The holiday season is 65 percent about desserts, or it should be. There are pies, trifles, bars and cookies to choose from, but most importantly, there are cakes. Your mom is probably busy making her famous lemon bars or chocolate chip cookies, but the bakers at Dallas' Frosted Art Bakery have been working on a project of much larger proportions.
The team of whiz bakers, led by shop owner Bronwen Weber, has been working tirelessly to construct a massive Christmas-tree cake for Food Network's annual holiday special. The result is a 716-pound cake that looks like a sculpture of Grandma's tree. Over 18-dozen eggs, 128 pounds of fondant, and a Paula Deen-approved 97 pounds of butter went into baking the cake, which was actually pretty delicious, according to Weber.
Frosted Art Bakery spends most of its time whipping up luxe baked goods for buyers like Neiman Marcus. Their buche de Noel (known to us 'Mericans as a yule log) cake is currently listed on the luxury retailer's site for a cool $110, but you can go budget-friendly (snort) and purchase a set of six decorated snowflake cookies for the low, low price of $65. If you're a big spender, you can buy Frosted Art's Cocodoro cake, made with Fortunato chocolate and gold-flecked icing, for $250.
Bronwen Weber is also no stranger to reality TV. The pastry chef frequently appears on Food Network's baking competition shows, and currently holds more gold medals than any other chef to compete on the network's Cake Challenge show. The holiday special doesn't crown a winner, but Weber's cake looks immeasurably more impressive than the boring chocolate Santa sculptures and eight-foot-tall candy canes it was featured alongside.
The Food Network Holiday Special airs on Food Network tonight at 6 p.m., and then again on December 14. You should tune in, if only to get a better look at this epic cake than the picture we've posted above.
