It's that time of year when food becomes a primary focus at events. Taking that tradition literally was the Mirage, which had a giant cake as the centerpiece at a celebration in honor of the property's 20th anniversary.
While invited press folks and passing hotel guests munched on miniature cupcakes presented on plates on a large table in the middle of the hotel lobby and offered on trays held by servers, the piece de resistance was unveiled on a nearby table in a roped-off area: a three-foot-tall cake created to look like the Mirage that weighed an estimated 800 pounds. The confection depicted the hotel’s famed erupting volcano, palm trees, and entertainment in chocolate painted with various colors of cocoa butter.
The event, which took place on November 20 and honored the property’s opening on November 22, 1989, was supposed to be a grand event with Siegfried & Roy, Terry Fator, and the cast of Love, but Roy was unable to attend due to illness. So plans for a big bang were scaled back at the last minute in favor of a more intimate celebration. The duo was seen, along with other celebrities who had either appeared at or stayed at the Mirage, in a video that continuously played on a screen in the lobby.
“Siegfried and Roy played such an important role in the success of the Mirage and in putting the hotel on the map that we couldn’t do this without them,” said Mirage president and C.O.O. Scott Sibella. “They were the very first guests to check in with their white tigers when the Mirage opened. To commemorate that, we were going to have them walk in with their white tigers and check in again."
As for what became the star of the day—the cake—it was created by executive pastry chef Everett Williams and his staff of 37. From conception to completion, it was a three-month task. He said the chocolate and vanilla layer cake contained 200 pounds of rice crispies and 300 pounds of chocolate just on the hotel building itself, which was covered with edible gold dust over white cocoa butter.