After months of thinking about how to have the most delicious wedding cake, Rachel Karten and Roxanne Rosensteel, a pastry chef based in Santa Barbara, California, concluded that only one type of wedding cake could fit the bill: a large sheet cake.
The original plan was to have four of them, but when Ms. Karten, the former head of social media at Bon Appétit, saw the 3-foot-tall cake in the designer Sandy Liang’s wedding in Juneasked Mrs. Rosensteel if it was possible to combine four cake sheets into one.
It was. Ms. Rosensteel baked one olive oil and plum jam chiffon cake;, with burnt-honey buttercream and delicate purple gombre flowers that measured just over 4.5 feet — a size dictated by the width of Mrs. Rosensteel’s car. (Other bakers may travel with the cake to places and assemble it on site.)
The mega cake was momentous for reasons beyond its size—it was part of an emerging trend of extra-long cakes that appeared around the world. But they’re only alike in their oversized proportions: Bakers put their own unique spin on oversized desserts to produce cakes of all shapes and flavors and for all occasions. Paris-based chef Zélikha Dinga baked one 5-foot semi-circular cake for the stylist and the model Shawn Lakin’s wedding to Matt Spector in Michigan in September. That same month, content creator and fashion designer Blanca Miró Scrimieri celebrated her birthday with more than 5 foot long Brazo Gitano, a Spanish roll cake, baked by Pastry Gas in Barcelona. Julia Gallay of Gallz Provisions in Toronto baked a 7 foot slab cake for a pop-up event at a friend’s bar by passing it through a window.
These oversized foodscapes may seem trendy now, but the intersection of large-scale food and art is nothing new. “Food has always been a symbol of wealth and status,” said Geraldine A. Johnson, head of the art history department at the University of Oxford.
“Beginning in the 16th century, there was a growing fascination among European elites with elaborate banquets that included food sculptures,” Professor Johnson said. “At the wedding of Maria de’ Medici and French King Henri IV in 1600, elaborate table decorations included near-life-size gilded sugar sculptures of the bride and groom.”
In a more modern context, one could refer to “Gala dinners,” Salvador Dali’s surrealist cookbook published in 1973, for scenes of expansive tablescapes and towers of food. And more recently, artist and chef Laila Gohar has been making large-scale desserts at high-profile events since 2019, including 50 feet of sweets last year it fed 3,000 people.
Now, as a departure from pandemic-enforced micro-gathering and individual treats, the trend has reached weddings, along with oversized charcuterie boards and their new iteration, butter boards. “That idea of a messier, more communal dessert is probably going to be something that people will continue to do,” said Ms. Carden, who married Greg Costanzo in September.
Then, of course, there’s the social media buzz of these flamboyant offerings. In general, Ms. Carden said, “there’s a pressure with weddings to get attention. More people are trying to do things or little touches that might get them noticed online or create a trend.”
Delaney Lundquist, an interior stylist and design director in Charlotte, NC, was early to document the mega-cake trend on TikTok. “I hope it’s not too much until May 2024,” said Ms Lundquist, 31, who is currently planning her own wedding. “I dream of a foot-long tiramisu.”
He needn’t worry. The trend is “probably just getting started,” Ms. Gallay said.
Cassie Mendietaa cake decorator and recipe developer in Los Angeles, cautioned, however, that what may at first seem like a humble sheet cake can still be a challenge.
“I can confirm that it is no easier than making a layer cake,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to think, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be a breeze.’