(201) Bride Winter 2018 | Page 16

CAKES Cake Specialty and Pastry Shop NICK DESPIRITO, OWNER AND PASTRY CHEF/CAKE ARTIST 255 GOFFLE ROAD, HAWTHORNE (973) 238-0500 CAKESPECIALTY.NET Nick DeSpirito didn’t want to make his geode with rock candy. Instead, he challenged himself to handcraft an edible, freeform geode. He first constructed the exterior out of gray fondant, and lined it with white fondant. To create the glittering interior, he boiled sugar and tinted the resulting syrup in shades of pink and lavender. “I poured it into the shell and let it sit for 24 hours, then poured out the excess syrup and let it dry,” DeSpirito says. The two- tiered square cake, frosted in off-white fondant, was carved to hold the crystallized sugar geode. Surrounding the geode’s border is a careful application of 24-karat edible gold. Around the bottom of each cake tier, DeSpirito added buttercream piping in shades to match the geode. The top is adorned with pink and lavender flowers fashioned from gum paste. > 14 WINTER/SPRING 2018 | (201) BRIDE