Cake Girls was a specialty bakery business located in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. They are known for creating
edible art
Edible art refers to food created to be art. It is distinguished from Edible Arrangements (which predominantly consist of fruit) because it is usually more elaborate dessert food. A common form of edible art is wedding cakes, but options for art ...
cakes in the form of replicas of architectural landmarks and cultural icons.
They have been featured on
WE tv
We TV (stylized as WE tv) is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming.
As of February 2015, approximately 85.2 million Ameri ...
's ''Amazing Wedding Cakes'' and the
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
's ''Last Cake Standing''.
[
]
The owners
The Cake Girls are Mary and Brenda Maher, sisters who were born and raised in Rochester, Michigan
Rochester is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,711 at the 2010 census. It is a northern suburb in Metro Detroit located 20 miles north of the city of Detroit.
Rochester was the first European settleme ...
. As children, they both understood they had an artistic talent in creating different types of cake. As adults, they both spent time working at a bakery in Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
and rediscovered their passion for creating elaborate three-dimensional "sculpted" cakes for weddings and other special occasions. After a time in Detroit, the sisters decided they could do better with their own business in Chicago, and thus was born "Cake Girls".[
]
Food Network appearances
Mary and Brenda have made a number of appearances on the ''Food Network Challenge
''Food Network Challenge'' is a competitive cooking television series that aired on the Food Network. In each episode, professional chefs vie in a timed competition in their professional specialty. The winner receives a cheque for $10,000 and a gol ...
'' show and they are currently undefeated champions.
''Food Network Challenge''
Mary and Brenda Maher appeared on the "''Simpsons Movie
''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American Animation, animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman (animator), David Silverman and star ...
'' Cakes" episode of ''Food Network Challenge''.
Their opponents were as follows:
*Debbie Goard of Oakland, CA;
*Bronwen Weber of Dallas, TX — The second runner-up in this competition, she created a cake depicting ''The Simpsons Movie'' on a skateboard with Marge
Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include:
People
*Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist
*Marge Anderson (1932†...
sitting on top;
*Tad Weliczko of New York City — His cake was a Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of his family, in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' short "G ...
statue that emulated an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
"Oscar" statuette.
The cake that Cake Girls created was of Krusty the Clown
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The Si ...
. They were announced the winners at the end of the show and received the $10,000 prize.
Mary and Brenda Maher also appeared on the "Disney Princess
''Disney Princess'', also called the ''Princess Line'', is a media franchise and toy line owned by the Walt Disney Company. Created by Disney Consumer Products chairman Andy Mooney, the franchise features a lineup of female protagonists who ha ...
es Cakes" episode of ''Food Network Challenge''.
Their opponents were as follows:
*Flora Aghababyan, assistant pastry chef, Bellagio Hotel in Paradise, Nevada
Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...
— created a Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
cake;
*Norman Davis, owner, The Sweet Life in Annandale, Virginia
Annandale () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia.[The Little Mermaid
"The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...]
'' cake entitled "Ariel's Garden";
*Elizabeth Hodes, owner, Elizabeth Hodes Custom Cakes and Sugar Art in New York City — created a Princess Jasmine
Princess Jasmine is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 31st animated feature film '' Aladdin'' (1992). Voiced by American actress Linda Larkin with a singing voice provided by Filipina singer Lea Salonga Jasmine is the ...
cake entitled "Flying High"; and
*Kate Sullivan, owner, Lovin Sullivan Cakes in New York City — created a ''Beauty and the Beast
''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...
'' cake titled "Belle's Enchanted Evening".
Mary and Brenda created a Snow White
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...
cake and were announced the winners at the end of the show, winning $10,000.
''Last Cake Standing''
''Last Cake Standing'' was a four-week competition for the title of the "Best Cake Artist of America" aired by Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
. Each week, the competitors were given a task to complete in 24 hours. At the end of each task, one team was eliminated, until only the winner remained. In the initial ''Last Cake Standing'' competition in 2009, there were six teams, each headed by a chef: Michelle Bommarito (Ferndale, MI), Courtney Clark (Ann Arbor, MI), Mary Maher (Chicago, IL), James Rosselle (Los Angeles, CA), Elisa Strauss (New York, NY), and Bronwen Weber (Dallas, TX).
For the first episode, the challengers' task was to create a cake that depicted their lives. The challenge winner was the Cake Girls. Their cake was about Mary and her life as an artist, and how it transformed into her edible art
Edible art refers to food created to be art. It is distinguished from Edible Arrangements (which predominantly consist of fruit) because it is usually more elaborate dessert food. A common form of edible art is wedding cakes, but options for art ...
cake-making today.
In the second episode, the five remaining challengers were given the task of creating a wedding cake in only eight hours. The competitors got to meet with the couple who the wedding cake was being created for, but only for a short period of time. The newlyweds got the choose who their winner was and used the winning cake at their wedding reception.
In the third episode, the four remaining challengers had to create a superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
cake. The night before, each team was asked to create a superhero of their own. When the challenge came that next morning, they didn't have their usual aides that they had had for the previous challenges. Instead, the remaining four competitors were split into two teams, with their fellow competitors taking the place of separate aides. Each team had to create a superhero cake that incorporated both of the competitors' ideas. The winner was again Cake Girls. At the end of the show, the losing teams had to have a "cake-off" to determine who would advance into the finale.
The fourth episode was the final episode, and the three remaining competitors were given a 24-hour cake challenge. They had to create a 5-foot "Sweet 16" birthday cake for a set of sextuplets
A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such bir ...
. Not only did the cakes have to individually represent each of the sextuplets, but the cakes also had to be delivered to the party within a time frame. The winner of the challenge was once again the Cake Girls, who were granted the title of "Best Cake Artist of America" in addition to their $50,000 winnings.
Fire
A fire broke out on the Cake Girls bakery's second floor shortly after 5:30 am on March 29, 2010. The building, including the bakery, was deemed a total loss. The Cake Girls, and everyone in the building, were unharmed. They were forced to cancel 500 orders due to the lack of a space to create the cakes in.
Re-branding
Following the demise of their bakery, Mary and Brenda Maher decided to re-brand themselves as a DIY party-planning and cake-making website. The site offers step-by-step instructions for a variety of projects, and also includes a shop where visitors can purchase party and baking supplies.[
]
References
External links
* {{official, url=http://www.thecakegirls.com/
Bakeries of the United States
Manufacturing companies based in Chicago