Covering Up a Crushed Cake

[Busboy]

A brief but amusing piece in the Washington Post Magazine about a Chef, a wedding cake, and a doberman.

I don't care if it was 25 years ago, I'm not sure I'd go public with this one.

No sooner did I squeeze the cake into the refrigerator than the shelf collapsed under the tremendous weight, and both the shelf and the cake crashed to the bottom of the refrigerator. I heard the distinctive tinkle of breaking glass again -- the second dove had been destroyed. With a sigh, I lifted the lid of the box. There they were, crystalline shards piled on top of the cake.

Anybody else been the perpetrator or victim of such an act?

[Curlz]

WOW. Great story, but I'm with you--not sure I'd go that public with it! Then again, the book sounds like a fun read...

[Busboy]

I am a moron, after all. I was thinking to myself "this sounds like something that should be in that book Bourdain was shilling on eG"... which, of course, it is.

eGullet discussion of the book, here.

[chiantiglace]

I think all of us are guilty of a little lie here and there to save our ass in the heat of the moment.

[chefette]

I actually wonder what the lie is in this story.....

An accomplished - famous french pastry chef with a pastry shop in LA - catering the food and cake for a wedding??????

An accomplished famous french pastry chef blowing only two measly freaking sugar doves for the top of a cake?

An accomplished pompous french pastry chef putting sugar doves on a buttercream cake in a box in the back seat of a car in California and driving fast taking sharp turns?

An accomplished famous french pastry chef putting a cake with blown sugar into a fridge - ney - jamming the cake into the fridge?

Not just doing the right thing even once in this journey

amazing

astonishing

incredible

and the audacity to accept their money, blame their dogs - involve their dogs, throw whipped cream and mint onto the whole mess

.....freedom fries please!

Hopefully most of us would be responsible enough that our asses never got in such a ridiculous mess.

[chefpeon]

Hey, I alway say, mistakes are your BEST learning experience!!

I'm not ashamed of my mistakes....wait, let me re-phrase that.......I'm ashamed of them, but I'm not ashamed to admit them.

What credibility does one have if they've never made a mistake?

My mistakes serve two purposes:

1. That I'll never do that again, and

2. I have a great story to share....not to mention a fun "teaching tool".

I say the more mistakes you make, the better chef you are.....

and that you're more willing to take a risk and fall, than not to try at all.

Do you know that the first time that I ever boiled cream it was in a giant steam kettle, and there

was a heck of a lot in there since I was making an industrial sized batch of pastry cream (this was in school). Well, shoot, I didn't know that steam kettles were so damn efficient....and fast! I figured it was gonna be quite a time for that cream to come up to temp, so I turned it on and walked away. Ha! Ever see cream boil over in a giant steam kettle? I have! And I got to clean it up too.

[chiantiglace]

he might not have been accomplished famous pastry chef then, maybe he is now.

[simdelish]

I actually wonder what the lie is in this story.....

An accomplished - famous french pastry chef with a pastry shop in LA - catering the food and cake for a wedding??????

An accomplished famous french pastry chef blowing only two measly freaking sugar doves for the top of a cake?

An accomplished pompous french pastry chef putting sugar doves on a buttercream cake in a box in the back seat of a car in california and driving fast taking sharp turns?

An accomplished famous french pastry chef putting a cake with blown sugar into a fridge - ney - jamming the cake into the fridge?

Not just doing the right thing even once in this journey

amazing

astonishing

incredible

and the audacity to accept their money, blame their dogs - involve their dogs, throw whipped cream and mint onto the whole mess

.....freedom fries please!

Hopefully most of us would be responsible enough that our asses never got in such a ridiculous mess.

←

I'm with you Chefette, my thoughts exactly as I read it on Sunday. One faux pas after another... I still am shaking my head. He CERTAINLY knew better, even 25 yrs ago. Hell, I knew better 25 years ago!

[chefpeon]

Hey, after your comments, Chefette, I actually decided to follow the linky and read the story.

I must say, it DOES sound too ridiculous to be believable.

Here you have, on the one hand, someone who cares enough to

  assemble the layers of the cake and decorate it with frosting, making it as special as I could, piping tiny white flourishes that were all the same size and perfectly spaced

and

Then I made the beautiful little doves, heating the sugar and blowing the shapes out of the blob. They were lovely, like big Christmas tree ornaments, and I delicately perched them atop the cake. Voilà!

Then he abruptly undergoes a personality change and,

Running late, as I always was in those days, I drove fast, scooting around the less-trafficked back streets. Hey, I was late for a wedding -- what cop would give me a hard time?

As I was heading into the heart of Beverly Hills, I took a sharp turn, and heard the cake slide across the back seat -- followed by a cracking sound, similar to shattering glass. One of the doves must have broken.

and then.....

I walked up to the refrigerator and tried to slide the cake inside. Wouldn't you know it -- it didn't fit. But it almost fit. So I pushed as hard as I could, forcing it, little by little, into the refrigerator, the box crumpling faintly at the sides

So this dude is dainty and careful when decorating the cake, then turns into a madman as he delivers it?

Any cake person knows that the careful handling doesn't stop the minute you finish decorating it......so I must ask, "WTF?"

SURELY, he couldn't have been that reckless? And CERTAINLY not at that point in his career?

If it's a true story, I would be amazed indeed.

[BarbaraY]

Perhaps there was a minor mishap. A minor mishap doesn't make a very good story so if it's dressed up a little (or in this case, a lot), it makes a more interesting story.

If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance you can baffle' em with BS.

Call it poetic license.

Edited July 7, 2005 by BarbaraY (log)

[chefpeon]

As I keep thinking about this story, I have other comments....such as.....

1. If I had actually wrecked my own cake creation, managed to blame it on the customer's dogs,

and accepted money for the whole deal, I certainly would NEVER cop to it in any way, shape, or form. ESPECIALLY not in a tell-all book. I mean, there's innocent mistakes and all-out irresponsibility. I think this story is much more the latter.

2. I can't believe anyone who has done pulled and blown-sugar work would actually place the doves on the cake and THEN transport it, and then expect them to hold up well in a customer's refrigerator once it has gotten to the site.

This is just one of those tales I can't get out of my head because it sounds too crazy to be true.

Call me obsessed.

Just don't call me Michel Richard.....