Congratulations to Steve Klc

[razzar]

Congratulations to Steve Klc and his partner Colleen Apte for their first place in the wedding cake competition at the Beaver Creek Culinary Classic on June 12th.

Story from today's Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Jun22.html

p.s.: I hope this isn't too late and hasn't already been discussed before.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Slightly confused... the article references a "picture above" but I don't see one. Their website doesn't seem to have the illusive green twisty rods either.

Maybe I'm just lame, but can anyone help?

BTW, Congrats!

[mnebergall]

Slightly confused... the article references a "picture above" but I don't see one. Their website doesn't seem to have the illusive green twisty rods either.

Maybe I'm just lame, but can anyone help?

BTW, Congrats!

I was able to get pictures of the happy couple. Click on the article's www reference and then click on the linked "Steve Klc."

[Carolyn Tillie]

Slightly confused... the article references a "picture above" but I don't see one. Their website doesn't seem to have the illusive green twisty rods either.

Maybe I'm just lame, but can anyone help?

BTW, Congrats!

I was able to get pictures of the happy couple. Click on the article's www reference and then click on the linked "Steve Klc."

I've seen the happy couple...

I'm referring to the following quote within the article: "To make the curvy green sugar rods (shown in the photo above)...."

I want to see the curvy green sugar rods.

[razzar]

Unfortunately, the picture only seems to be available in the print edition of the Post's Food section.

[JennyUptown]

Sometimes they post the photos a few days later (that's what happened with the JohnW photo).

[KatieLoeb]

Hearty congrats to Steve and Colleen! YAY!!!

Go eGulleteers!

[Steve Klc]

Sorry for any confusion, that photo was something the Beaver Creek media team sent out after the event and that was the one the Post art director thought had the best clarity. It doesn't show the cool sugar rods that well, though, so if I can figure out how to use imagegullet and if it is back online, I'll put better ones up. I'm guessing it is a photographer rights issue why it only ran in the paper and not also online. Did anyone catch the Food Network special last weekend about this big national wedding cake challenge where they invite 5 top pastry chefs and cake artists out to Beaver Creek, set them up in kitchens on stage in front of a big theater audience, then give them artistic license to do battle for 6 hours live creating a wedding cake? Colette Peters from NYC, perhaps the most famous and most widely emulated cake artist in the country, won the $10,000 first prize with a typically beautiful cake--well, that was the second time this event was held though it was just shown now. The details of this event are being discussed here but be forewarned--it's a lot of pastry shop talk:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=45329

I was fortunate enough to be one of the 5 people chosen for this year's challenge in Beaver Creek, I think because they try to draw a diverse national group who work in different mediums and styles. I'm fortunate to be married to a fantastic pastry chef in her own right, who is also used to doing things live in front of an audience and who could assist me (since we're allowed to work with an assistant), and even more fortunate to have won the big money this year, the third time this has been held. (Colette judged this year.) Our geographic area was well-represented actually--a fantastic cake artist from Baltimore named Duff Goldman was also in this group of 5. You're going to keep hearing a lot about him--unlike many decorators he's very talented in the kitchen baking, he's got an irrepressible and original spirit, and thinks very outside the box creatively. He's an ex-graffitti artist turned cake decorator. (I'm trying to talk him into teaching me how to use the airbrush better, I'm no dummy.) Dig into Duff and his Charm City Cakes here:

http://charmcitycakes.com/

If he keeps pushing boundaries, he has the potential to become the "Colette Peters" of the next generation of cake decorators. I'll post the wild thing he did if I can find a good photo. Thanks everyone for even noticing and the Post for finding it significant. And if you ever see that Food Network special come on again, Tivo it, trust me you won't regret it. It was one of the best-produced things I've seen on FoodTV in a long time and very rarely do you get to see elite talent just doing their thing unvarnished and under pressure.

[Steve Klc]

OK, thanks to Owen and his imagegullet tutorial for dummies like me, here are some shots resized to 640x640 which hopefully reveal those sugar rods a little better--everything is sugar, pulled, blown, poured, everything is edible, like licking one big Chihuly art glass lollipop. Here we are about 45 minutes before the end trying not to break these really fragile things we spent 3 hours making:

Sliding that curvy top piece onto the rest of the cake, our one really tense moment, trying not to break it. I had budgeted enough time to build a complete second curvy piece in case this one broke--fortunately we didn't need it:

Adding that one piece of near perfect ribbon, just for the judges:

Duff's wild ride, he designed and welded this cool support structure himself:

It's over, we're tired, hungry, but at least it didn't break. Of course, we spent 5 days straight making those damn rods, and went through about 30 feet of that Home Depot vinyl tubing, until we figured out just how to curve them and just how to do that top piece under pressure so it wouldn't break.

[Monica Bhide]

One word - GORGEOUS

[mags]

Steve, that cake is BREATHTAKINGLY beautiful. What a great job!

[squids]

Congratulations! I'm so glad you were able to post the pics--the Post picture does not do your work justice. Well deserved accolades to both of you.

[SethG]

Wow. Astonishing.

[Jason Perlow]

That is very impressive indeed.

[Fat Guy]

I did a double take when I saw Steve Klc's cake, because last night I was bored and decided to bake myself a cake and it came out just like his.

But seriously folks, Duff's cake(s) give(s) me an idea: we're throwing a small birthday party for a friend tomorrow afternoon and I think I'm going to engineer something along the lines of a cupcake "tree." I just have to find something I can use as a support structure. And I have to figure out a way to support the cupcakes such that they can accommodate some candles.

[KarenS]

Very beautiful cake. Were you also given a theme? (like the four seasons on the show). Congratulations on your win! ($10,000 is a nice prize)

[bloviatrix]

Wow. I'm speechless.

[torakris]

Incredible!

It is making me want to get married all over again!

[JFLinLA]

Holy cow and totally gorgeous!

Congrats all around.

PS -- Can we move this to the baking forum so Steve can get wider appreciation?

[Lesley C]

Wow Steve, amazing cake. Very clean, elegant and original.

Are you sure you're not French!

[KatieLoeb]

Now that I've seen the photo:

I am truly impressed. That cake is a work of art.

[sara]

Incredible!

It is making me want to get married all over again!

Makes me wanna get married, period! (hint hint liamdc )

Steve, how much for a cake like that? $5, $10?

[herbacidal]

This is the first time I've ever masturbated to a picture of a cake.

But you've masturbated to food before, right?

[tanabutler]

Y'all just scared poor Miss Manners, who was lurking here, right out of the joint.

[sashimi]

Oh my goodness. In all sincerity, I believe I can safely say that is the most beautiful cake I've ever seen. You're incredibly talented, but I'm not telling you something you've not heard before.

Just, wow.