The summer wedding season is creeping up and for brides and potential bridezillas, the search is on for that perfect wedding gown, the perfect wedding venue and surely, the perfect wedding cake. For the longest time, wedding cakes in Hong Kong were frequently for display only and were sculptural baroque pieces the bride and groom took pictures with. Edible wedding cakes were a rarity; delicious wedding cakes were even rarer. Phoebe's Designer Bakery has been one of the driving forces in helping along a wedding cake revolution in Hong Kong.

The idea behind Phoebe's Designer Bakery started in 2004, when the owner Cheekay Chow made her first wedding cake for her best friend's wedding. It must have been a success for orders started to come in and the result was the opening of Phoebe's Designer Bakery two years later, with the aim to specialize in all-edible, Western style wedding cakes. Sick and tired of the dummy cakes only for display during Hong Kong wedding ceremonies, Chow wanted to promote her multi-tiered cakes which not only look good, but also taste great.

The result was Chow starting her new venture, focusing on this particular niche in the cake market. "Young people are becoming more and more demanding with all aspects of their wedding, from the venue, dress, decorations, invitations, everything. So, it didn't make sense they would still be happy with a recycled and artificial cake that they didn't choose for themselves."

Chow enlisted help of her good friend, a New York-trained interior designer Jasie Chiu, to create her wedding cake wonderland and the result is the sweet and heart-warming shop front on the slopes of SoHo. Quaint and charming, Phoebe's Designer Bakery's interior will make Martha Stewart proud, and emanates a cozy home-like warmth. A walk past the storefront on the weekend will usually result in a high chance of seeing young girls stopping in front of the glass window panes, giggling, lots of pointing and finally multiple poses for a photo session. It's no wonder, given that Phoebe's French windows showcase numerous pastel-colored cakes, in various shapes and sizes.

Customers can choose from different styles, such as a minty green polka dotted Chelsea, the floral encased Cambridge, or the Wycombe, brightened up with delicate sugar butterflies. Many of the style names are inspired by Chow's experiences abroad, from her days of studies in the UK and travels abroad. Chow designs her own cakes, drawing inspiration from many different sources, such as incorporating a wallpaper pattern for a cake design. Brides can customize their cakes by choosing the shape (round or square), number of tiers, style plus customized colors, and most importantly, the cake flavor.

Bridezillas who need to know every single detail can call ahead for an appointment and request for a taste test. The baker at Phoebe's previously trained at the Peninsula Hong Kong, so expect classy quality at this designer bakery. Chow's original cake for her best friend was a traditional English fruit cake but after some research into the local market, English fruit cake ranked low on the preferred wedding cake flavors in Hong Kong. As a result, Phoebe's offers classic flavors, such as Tiramisu, Chocolate, Choco-Berry, or the most popular Zesty flavor. The Zesty lemon cake is a combination of a lemon butter cake, lemon curd and lemon butter cream.

Since its inception, the wedding cake concept has caught on and has been warmly welcomed by Hong Kong brides. Chow is now looking into developing cakes for special occasions as well as expanding the repertoire of cake designs. On top of the existing traditional multi-tier concept, Phoebe's will start offering wedding cakes in other 'formats', and smaller cakes for other occasions starting this summer.

For her own wedding earlier this year, Chow had 150 miniature wedding cakes made for her by the bakery and had them hand-carried to her overseas destination. The multi-colored gems were a big hit at the wedding, as the guests devored the lemon raspberry flavored cakes with great delight. It was certainly a dream come true for Chow as that's exactly what wedding cakes are for, to be eaten and enjoyed.

(HK Edition 04/10/2008 page4)