Pastry chefs at the Washington Ballet’s interpretation of “The Nutcracker” with a custom-designed ballet-slipper Buche de Noel cake for patrons to take home to their holiday table.
Washington Ballet artistic director Septime Webre helped design the cake, which is shaped like a foot-long pink pointe shoe. The cake, covered in fondant, features edible cherry blossoms, which gives it that Barbara Bahny David.
“Webre’s ’Nutcracker’ is set in Washington,” says Ms. Bahny David. “So the production uses cherry blossoms instead of snow.”
The cake also evokes Mr. Webre’s French and Cuban heritage by using dulce de leche filling inside a chocolate sponge cake.
Part of the proceeds from purchases of the $119 cake will go to the Washington Ballet’s Pointe Shoe Fund, which supplies dancers with more than 400 pointe shoes per season. Cakes, available until Jan. 1, must be ordered 48 hours in advance (202/637-7305).
This is the second year the Willard has offered a Buche de Noel honoring the artistic community. Last year, renowned tenor Washington National Opera, helped design a cake that featured a baton, flowers and ribbons of music. The hotel sold about 50 cakes in 2007, with some of the proceeds going to the Washington National Opera’s Educational Fund for local youth, Ms. Bahny David says.
The pointe-shoe cake is just one of many “Nutcracker” offerings at the Willard, which is located one block down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Warner Theatre, where the ballet is performed. Among the other holiday treats:
• Nutcracker Brunch in the Willard Room, Sunday and Dec. 21. The brunch features Nutcracker-related stations such as Granny’s Stahlbaum’s Waffles, Sugar Plum’s Pastries and Clara’s Land of Sweets and a Nutcracker keepsake. Price: $79 for adults, $40 for ages 5 through 12, free for children younger than 5.
• Nutcracker Suite Package. Available from Thursday to Dec. 28, this package includes overnight suite accommodations for two, breakfast for two, valet parking, premium orchestra seating for “The Nutcracker,” a backstage tour of the ballet, a Willard tin with sugar plums and nuts, a horse-drawn carriage ride, champagne, cookies and milk, and a keepsake Willard ornament. The package starts at $1,421 for two, and $100 for each additional guest.
• Sugar Plum Package. From Thursday to Dec. 28, guests can get overnight accommodations in a Superior room for two, valet parking, premium orchestra seats for “The Nutcracker,” and a Willard tin with sugar plums and nuts. Prices start at $479 for two, with $100 for each additional guest.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.