No idea is too fanciful for Bastien Blanc-Tailleur. Since starting his wedding and event cake business in 2015, the Parisian pastry chef has dazzled partygoers around the world with his showstopping creations. He crafted an 11-foot cake adorned with more than 4,000 hyper-realistic sugar roses. He designed a gopher cake nearly as tall as a human, standing on its hind legs in an edible flower meadow. And he hung eight intricately-decorated cakes from the ceiling for a wedding at the Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th-century French palace.
The cake concepts he dreams up start as hand-drawn sketches, and he gives his imagination free rein. “When I draw, I don’t think too much about how the cake is actually going to get made,” he says with a laugh. It takes months for him and his staff of 12 to turn these ambitious ideas into reality. They complete about 20 such projects across the globe each year. “People find us by word of mouth,” Blanc-Tailleur says. Many of his clients are high rollers — members of royal families, for example — or high-profile brands like Cartier. But he works with non-billionaires, too. “Last year, we had a really nice project in San Francisco where the cake was a gift for the bride.” Blanc-Tailleur says. “They were lovely and super interested in the process.”
Depending on where in the world the event is happening, that process can include shipping portions of the cake in custom-made crates to its destination, where Blanc-Tailleur personally assembles it and gives it the final touches. (Flying a cake on a client’s private jet usually isn’t an option because it’s too large to fit, he says.)
No two cakes are alike — Blanc-Tailleur never repeats a design — and each one is made entirely by hand. A scholar of French baking heritage, Blanc-Tailleur has an extensive collection of antique reference books and pastry molds. But there’s a mad scientist side to him as well; he’s constantly experimenting with new techniques and pushing the limits of what’s possible. He fine-tuned a recipe for “dough flexible enough to create a wrapping effect” and can transform sugar into just about anything, from astonishingly realistic flowers to delicate embroidery to the slate dome of the above-mentioned Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte (he made a meticulous replica that took 350 hours to complete). “People come to us for our vision and our French taste and our savoir-faire,” Blanc-Tailleur says.
He began cultivating that savoir-faire as a child growing up in Annecy in southeastern France. His grandmother, an avid baker, taught him how to prepare traditional holiday pastries that adorned the table during family feasts. That began a passion for celebratory baking, and when Blanc-Tailleur was a young teenager, he moved to Normandy to work as an apprentice pastry chef. He climbed the culinary ladder from there, working as a sous chef at several Michelin-starred restaurants.
Fast forward to 2023: His business earned a prestigious “Living Heritage Company” (EPV) label from the French government, given to companies that demonstrate “rare know-how” and a “mastery of traditional or high-tech techniques.”
It’s Blanc-Tailleur’s elaborate decorations that earn him accolades, but the flavor of the cake is just as important to him. The chef especially loves working with fresh fruits like apricot and herbs like lemon verbena. “I actually hate chocolate cake myself,” he admits. “I’ve eaten too much chocolate in my life as a pastry chef.” Plus, he says, chocolate doesn’t look the prettiest when it’s time to cut the cake. Of course, he’ll make a chocolate cake if that’s what his client wants, but his favorite projects are the ones where he’s given total creative freedom. “We have some clients who completely trust us.”
How to Choose the Right Wedding Cake
Whether your wedding will be a lavish affair or an intimate get-together, Blanc-Tailleur’s practical tips will help make your day even sweeter.
Decide on a style.
Be honest: Do you love the idea of a jaw-dropping showstopper cake? Or would you actually feel a little silly standing next to a confection that’s larger than you are? Blanc-Tailleur enjoys making “small and chic” cakes just as much as ones that require an extension ladder.
Be realistic about the budget.
Choosing a cut-rate baker and then insisting on a complex design that’s beyond that person’s expertise is a recipe for disaster. The end result will disappoint you, or worse, it could collapse or otherwise fail in front of all your guests. You’re better off being clear about what you can spend and working with an experienced vendor to create the very best cake you can afford, Blanc-Tailleur says.
Taste. A lot.
It’s cake — it should be delicious. Schedule tastings when deciding between vendors. Then taste some more to help you land on the perfect recipe for your big day.
Explore more:
