What It Takes To Make A Wedding Cake

In culinary school , they did a section of pastry and it was the first time where like the butter and the sugar , it just felt like home .

Whereas everything else I was doing in school , it was like , not as natural or easy .

So in the end , I guess it found me .

I didn't really have a choice .

My name is chef Madison Lee and I am a chef and cake artist owner of Madison Lee's cakes .

My dad owns a bakery and then my mom was always baking in the house .

I just , I grew up with it .

Piping bag in hand was always completely natural .

What I do here is so different from like what my dad does .

It's probably more what my mom always dreamed of doing , but I don't think anyone really knows how much work it actually is to get the kicks out on time and really make them .

The process starts anywhere from a year to six months in advance .

The couple's taste I build in styrofoam so that they can physically see it .

I've learned their whole story how they met , how they got engaged .

They get on my ipad and I start sketching sometimes it's easy where they're looking for something that matches the florals and things like that .

And then there's other times where they really don't know that I have to dig deeper and figure out like what their aesthetic is .

It's not just even about them .

We're just about me .

It's actually about us together and creating something that represents them .

So I would tell them to like , leave their Pinterest things at home and just like , enjoy it .

Like you got enough stress with planning a wedding .

Like the cake , the cake , cake is meant to put a smile on your face and enjoy it .

I wanted to learn from people who I admired one thing I really learned in culinary school .

It's really not about the school .

It's really about the person that mentors you and gives you their love for whatever the trade is .

So I went to Hyde Park , this woman , Betty , she like started sugar flowers and things like that here in the United States .

She taught Sylvia Weinstock , she taught Rob and Israel .

And as I was coming up , those were my huge idols .

And I thought , OK , well , I don't wanna learn from them .

I wanna learn who , who taught them like that seemed like the better way to go .

The more research I did about cakes and things I learned that it really wasn't something from here .

It's actually from the UK .

There was nothing like that here that I could find .

So I went to the bank , I emptied my bank account .

I packed a backpack .

I went to JFK .

I bought a ticket to London .

No phone , no computer , no nothing .

And I was there for four months .

I learned from as many people as I could .

People I loved who I so admired .

I learned a history and like a respect for it .

Where here it was like , oh , that's on TV .

It doesn't matter there .

It was like an honor to be making cakes .

It was something of like real value .

So when I came back , not only had my whole view of like cakes and what they represented and how it , it was a tradition .

I was like filling everything really changed and clicked .

I think that's where Madison Lee's cakes really came from that whole experience of almost breaking away .

But bringing all these different things kind of back , want the cake to taste as moist and as fresh as possible .

I think the taste is the most important part of the cake .

I mix the batter by hand .

I think it makes a difference .

I , I feel like my heart goes into the design and then it's like my soul that goes into the batter .

It's , it's a part of me just as much as it's a part of them .

You get to the wedding and you're overwhelmed how beautiful the tables are and the centerpieces and the ambiance and the lighting and you're totally blown away .

And then all the way in the corner of the room , you're looking at what's not , you're not looking at a wedding cake anymore .

You're looking at a piece of art that fits the room and , but when you walk next to it , it smells sweet and delicious .

So your eyes fix on it , you smell it .

So now all of a sudden it starts like , oh my gosh , I get to eat it and you get to look at it for almost the whole night .

At least four hours .

The wedding cake is also the last thing you typically eat .

This is your last memory of the whole experience you had right from when you got that first invitation to even go to this wedding .

And if you take a bite of that cave and it's not the best piece of cake you've ever eaten .

You don't remember anything else besides that .

It wasn't a good piece of cake .

The taste and the inside is , it's critical .

It's critical to the whole thing .

The inside is the most important .

It has to taste good .

It has to .

So the week of the wedding on Wednesday , we start , we start baking so I can't , I can't really start that much in advance because you'll have old style cake like we bake , we cut Phil on Wednesday , every single bride couple , whoever is always disappointed in something I've never heard of anybody having like a completely perfect picture wedding of everything they wanted .

Something always goes wrong .

My biggest fear is they're gonna turn around and say like , oh , it was the cake that was wrong .

And thank God in 10 years , nobody's ever said that .

But you never know .

I'm learning to be confident with it that I should be more forthcoming that I'm 31 and that I've had the company for so long and that , that I've done so much that I mean , I'm , I wanna keep evolving and growing .

So to be the best is to almost be stagnant .

Friday is the toughest day Friday .

We cover Dowell stack .

I would say the covering is the hardest because it's freezing in here .

The cakes are big and I'm only 5 ft and even though my clogs add an extra two inches , which like really does help .

I have to be smarter about it , like standing on the buckets or like I lean on the table more .

It's hard .

They're big and they're really big and I love that they're big .

I think it's great .

And we try to finish the cake on Friday .

Try .

I say try because each one is different .

So like , you don't really know , you always want the cake to sleep overnight .

That's like ideal but sometimes overnight , never like ends .

Sometimes it just like keeps going if it means that I'm here where like my whole team is here around the clock .

We're here .

You , you really , you can't mess up there .

There is no , there is no second chance you have to work smarter .

Not harder .

Honestly , if you can cut it in my kitchen for a year , you can cut , you'll be fine .

I'm super meticulous if that's how I was brought up in such tough , strict kitchens .

That's how I'm , that's , that's what I'm gonna know here .

Like you're a product of how you , how you grew up .

Really ?

It's not going anywhere .

I can't , I can't make that go away .

There could be more .

There's , you could always be better .

You could always be pushing .

It's New York City .

When you stop someone else coming , they're coming for you .

You have to show up and it has to be perfect .

I'm easily here at least 16 , 18 hours a day , easily .

If not more .

I love it .

So , where else would I be at home watching TV ?

For what you should feel more ?

You should feel it .

You should put your heart into it because you're creating something for someone's wedding day .

It's a day that they'll never forget .

And it's an honor to be a part of the celebration .

That's probably the biggest virtue I would say as you're in it , you don't realize that each step is like one step closer to this thing that comes together like so fast , it comes together just as fast as like they cut it and need it .

It's done when I say it's done .

I don't care what was on the sketch .

I don't care what was talked about in an email or on a phone call .

It's done when I think it looks like a completed work and then it's a piece of art at the wedding .

Like I know the inside is great , but it has to look appropriate and right .

And that's my art .

Yeah .

Everything on my cake , you can eat .

Everything's 100% edible .

Everything's made by hand one pedal at a time painted individually .

It feels so fast that I drew it on a piece of paper and then like it's literally right there in front of me that it's , it's surreal .

It's a part of me just as much as it's a part of them .

I think what separates me from everybody is that I really do .

I do all of it .

I'm great seeing you at your consultation and designing and understanding aesthetics and everything like that .

And then as a chef , I'm also the last hand on every single cake that goes out the door .

I have no problem in any medium of art .

But for a wedding cake , it's always a celebrate like it's always happy .

You know , you can make a sad painting .

I feel like you can't really make a sad wedding cake , but you wouldn't be getting married .

I love cake .

I eat cake every day , every day , cake .

So it's really , it's really me