
We entered the Let Them Eat Cake charity cake competition for the first time this year, and I’m proud to report that we took home the prize for Best Use of Theme. There was some really tough competition from talented area bakers! The contest theme was “Fantasy Weddings” but rather than trying to create something over-the-top, we decided to create a wedding cake that expressed an elegant romantic fantasy through the complex harmony of its colors, shapes and patterns. The design developed slowly and organically, beginning with the octagonal tier near the bottom. Our entire staff helped me make the dozens of little decisions it took to arrive at the finished look.

Our decorator Lisa Huang deserves special praise for making lovely edible rice paper flowers (and for pushing us to enter the contest). Jess Alber was a huge help too. Really, everyone on the team helped.

We kept joking that we had “put a bird on it,” but in this case I think it really worked, and it was definitely the design element that had most people talking at the show.

Our tasting flavor was vanilla-buttermilk cake with raspberry jam and white chocolate-cassis meringue buttercream, which was developed by our talented baker Ann Wilson. We gave out hundreds of cute mini cupcakes to the cake fans at the show.

Talkin’ shop with Lisa. Congratulations to City of Hope for 10 years of successful fundraising to fight cancer with Let Them Eat Cake!