{"id":755,"date":"2011-04-18T08:13:47","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T15:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/?p=755"},"modified":"2011-04-18T08:13:47","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T15:13:47","slug":"where-they-take-the-cake-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/2011\/04\/where-they-take-the-cake-pt-2\/","title":{"rendered":"where they take the cake (pt 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two women met in 2005 while studying at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts School. Pellegrino founded Cake Opera Co. soon after. \u201cAll my instructors said, \u2018You should be making showpieces in Vegas,\u2019\u201d she says. The timing dovetailed with a growing cultural fixation on cake, evident in the emergence of the golden age of cake TV \u2013 a spawn of shows including Ace of Cakes, Wedding Cake Wars, Cake Boss, <\/em>and Ultimate Cake Off<\/em>. In 2009, Pellegrino asked Smith, then head pastry chef at Toronto\u2019s Truffles restaurant, for help on a Food Network cake challenge. Within months, they were in a partnership. Grace Ormonde, editor-in-chief of the US magazine Wedding Style<\/em>, was an early supporter. \u201cI had worked with the best and thought I\u2019d seen everything,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd here come these two women who blew me away.\u201d Their cakes taste as delicious as they look, she notes: \u201cThat\u2019s not always the case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Their custom design work, which begins at $300 and rises to $6,000, tends to focus on weddings, which isn\u2019t surprising. Once cakes only had to be pretty, says Ormonde: \u201cNow everyone wants their wedding to be unique. They want sculpture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When consulting with brides, Pellegrino asks for visuals \u2013 the dress, flowers, a brooch \u2013 then brings her imagination to bear. An opulent three-tiered, chocolate, 24K-gold and burgundy cake created for a Venetian-themed wedding last year took its cue from the invitation. \u201cI was drawn to the envelope\u2019s lining; it had a beautiful pattern,\u201d she says. For the top, she created a sugar replica of the masks worn by the bride and groom.<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019ve made black and purple cakes, but Pellegrino says she loves all-white cakes, with a twist: \u201cI like to recall that traditional wedding feeling and then there will be something on it like, \u2018Whoa, where did that come from?\u2019\u201d Given the work required, their cakes can exist as a metaphor for the marriage to come: under the showy surface, there\u2019s a carefully constructed infrastructure necessary to keep it all aloft. A black-and-white pirate-themed cake took 150 hours to build, says Pellegrino: \u201cIt requires the mind of an engineer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Creating fantasy can be a slog. Fourteen-hour workdays are common; Pellegrino and Smith do all of their own deliveries. \u201cStreet-car tracks are the bane of our existence,\u201d says Smith, the driver. \u201cShe\u2019s crapping her pants,\u201d says Pellegrino, the navigator. They\u2019re more laid-back about marketing. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken a very non-aggressive approach,\u201d says Smith. \u201cThe work speaks for itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlexandria is brilliant,\u201d says Catherine Lash, creative director of Toronto\u2019s The Wedding Co., a wedding show producer. \u201cYou will not see anything recognizable in her designs \u2013 it\u2019s not Martha Stewart<\/em> magazine. She\u2019s going to the opera, she\u2019s going to art galleries.\u201d Researching Madden\u2019s tattoos in the tabloids offered rare lowbrow trolling, Pellegrino says: \u201cI got to read all of these wonderful, smutty magazines.\u201d Her favourite period is 17th<\/sup> century northern European still life \u201cvanitas\u201d paintings, whose shadowy compositions warn the viewer not to invest too much importance in mortal wealth and pleasures, a message that might be lost on people planning $100,000-plus weddings.<\/span><\/p>\n

A playful irony percolates through Cake Opera Co.\u2019s rococo-chic website and shop, one reminiscent of Sofia Coppola\u2019s Marie Antoinette<\/em>, the 2006 movie that reinforced the link between sumptuous pastel pastries and the woman who never actually said \u201cLet them eat cake.\u201d Gilt abounds. In the front window, a French guillotine slices through a retro wedding cake bleeding edible 24-karat gold. Inside the shop, antique glass cabinets are filled with macarons, meringues, marshmallows and cupcakes with names like \u201cThe Lady Pompadour\u201d and \u201cThe Musetta.\u201d Pellegrino laughs at the mention of Coppola\u2019s movie. \u201cNever seen it,\u201d she jokes. \u201cDon\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d That movie fuelled the macaron trend \u2013 and resultant backlash \u2013 \u201ca tragic story,\u201d says Pellegrino. \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful confection,\u201d Smith explains. \u201cBut now wedding planners are saying, \u2018We\u2019re so over that.\u2019 It\u2019s a slap in the face.\u201d \u201cThey\u2019ve been around hundreds of years,\u201d says Pellegrino. \u201cCupcakes have been around 50 years. So throw them<\/em> to the curb!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cake Opera\u2019s theatrical flair attracted Beverly Hills wedding planner Mindy Weiss, who organized Richie\u2019s nuptials. She\u2019d heard of them via Ormonde. Their website blew her away, she says. \u201cI would stare at it in awe.\u201d When Weiss learned Richie wanted a Versailles theme, she contacted them with only two weeks\u2019 notice. \u201cBefore I knew it I received an email with the most fabulous drawing of the cake,\u201d says Weiss. \u201cI did not change a thing. And I always change something!\u201d The finished cake was \u201camazing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was an art piece that the guests would walk up to and stare at.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gushy coverage of the wedding in People<\/em> and Hello!<\/em> resulted in a flurry of requests to ship, which they won\u2019t do. \u201cMost people can\u2019t afford to fly us in,” says Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Weiss, who plans events for people who can afford it, says she can\u2019t wait to work with them again: \u201cThey\u2019re perfection.\u201d Predictably, there\u2019s talk of a TV show. \u201cWe\u2019re open to it,\u201d says Smith. They\u2019d be naturals \u2013 photogenic, funny, and smart enough to know that if Marie Antoinette were alive today, her apocryphal command would be \u201cLet them watch cake.\u201d ANNE KINGSTON<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"cake-opera3\"<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We’re definitely not<\/span> in the same camp with the wedding planners that are over macarons…we’re a huge fan of the scrumptious French confectionary: they are delicious, come in a gorgeous array of colours, and are gluten free…what more can you ask for?!? Throw the cupcakes to the curb?…why not!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Re-reading this article makes me want to watch Marie Antoinette<\/em> again…which will inevitably send to the patisserie for a wee box of macarons…YUM!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two women met in 2005 while studying at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts School. Pellegrino founded Cake Opera Co. soon after. \u201cAll my instructors said, \u2018You should be making showpieces in Vegas,\u2019\u201d she says. The timing dovetailed with a growing cultural fixation on cake, evident in the emergence of the golden age of […]<\/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":[215,27,15,186,220,219,221,218,30],"class_list":["post-755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-trends","tag-cake-opera-co","tag-calgary-weddings","tag-lisa-hanslip","tag-macarons","tag-macleans-magazine","tag-marie-antoinette","tag-mindy-weiss","tag-sofia-coppola","tag-the-wedding-planner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755","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=755"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.askaweddingplanner.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}