Interview with Bastien Blanc-Tailleur, pastry chef and decorator for spectacular events

By Katia Kulawick-Assante

How did you discover the world of pastry-making?

I started when I was 15: I was passionate about pastry-making, which was less common back then than it is today. My mum encouraged me to go down this path, but I had to put forward a strong case to convince my dad that it could be a decent career path, and that it was possible to excel in this field. I found my first employer in Villers-sur-Mer, near Deauville. I had my own flat and would go home at the weekends. It helped me grow up a bit faster. My wonderful mentor taught me the trade, and he’s the one who’s made me the professional I am – at least in part – today. At 17, I started entering pastry competitions, creating artistic pieces made of sugar, caramel or chocolate. By the time I was 20, I was managing a team of 50 people – that doesn’t call for as much creativity… I returned to work in Paris, first at Carette, then at the Pavillon Ledoyen alongside Yannick Alléno, before joining the Four Seasons – George V as sous-chef. We used to do a lot of weddings there. Ten years ago, a wedding planner rang me to create my first large cake at the Opéra Garnier. I set up my own business, hired some extra help – friends of mine – and worked out of a friend’s place who lent me his premises, to begin with… Today, I have 13 employees and a 500m² workshop in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse.

How does one become the world’s most creative pastry chef – according to La Liste?

Traditionally, large catering companies made wedding cakes, but as they grew, they perhaps paid less attention to detail… I realised there was a niche market for ultra-luxury, bespoke creations. I understood what an international clientele might expect from a wedding cake in terms of its visual appeal. My first client came to me because, for her previous event, she’d had a cake flown in from New York to the south of France! I started by making three cakes a year, then five, then ten, and today we make around thirty a year.

Weddings have become a fashionable celebration once again…

It’s become a public event, even though we also work on weddings that are held in the strictest privacy, with no possibility of taking photos. I don’t post everything we do on social media, as there are often confidentiality clauses.

Speaking of which, have social media changed the game in your line of work?

Instagram is a showcase. Most of the clients who contact me for their wedding have been following me on social media for a long time, and thanks to that, they’re familiar with a good portion of my work. And let’s not beat about the bush: it’s no secret that some young women are thinking about their wedding before they’ve even found a husband! The world of weddings has a huge presence on social media and continues to grow. Similarly, 20 years ago, there were no wedding planners. Families used to organise the event themselves. The constant stream of images on social media doesn’t help. The bride and groom finalise their plans in January, but then – constantly exposed to new ideas, just like the rest of us – they might start to doubt their choices a few weeks later… because it feels as though there’s always a better idea out there and that they haven’t made the right choice!

I work on the principle that we’ve been making wedding cakes in a slightly pyramid-shaped style for 400 years, so theoretically, there’s no reason to change! Even though there are trends I find amusing, I always advise couples to choose a design they’re certain they’ll be proud to show their children. Trends come and go, but we try to create something timeless.

You’re a craftsman of happy occasions, in a way…

In any case, we’re right in the middle of important moments in our clients’ lives! I’m always present at the events for which we make bespoke cakes, with very few exceptions. Yesterday, I met some clients in Versailles for whom we’d made the wedding cake a few years ago, and it’s lovely because, without really realising it, we’ve shared an intimate moment. I’m usually one of the only suppliers to feature in the wedding photos! I’m there when the cake is brought out – a privilege that gives my job a great deal of meaning.

What are your constraints?

Temperature and size. Yesterday, in Versailles, we made a very large cake for the gala organised by the American Friends of Versailles association, which was celebrating 250 years of US independence. We’d been told that the doors were exactly 2 metres wide, which was confirmed to us: but the doors were actually 1.60 metres wide… We had to find ways to get it through without damaging the sugar decorations, which are very fragile! That’s also why I’m present at the events. We work all over the world: in France, the logistics are simpler; on the other side of the world, it’s sometimes more complicated.

What is the price range for your cakes?

The ‘Collection Paris’ brand offers a catalogue of cakes with pre-defined designs and recipes starting from €3,400. For bespoke orders, which make up the bulk of my business, the minimum order is €20,000. It all depends on the time spent and any constraints, but we rarely spend fewer than 200 hours on a cake. Much like a bespoke dress, it takes time…

Are cakes getting bigger and bigger?

We’ve reached a point where we won’t be making any bigger ones! Two years ago, at Vaux-le-Vicomte, we organised a huge wedding with nine cakes, including a central cake three metres high and eight cakes arranged around it like suspended candelabra which, at the right moment, descended from the sky… Our clients’ cultural background influences their choices: a cake under 1.50m would seem too small in the Middle East, as it’s part of a culture of abundance; whereas for an Anglo-Saxon clientele, it mustn’t be too big so as not to appear ostentatious. I don’t specifically push for the cakes to be bigger: you can have smaller cakes that require a great deal more work and are more expensive to produce. The aim isn’t to make the biggest cake but the most beautiful, the best!

Does being a French pastry chef inspire confidence internationally?

Yes, absolutely. A large proportion of my clientele are, of course, buying not just my personal talent, but a level of pastry-making expertise that exists nowhere else. Many of my clients are seeking a French vision of aesthetics, refinement and the art of hospitality. When I set up my business 10 years ago, the aim was to complete a wedding package in the tradition of the French art de vivre: a couture dress, a renowned chef and a superb cake. Today, I consider myself part of this circle – which is actually a very small industry – capable of organising large-scale, ultra-luxury events, from wedding planners to wedding photographers, and from designers to florists. We all know one another and cross paths regularly.

How does the process of ordering a bespoke cake work? Do you sketch with a pencil, like a fashion designer?

We always have meetings with our clients to find out what they like – because the number of intermediaries can dilute the information. Either we travel to them, or we meet up in Paris; generally, things are arranged well in advance and our clients inevitably pass through Paris, if only for Fashion Week. We try to gather as much information as possible to understand what the wedding will look like so we can get everything right: the dress, the décor, the theme, and so on. Once our clients are sure they want to work with us, we produce several scale drawings in black and white, as well as architectural-style miniatures made of sugar. There are usually several rounds of feedback to adjust the size, budget and design. This week, we’re creating a cake inspired by a couture dress, with pleats, and another one in Monaco, featuring a reproduction of the Belle Époque mouldings from the ceiling of the Hôtel de Paris. All our production work is based on the drawings, which are all displayed in the workshop. This is also what enables us to calculate the quantities of flowers to produce and the placement of each decorative element. I spend a lot of time drawing – more than I’d like to: I sketch each motif and element to scale so that I can then give the ‘battle plan’ to my team.

There really is a genuine architectural aspect to your compositions…

They are unique creations. We can’t afford to make mistakes or cut corners. What’s more, I have a slight tendency to always want to innovate – or rather, to come up with new designs. When I’m drawing, I try not to think too much about how the cake will actually be made, because we’ll always find a way, and I don’t want to put any limits on my creativity.

What are the trends in wedding cakes?

Creating a wedding cake isn’t the same as crafting a three-star dessert. The cake must elicit an immediate ‘wow’ effect, be as delicious as it is beautiful, but also appeal to everyone. We don’t follow the wedding cake trends that pop up on social media, even if our clients are sometimes tempted to. We try to set the trend rather than follow it. On the other hand, quite a few of our cakes are copied, which annoys me a bit…

That’s the price of success, isn’t it?

What annoys me is that they’re copied badly! The bride and groom find it amusing when I send them the photos and, despite everything, they’re actually rather flattered, I must admit!

Looking at your creations, one can’t help but think of a nod to those grand historical banquets…

I’ve always been fascinated by the decorative arts – even before I took up pastry-making! In my library, I have a collection of old pastry-making books featuring lithographs of buffets… Antonin Carême and others before him had reimagined these grand buffets, with decorative sugar pieces onto which grapes, canapés and so on were hung. And I think our clients are much the same as those of the great European courts of the 18^th century…

What is your biggest challenge today?

To keep taking on exciting projects and strike a balance between my personal life and work. It’s more of an entrepreneurial challenge: finding the right balance is never easy. We want to grow, but we have to do it properly. The business is solid, but we need to be able to cope with the vagaries of current affairs and geopolitics. There are a few destinations around the world where I’d love to work… And then, you have to maintain a certain exclusivity and nurture your creativity to come up with new, interesting ideas. Last year we made around thirty cakes; I’m not sure I want to make any more… The company is on a human scale. I know and appreciate the people I work with.

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