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(Pictures for this review taken by the following:

Chubbypanda (me) on my Canon Rebel XTi.
Elonweis on her Canon PowershotG7.
The Oni on a Kodak CX7330 and Kodak CX6330.)

(Original image property of The Oni, all rights reserved.)

The Oni is a man of many talents; artist, Frisbee player, lover, and, of course, patissier (the fancy-pants way of saying cake baker). He's also a good friend.


(Picture taken by me on my Canon Rebel XTi - The Oni smoothing out one of my wedding cakes.)

I first met the Oni about thirteen years ago. We became friends, hung out together, and worked together at his parents' bakery, Marjolaine French Pastries, in downtown Saratoga. Although the road has been rocky, I'm glad our friendship has withstood the test of time.


(Picture taken by me on my Canon Rebel XTi - Maetenshi painting gold coloring on the decorative buttercream border.)

When it was time to order my wedding cake, there was no debate as to where I wanted to get it from. Marjolaine had left Saratoga several years ago, but was still operating in downtown Campbell as Margaret's French Bakery. In May, Cat and I flew up to Silicon Valley for a cake tasting with the Oni's mother, Margaret, founder of the bakery and the woman who taught the Oni everything he knows about baking. She was as lovely and sweet as I remembered. The meeting was very low key, which helped make the whole process much less stressful on Cat and myself.


(Picture taken by me on my Canon Rebel XTi - Blotting condensation off of a cake, disco-style.)

The day before the wedding, the Oni and his lady, Maetenshi, made the six hour trek from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles with my cakes safely stashed in a cooler. They also spent a good part of the wedding day detailing the cakes and assembling the final structure. I thank both of them from the bottom of my heart. It was a marvelous wedding present, and I know they would rather have been enjoying the hotel and area with the other guests.


(Original image taken by Elonweis on her Canon PowerShot G7, all rights reserved.)

Since the cakes needed to be sturdy and shippable, Cat and I had chosen a very simple design of gold beads around the base of each cake. Both the outer layer and the beadwork were done using buttercream. In addition, we were worried about the structural integrity of a traditional stacked wedding cake, so we'd decided on a deconstructed tier style in a step stair design. This also gave us the ability to have five different cakes instead of the standard three, since the each cake wouldn't need to be load-bearing for the one above it. The middle cake was red, with the traditional Chinese wedding symbol for Xi (double happiness) on the front in fondant.

The top tier was a 4-inch Carrot Cake with vanilla buttercream. Margaret's carrot cake has always been one of my personal favorites. It's moist, rich, and buttery, with just the right number of raisins in every bite. Back when I worked at Marjolaine, I used to take the carrot cakes which were too old to sell (over a week) home to my family. Everyone loved them.


(Original image taken by The Oni, all rights reserved.)

The second tier was a 6-inch Truffle Torte with chocolate buttercream. The chocolate fudge cake, filled with chocolate truffle and covered with chocolate buttercream, was our send-up to all the chocolate loving guests who attended our wedding. It was a huge hit. Even now, friends still recall the hot, chocolate on chocolate on chocolate action with slightly glazed, Homer Simpson-like expressions on their rapturous faces.

The third tier was an 8-inch Princess Cake topped with marzipan, then covered with red buttercream. The Princess Cake is my all-time favorite cake from my days at Marjolaine. I can still recite the sales spiel. "Two layers of vanilla genoise with amaretto whipped cream, raspberry preserves, and covered with marzipan." You know why I picked this cake for the double happiness character? Because it makes me happy happy. The bakers at Margaret's French Bakery haven't lost their touch.


(Original image taken by of Elonweis, all rights reserved. - Cutting the cake.)

The fourth tier was an 11-inch Devil's Food Cake with a chocolate mousse filling and covered in chocolate buttercream. This cake, with its incredibly moist crumb and fluffy texture, was the second part of our homage to chocolate. The guests didn't know what had hit them.

The final tier was a 14-inch Orange Almond Cake with Grand Marnier, sweetened cream cheese filling, and vanilla buttercream. What can I say? I like almonds. The flavors of orange and almond played together very nicely. This cake was a real crowd pleaser, which is why Cat and I chose it for the largest tier, and also why we cut into it for the official cake cutting.


(Original image taken by of Elonweis, all rights reserved. - Feeding the cake.)

I have it on very good authority that during the traditional cake feeding, the Oni muttered something along the lines of, "If he smashes that into her face, I'm going to kick his ass." As if I would ever do something so disrespectful to cake. I think he was worried about Cat's dress, which was also a hit with the guests.


(Original image taken by of Elonweis, all rights reserved. - Ninjafuzz demonstrating how to eat cake with chopsticks.)

Waldensian took care to inform all of the guests that chopsticks could be used for eating cake too, while Ninjafuzz happily showed his ninja cake eating technique to everyone at his table. Sadly, the hotel staff was unsure of how to cut and serve the cake, so the Oni had to rush over and give them lessons. It was kind of pathetic. I'm thankful he was keeping an eye on the cake service.


(Original image taken by of Elonweis, all rights reserved. - Rockin' the cake-bah.)

Afterwards, their jobs finally done, the Oni and Maetenshi were able to relax and boogie down with the rest of us.


Margaret's French Bakery - Amazing cakes at great prices. Our wedding cake was simple, due to the distance it had to travel. However, the Oni and Margaret do amazing things with fondant and ganache. Check out their elaborate, gorgeous cakes on The Cake Blog, which is run by the Oni. Their work is simply amazing.


Here are a few photos from my good friend Semajim's wedding up in Morgan Hill, exactly one month after my wedding took place.


(Picture taken by me on my Canon Rebel XTi.)

The Oni doing his trademark pose next to Semajim's cake, also ordered from Margaret's French Bakery. The Oni did double duty that day by both delivering and setting up the cake, and as one of Semajim's groomsmen. What a friend. What a trooper!


(Picture taken by me on my Canon Rebel XTi.)

Semajim and his wife went for a more elaborate design in buttercream, as well as a more classic four-tier setup. It was quite beautiful.


Margaret's French Bakery
240 Dillon Ave. Campbell, CA. 95008
1-408-379-2226
sales@margaretsfrenchbakery.com
Official Website
The Cake Blog


Read the Oni's posts about our weddings on The Cake Blog:

• Three-Hundred and Seventy Miles to Graceland


• To the Hargroves


• Hargrove Bonus Picture