Toba Garrett and cake artistry with an attitude

MANILA, Philippines - True-blue New York fashionistas know it: If you wear a specially designed Vera Wang gown on your wedding day, you’ve got to have nothing less than a Toba Garrett wedding cake. Cake artistry by Institute of Culinary Education instructor master pastry chef Toba Garrett stands out because of its classical look, clean lines and attention to even the minutest elements of the design.

“Food is more than just something to eat. Before degustation, you must also have a wonderful presentation,” declares chef Toba. She visited Manila recently to conduct Basic and Advanced Cake Decorating classes at the American Hospitality Academy as part of the international culinary school’s Master Chef Series, a program that brings in master chefs from all over the world to train the academy’s students and instructors.

“When you look at the work of cake designers, everyone’s styles are very distinctive. My style is more classical and a lot of the work that I do is the work done at the beginning of the 20th century.” The classical American style uses butter cream icing with a plethora of pipe borders — shells, stars, and ruffles, bows and other designs.

As an educator, the chef is a firm believer in the importance of mastering the basic skills. “I think it is important for educators to instill the discipline of the art. The essence of a cake artist is pipe form,” she says. “Being able to pick a pastry bag and being able to do a variety of maneuvers — that is a classical artist. There can be a lot of contradiction in this artistry. You find a lot of cake artists who can do the most exquisite things imaginable, but ask them to pick up a nail and pipe a rose and they can’t do it. So you find people who have advanced skills with no basic skills whatsoever. The art has become so accessible that students want to grow right to the top without learning the basic foundations.” With steady hands, she adeptly fashions perfect roses made from butter cream.

To reach her current stature as one of the world’s foremost in the field took 30 years of professional training. “It’s not so much the number of years,” Chef Toba maintains. “If this is something that you really want to do, you have to start and drop whatever you need to drop. You start by having classes and learning how things are done. You can’t learn things overnight, but the dedication you put in to master your skills will determine how quickly you succeed.” We perceive that her previous training in theater is a definite advantage in her current role as teacher: a well-modulated voice and clear enunciation allows all to understand detailed instructions; and a compelling stage presence enables her to maintain audience interest in the current topic. In addition, her previous work experience as a computer science instructor keeps her in good stead as a culinary teacher.

Chef Toba counts her grandmother as on of her biggest influences. “As a child, I would watch her make these delicious morsels by taking a pinch of that and handful of that. This inspired me to add another element of what my grandmother used to do. I like the challenge and I am constantly learning. In cake art, as in all the arts, you can’t know everything. You can learn for a lifetime. Ideas for cake designs can be derived from books, architecture, even lines in walls.” On this first visit to Asia and the Philippines she says that she is “seeing and learning.” She identifies sotas or randomly piped squiggles and wired royal icing flowers as distinctive Filipino influences in cake design.

Thus far, Toba Garrett’s most challenging cake was a Victorian style design with cushion lattice that took 30 days to complete. And not surprisingly, designer cakes like hers can come with a steep price tag — up to US$50,000, causing one bride-to-be to ask quite honestly, “Does it come with a Lamborghini?” Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

“You want some self-satisfaction for a project,” smiles Chef Toba who says that she has occasionally turned down commissions. “The hardest thing is to see someone take a knife and cut up your art. So you charge a lot of money; you get the money before you exit. And you leave before they cut the cake.”

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For inquiries about the next Master Chef Series, or to inquire about a culinary course at the American Hospitality Academy, call 892-7372, 892-7702 or 892-0744. Or log on to www.ahaphil.com. American Hospitality Academy Philippines is at 2/F Aguirre Building, 108 H.V. Dela Costa corner Soliman Streets, Salcedo Village, Makati.