time I was called upon by the awesome prop team at NBC's Saturday Night Live to make a prop cake for this week's show starring... Aston Kutcher!I got the call on Thursday which seems to be my lucky day for last minute cakes.
But instead of being called on to make one giant cake, I was asked to make 4!! And they needed to be delivered to NBC Studios by Noon on Saturday! And they need to be buttercream free! And they couldn't have a sturdy structural support so a) they could be easily knocked down, b) they wouldn't ruin the costumes & c) they wouldn't create a dangerous slippery surface for the performers. The last time I did giant wedding cakes for the show, I saw Steve Martin slip and almost fall in some frosting and I saw my whole career flash before my eyes. No buttercream. Got it.
"ok. cool." I said, trying to contain my panic and focus on the money. Four giants cakes, Three days, No supports, No buttercream... no problem. I can do this. Oh, and yes, I did have other orders for this weekend.
So after 3 days and two nights of no sleep (not true, I got about 6 hours, which I think is worse than no sleep. I equate it to taking a lick of your favorite ice cream cone and then dropping it on floor. You could pick it up and continue eating it, but the consequences are to scary to consider) and using every ingredient in my kitchen and cleaning out my local grocery store of eggs, we were finally done!! The only problem was it was 1:15 pm. We loading up the cakes in my
office managers massive Jeep, along with the cupcakes that became this weeks cake of the week and headed to NBC with the speed of one of Zeus' lightning bolts.We made it there by two. I was met by my favorite stage hands and no one noticed we were late.
We got the cakes upstairs, unloaded and signed for. I saw Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg. And best of all I get to keep the money!! Good day, until...
I finally got back to Brooklyn, collapsed on my bed (fully clothed) slept for about 90 minutes when my phone rang. It was SNL. They loved the cakes but want them taller. Would it be possible to add another tier?
Hmmm. There was no more flour, not one egg or a scrap of fondant to be found in the joint. Let's not mention the time to bake four tiers of cake, cool them, fondant them & deliver them. Even I couldn't pull that off.
After I hung up the phone with a heavy heart I got an idea. I called back and suggested taking four huge cakes and making 2 gigantic cakes. I tried to suggest this in way that made it sound so easy that someone else could do it, but to no avail. They wanted me and offered to pay me to come back so of course I said yes.
I rallied to
rebuild one cake had to wait around to see if it worked so I would know whether they wanted me to build the second one (which they did)Even though I was exhausted,I must say hanging out at SNL is always pretty cool. You get to see how the show is put together, see the actors and hang out in the prop room and backstage. I even got to pig out at the NBC commissary which was pretty amazing. The props department is pretty cool too. Every body's really funny and laid back... unless you touch one of the props. I got busted playing with a stunt knife. Sorry, guys.
Rule #1: Don't touch the props.
Out of every SNL episode that has featured one of my cakes this one is definitely a fave. All the extra time and effort was worth the fantastic result. Check it out!
Hope you enjoyed it! Fist fight in the Parking Lot is my new favorite song. :o)
We'll it's bake to work for me!
Thanks for tuning in. Until next time...
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