vast array of different cake designs for our customers, hyperrealism has been one of my favorite subjects so the thought of doing our severed heads was a no-brainer (no pun intended).” The cake was featured on Episode 40 of ABC's The Chew.

Natalie Marie Sideserf (née Elliott; born January 7, 1985) is an American artist, teacher and celebrity chef specializing in hyperrealistic cake sculpting techniques. Sideserf has received national and global acclaim for her realistic designs. In 2014, Food Network declared Sideserf as "one of the most talented young cake artists in the country at the forefront of realistic cake decorating."