Although sugar sculpting had started being incorporated into works of art by the seventeenth-century, it wasn’t until the 1760s that it began to be incorporated in cakes. The most famous pastry chef during this period was Antoine Careme. His confectionary book Patisserie, has engraved illustrations showing that he made his well-structured desserts and cakes using a type of pastillage. Antoine Careme developed many of his confectionery works from architectural drawings and was the first person to compare the art of the pastry chef to that of an architect. In 1819 Fredrick Night wrote about a related recipe for pastillage in his book, “The Complete Confectioner”. During this time, not much ‘string or net’ work was done in Britain, and the modeling tools used at the time were made of bone and not plastic.
Today, confectioners have advanced their skills considerably, and so has the price of wedding cakes. Unlike those made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, cakes today have revolutionized the meaning of “fancy and extravagant wedding cakes”. It is uncommon to see cakes designed with diamond aspects or ones that cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. There are three reasons why cakes cost more than they did a century ago; the increase in living standards, the increase in the skill of confectioners, and the increasing use of expensive items such as silver and gold.
The Most Extravagant Wedding Cakes Ever Made
Many people would agree that cakes are some of the most ingenious dessert inventions made by man. There are several methods of making a cake, and this makes it a very versatile dessert option. Cakes allow pastry chefs to exercise their imagination. The best pastry chefs regularly develop their skills in innovative designs to make creations that stand out and frequently participate in competitions for titles and awards. They are often given projects by celebrities and affluent people to create extraordinary cakes for their weddings. The price of such cakes can run from thousands to millions of dollars. Below we take a peek into some of the most extravagant wedding cakes ever made.
(i) $52million- The National gay wedding show cake
Presently, wedding cakes go for something in the range of $400. This is already a high price to pay for a cake, however in 2013, the National gay wedding show hosted in Liverpool displayed a cake worth $52 million. The masterpiece, made in Chelsea, England, was an eight-tiered cake featuring over four thousand impeccable diamonds throughout the design. The incorporation of diamonds in the cake was a significant factor contributing to the cost of making the cake (luckily, Wakefield & Associates was available to help cover the cost). People could taste the cake, unfortunately they couldn’t keep the diamonds.
