Nicholas was born in Essex, near London, England, and became interested in cookery and cake decorating at an early age. Nicholas can remember designing his first cake at the early age of ten for his parents anniversary. On leaving school, Nicholas worked in a bakery as a cake decorator to gain practical experience and commercial speed in decorating. He then was offered a position at The National Bakery School of England, located in London. Here he completed a two year course in cake decorating and design. After gaining distinctions in all his assignments and examinations, he received the award for the most outstanding cake decorating student.

Moving rapidly to even higher achievements, Nicholas became Principal Wedding Cake Designer at Woodnutts, located in Brighton, one of England's top sugar art schools. Here he made cakes for large London hotel's, including Claridges, The Ritz and the Savoy.

After eighteen months, at the age of twenty-one, Nicholas became the tutorial manager at Mary Ford's School in Bournemouth, another top sugar art school. During this time, Nicholas was commissioned to do work for England's Royal Family and other celebrities. This included one of the official wedding cakes for Lady Diana and Prince Charles. This Royal wedding cake was also reproduced by Nicholas in Japan for the visit of the Prince and Princes of Wales, during their official visit in Tokyo. Nicholas also worked on cakes for the Queen Mother and Prince William.

Nicholas was commissioned to write his first book in 1985, and as his reputation increased, additional books followed. Currently Nicholas has authored and co-authored over a dozen books and has acted as a consultant to several publishers and overseeing books written by others.

Nicholas has also been involved with CelCakes, located in York, England and has co-authored with Margaret Ford on the instructional module, "SugarFacts," and also six video tapes, as well as teaching with Margaret at the CelCakes summer schools and roadshows.

In 1993 Nicholas received an invitation from The White House to participate in a Presidential appointment on internal affairs. This appointment would have resulted in many trips to Washington D.C. and the White House, covering a period of one year. Unfortunately, due to his previous teaching commitments, he was not able to accept this invitation from President Clinton's office.

Nicholas was nominated, voted and approved for "Who's Who In America" in 1994 and was voted into the International Cake Exploration Societe (ICES) Hall of Fame in 2001, being the youngest person to receive this honor.

In November, 2003 Nicholas was guest pastry chef at the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival held at The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Over 800 guests, dignitaries and national media representative were able to taste the cake Nicholas created for the event.

The International School of Sugar and Confectionary Arts, teaches all levels and aspects of sugar art, cake decorating and cold porcelain. The International Sugar Art Collection, is the division that manufactures and distributes over 400 specialized tools and equipment use in creating sugar art and cakes. The school, offices and product distribution are located in Norcross, Georgia, just a few miles north of Atlanta, which has been home for Nicholas since 1991.

As well as the school in Atlanta, Nicholas also has a sister school in Tokyo, Japan, and he spends his year teaching and traveling between the two locations, as well as special classes held at other schools throughout the United States and around the world.

The International Sugar Art Collection, (ISAC), was founded in 1992 by Nicholas and his business partner Scott Ewing.