The flowers that adorn O. Peggy Kovensky’s wedding cakes fool the eye and delight the taste buds.

More striking than a bride’s bouquet, the roses she cultivates are a deep wine red, and the wild orchids shimmer silvery white.

But Kovensky’s flowers are not cut from a garden plot. They crystallize in her commercial kitchen, as she painstakingly molds floral arrangements from sugary gum paste in a process that takes from 30 to 60 hours.

New England Couture Cakes – Kovensky’s homegrown business – recently moved into a new shopping plaza on Broadway, across from Beale Street Barbeque in South Portland after operating in her home since its start in 2006.

The new quarters allow Kovensky the space to grow her wedding cake business and also to branch out to sell breakfast pastries, macaroons and other desserts, as well as take cake orders for other, more modest celebrations.

Kovensky’s handmade celebration cakes that walk-in customers order at her new retail shop start at $25. The base price for her wedding cakes, which must be ordered months in advance, is $500.

The Nigerian-born cake designer already has built a national reputation for her artistry in crafting sugary arrangements that display such detail that people mistake the edible flowers, ribbons and pearls as real.

Kovensky admits that most wedding couples choose not to taste the flowers that top the cakes she bakes, because they want to preserve them as a keepsake.

Kovensky’s wedding cakes will spoil if not eaten, but the decorations made from gum paste will last.

Her cakes have been featured three times in Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine, as well as in Port City Life and a special wedding edition of People magazine.

Most striking about Kovensky’s artistry and success is the fact that she largely is self-taught in the craft of designing and creating wedding cakes.

“I learned the basics of cake-baking but taught myself the rest from reading books,” said Kovensky, who lived in London before moving to South Portland with her American husband.

Kovensky said she is not challenged more by some flowers than others, but strives to make them all botanically accurate.

“I can’t say there is one flower that is the hardest to make,” she said. “It all seems to come naturally to me.”

She uses a paste made of sugar dough that she rolls and then cuts using precision instruments that look like a surgeon’s tools. She shapes and molds each flower petal by hand before leaving them to dry. She uses a paint brush and powdered cake dye to tint the flowers.

Kovensky often blends her own colors. She may use several different shades to paint a single flower to make it look authentic.

Although she welcomes brides to bring in magazine photos of cake designs they like, she refuses to duplicate the work of others.

“Each designer has a style all their own,” Kovensky says. “Not everyone can get a flower to look realistic. It’s not hard for me; it just takes time.”

Kovensky’s creations are only limited by imagination. They have included individual rose petals cascading down layers of cake, intricately woven strands of sugar dough to resemble lace on a bride’s gown, and sea shells, pearls and star fish on cakes inspired by the Maine coast.

August through October is the wedding season at New England Couture Cakes, with Kovensky taking orders at least three months in advance.

Kovensky currently is working on an arrangement that even is new to her. The bride asked for a sugary arrangement of fiddlehead ferns to top her wedding cake.

Indeed, Kovensky said, she is up to most any challenge, noting that another couple ordered a cake to be adorned with a realistic-looking octopus on top for their August wedding.

Kovensky credits her rapid rise as a cake designer to word of mouth by clients, including many from out of state who came to Maine for destination weddings. She said her husband’s support and promotion of her business have paid off, too.

Kovensky’s husband, Stan, initially invested $10,000 to promote New England Couture Cakes on the Internet.

The striking photos of her creations quickly caught the eye of couples planning Maine weddings and willing to spend top dollar for their wedding cakes.

It’s not unusual for someone to pay four figures for a Kovensky wedding cake.

She said $4,000 is the most that someone has paid for one of her elaborate creations. The cake was large and had intertwining flavors in each layer. Kovensky replicated the lace pattern from the bride’s dress on the cake.

Although her business has been quick to take off, Kovensky herself has had quite a journey.

She holds two bachelor’s degrees – in public administration and hospitality/hotel management from colleges in her native Nigeria. But cake decorating has held her interest since she first laid eyes on a book about it at her older sister’s house.

She ran a small cake-making business in Nigeria. In 2004, she moved to London to study European wedding cake decorating techniques.

In London, Kovensky met her future husband at a train station, when he was lost and she offered him directions. The couple exchanged e-mails, letters and finally wedding vows, with Kovensky moving to Maine in 2005.

Her husband helped launch her Web site (www.newenglandcouturecakes.com), which boasts stunning photographs of her handiwork. The Web site and advertising led to the buzz over Kovensky’s artistry in designing cakes.

Her first client was a man from Florida helping to plan his sister’s destination wedding in Maine. He read about Kovensky’s cakes and connected the bride-to-be with New England Couture Cakes.

The cakes themselves are not made from mixes. Flavors range from “devils’ food” to “Snow White.” They have an all-butter icing, known as Italian meringue butter cream.

Cake fillings may include Belgian chocolate, liqueur or fresh fruit purees. Whipped white chocolate ganache is among her premium fillings, for which couples pay a little more.

Kovensky drapes a sugar dough called fondant over the cake icing to give the whole creation a satiny finish that she says looks like porcelain. Fondant tastes like the cream filling in an Oreo cookie. It is easier for the designer to crimp or paint on a fondant finish.

New England Couture Cakes produced 80 cakes in 2007. With larger space in an industrial kitchen, Kovensky expects to do more in 2008. At least for now, she is too busy to keep track.

Kovensky adds that she also enjoys taking smaller orders from walk-in customers, who often can place an order in the morning for a birthday or anniversary cake and have it freshly made by the end of the day.

“Whatever the celebration, we can provide the cake,” she said.

O. Peggy Kovenski ran a small cake-making business in Nigeria. In 2004, she moved to London to study European wedding cake decorating techniques.