Magic Realism

Think of an object. Any object. Now imagine a cake made to look just like it. Elisa Strauss ’98 believes the possibilities are endless. So far, the cake sculptor’s unlikely collection includes a tooth for a dentist, harps for musicians, a six-foot sock monkey for a Food Network cake challenge (which she won), and an eyeball for the physician who performed her laser eye surgery. (It just seemed the thing to do, she says.)

What began as a labor of love in her grandmother’s kitchen grew into a hobby for Strauss during her college years. Though an art major, Strauss wasn’t necessarily planning to be the next Georgia O’Keeffe or Frida Kahlo: “I always knew I wouldn’t be happy going to a loft space and painting all day,” she says. What made her happy was creating one-of-a-kind confections for family and friends. And they loved eating them as much as she loved baking them. Her eerily lifelike creations—like her mouthwatering pizza burger cake, right—became a sort of personal signature, and word of her talent spread.

While working as a textile designer for Polo Ralph Lauren, Strauss was asked by colleagues to create a replica of one of Ralph Lauren’s favorite classic cars for the designer’s 60th birthday. He adored it. Then there was a shoe-shaped birthday cake for footwear auteur Manolo Blahnik—a scrumptious, realistic sculpture he apparently loved.

When baking cakes on the side wasn’t cutting it anymore, Strauss decided to go to pastry school and to follow where her heart and frosting knife led her. In 2001, she incorporated Confetti Cakes, a specialty bakery with a goal to make “performance art” cakes that taste as good as they look. By all accounts, she has succeeded.

Strauss’s work has been featured in countless magazines—wedding cakes in the Knot and Martha Stewart Weddings, a replica of the Jets stadium on the cover of New York magazine, and one of her popular handbag cakes popped up in an issue of Gourmet. A strappy little gâteaux shoe graced the pages of Elle, and her faux sushi platter—created for the Japanese restaurant Nobu’s 10th anniversary—showed up in the Wall Street Journal. Strauss’s spectacular cakes have garnered her praise from private clients and appearances on shows like Rachael Ray and Today. And when Charlotte York became Charlotte Goldenblatt on the sixth season of Sex and the City, the wedding may have had its iffy moments, but the cake was perfect, thanks to Strauss.

These days, she is focusing on sharing her art form with others. She teaches private classes and is a featured instructor for Craftsy, an online community and educational resource for hobbyists. She has also authored two books, The Confetti Cakes Cookbook and Confetti Cakes for Kids. Of the more than 1,000 cakes she has created, Strauss finds it tough to pick a favorite. Each one is a special work of art to her. “Each cake is like a child,” she says.

“I may not remember your name,” she notes, “but I remember your cake.”

Stacey Norwood is a confirmed kitchenista, wordsmith, and domestic hedonist, based in Nashville, Tennessee.