Two weeks ago was the 20th annual New Orleans Wine and Food Experience. Their newest event to help raise money for the Second Harvest Food Bank was The Big Gateaux Show.
Tariq hosted the burlesque-themed cake competition along with Johnny Iuzinni from Top Chef, Just Desserts. Four teams were created with a celebrity cake decorator and a group of local culinary students that were assigned a burlesque dancer to model their cake design after. The winner received $5000 from Valrhona.
A bunch of Sucre folks either worked the event or attended it, myself being part of the latter group. The cakes were on display around the ballroom at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the French Quarter and accompanied by the dancer who inspired the design.
Each cake had a 4 foot base and had to be at least 5 feet tall. Due to the nature of the charity they were raising money for, the "cakes" were not actual cake, rather constructed out of Styrofoam since the masterpieces are not in fact eaten but typically thrown out.
The winner was selected by a panel of celebrity judges, including Ron Ben Israel from Sweet Genius, however each guest was given a doubloon to vote for their favorite as well.
The winner was Bronwen Weber whose model and inspiration was Trixie Minx. (Above top left photo).
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