This holiday season, one should imagine being transported to a delicious world, a sanctum of sorts saturated with delectable cakes. There is a myriad of meticulously-adorned sugar creations that easily resuscitate your taste buds into a spiraling frenzy. It is sensory overload in the most sumptuous way, pulling one into a sweet sensation induced by the custom, crafted wonders of masterful baker and business owner Shannon Pridgen, of Heavenly Crumbs Bakery.

Anchored in Brooklyn, New York, her boutique establishment is a fragrant, savory epicenter for all cake connoisseurs. The dessert virtuoso and artist, who holds a degree in Pastry Arts from the Institute of Culinary Education, fills the displays with tasty to stunning to intricate pastries that have an aesthetic beauty and exquisite taste. Really, by any stretch of the imagination, Pridgen can purposefully design or fine-tune any idea into an edible reality — the kind meant to be slowly taken in awe, and please any palate. Given that she has been honing this talent since a young age, and has carefully studied the craft, her wedding and special occasion cakes are something near perfection. Pridgen has been using French baking techniques to craft American delights in her bakery since 2006.

She shares some musings about the perfect New Year’s cake, artistic approach to baking, and more with GALO in good cheer.

GALO: You say “by the melding of both food and art, you have defined the Celebration Cake.” Can you explain that, and your idea of the perfect Christmas Cake?

Shannon Pridgen: The statement is about creating a sentiment. When I think of cakes, they are delicious and define a moment. You want to create a cake that is savory, where people remember the taste and its beauty; it is a combination of the two. We want something that really touches them. We try to find something that speaks to the receiver. We try to find out what their favorite color is and what floats their boat. As a cake decorator, it’s never perfect. For Christmas, I think of a cake that is cheerful, festive, and it employs green or red. When everyone sees it, they remember why they are here, and it says Christmas. There is a snowman, branches. It is interactive. When I say a cake is interactive, something is interacting with something else, like a scarf is blowing on branches of a snowman. It looks alive, everything is symmetrical and perfectly spaced, and it’s nuanced and whimsy.

GALO: Since one of your philosophies is that beauty should not preclude taste, and your cakes are “rich, moist and delicious,” what tastes or cakes strike a popular chord during the holidays?

SP: I believe in food first, and something honest and good. It just has to be good. This is all you want at that moment. It is beautiful and delicious. Our cakes, when they go out, have to be good. We want something that people can enjoy. You are supposed to eat it, and each element, you should eat alone. You might have cake with no frosting; no filling…I don’t need icing to make my cakes.

People love red velvet [for the holidays]. It is kind of perfect because it is red. Lots of people like German chocolate; I guess it is classic and they grew up with that. They like yellow cake, maybe with passion fruit inside of it, and a few chocolate cakes: chocolate and vanilla and chocolate and chocolate. The summation of that are familiar things. Some people like that. They grew up with it, and bring it to share with family.

GALO: Given that you believe that cake making is an art, and you use the medium of sugar, is the creating process or finished product more gratifying to you?

SP: It depends. The creative process is great. With anything, you are enjoying what you are doing. You are mixing things in the moment, and that is gratifying. When you are not creative in the moment, it still is so nice and comes out even perfect. In all, one is not more important than the other because I really love what I do. As I work, I’m looking at granules of sugar as I am creating it. Is it too flax? Should I look to mix to a certain amount? Are the eggs to be aerated? Does the flour have the right amount of texture? The process is more analytical, not gratifying. You open up the oven, and look at the color to see if it is good. In the process, you look to find out what went wrong at what stage. You pay careful attention.

GALO: If Christmas or New Year’s is your muse, what inventive novel flavors or taste combinations would accentuate those holidays?

SP: For Christmas, I think chestnut cake and filling. You think chestnuts on an open fire (as the song goes) and delicious. For New Year’s, black Hennessey as filling and a whole lot of alcohol; it is a party.

GALO: Can you recall making a complicated, creative cake for a holiday function, and how you went about doing it?

SP: We do a lot of complicated cakes, not so much holiday. During the holidays, people want what they know. This means their mother’s cake, but more is great. But for New Year’s we [sometimes do] something like hats or glasses to decorate a cake.

GALO: Around the holidays, do you enjoy creating timeless, classic cakes, being innovative with new flavors, or mixing both for truly peculiar pastries?

SP: I like both. Being timeless and classic is deceptive. It seems mundane, but it is a skill (referring to creating timeless, classic cakes). You have to do it consistently, and that is harder than banging something out once. Consistency takes a lot.

GALO: Can you impart a step-by-step recipe for a favorite holiday confection that would add a little seasonal happiness to any get-together or soiree?

Photo courtesy of Shannon Pridgen.

SP: Hummingbird Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour       1 tsp. cinnamon        3 ripe bananas

1 tsp. baking soda                3 eggs

1 tsp. salt                             1 cup oil

1 cup sugar                          8 ounces crushed pineapples

1 cup brown sugar               1 cup pecans (chopped)

 Directions: Step one: Preheat oven to 350 F.

Step two: Combine all dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, sugars and cinnamon. Set aside.

Step three: Combine remaining ingredients: eggs, oil, crushed pineapples, and nuts. Set aside.

Step four: In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, beat bananas on low speed until mashed up ONLY. Small chunks of bananas will still be visible.

Step five: Add liquid ingredients to the banana puree. Mix until thoroughly combined — about 2 minutes.

Step six: Add dry ingredients. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Step seven: Pan and bakeoff. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

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