The Faberge Rose Trellis Egg Cake

Last year, Emily from La Dolce Vita hosted a food blog event called "In the Pink," for breast cancer awareness. At the time, I toyed with the idea of making an elaborate cake based on Peter Carl Fabergé's "Duchess of Marlborough" egg, a jeweled oeuf clock in guillochéd pink enamel, studded with precious jewels. Rose cut diamonds formed numbers to encircle the egg, and a sinuous diamond serpent marked the time. Greg, at the time, ever blunt: "I'm sorry, that sounded completely insane." Um, hello? We've been friends for how long? You and Kellie talk to me every day for 9 hours?

My plans were thwarted by a few things: (1) I have a day job; (2) I couldn't find a 3-D egg shaped mold; and (3) I couldn't figure out how to make such a cake. So instead I made a pink coeur à la crème to honor my dear Annie.

But I couldn't shake the idea. I have a very soft spot for Fabergé. It comes from a long standing interest in the Romanovs.

Carl Fabergé was the preminent court jeweller to Czar Alexander III, and then later, to his son, the ill-fated Nicholas II. His workshops produced some of the era's most lavish jeweled objects, most famous of which are the Fabergé Eggs, and in particular, the Imperial eggs, which were made for the czarinas. The eggs contained often elaborate and clever "surprises" (I'm told that "easter eggs" on DVDs and video games derive from the Fabergé Egg surprises. Anyone know for certain?)

The tradition began in 1888 when Czar Alexander III presented his wife, Czarina Marie, with a white enamel egg on Easter, a significant holiday in the Orthodox Church. When opened, the egg revealed a golden yolk. Within the yolk was a chased gold and gilded hen with ruby eyes. The hen's back lifted to further reveal a replica of the Imperial crown with a ruby. So delighted was the Czarina that the Czar then established the annual commission. When he died in 1894, his son carried on the tradition, presenting his mother (Marie) and his wife, Czarina Alexandra with a Fabergé egg every Easter, until 1916. The precise number of Imperial eggs varies between fifty-four and fifty-seven. Other eggs originally identified as "Imperial" (that is, made for the Czarinas) were later reclassified as eggs belonging to other rich and famous patrons, like the Nobels and Consuleo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough. A number of unique eggs were made for Barbara Kelch, an heiress.

In 1989, an exhibit of Fabergé Eggs was held in San Diego. It was the (then) largest gathering of the eggs since 1917 and the end of the Romanov dynasty. I spent five hours (yes, hours) wandering through, utterly delighted to see in real life what I had been poring over in books for years and years. It was one thing to read about the craftsmanship of Hans Wigstrom and Michel Perchin; quite another to actually see the eggs, the sheer size of some of them, the exquisite carving and chasing, the precious materials and jewels, the delicate ivory miniatures, the clever concepts and the masterful execution. Living in DC, I had the great fortune to routinely visit the five Fabergé eggs housed in the Lillian Pratt Collection at the Richmond Museum of Fine Arts; the two at Majorie Merriweather Post's Hillwood House; and the two in the Walters Museum in Baltimore. My favorite place to visit, however, was the Forbes Museum in New York. Malcolm Forbes had been an avid collector of Fabergé and came to own fifteen ("Eggs come by the dozen!" he crowed after picking up his eleventh egg in 1985, making his collection significant by one more than what the Kremlin possessed) among them, notable masterpieces like the 1897 Coronation Egg and the 1898 Lilies of the Valley Egg (a favorite of the ones he owned; my personal favorite, the 1895 "Pansy" Egg belongs to a private collector). When the entire Forbes Fabergé lot was sold to Russian entrepreneur Victor Vekselberg in 2004, I felt conflicted; on the one hand excited that so many eggs would be reunited and present in Russia; and sad because I could no longer visit them in New York. Still, it does mean that a trip to Russia is in order; because in addition to the twenty-six owned by the Kremlin and the Vekselberg Foundation, there are two recently discovered Imperial Eggs -- the Karelian Birch Egg and Czarevitch Constellation Egg, both made in 1917 -- and neither delivered to their proper owners because the Romanovs were executed in July of that year.

As this is Easter weekend, I thought an egg cake appropriate; and why not indulge my previous hope to make a Fabergé Egg cake? Of course, I was much less ambitious and discarded my original plan to make the frighteningly complicated Duchess of Marlborough Egg, and chose the delicately pretty (and less complicated) Rose Trellis Egg to pay homage. The egg was a gift in 1907 from Czar Nicholas to his mother. It is currently in the Walters Museum in Baltimore. The cake itself is vanilla pound cake with cream cheese frosting; unfortunately the silver dragées which were to stand in for the rose cut "diamonds," did not arrive this week, so once they come in (hopefully before Sunday), I'll finish the cake properly.

Happy Easter!

Comments

[sam]

thats is truly chintzy and gorgeous beyond gorgeousness, congratulations!

[Cath]

Sam, it made me smile like crazy when I saw the (almost) finished cake cuz it was so fun and exactly as you say - chintzy! :-)

[tami]

beeeyoooteefull! :))

[Cath]

Tami, thank you!

[Mary]

Holy smoke. Can I sign up for lessons? 'tis a thing of beauty and a joy in the mouth, no doubt. Congrats!

[beastmomma]

Very lovely and impressive. You go with your bad self!

[Renee]

Finally you made the cake! I'm so glad! Oh, and it probably tastes divine...

[MM]

I've always loved Faberge eggs since my grandfather showed me his collection. I was terribly jealous when my aunt inherited the lot! Your egg is so gorgeous - I applaud your patience!

[Cath]

Man, I am so sorry about the delay in responding. Mary: come on over! We'll make another cake together!

Jaspreet -- My bad self needs a little break.

Renee -- It tasted wonderfully! And I forgot I mentioend this to you when we met for lunch! Missed hearing from you!

MM -- Okay, now I'm jealous of your aunt too! Thank you so much!