Chef Marney White, the baker and designer-artist-in-residence at Marneycakes creates wedding cakes that are too beautiful to eat and too delicious not to!
So often couples concentrate on the how their wedding cake will look, without even considering that this slice of confection is actually the finishing touch of a once-in-a-lifetime banquet celebration. It’s the cherry on top, and when the cake is a custom Marneycakes confection, guests will take home the memory of a beautiful work of art, both for the eyes and the palate.
So what makes a Marneycakes wedding cake so special? Well that would be Chef Marney White herself. At age 44, this former life insurance and estate planning professional realized that making celebration cakes was her life’s calling, and she has done everything possible to create the most beautiful, finest quality cakes. A Marneycake is made of the freshest natural ingredients (never anything artificial, including artificial color), locally sourced whenever possible. That means only buttercream – no fondant in a Marneycakes kitchen, thank you. Besides, her genuine buttercream is smooth as fondant, but so much more delicious. (If you think you don’t like genuine buttercream, then you haven’t had genuine buttercream.)
So what’s the big deal? Isn’t a cake just a cake? Um…no, it’s not. It’s all about chemistry – the right ingredients, prepared under the proper conditions – and with skill – training, inspiration and vision to present it artfully.
The North Fork Weddings and South Fork Weddings team recently had a chance to enjoy Chef Marney’s cakes while discovering more about how she found herself baking cakes instead of studying actuarial tables. After discovering what makes Chef Marney tick, it made complete sense that she would be in the business of helping people celebrate.
Before the business of running a business consumed her life, Chef Marney enjoyed photography (still does, she said), and has studied yoga, karate, kickboxing, and fencing. The study of martial arts and yoga teaches one much about oneself, she said. So with the support and encouragement from her husband David, her daughter Chloe and son Sam, Marney White exchanged her business suits for a chef’s jacket to follow her dream.
It turns out that although Chef Marney has been making her delightful cakes for friends and family for more than 20 years, she waited until 2008 to hang her shingle, so her cakes are made with a lifetime of baking experience. What inspires her to create these works of art? The love of fine pastry, and the gum paste work of Betty Van Norstrand and Ron ben-Israel.
The dedication to craft that Chef Marney puts into her cakes is mirrored in the unparalleled customer service that she delivers. “I’ve learned that giving people better customer service than they ever imagined makes them want to tell everyone they know about the great experience they had with Marneycakes.”
Exceeding her clients’ expectations is her favorite part. “Seeing the clients’ reactions to their cakes…always makes my day for several days,” she said. One would expect such a response from this generous spirit. Island Harvest is her favorite charity – she notes that 97-98 percent of every dollar donated to Island Harvest goes to feeding needy Long Islanders, and she whole-heartedly gives back to the Long Island community and supports their efforts.
It’s true, this delicious cake delivered with impeccable service can feel a bit spendy for some. Chef Marney asks that you consider what you are buying — a custom cake made from premium ingredients prepared by a cake designer that has spent years perfecting her craft. It takes years of long hours of study and physical work to produce the work of art that you share with your guests at your very special celebration, which is why few other cake designers and pastry chefs can deliver anything similar. It’s worth every penny.
And that part about being lucky? “I love what I do, and my clients are the sweetest people,” Chef Marney said. “I’ve got loving, supportive family and friends who cheer me on at every opportunity and are always asking what they can do to be helpful. For these reasons, I consider myself the luckiest woman alive.”
Once you experience a Marneycakes custom designed celebration cake, you’ll feel pretty lucky, too.
(Photographs provided courtesy of Chef Marney White and Vivid Visions Photographics. All right reserved.)
{ 1 comment }
