Shoe blog

Sweet Shoes

Steps to the Cure is Maryland-based foundation dedicated to raising awareness of and funds for breast cancer research. Their annual fundraiser event often includes a fashion show, where the models who strut down the runway are not pre-teen waif, but breast cancer survivors. It is an evening of arts music and fun and the proceeds go to an excellent cause.

I was idly watching the Food Network a few nights ago, indulging in one of my many guilty pleasures, Ace of Cakes, which is a show about the amazing creations of Charm City Cakes, a specialty cake establishment in Baltimore, Maryland. The owner and head cakemaker, Duff Goldman, carves the most amazing cakes I have ever seen. I have seen him and his cake crew make the following impressing structures out of cake: a replica of Hogwart’s Castle, the girl from The Exorcist with head-spinning split-pea soup vomiting action, and a giant whisk.

In 2008, Charm City Cakes produced several very special cakes to be auctioned off at the Steps to the Cure event. Each cake would be carried during the fashion show by one of the models and attendees would bid on them. Have you guessed what form these cakes took?

They were shoes!

I apologize for the quality of several of these photos as they are actually photos of my television screen. Tivo would have definitely made this process easier.

Each Charm City Cake-er chose what form their show cake would make:

Chef Duff himself rocked on with a bitchin’ disco boot (which apparently won the highest bid of the night):

Perhaps more appetizing, if a little tongue in cheek, was this creation (it’s a little fuzzy):

Since this fabulous fashion show took place in 2008, the maker of this cake must have had some kind of amazing fashion ESP when he made this totally 80s high top:

This cake definitely should have been served with pizza and beer and a kicky musical number involving bowling shirts and dancing with really heavy balls.

Moving on to the Fashion portion of out evening, we have the Moroccan slipper that became a cake (I was too slow to catch the cake itself, so you will have to content yourselves with the shoe). This one gave the evening a bit of international flare (and what evening is complete without pieces of flare? Whether you like to talk about your flare or not…)

This cake was inspired by a specific existing shoe. Extra credit if you can tell me which one because due to my abject lack of Tivo and tragic inability to take photos and notes at the same time, the information has been lost to me *cue sad music* I bet anyone would love a “wedge” of that baby. Da dum schsssssss.

(edited to add: Thanks to commenter “yowza”! These shoes are based on the Christian Louboutin Sing Sing shoes seen here!)

And finally, the piece de resistance (in my world anyway). Cleverly quipping throughout the process–What flavir do you think my cake is? Strawberry Shoe-cake!–and painfully cutting out individual tiny sequins, one cake maker produced this awesome creation. I don’t know whether to eat it or wear it. Maybe I’ll just stare at it for awhile. So pretty, pretty….

This…

became this:

Love. Love. Love. Which one is your favorite?

If you want to learn more about Charm City Cakes, check out their website here or you can always watch Ace of Cakes on Ye Olde Food Network.

One final image to give you all perspective:

Now that’s good work for a good cause.