Piece of cake: Edinburg bakers make tasty three-dimensional masterpieces

Lillie Dominguez wanted to give her fiancé, Edward Vargas, a wedding present he would never forget.

Who knew combining Vargas' love for motorcycles and a wedding would be so easy - or delicious?

Last Saturday morning, Cynthia's Cakes in Edinburg delivered the bride and groom a 32-inch, scale-model cake shaped and crafted to look just like Vargas' exotic Italian MG Agusta motorcycle, right down to the triangular red tail lights and the speedometer.

Apart from the detail, the best part of the 3-D cake might have been the chocolate filling.

"He's such a big motorcycle enthusiast," Dominguez said. "I wanted to do something to surprise him."

3-D cakes are a growing trend in the baking industry, fueled by popular television specials and shows on The Food Network.

For more than five years, John Alexander and Alfredo Conde at Cynthia's Cakes have been baking, carving and icing creations to look just like some of the country's most famous landmarks and some of their customers' favorite items. A few times a year they get to combine their passion for baking with creativity and mold completely three-dimensional artworks.

Alexander and Conde have made dozens of the cakes, from a first White House cake for one of President Clinton's visits to the Rio Grande Valley, to another motorcycle cake they made for Jay Leno. They've also done golf carts, buckets of beer, Yankee Stadium and a roulette wheel. The most unusual was probably a coffin that they made for a mortician's birthday party.

Alexander, the 27-year-old son of owner Cynthia Ebrom, is the chief baker at the shop - one of the premier of its kind in the Rio Grande Valley.

Conde is a 28-year-old cake decorator at the shop and started out as a delivery driver.

Both are motorcycle enthusiasts, making the MV Agusta even more fun for the duo than other 3-D cakes.

Early mornings and late nights

Most 3-D cakes take about two full days for the men to complete. The final tab on a cake like the MV Agusta is about $1,600, Alexander said.

Since most are made for Saturday events, such as weddings and birthday parties, they usually start on Thursday by designing the creation and figuring out exactly how they will turn it into cake art.

With any of the 3-D cakes, Alexander and Conde start with a frame.

"You can't make a motorcycle out of cake only," Alexander said. "It won't support itself."

Tires are made out of a ring-shaped Styrofoam mold.

The bike is supported by a wood, which holds up the center portion of the cake.

Over time, Alexander and Conde have become skilled with a jigsaw, they said.

In all, a motorcycle cake can serve about 30 people.

As much of a 3-D piece as possible is made out of cake and covered with a special frosting called Fondant, which allows for a smooth, matte finish.

For Dominguez's order, Alexander and Conde worked until about 10:30 p.m. Thursday and returned at 8:30 the next morning to add the cake and the frosting that would make a hunk of wood look like a motorcycle.

‘So proud'

The finishing touches on Dominguez's black bike were added with edible silver paint, more Fondant for lights and the detailed red stripes on each side of the bike. The seats were designed to replicate those on the bike and a tread design was added to the tires.

Alexander and Conde even made a chain and rims for the bike with edible paint and frosting.

Details are what make the cakes special to the recipients, Conde said.

"We could just stop without any of the lights or a lot of the detailed stuff," Conde said. "But it looks so much better when you add everything you can."

On Saturday morning, Ebrom, Alexander and Conde delivered the cake to the Dominguez-Vargas wedding at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in McAllen.

 
"We didn't want to leave it there," Ebrom said. "We were so proud of this one."

___

Kyle Arnold covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4410.