What inspired our “Red Haute” fashion spread in the latest issue? Red velvet wedding cake.
I was in Los Angeles in early February, visiting one of my best friends and former roommate from the University of Arkansas, Kristin. She lives in Sherman Oaks now, which is not too far from the famous Beverly Hills bakery, Sprinkles (now with many locations across the country). I’ve enjoyed Sprinkles cupcakes in my hometown of Dallas many times, but never tried their famous red velvet. And by the time I was in L.A., it’d been more than two years since I’d had a sweet Sprinkles treat.
Red velvet, of course, has become one of the most popular wedding cake flavors in recent years, but I never understood why. I never tasted any significant difference between that and chocolate, save for the cream cheese frosting. That is, until I tried Sprinkles’ Red Velvet cupcake in L.A. (this is the actual one that changed my life). I could rattle off clichés like how it “melted in my mouth,” but I don’t need to. Seeing as I’m the last to understand the phenomenon, I assume you’re already converts and know just how good red velvet can be.
This goodness was inspiring. While sitting at the little café table outside the Santa Monica Boulevard bakery, I dreamt up a spread of luxe red velvet, flowers and jewels – all as decadent as the cupcake I was enjoying. The rich hue would spotlight frothy gowns. This is exactly what I flew home and began planning with our staff. By early April, the shoot was set, the gowns were in tow and the opulent red accessories in hand.
One item in particular was especially important – the red velvet cake. Elizabeth Johnson, owner of and master baker at Cabot’s Covered in Cake helped us out big time with the cake. After I sketched what we envisioned for the cake in print, she not only executed it to a “T,” she also created a second, very similar cake for us to choose between. (Love her!) And, Elizabeth also baked us one tier just for slicing, so our model could pretend to eat it on set. After getting the shots we needed with the slice, we couldn’t resist, we dug our forks into the moist and delicious red velvet – yum – Elizabeth, you’re a genius!.
That’s why I want to say once again tell Liz “Thank You” for her help with the cake! It was even prettier than I imagined and tasty as can be.
Unfortunately, the set up we had in mind for showing off the entire cake in the spread didn’t work for print. I’m still bummed about that. Nonetheless, the spread turned out great, and you’ll see Covered in Cake’s red velvet slice on the opening page of that spread!
In the meantime, the gorgeous cake sits perched on a shelve above my desk. Elizabeth warned me the fondant would eventually deteriorate, but so far, it still looks as delicious and decadent as the day she delivered it.
