Photo Courtesy of Tom Hemerka
1. What is your best advice for engaged couples?
My advice for couples would be to choose the flavor of cake they want to have not what would please their guests. It’s your special day and one of the only times you will be ordering a special cake, try something you can’t get in the corner bakery. Also don't be afraid to state your budget. We cake artists want to make only beautiful things and we will work with your budget to create the most beautiful cake that allows.
2. What is something you constantly strive for?
That is several things. The biggest one is better baked cakes. We are always always making improvements to how we bake them because the better we do that the more moist they are, the less waste we have and an overall better cake is achieved. I am also always trying to improve the communication with the client, so finding the right technology is important. And lastly, my sugar flowers. Always trying to achieve more realistic results that are doable within a good time frame. So that they are not quite there for competitions but a little more realistic than whimsical ones.
Photo Courtesy of Erin Hoyt Photography
3. What would you like to be the new trend for weddings?
The return to old times in cake decorating where the more skill you showed the better the cake. People pushed the limits of sugar and created unbelievable things. The cake world has gone a different direction with the rise of social media and people utilizing education as a way of making a living. But wrong information is being spread and the easier, sloppier and unskilled the cake is, the more popular it gets. Better more beautiful cakes that you can actually eat would be amazing to see.
4. What sets your brand or business apart?
Two things: one is flavor. We have an approach more close to a French dessert and we do not use flavored buttercream or straight up curd to fill our cakes. The fillings are true in flavor, not overly sweet or tart, and very light in texture. Flavor comes before the art at Pistores. The second one would be the artistry. You have a fine art artist designing and creating the cakes and I bring those skills (painting, sculpting and calligraphy) to my cakes.
Photo Courtesy of Pistores Cakes
5. What is the most gratifying part of your business?
Creating something out of nothing that transforms into this thing that makes someone’s day unforgettable. The customer that comes back to say “ you gave me my dream”. That is the most incredible feeling and what makes the long hours worth it.
6. What are you most passionate about right now?
Studying flowers and their intricacies. How a rose can have over 300 different species. I want to know those differences so that I can make more interesting sugar flowers.
Contact:
(312)937-3215
[email protected]
546 N Wells St., Chicago
www.eatpistores.com
Photography by:
