If you have a sweet tooth, we can guarantee you will be craving a tasty treat after checking out our interview with the oh-so-talented Criveller Cakes. We recently caught up with Giovanni Del Priore, Owner/Chef at Criveller Cakes Canada to find out about the latest cake trends, one of the most unique requests he’s ever received and what makes Liuna Gardens one of Criveller Cakes’ favourite venues to work with!
LG: Tell us a little bit about Criveller Cakes?
GDP: Criveller Cakes Canada was established in 1979 by the Criveller Family. Once they came to Canada, they quickly realized that European desserts here were slim to none, all that was really available in the way of desserts were donuts. They decided they wanted to change this, and bring some European delicacies to Canada. The Criveller’s started off by bringing a pastry chef from Genoa, Italy, to work in the kitchen along with the equipment also from Italy. With a lot of patience and hard work, slowly they were able to recreate authentic Italian & French pastries cakes, cookies and chocolate using only the finest ingredients imported from Italy, France, Belgium and Switzerland.
As for today, we still do the same.
LG: How did you get started in the business of all things sweet and delicious?
GDP: As for myself, I came here from Italy in 1987 and worked for The Criveller’s for a few years. Then, together with my good friend and now business partner Leonardo Priore, we purchased the patisserie in January 1998.
20 years later we proudly find ourselves day after day enjoying creating mouth-watering desserts for a continuous growing clientele as far from New Jersey to Montreal with our bulk in the Niagara and GTA area. We are also honoured to be able to work with the most prominent restaurants and exclusive banquet halls
LG: Apart from the wedding cake, what is the next most popular treat from Criveller Cakes?
GDP: Besides wedding cakes, Criveller creates on average of over 200 Birthday cakes weekly. Also, anniversaries, baptisms, engagements, and baby shower cakes, really any occasion is a good reason for a Criveller creation!
LG: What kinds of trends are you seeing in the wedding industry right now in terms of wedding cakes?
GDP: Trends for wedding cakes are always changing, but to me it is always THE Bride and Groom’s vision. So we want them to be TRENDING the day of their wedding, it’s all about the special day for the special couple, nothing else should be trending , we as professionals should always be able to understand the vision of the couple ( BRIDE IN 99% OF THE CASES). Based on their vision, we create the wedding cake using the colours, flowers, ribbons , cake topper , bling etc to incorporate on the wedding cake as part of all the décor. But of course the most important part is the taste, something we are unmatched yet!
Criveller cakes, besides the common rolled Fondant, marzipan, butter cream finish that all cakes are finished and decorated with, we have our OWN UNIQUE FINISH. Our WHITE CHOCOLATE SIGNATURE FINISH, is both a feast for the eyes and the palate. It enhances the flavor of any choice wedding cake instead of making it sweeter like a fondant or marzipan finish would. This finish is unique to us in North America so it is ALWAYS TRENDING AT CRIVELLER!
But if I have to comment on what’s been trending from requests we have gotten this year (Pinterest or Facebook) more than ever it’s naked cakes and rustic butter cream stacked cakes.
LG: What Makes Liuna Gardens a favourite venue to work with?
GDP: Liuna Gardens & Liuna Station are by far two of the best partners we have worked with. Since the late 80s for the Gardens and day one for the Station , the expectation that the managers and chefs at Liuna have their willingness to accept nothing but the best makes us proud every day to be chosen by them over and over now for decades. We are proud to say that we have done thousands of events with the Liuna group and have no doubts we will continue to do so as our mentality and expectation for quality is very much the same – nothing but the BEST!
LG: Tell us about a noteworthy memory from a wedding or event you have worked on.
GDP: One of my favorite memories from a wedding actually happened at Liuna Gardens. It was a few years ago in October when we delivered a wedding cake via helicopter; it was something I’ll never forget! We landed right in the gardens with all the guests admiring this unique delivery and wedding cake (for GINO & ASHLEY LUCE WEDDING)
LG: What is the most unique or extravagant request you have received from a customer?
GDP: WE have had many unique and extravagant requests , you see it all in this business. One I will never forget is the time I had to cover a lady’s chest in chocolate as an anniversary gift for her husband, of course I left before he got there!
LG: What is the most rewarding part about being in the business you’re in?
GDP: Definitely the best and most rewarding part of our business is when our customers come back to us after the party, the compliments and the happiness our creations gives them is what repays us of all the long early hours our whole team puts in to make sure all gets done on time. The customer satisfaction and word of mouth advertising is what makes us grow today more than ever along with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Criveller is blessed to have so many loyal customers and our little kitchen elves will continue to run around for years to come!
LG: We’d like to thank our preferred vendor, Criveller Cakes and Giovanni for taking some time away from creating delicious treats at Criveller, to chat with us. Be sure to check out more mouth-watering creations from Criveller Cakes on Instagram and Facebook.
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