Are you looking for a Wedding Cake Designer? Or do you just love cake? Either way, I would like to introduce you to one of our favourite Wedding Cake Designers, Zaza Marcelle. ‘The Wedding Cake’ actually makes it onto the order of the day. For about a whole 10 minutes, almost every pair of eyes in the room will be staring at your cake. Basically cake equals A BIG DEAL!

The point of our blog is to introduce you to all of our contacts, wedding suppliers that we love. And in this case, a Wedding Cake Designer that you need to know about. So here is absolutely everything you might want to know about Zaza Marcelle, owned by the lovely Isabelle Boizis.

I thought that the easiest way to tell you a little bit more about Isabelle and her company, was to interview her. So I asked the questions, and Isabelle gave me the answers. Obviously, that’s how interviews work Becca. So here goes…

So Isabelle, I will start by asking the most important question of all. What is your favourite colour?

My favourite colour is blue! A deep blue, which is the colour I chose for my branding. It’s a tone that reminds me of old-fashioned decorations, like old hand painted china. China that you might find in an old country side house in England, but equally you might find it in the South of France. I’m a little bit old fashioned myself in a way.

Perhaps a slightly more relevant question, but why did you choose the name Zaza Marcelle for you Cake Making Business?

This carries on from me being a little old fashioned. Marcelle was my late grandmother and it was really important to me to pay a little tribute to her. I always wanted to remind myself of where I came from, stay rooted in a way. My whole brand is about creating a modern and contemporary look, but with old fashioned hints. “Zaza” is then me, Isabelle.

So where did you come from?

I was born in sunny Toulouse, in the South West of France where I lived there until I was 18 years old. I went on to study communication for a few years, and travelled a bit, living in Spain for two years. Splitting my time between Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. Whilst I was in Spain, I completed an Audiovisual Communication Master Degree in Castellon, near Valencia too.

When I’d finished, I moved back to France…to train and become a Patisserie Chef! I was 24 at the time, and after 4 years at Uni, I just knew that Communication was not for me. I’d always been obsessed with food, patisserie in particular. So my dad suggested that maybe it was time to embark on a new journey.

I am so happy that I did, as I now get to do a job that I love. I studied art whilst at school and did lots of art summer schools. What I really needed was a job where I could let my creatively run wild. And that’s what my job now does. It brings together two of my passions, cake and creation!

Does that mean people can order your cakes from anywhere?

I am now based in the UK. But I supply the whole of the South-West, parts of Wales and I do also travel all the way up to London to set up Wedding Cakes too.

I trained in France as a Patisserie Chef the traditional way by getting a national diploma. After working for three years as a chocolatiers and a patisserie Chef in some pretty prestigious places, I decided to move to England.

Why did you want to become a wedding cake designer?

My sister lived in England and every time I went to visit her I would buy a new Cake Design Book. I was quite obsessed with wedding cakes, but it was hard to find books on them in France. I knew a family friend in Bristol so I look for a cake designer there, and found Anna, owner and founder of Anna Cake Couture.

At the time she was still working on her own in a small cake studio, but she and her partner Felix had plans to open a beautiful shop. With my Patisserie experience, they were quite interested in having me on board. So we stayed in touch, and in the meantime I moved to London to work for a big French Patisserie shop in Covent Garden.

A few months later, I returned to Bristol and prepared for the opening of Anna Cake Couture’s cafe. Here I would be in charge of creating the shops Patisserie range. It was such an adventure as I also got to learn the cake design art from the most talented wedding cake designer.

It was after a while, that I decided it was time for me to do what I had always really wanted, and started on my own little adventure. That’s when Zaza Marcelle was born.

How many cakes do you make in a month?

During wedding season, I can have up to three wedding cakes to make per week. But that would be my maximum, as any more and it becomes hard to deliver a flawless product to each client.

People usually get in touch with me between a year to 6 months in advance of their wedding. Some are more daring and try just a month or two before. But that’s leaving it very late and chances are that it would be hard for them to find any available supplier. Particularly if they are getting married during wedding season! I would definitely suggest getting in touch a minimum of 6 months before your wedding day.

Do you have a limit on the amount of tiers you will make?

Yes I do. I’m quite reluctant to go any higher than four tiers. It’s mainly down to taste. I find bigger cakes are less elegant, and that’s why I don’t like to make them any larger than four tiers. If you need a big cake because you have lots of guests, then I suggest having separate cutting cakes.

I must say I lover simplicity in design. I find that the most elegant things are often the most simple, and I quite like to reflect that in my cake designs.

And finally, what is your favourite cake flavour?

I always have in my mind to bring together the art of cake design and the technique of French Patisserie into my flavours. Of course given the nature of my wedding cakes, that have to stay out for hours, flavours have to be different. The cake/patisserie combinations has it’s limits as it wouldn’t be wise to fill a wedding cake with fresh cream.

My work also consists of working with the very best products and I use local and organic products as much as I can do. I also make a point of baking and filling my cakes the very same day. I make my sponge layers as thin as I can to keep them moist and fresh. Un-sweeten cakes are much better as well, otherwise it’s harder to make out the flavour.

Recently I travelled to Morocco to teach a Wedding Cake Designer Masterclass. Whilst I was there I found some Orange Blossom water and brought it back with me. That inspired me to cake my favourite cake flavour (for now!). I made a light orange blossom sponge, baked with fresh raspberries and filled it with home made pistachio paste flavoured buttercream.

I have to say, it really is quite yummy!

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