In 2021, Yevnig was approached by the Waddesdon Estate with an exciting, one-off opportunity to design and create a special wedding cake.
In recognition of the grand opening of the spectacular Wedding Cake folly by celebrated Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos at The Dairy at Waddesdon Manor, the cake commission, By Yevnig was presented to Lord Rothschild, the Portuguese President and his guests on Thursday 15th June 2023. Here is the journey of how this incredible cake was made.
About The Wedding Cake Folly
Almost five years in the making, Wedding Cake by Vasconcelos, was commissioned by the Rothschild Foundation for Waddesdon. Instigated by Lord Rothschild with his incredible vision, Vasconcelos was charged with designing a fully-immersive work of art to stand in the grove of trees alongside the 19th century Dairy. The Dairy, built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, has long been a place to entertain guests, and the Wedding Cake in all its fabulous eccentricity, continues the tradition of fun and frivolity.
Image credit: Rebecca Northway Photography
Joana Vasconcelos’s practice is reflective of the influences on Portuguese culture over the centuries including Chinese and Japanese ceramics. Building on which, her work champions traditional hand-made objects and techniques with The Wedding Cake including ceramics made by the Viúva Lamego factory, which has been operating in Sintra, a town in the Greater Lisbon region of Portugal, for 170 years.
Read more about Vasconcelos’ incredible sculpture, and her other works of art including Lafite, also at Waddesdon, here.
The Making of The Wedding Cake, By Yevnig
Yevnig worked closely with Vasconcelos’s office and the Waddesdon Events team to design her own interpretation of the extraordinary, fully immersive 12m high patisserie-inspired building. Synergy has gone full-circle in this project, as the cake artistry is inspired by the architecture, and the architecture is inspired by the wedding cake!
The Wedding Cake, By Yevnig overflows with intricate features inspired by the new pavilion, which the artist describes as a ‘temple of love’. The interpretation, at nearly a metre high and with a base tier diameter of 76cm, pays a respectful homage to Vasconcelos’s unique creativity.
Delighted to accept the commission, Yevnig spent months not only on the design and execution, but also sourcing (and in some cases, making) all the tools required to create the miniature edible version.
In reflection that Vasconcelos’ work champions traditional, hand-made objects and techniques, each tile on The Wedding Cake, By Yevnig, was hand-crafted and assembled in a mosaic style. This is the art of By Yevnig, the time taken in design, creation, and construction offering an authentic representation of the building. Crafted with love, each pale pink, green and blue textured tile (of which there were in excess of 1000!) were cut, perfected and constructed by hand.
Each of the 200 plus intricate ornamental elements, inspired by those on the folly, was sculpted and placed on the cake with precise measurement. It took considerable time to pipe, cut and perfect the decoration, with four days alone needed to build the twisted stairs and another four days to construct. The Royal icing pipe work on the doors and the creation and construction of the balustrades also took four days each.
Representations of the gargoyles, fountains and vases which grace the outside of the folly were created in sugar paste, taking hours of crafting which were then positioned and secured in perfect placement to the outside of the cake. Precision detailing of other features such as the pillars around the top of the bottom tier, the decorative spheres on the middle tier, and the top tier complete with candles together took close to 20 hours in creation and construction.
Yevnig was present on Thursday 15th June to present The Wedding Cake, By Yevnig to Lord Rothschild and took time to meet with the artist herself, Joana Vasconcelos, and VIP visiting dignitary, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of Portugal.
Image credit: Rebecca Northway Photography
Visitors will be able to see The Wedding Cake, By Yevnig for a limited time whilst visiting Wedding Cake on a guided tour which will also include the chance to explore the impressive collection of contemporary sculpture situated in the Water Garden at the Dairy.
Wedding Cake tours will run 8 June – 26 October on Thursdays and selected Sundays. Tour tickets must be pre-booked and normal grounds admission applies. For full details and booking information, please visit: https://www.waddesdonenterprises.co.uk/the-dairy-event-spaces/the-wedding-cake
Contact By Yevnig
By Yevnig designs bespoke cakes for all occasions with each unique cake journey starting with a consultation. We’d be delighted to hear from you. Please contact us via our enquiry form.
