Story: Moc Mien

Photos: Axioo, Lightworks, LeNovelle

Indonesia’s most famous wedding bakery Le Novelle creates fairytale masterpieces for lucky couples all over the world.

Founded in 1993 in Jakarta as a small home-based bakery, Le Novelle started to venture into the wedding industry in 2004. In contrast to conventional wedding cakes, Le Novelle crafts giant creations modeled after dreamlike Disney castles, the real-life architecture of Versailles, cathedrals and pagodas, or designs exclusive to the wedding couple.

Le Novelle once crafted a cake that stood 7 meters high which required thousands of working hours and a team of 12 patissiers just to assemble the cake at the venue. Owner and founder Susanti Sanardje confided that it once took the patisserie five trucks to transport a wedding cake to the venue.

Cakes from Le Novelle not only stand out because of size; they are also unrivalled when it comes to artistic sophistication. It is both inner and outer details that help Le Novelle cakes win customer hearts and set themselves apart. Viewed from the outside, Le Novelle cakes are splendid and sparkling, miniature castles with high and symmetric rows of pillars in harmonious proportions. For instance, a cake modeled after the Cinderella’s castle has its roof painted in a romantic azure blue coat, while the outer landscape is equally dazzling with hundreds of flowers sprinkling into a spreading carpet in front of the entry, a fountain and mischievous little Renaissance angels as highlights all around.

A little bit of liveliness may lie in a pair of doves crafted upon the castle, or simply a horse cart that immediately reminds admirers of the vehicle of the Cinderella before the castle. All the outer decorative patterns are made of fondant cream and are edible; however, not all is meant to be eaten, because some are studded with real diamonds, as prices can surge to a high of US$530,000. Without diamond rings, the cake is “only” $35,000. For something a bit less extravagant, wedding hosts may order gold- and silver-coated details for decoration such as angels and horses around the castle cake.

Sanardje said that at the couple’s request, patissiers can also craft totally edible castle cakes of dough and fondant cream instead of the usual styrofoam and fondant cream. No one has yet dared to do so, partly because the price would be exorbitant, and partly because it’s hard to imagining devouring such an enormous creation.

Thanks to its fairylike beauty, Le Novelle’s reputation has long transcended national borders and now attracts customers from throughout the world. No matter where, these splendid and dazzling cakes always serve as the highlight of a wedding party.

When asked why all details of the cake from a tiny windowpane to a decorative horse carousel are created with such accuracy and perfection, Le Novelle’s owner simply said: “When you have passion in doing what you do, you are driven to make all the details as perfect as possible, even to the tiniest details.” More than only patissiers, Le Novelle’s team are genuine artists with true faith in romance: making a fairylike dream for couples on their most important day with their own talents, creativity and endless love for sweetest pleasures of life.