Treats of Versailles

Welcome to 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤, a special edition of The Nightlife Review created with Cake Zine, a literary food magazine exploring society through sweets in print (and occasionally online). Contributors include Vrinda Jagota, Arielle Gordon, Katie Way, Puloma Ghosh and more. All artwork is by Carlos Sanchez. 

Yesterday’s dispatch brought us a conversation between Vrinda Jagota and Cathy Lloyd Burns, the multi-hyphenate baker behind the cake on the menu at Bed Stuy’s Dynamo, the bar she runs with her husband, Adam. 

“I have been on TV, I have been in movies and I have published some writing and baking the cakes is one of the things I get recognized for the most,” she told us: 

Are there any weird or funny stories about the cake? 

Cathy: I dropped one on the way out of the car to the bar once. I asked Adam if we could still serve it. He said no. And then I was going to bring it home—I did actually bring it home anyway. 

Adam: You tried to serve it to the kids next door! 

Cathy: They love the cake!

Adam: It probably had rat shit in it!

Cathy: I cut off all the parts that touched anything. I ate it. I'm fine.

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For everybody else, keep calm and Cake on.

TREATS OF VERSAILLES 

Today’s dispatch is from Arielle Gordon, who dipped into the dessert catering at a Marie Antoinette-themed play party. “When I wasn’t sure what to do with my hands, I grabbed a strawberry and chewed it slowly as I planned my next move.”

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“Aside from the projection of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and the occasional pastel pasties set, the French Chef was really the anchor of the night’s opulent theme. At Coppola's Versailles, Marie Antoinette ate fruits glacés and whipped cream and biscuits dipped in orange blossom water. But those sweets posed the catastrophic risk of sticky fingers—to be avoided at all costs at a party where fingers were going pretty much everywhere—so in the sex warehouse, we ate petit fours and marshmallows and dipped fruits in chocolate.”

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