Let Them Eat Cake: The Review

Three hours of cake viewing, sampling, and dishing with the most renowned pastry artists in the country: my version of heaven. This past Friday evening Lee Schrager celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the South Beach Food and Wine Festival with a heavily frosted party hosted by Emeril Lagasse and Martha Stewart at 1111 Lincoln Road.

The multi-use structure held the party on the top floor, transformed from your ordinary parking space, with pink lighting, posh lounge seating, dance music, bing photo booth, multiple bars, a live ice carving show, and even a line of conga dancers. If you so desired, your Moet could be poured by an aerialist hanging from the ceiling, which seems to be a trend this party season. (see here)

The showcase pieces of the garage were of course the cakes. There were so many beautiful and intricate designs using a variety of techniques. The pastry chefs were on hand to describe their creations, so you could actually figure out, “How’d they do that!?!”

My favorite part, in addition to meeting some of my culinary heroes (Duff Goldman, Ron Ben-Israel, I’m talking about you!), was sampling the cakes. Whenever I’ve watched a Cake Challenge or Ace of Cakes episode, I’ve always wondered what those cakes actually tasted like. Now I know. They are fabulous. As I tweeted from the event, “@Charm City Cakes pumpkin chocolate chip cake is incredible! Cakes look as great as they taste.” My favorite tastings includes the aforementioned Charm City Cakes, Ron Ben-Israel’s chocolate peanut butter cake, and Georgetown Cupcake’s salted caramel cupcake.

Here’s a gallery of images from the event. Hope you enjoy.

1111 Party

Colette Peters (Colette’s Cakes, New York, NY)

Duff Goldman (Charm City Cakes, Baltimore, MD)

Edda Martinez (Edda’s Cake Designs, Miami, FL)

Elena Warrens (A Piece of Cake, Miami, FL)

Epicure Gourmet Market & Café (Miami Beach, FL)

Jacques Torres (Jacques Torres Chocolate, New York, NY)

Lori Karmel (We Take the Cake, Miami, FL)

Margaret Braun

Patti Schmidt (The Dessert Lady, Orlando, FL)

Ron Ben-Israel (Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, New York, NY)

Ron Ben-Israel (Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, New York, NY)

Sophie Montagne & Katherine Kallinis (Georgetown Cupcake, Washington, DC)

Sophie Montagne & Katherine Kallinis (Georgetown Cupcake, Washington, DC)

David Funaro (Godiva Chocolatier)

Colette Peters (Colette’s Cakes, New York, NY)
Duff Goldman (Charm City Cakes, Baltimore, MD)
Edda Martinez (Edda’s Cake Designs, Miami, FL)
Elena Warrens (A Piece of Cake, Miami, FL)
Epicure Gourmet Market & Café (Miami Beach, FL)
Jacques Torres (Jacques Torres Chocolate, New York, NY)
Lori Karmel (We Take the Cake, Miami, FL)
Margaret Braun
Patti Schmidt (The Dessert Lady, Orlando, FL)
Ron Ben-Israel (Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, New York, NY)
Sophie Montagne & Katherine Kallinis (Georgetown Cupcake, Washington, DC)
David Funaro (Godiva Chocolatier)