Cake Wars

They May Be Dreamy, Sugary Creations, But Wedding Cakes Are Borne Out Of A Highly Demanding And Highly Competitive Industry, Where The Rewards Are As High As The Risks.

- September Grace Mahino

Cake always elevates a gathering into a celebration. As important as the main spread is on a dining table, nothing signals an event’s crescendo quite like the appearance of a cake, often brought out at parties accompanied with singing and clapping. Everything else that happens after is the denouement, a dwindling of festivities after the sugar high.

These confections made of little more than flour, butter, eggs, and sugar have a particularly special place in the wedding ceremony. Symbolic of the first meal shared by husband and wife and the sweetness with which they hope to fill their marriage, the cake is carried or wheeled out to the reception to grand acclaim, with all eyes on the newlyweds as they slice off a piece to feed each other. It is also the last thing people eat, giving it the responsibility of leaving a delicious lasting impression among guests. With such a big role to play in an important life event, the cake has given birth to a long-standing global industry estimated to be worth US$2 billion in 2015 by the Association for Wedding Professionals International director Richard Markel.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT

If we were to take a look at the local wedding cake scene, this figure would be hardly surprising. For Mark Flaviano, owner, manager, and cake creator of the pastry business Sparks, the fees he charges for two to three multi-layered wedding cakes are often higher than an employee’s monthly salary in a regular pastry job. As he should—with orders like a red, eight-foot-tall cake that features 400 small handmade flowers attached to each layer, there’s more than just the normal baking and decorating involved. It isn’t so much that Flaviano gets so overwhelmed by the demands of his clients that he has to raise his prices.