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Bringing cakes to life

Her ethos is everything is possible with cake, and in the past she has proven this possible by creating edible feasts that range from multi-tier, two-sided weddings cakes that represent the personality of both bride and groom to a scale replica of one of the island’s most famous luxury villas. In 2018, Mitch takes this idea to the next level. This season sees the talented baker and artist expand her repertoire to include video projection onto cakes – an exciting project that combines not only her skills with flavour and architecture with her former career in IT. “It made sense to bring my nerdy background into my creative career,” she laughs. “While working in a corporate IT job definitely isn’t for me anymore, I still find it all quite fascinating. Being able to marry the two is perfect.” In all seriousness, this tasty tech-advancement in cake decorating is truly the next big thing, with mega brands such as Disney already embracing the trend.

Using your cake as a blank canvas, Mitch and her creative technical team – who have been responsible for producing graphics and visuals for some of the islands biggest club nights in the past – design an animation that can be projected onto multiple tiers of the cake for any duration that you like. “The sky’s the limit,” says Mitch. “You really are limited only by your imagination.” Or Mitch’s – should you get stuck for ideas, she has plenty of creativity swirling around in her brain and is all too willing to share. Think sparkling fireworks and celebration banners, scrolling text, photos, videos and whimsical fairytale-esque animations. For weddings, Mitch also envisions video messages or scrolling written messages beaming onto the cake from those that couldn’t be there on the day, bringing a new way of sharing messages of love for the happy couple. The process for designing a video projection cake is not unlike the regular process of designing a wedding cake. An initial consultation with Mitch takes place in order for her to really get inside your head and bring your big ideas to life in a new and exciting way. Then a proposal is sent, concept is agreed on… and then the magic really starts to happen.

Of course, big ideas require a big cake on which to be projected, and while the shape of the cake can vary to accommodate the designs, the height needs to be a minimum of four tiers for Mitch and her team to be able to create something spectacular. “Every facet of the cake can tell a different story,” explains Mitch, “We can work with a different video, photo or animation on every level, so the size of the cake is of great importance.” While the animations work beautifully on a plain white canvas, that’s not to say they are limited solely to this. The design can be projected onto any appropriately shaded topping, and additional decorations and embellishments can also be applied to the cake and incorporated into the final animation and design; “It’s just like a theatrical production,” Mitch says, her eyes gleaming with excitement at the thought of getting started on this concept.

If by now, you still can’t envision it in your head, let’s go back to Disney. Picture the nightly laser spectacular on the castle at any Disneyland or Disneyworld around the globe, as they use the iconic castle shape as a base on which to project Tinkerbelle flittering around, fireworks coming off the towers and cute characters running all around the building. Now… scale it down. Imagine a five-tier white cake. Replace the Disney projections with your own dream animation ideas. Click here to watch a video of one of her latest projects to truly get the picture! Mitch the Cake Lady is here to prove that everything really is possible… ON cake!

Diary of a wedding cake

Sure, that’s the way your mum or grandma may have done it as you were growing up, but luxurious wedding cakes take the scientific and artistic process of baking to a whole new level. Here in Ibiza, Mitch the Cake Lady is the talented baker who makes so many couples’ wedding cake dreams come true. So complex are some of her designing and constructing processes, she could almost be considered an architect of cakes. “Sometimes people will question the cost of a wedding cake,” she says. “The price can seem slightly intangible, because they don’t know about all the hours spent behind the scenes putting together pieces of the puzzle. It’s a lot more than just all the eggs and ingredients required.”

The life of a custom Ibiza wedding cake for Mitch begins when a newly engaged couple get in touch with her to enquire about a booking – quite often about one year prior to the actual wedding date, though late enquiries are also accepted. These initial meetings – done over skype, phone, email or in person, depending on where the couple resides in the world – are spent getting to know the couple, the details of their wedding (such as themes, bridesmaid dress colours, flowers, venue) and unique personality details. Mood boards are a great source of reference however Mitch is very clear that each of her cakes must be 100-percent unique – just like each couple. “I won’t ever copy another cake,” Mitch says, her ethos on this very clear. “Of course, I can make something similar or in the same theme, but to copy another person’s cake is like plagiarism. You wouldn’t copy another person’s poem or art – it’s the same with cake.”

Then the real fun starts! When the couple visit Ibiza to view their wedding venues, meet the planners, taste their wines and menus, they also have the option to experience a cake tasting with Mitch. This stage is optional, and Mitch offers three flavours to choose from within her tasting fee (which is taken off the full price of the wedding cake once clients confirm their booking – which is generally a given as it’s love at first bite), and combines them with a variety of toppings and fillings. Throughout the course of the tasting, as the happy couples are ooh-ing and ahh-ing over their choice of flavours (with absolutely everything you can think of to choose from including gluten-free, sugar-free and lactose-free should you require it), Mitch has her trusty sketchbook on the table, ‘doodling’ their thoughts into a realistic cake design. From here, the couple and Mitch work together on any adjustments or additions, and generally by the end of the tasting, the idea has been born. Once officially booked and a deposit paid, clients receive the full sketch and design of their cake via email, and if needed further changes can be made.

As wedding couples return home to start planning guest lists, table plans and registry requests, Mitch the Cake Lady gets to work plotting and planning the diary of the cake. Depending on the elements involved in decoration, some pieces need to be constructed around three months in advance to ensure they are perfect on the big day. For example, should a client choose a lavender cake, Mitch must source organic lavender that is completely ‘food safe’ – that is, grown without pesticides in a toxic-free environment (“I can’t just go and pick it off the roundabout!” she laughs, but in all seriousness) – and then fuse it with sugar that needs to rest for a full three months to absorb the delicate flavour. Another popular detail that is ultra-time consuming is the creation of sugar roses – a full five-week process per flower. Each petal must be crafted by hand to an exact shape, then left to set, which in Ibiza’s humid climate can take around a week. Then 11 petals are combined, following the Fibonacci sequence, to create a flower, which again must set, before being coloured and then allowed to set once again as the colour intensifies. An average sugar-rose covered cake features around 30 flowers, which means creating over 300 petals. You can see where the need for spreadsheets and Google alerts really comes into the cake creation process for Mitch to ensure her professional cake studio runs like clockwork throughout the Ibiza wedding season!

“You’ve got to love all these fantastic cake shows that show people putting together elaborate cakes in an hour,” says Mitch. “But the reality is, I am already working on wedding cakes in April that need to be delivered in June.” Absolutely everything on a cake (aside from fresh flower toppings – whose stems are covered in food-safe tape to ensure they are safe to enter the cake) made by Mitch the Cake Lady is edible, be it beautiful figurines, metallic sequins so realistic they could be the real thing, delicate lacework – everything is possible with cake! The freshness of the actual delicious cake creation underneath the frosting and decoration never comes into question – each cake is lovingly baked (the part Mitch declares her passion and yet another eight-hour process per cake) three days prior to delivery, left to set for one day to allow all the air to settle to ensure a completely smooth and stable surface for fondant. The next day, buttercream and fondant are applied, which seal the cake from air guaranteeing freshness for up to 10 days, while on the big day itself – your wedding day – the final decorations are added after each tier has been assembled.

Mitch carefully packs each tier of a cake (which can weigh between three to five kilos per tier) into a protective box and placing them in the safe space of her cooled delivery van before heading on out to the beaches, countryside and luxurious private villas of the island to take it to its final destination. Due to the island’s heat (and bumpy back roads), cakes are usually assembled onsite during the dinner service at a wedding to avoid any melting or attracting unwanted attention from insects or the sticky fingers of little guests who can’t wait for dessert! When the time comes to cut the cake, the bride and groom are thrilled to see their dream come to life, while guests are enjoying the fresh, delicious flavours of the cake, its topping, filling and decoration alike. They may never be aware of the months and months of hard work that goes into the creation process, but usually the looks on their faces as they take that first bite is enough gratitude for Mitch the Cake Lady – and despite her work of art being demolished within a few minutes, she’s happy as long as there’s a beautiful Instagram picture to preserve its memory!

Top 5 cakes

Here in Ibiza, the island’s go-to creative baking artist, Mitch the Cake Lady, excels at creating bespoke masterpieces for her clients, working closely with the couple on every aspect, from design, colours and flavours to incorporating elements of their personalities. Here she talks us through her favourite five wedding cakes – each completely unique to the client. As she has been known to say: Everything’s possible with cake!

Casino Cake

“Make us something spectacular,” said the client when commissioning Mitch the Cake Lady to create a dessert for the International Women’s Business Club dinner at jackpot Restaurant, set within Ibiza’s slick and modern casino. For Mitch, the location instantly dictated the theme of the cake and she went to work designing a three-tier cake with a base diameter of 35 centimetres and a height of 30 centimetres (excluding the dice). “I tried to incorporate as many casino elements as possible – the theme was super enjoyable to work with and designing this cake was lots of fun,” Mitch says. “ The flavours were a combination of red velvet and chocolate, again incorporating the casino colours of red and black.” 26 hours later, the cake was ready to be delivered and devoured!

Pearl Pillows

For an intimate Ibiza wedding, the bride and groom requested an impressively tall, stacked pillow shaped cake with pearl details. “Although the wedding was small, they still wanted a four-tier statement cake,” explains Mitch of the brief. “We made this possible by creating two out for the four tiers ‘dummy cakes’, made from polystyrene! This enabled the bride to get her wish.” And no cake to go to waste, may we add. Each sturdy sponge tier was carved into the correct shape, all slightly different, and featuring intricate beadwork that meant each individual bead had to placed on the cake by hand. “The brooch on the top is made from all edible material,” says Mitch. “Only the board, ribbon and internal support are not edible. I love the elegance of this cake – it was a true labour of love.” 40 hours of labour to be precise!

Yin & Yang Love

There’s no better feeling for a creative person than when the client leaves the brief completely to their own hand and as long-term friends, grooms-to-be Peyton and Boris trusted Mitch the Cake Lady completely to capture their personalities, love and bond in cake. “The couple are complete opposites in personality, yet fit together so well, hence the Yin and Yang, indicated by one of them loving the winter season, and the other worshipping a sun-loving lifestyle,” Mitch explains of her inspiration. “Each element on the cake represents something they either love as a couple or individually. The biggest challenge was how to incorporate their cat – she is sleeping in the hammock!” After 30 hours of passionate work, the couple were thrilled with Mitch’s creation. “Not only was the cake decorated in two different styles and colours, even the flavours reflected their favourites: two Red Velvet tiers for one and two pumpkin tiers for the other,” she says. “Everything apart from the internal support is edible, and the decorative elements were made a few weeks in advance to allow time for drying and painting. I love the paradox and unity of the design as well as the couple.”

Gold tipped roses

The biggest challenge of this gorgeous white chocolate with white chocolate ganache wedding cake was the production of the gold-tipped sugar roses. “Sugar roses need to be made a few weeks in advance to give them ample opportunity to dry,” explains Mitch the Cake Lady. “They are made petal by petal and assembled prior to the day of the event. The humidity on our island can be very destructive to sugar work, making it precarious to work with.” Work with it she did, and by the time the 80-capacity wedding rolled around (and after 48 hours worth of designing, baking and creating), Mitch had made sure each petal was in tip top shape, adorning the beautiful cake inspired by the bride’s love of white and chocolate alike – she later on described her dream cake as “absolutely sensational, stunning and tasted amazing”. “I love the elegance and simplicity of the detail with the flowers,” says Mitch. “The only non-edible items are the wires forming the stems of the roses and the internal support.”

Healthy in blue

A wedding cake with a difference, Mitch the Cake Lady dubbed this heavenly looking creation ‘Healthy in blue’. The brief from her clients was to create a gluten and refined sugar-free creation that remained tasty and beautiful and so the talented baker chose a ‘naked’ cake that suited the dietary requirements of the bride. “Each tier was a different flavor: chocolate, coconut and vanilla,” she explains. “The icing was marscapone cheese with agave and stevia for sweetening and fresh flowers were used as decorations as sugar could not be used on this cake. Developing a super tasty, yet healthy cake recipe was a challenge and I love the way this one turned out. This just proves that healthy does not have to be dull.” It turned out the clients loved the way it turned out too. “The cake was immense!” gushed the bride. “We had so many compliments on it. It looked stunning and tasted even better – it was so much more than I could have ever expected so thank you so much.”

Visit the White Ibiza weddings guide to read more and contact Mitch the Cake Lady