Buttercream Bakeshop’s Tiffany MacIssac and her collection of cake stands.
In the history of the wedding-industrial complex, has there ever been a vendor that doesn’t encourage couples to spend wildly on this fairy tale day? Tiffany MacIssac doesn’t play into the hype.
When couples select a basic wedding cake from her new business Buttercream Bakeshop—based out of her Annandale home until she finds a commercial space—she ups the glam with props.
“Get what’s in your budget,” she tells the bride and groom. And then, “if I have someone that orders a really simple wedding cake, you can make a big difference with a cake stand. By putting it on a cake stand it gives it this grand look.”
MacIssac, 33, the longtime former-head pastry chef for Neighborhood Restaurant Group (Vermilion, Evening Star, Buzz Bakery), sources her stands online from Etsy and Amazon and with trips to Home Goods and Mount Vernon Antique Center in Alexandria.
Milk glass, often opaque and pastel-hued, is MacIssac’s favorite material for dessert stands, but she also turns crafty by gluing wide-based candle stick holders or sturdy glassware to porcelain plates.
With a cake purchase, clients can rent from MacIssac’s personal collection of stands, because a wedding day is worth its weight in glass. Just ask Cinderella. —Stefanie Gans
(October 2014)
