Dan's Papers - April 4, 2008 - Specialty Cakes: Flights of Fancy

Couples on the East End who want a wedding cake that could pass as a work of art need to look no further than Sugar Sugar in Westhampton Beach.

Whether a sheet cake or layered, Sugar Sugar's creative duo, baker and cake designer Ilona Lowenthal and her sister, choclatier Susan Balogh, custom designs each cake to fit the personality of the bride and groom. After the couple chooses the texture and flavor they want, the cakes can be decorated with anything from sugar paste flowers and chocolate figures to pastille ribbons and bows that look as though they're real. The cakes can even be enhanced by fresh berries. And it can all be created to match the wedding.

But the cakes speak for themselves, so check out more of Sugar Sugar's work at www.cake.bz.

Bill Clinton has done it. So has Hillary. As a matter of fact, lots of politicians and celebrities have. So why can't the bridal couple?

Well actually they can, and they do - get a cake with their portrait or some other meaningful image on top, that is. In chocolate, no less.

Mark of Excellence Catering in Port Washington whips up cakes for weddings, as well as other parties and commemorations, with images of the bride and groom's happy faces on top. "We do all kinds of cakes," said caterer Marie O'Mara. She said the wedding portraits are usually made for engagement parties or maybe as the groom's cake to go alongside a traditional wedding cake.

They can write the couple's initials in chocolate, or just about anything. "Everything is custom," she said. But be cautioned. "Sometimes people don't even want to eat it, it's so beautiful." Chef Mark has been honing his craft for 23 years, O'Mara said.

For the Clintons, they helped commemorate the publication of Hillary's book and other events. They created a replica of the book for Hillary's cake, while Bill got his face in chocolate. Even Democrats with less flamboyant personal lives, such as former President Jimmy Carter, had Mark of Excellence on speed dial.

And Mark of Excellence doesn't play political favorites. "We did all the pastries for the Reagan administration," O'Mara said. While they didn't choose portrait cakes, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani chose the company to cater their parties.

Other clients have been non-partisan - Yankees' fan Billy Crystal has been another client to order a chocolate face cake. Not to drop names, but they've also been commissioned to capture the Lamborghini logo atop a chocolate delight. But the list could go on and on.

So why shouldn't the next trend in wedding cakes be putting the bride and groom's portrait on a cake? The faces can always be put in the freezer and saved for posterity.