By Zoe Ruffner, Vogue
Alongside photos of delicate cakes layered with fresh, budding flowers, the Instagram of Nathan Shahani’s bespoke cake company, Piece,
is filled with countless images of classic, romantic paintings by
masters like Albert Joseph Moore and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. It might
seem like a strange mix, but the bouquets of bursting blooms, languid
women lounging, and pastel hues are the clear inspiration for Shahani’s
confectionary creations. “I love visual beauty and I love beautiful
colors,” Shahani, who majored in art history at NYU, explains. “[During
school] I was constantly being fed these extremely beautiful, iconic
images and finding the dynamics and juxtapositions of colors and
textures. I wanted to emulate that with my cakes.”
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Citing
Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Rococo as inspirations, Shahani
confesses a deep love of flowers, which he artfully applies onto all of
his cakes. And although not all of the buds are edible and must be
removed before eating, they’re almost too pretty to disturb: White
ranunculus and a sprig of honeysuckle pop against a dark chocolate
ganache cake; a towering violet bloom presides over a chocolate caramel
chunk cake; translucent pink petals cover the sides of a rose-hued
pistachio cake; and scarlet roses rest atop a white vanilla bean cake,
his specialty. “It’s like you’re eating a sweet cloud,” he explains when
asked what makes the base so unique. And sweet—and fresh—it is. Shahani
uses only organic ingredients sourced from local vendors, like the
Hollywood farmers’ market, where he picks up eggs, and Jane’s Cake and
Chocolate Supply, a small bakeshop in L.A. County’s La Cañada Flintridge
where he sources specialty items.
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Hours of watching the Food Network (Barefoot Contessa
was a favorite) with his nanny fostered a deep interest in baking in
young Shahani and, years later, spurred him to launch Piece. “Throughout
high school I was always the one to bring cakes to birthday parties. It
got to the point where everybody expected me to do it . . . so I was
like, ‘Why not just take this to another level?’” With that, Shahani
said goodbye to a career in fashion (he had stints at both Opening Ceremony and Vera Wang), packed up his bags, and headed to Los Angeles, where he began to bake and sell custom cakes out of his kitchen.
“I
am completely self-taught,” he admits. “When I first started, I was
adapting existing recipes. Over time, as my palate matured, there were
certain tastes that I really wanted—like orange blossom—so I just
started experimenting. Now I can transform it into my way.” Think:
browned-butter shortcake oozing with strawberries soaked in jasmine
syrup, carrot cake spiced with cayenne and covered in cardamom cream
cheese frosting, and chocolate cake filled with berry mascarpone
buttercream. “When I think of cake, I think of fun, lightness, airiness,
and fluff,” says Shahani. We’ll take three.
Photo: Courtesy of Eat Piece / @eat_piece
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Photo: Courtesy of Nathan Shahani / @nathanshahani
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Photo: Courtesy of Nathan Shahani / @nathanshahani
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Photo: Courtesy of Nathan Shahani / @nathanshahani
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Photo: Courtesy of Eat Piece / @eat_piece
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