The making of the Warns-Zobel wedding cake

Weddings are momentous occasions on any scale. Be it small or grand, the union of two becomes a life-changing event for everyone involved: those getting married and those that witness the union of two lives vowing to become one.

Now imagine the grandeur and excitement of a wedding magnified a hundredfold, and you’ll get a picture of how intense the process was in defining the ceremonial cake of the wedding couple of the century. Accepting the commission for the wedding cake of Christopher Warns and Bianca Zobel on January 6, 2012 was one of my finest hours, if I may say so.

A lot of people may think that making a wedding cake is as easy as putting flour and eggs together and putting on pretty icing that hopefully matches the theme of the wedding, but in reality, making a wedding cake is as complicated as building a house. There are numerous considerations in the creative process of a wedding cake, making it an adventure all its own. I believe that meeting the couple personally allows me to create a cake that brings out their personalities.

A piece of art: The wedding cake

In making the Warns-Zobel wedding cake, my initial meeting with the mother of the bride, Maricris Zobel, along with her daughter Bianca allowed me to showcase my past work. I asked the bride to describe her vision of her wedding cake to me; after a lot of brainstorming she decided on a Pineapple Inabel pattern, a traditional fabric design from Ilocos that would be the inspiration for her wedding cake.

I then designed the structural strength of the cake in order to make sure that it didn’t collapse and that its consistency would be strong enough to hold the cake topper, which was in this case a family heirloom: a sterling-silver soup tureen adorned with handmade Rosal gum-paste sugar flowers. Considering the finer aesthetic points that make a cake worthy of being a wedding centerpiece all has to be done without compromising taste.

On our second meeting, I presented a sketch or comprehensive blueprint of the full dimensions of the cake: its projected height, including the silver tureen cake topper, in parallel to a person standing beside it to make sure that neither the groom nor the bride had to bend or tiptoe just to cut the cake. Other critical elements are also thought out thoroughly to ensure that every element comes together in almost perfect harmony, such as weight and width in addition to height. To see this process through is quite a fulfilling production for me, both as a cake maker and decorator.

Wedding consultants Cristina Soriano de Herrera and her daughter Paola

It’s essential that as a cake maker we discuss the final design with the client so that we make sure the cake goes with the general theme of the wedding, as well as complement the décor. Once the decision is made, another meeting is scheduled to present an initial mockup, or an actual visual representation as to how the cake will look based on the agreed design.

Based on Maricris’ request, I presented a mockup with royal icing flood work paneling, where ideally you trace the intricate pattern with royal icing, giving it the look and feel of the desired artistic element. To say that the piña design was as intricate as it was complicated would be an understatement. I had to present the cake for approval to the mother of the bride, Cristina Soriano de Hererra and her daughter Paola, the production consultants for the wedding and to Gino Gonzales, the set designer of the venue in Hacienda Bigaa in Calatagan, Batangas. They decided on a darker version of the cake, which would be made with cream cheese pound cake as the base.

Inabel frabic from Ilocos was used as the inspiration for the cake

There were a lot of lessons I learned in this endeavor: one was that excellence takes real time and passionate effort. Long before a wedding is to take place, getting in touch with a cake maker and discussing design ideas with her/him has its advantages because it allows us to develop a design that completely represents the couple’s personality. Another thing I learned from making this remarkably memorable cake was the fact that doing my best all the time has its rewards. For every individual or couple that trusts me enough to make the centerpiece of a memorable milestone in their lives, I become more grateful, since it allows me to play a role, no matter how small, in the lives of the clients I serve and the students I teach. That in itself is all the more rewarding, not only for my team and I but for all the people that appreciate my work as well.

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You may e-mail the author at info@henysison.com or log on to www.henysison.com and visit the Heny Sison Facebook account.

Rosal gum-paste flowers