Cardi B’s Extravagant Birthday Cake Was a Perfect Replica of Her Grammys Look

Since Vogue’s annual Forces of Fashion conference falls just before Cardi B’s birthday—she spoke at the event today, and turns 27 tomorrow—it required a special celebration with an extra-special centerpiece.

That’s how a fantastical cake of the singer in her vintage Thierry Mugler Grammys dress came to be. Cake designer Charlotte Neuville and her team executed the confectionary creation with excruciating detail. First, they studied at least 25 photos of Cardi B in the 1995 couture design to make sure they understood the look from every angle. (“We had to conjure up this incredible, intimate knowledge,” Neuville says. “The idea was for her to look like she is blossoming out of the cake like a flower.”) Then, the team experimented with dyes to get the exact blush shade for the skirt. When they nailed that hue, they glossed it over with a pearlized finish so it shone like satin. The pièce de résistance was her turban, which they adorned with 300 sugar paste pearls. It took them 35 hours to create this miniaturized Cardi B.

The trickiest part? Definitely draping the folds in the fabric, says Neuville. “You have to sheet the cake out really, really thin,” she explains. “Then we glue it together with a sugar gel so it’s black on one side, pink on the other.” It helps that Neumann had technical design skill to fall back on: she spent 30 years in the fashion industry herself, even launching her own namesake label. “You use so many of the same tools,” she says.

To answer the obvious question on everyone’s mind: Yes, it’s edible. The inside is Tahitian vanilla bean butter cake, covered with Tahitian vanilla bean buttercream frosting. The rest is black fondant and pink sugar paste.

On Thursday afternoon, the cake was adorned with sparklers and served to the singer on stage, along with a bottle of Perrier-Jouët champagne. The audience, too, took part in the champagne birthday cheers as her hit song, "I Like It," blasted in the background. And, judging by her joyful dance, the song title aptly describes her feelings toward the elaborate confection.

Go Behind the Scenes at the 2019 Forces of Fashion Conference:

Go Behind the Scenes at the 2019 Forces of Fashion Conference

See How Cardi B’s Showstopping Couture Wardrobe Came Together for the Grammys:

Originally Appeared on Vogue