Let Them Eat Cake
On Monday, April 7th, bakers, foodies, and brides-to-be flocked to the Doubletree Hotel for the 10th Annual “Let Them Eat Cake” event- the largest wedding cake competition in the Northeast. Over 40 bakers, chefs, and students competed in the event, and Penn Appetit had the opportunity to attend. We tasted assorted samples, admired the “Wedding Fantasy” themed decorative cakes, and interviewed one of the judges- former White House Chef John Moeller.
The center of the room featured the bakers and their creations. Surrounding these were booths featuring wine, champagne, makeup, and table setting arrangements. Models walked around the room in wedding gowns, sporting full hair and makeup, advertising specific companies. A live band played upbeat covers of popular songs, and brides ran around with Styrofoam containers, stuffing them with various cake samples.
The Samples
First we tried Classic Cake’s lemon pound cake with raspberry buttercream. The cake was fluffy and moist, and the raspberry buttercream was subtly tangy. While this wasn’t our favorite of the night, it won the judges pick for Best Taste.
Next was Unik Cake’s vanilla cake with passionfruit meringue. The passionfruit flavor came through, but was overshadowed by the rubbery, dryness of the cake.
The Baker’s Jar offered a chocolate cake with crunchy cinnamon and marshmallow topping. The cake was light, reminiscent of Devil’s food cake, and we loved the mix of textures and the uniquely sweet combination of chocolate, cinnamon, and marshmallow.
The Merion’s strawberry cupcake with chocolate ganache was one of our favorites- the strawberry was sweet but not overpowering, and the ganache was rich and creamy.
The Merion also served golden cupcakes with chocolate frosting as well.
The Culinary Arts Institute of Montgomery County Community College offered a coconut cake with Malibu rum soak, grilled pineapple filling, rum buttercream, and macadamia nut drizzle. The cake was served as a push-pop. We admired the creativity, but the cake itself was difficult to eat without crumbling into a mess and the frosting was chilled solid.
The Walnut Hill Institute’s brown sugar cake with caramelized pineapple and cream cheese frosting, in our eyes, was the most outstanding cake of the night. The unusual combination of tangy pineapple, rich cream cheese, and sweet brown sugar led us to back to this station three times.
Two Art Institute of Philadelphia Graduates offered a lemon lavender cake with a blackberry filling topped with raspberry swiss buttercream. The cake was light and airy, but the presentation was underwhelming. It reminded us of a jelly sandwich more than a gourmet cake.
Whipped Bakeshop’s vanilla buttermilk cake with raspberry jam and white chocolate-cassis meringue buttercream featured an unremarkable cake, but a bright and fruity surprise jam filling and impeccable presentation.
Davio’s offered generous slices of thick red velvet cake. It was perfectly enjoyable but the cream cheese was almost too rich and thick- we were satisfied after a few bites.
Similarly to Whipped Bakeshop, Wonderland Cake’s Kentucky buttercream cake with guava and passionfruit featured a decent cake with a bold and bright filling.
The dark chocolate cake with chocolate fudge and salted peanut butter frosting from Good Foods to Go was dangerous. It defined decadence: salty, rich, and chocolate-y.
Piece O Cake’s banana sea salt custard– the only non-cake sample of the night, featured a caramelized top and a creamy interior texture. Though the sample cups were cute and perfectly portioned, we found the flavor a little overwhelming and the topping too gelatinous. This one is only for serious banana lovers.
We never imagined having banana bread at our wedding, but Granny Schmidt’s banana nutella cupcakes were almost enough to change our mind. The banana bread was fairly moist with a little crunch, but the best part was the nutella frosting. It was rich, fluffy, and sweet.
The Cakes:
This elaborate Dr. Seuss cake from Sweet T’s Bakeshop won “Best in Show”. The figurines were impeccably similar to their cartoon counterparts.
The Merion won “Most Artistic” for this staggering fairy tree cake.
Whipped Bakeshop won “Best Theme” for their gorgeous, teal and gold, “Bird and Rose” themed cake.
“Best Student” went to Masha Lipkovsky from The Art Institute for her detailed, white, Hunger Games inspired cake.
The Master’s Baker won “Audience Choice” for their huge Moby Dick themed cake spread.
Plus, some of our other favorites!
Additionally, Penn Appetit had the opportunity to interview Chef John Moeller! John served as the White House Chef from 1992-2005, and currently runs a catering company called State of Affairs in Lancaster, PA.
5 Minutes with Chef John Moeller
First Job: In the Kitchen at Franklin and Marshall College
Training: Lancaster CTC, Johnson and Wales, University of Dijon
First European Job: Grape picking in Burgundy
White House Chef Tenure: 1992-2005 for Bush, Kennedy, Bush administrations
Description of White House Families: Very health conscious.
Popular White House Meals: John’s Chicken Enchilada, and Dutch Lancaster-Syle Chicken Pot Pie, fresh fish with local ingredients
Current Job: Catering Business, State of Affairs Catering, in Lancaster, PA (while also promoting his book: Dining at the White House”)
Favorite Engagement: This past Christmas doing a 10-course tasting meal. The client wanted different foods from around the world, and allowed John to get creative.
Core Value: Ingredients- one of the most important parts of what he does. Moeller references his strong relationships with local Lancaster farms for high-quality local products.
Favorite Cake Flavor: Chocolate Raspberry Ganache
Goal 5 years from now: Flourishing catering business, and successful book career
Process when creating a menu for brides: Consider the season, customize the menu to their likes and dislikes, and really listen (John doesn’t offer pre-set A, B, C type menus)
How does Moeller judge the wedding cakes?
Step 1: Observe at a distance.
Step 2: Examine close up details. As you get closer and closer- is there uniformity? Animals and humans are the most difficult to make.
Step 3: Evaluate smoothness, color coordination, whether the theme is appropriate/ original (because this shows a lot of thinking)
Step 4: You get the fork out.
By Farrel Levenson and Byrne Fahey