New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1929-05-03
THERE'S ART IN A WEDDING CAKE!

!
New York. May 3-This Is rush
season for Madame Blanche. we'd
ding cake architect for two genera
tfons Of social celebrities of two con.
tinents.
This little Frenchweman does not
bake Just ordinary wedding cakes.
/ She builds edible sdifices, from bum
salow types to sky-scrt per designs.
And 70 sentimental ID she about
the importance Of the wedding cake
on the day OF days that she makes
everyone by hand!
Many Notable. Her Customers
She made Alice Roosevelt's we'd
ding cake. 80 beautiful did the
Roosevelt family consider it that
Madame Blanche has made the same
design five times for weddings In the
Roosevelt family. She made Presi-
dent Wilson'S daughters wedding
cake. taking 1t to Washington in
private car. Listed among her clients
are the stuyvesant Fish family. the
Pierpont Morgans, the Armours the
Rockefellers, Carnegies, and ambas-
sadors to England and Spain.
Somtimes Madame Blanche's we'd
ding cakes cost $1,000. But that Is
when the bride happens to be n
horsewoman. an aviatrix, or some
thing else special and wants her
cakes decorations to be appropriate
to express her interests. One OF
Madame Blanche's cakes had
whole hunting scene in the rotunda
of the top layer. A bas-relief of
hunt ran around the base Of the
cake. Another one. low, sprawlinK
one-story type. depicted yachting
scene on the top of it, sugar sails
bending to the wind a. the little
boats rounded the sides.
Watches Marriage Views Change
BRIDES usually want the old, ira
ditional decorations" Madame
Blanche assured u. in her quaint,
broken English, for she still seems
very French after 10 years here.
Times change and there are many
divorces, but brides still have high
hopes when they marry. They want
orange blossoms. Cupids, wedding
bells. wedding rings. and other SYM
hols Of luck and happiness"
Madame Blanche herself has deep
sentiment about her wedding cakes.
Scientific mixing Of ingredients and
haI{1nO aro mt onnnnh sho halx3.
One must put bit of her heart into
a wedding cake before it is good.
Madame Blanche's home is her
shop. On the third floor Of an old
brownstone home in the SOS, she
lives and works. with her daughter
and little French maid helping her.
The old-fashioned parlor, with its
glass cases in every corner. Here
are dozens Of boxes of pictures of
famous cakes she has made. Other
boxes hold samples of guest cake
boxes, and samples of decorations.
She's A busy Artist
She mixes IS pounds OF fruit cake
daily, sometimes so. Every cake
bakes six hours in an old fashioned
coal range. A temple of love or
some other kind of a sky-scraper
wedding cake may take a whole
week for herself and her artist
daughter to decorate. Most fancy
wedding cakes are the bridegroom's
fruit cake and not the white cake
for the bride. That goes in indi.
vidual boxes to guestA.
Scientific care and real heart
throbs must 60 into every success.
Madame Blanche insists, whether II
is creating a cake or a building. The
importance Of ones work must be
felt or she cannot do fsr best.
Looked to Americas Favor
Madame Blanche illustrates her
philosophy, perfectly. She brought
from the old country some fine old
English recipes for dark fruit cake
and for brides cake. She expert
mented, scientifically. until both the
cakes suited Americans. Then sh.
became interested in the real signi-
ficance Of the wedding cake itself.
Two years Of research were put in
digging up ancient customs. trying
to find the origin of wedding cake.
wedding cakes are as old as mar
rage" Madame Blanche concluded.
In ancient Egypt, natis>s made
crude little cake patties of grounl
weed meal. goats milk and honey
baked on hot stones. for wedding
guests 10 cat The idea OF large
| ornamental cake came with civiliza-
ton. But the tradition of wedding
| cakes is SO deep-seated that the
| importance of the wedding cake Is
second only to the bride and groom
a beautiful symbol of the joining Of