Having your (flowered) cake...

Haven't we all been to a wedding and wondered "what was she thinking with that cake?" At one wedding I attended, the cake was so shocking it was all anyone could talk about. With a mini bride and groom and 30 (yes! 30) mini attendants, sugared flying buttresses, bridges, towers, and little lakes of garish blue food coloring, it was a sight to behold!

In a past life I was probably the pastry chef to royalty. I clip every photo I find of beautiful cakes. I'll share some with you here, and not surprisingly, I've chosen the ones that have flowers!

Sylvia Weinstock, the acknowledged 'Queen of Cakes" certainly has the most creative and beautiful cakes I've ever seen. She is the baker-to-the-stars whenever an over-the-top cake is needed, and her cakes never disappoint. Her flowers are edible-made entirely of sugar. They can cost well over $10,000 and be up to 12 feet high. That's alotta sugar!


Eric Lanlard, a British master patissier, has become a rising star in the cakes-to-the-famous business. He recently launched a new book called Glamour Cakes, and it's gorgeous.






And of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning Martha Stewart. Her new Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes is filled with photos of stunning cakes. The beautiful "Calico" cake (right) is one of my favorites. Deceptively sweet and simple, it requires nothing less than a true master to achieve this perfection.


I don't know about you, but I could go for a piece of cake right now!

PS: In thinking about what I wanted to title this blog, it occurred to me that perhaps my version of "have your cake" was not correct, but it's the version I've always known. So I researched the origin of the phrase, and, though it's had several incarnations, this particular one was known as far back as 1562, written by John Heywood: "Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?"