{"id":750,"date":"2011-04-15T15:06:07","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T22:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/?p=750"},"modified":"2011-04-15T15:06:07","modified_gmt":"2011-04-15T22:06:07","slug":"where-they-take-the-cake-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/04\/where-they-take-the-cake-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"where they take the cake (pt 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have long been fans of the amazing design esthetic of the Cake Opera Co. so we were thrilled to see them featured in Maclean’s Magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"cake-opera1\"<\/p>\n

Nicole Richie could have hired anyone to make her wedding cake. She chose Toronto\u2019s Cake Opera Co.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

LAST DECEMBER, business partners Alexandra Pellegrino and Jessica Smith flew from Toronto to Los Angeles with carry-on that was as fragile as it was weird: a sugar-modeling-paste sculpture depicting Nicole Richie, the daughter of singer Lionel, and her musician husband-to-be Joel Madden, as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI-before the royals\u2019 decadent reign came to its bloody, tumultuous end. Richie was decked out in a white wig, black mask and ruffly gown and splayed on a chaise longue; behind her, Madden, in a white wig and mask, presented his bride with arms out-stretched; through his jacket, the rocker\u2019s famously inked arms could be seen, each tattoo replicated precisely.<\/span><\/p>\n

The painstakingly detailed tableau could be seen as a biting social commentary on over-the-top celebrity culture, but wasn\u2019t: it was the topper of the extravagant cake served at Richie\u2019s and Madden\u2019s Dec. 11 \u201cVersailles\u201d-themed nuptials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith and Pellegrino, the pastry chef and designer, respectively, at Toronto\u2019s Cake Opera Co., had transported surreal confectionary before. In February 2010, US Customs officials were bemused by a suitcase filled with sugar roses for a cake they\u2019d be making for a Tim Burton-meets-Alice-in Wonderland<\/em>-themed sweet 16 in Scottsdale, Ariz.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That party they were invited to. The closest they got to the high-security celebration at Lionel Richie\u2019s Beverly Hills estate was the back entrance, where they delivered their five-tiered cake edged in edible 24-karat gold, created at a West Hollywood bakery taken over for the occasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The commission was a high point in their two-year collaboration, says the 29-year-old Pellegrino, who attended the Ontario College of Art and Design before turning to making ephemeral art with fondant and cake flour. \u201cWe still don\u2019t believe it. It\u2019s like, \u2018We were at Lionel Richie\u2019s house! With something that came out of this kitchen.\u2019\u201d It was all really hush-hush, says Smith, 28, who studied culinary arts at Toronto\u2019s George Brown College and has worked at London\u2019s Michelin-starred Yauatcha. \u201cWe weren\u2019t even allowed to take pictures of our work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sitting in their uptown Toronto shop in chef jackets and over-the-knee boots, Pellegrino and Smith present as confident patisserie swashbucklers. Samples of their couture cakes line one wall – one looks like blue Wedgwood china; on another, a glittery black lobster adorns an ivory tower festooned with black roses, oysters and pearls; their \u201code to Canadiana\u201d features deer and painted \u201cbirch bark\u201d on pale green fondant. Inspiration ranges from Christian Lacroix\u2019s 2008 collection to \u201860s chinoiserie wallpaper, which resulted in a cake painted with sumi-e style brushwork and topped with a Japanese crane. Clearly, Richie, a Tinseltown style-setter, played it conservatively.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"cake-opera2\"<\/p>\n

to be continued…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have long been fans of the amazing design esthetic of the Cake Opera Co. so we were thrilled to see them featured in Maclean’s Magazine. Nicole Richie could have hired anyone to make her wedding cake. She chose Toronto\u2019s Cake Opera Co. \u00a0 LAST DECEMBER, business partners Alexandra Pellegrino and Jessica Smith flew from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[215,27,15,217,216,30],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-trends","tag-cake-opera-co","tag-calgary-weddings","tag-lisa-hanslip","tag-marie-antoinette-wedding","tag-nicole-richie-joel-madden-wedding","tag-the-wedding-planner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":753,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions\/753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}