When Caitlyn Collins was deciding on where to attend college, her choice was a piece of cake.
“Union was the only school I applied to,” said Collins, who attended Mohonasen High School in the nearby town of Rotterdam. “People would ask me, ‘What if you don’t get in?’ I would tell them I don’t have a plan B.”
Collins did get accepted as a member of the Class of 2014 through the early decision process. So when her family was planning her high school graduation party, they wanted to make a sweet gesture to celebrate her joining the Union community.
The family contacted Villa Italia, a legendary bakery and pastry shop just blocks from campus in downtown Schenectady. They asked the shop to create a cake that resembles Union’s 16-sided centerpiece, the Nott Memorial.
“When you think of Union, you think of the Nott,” said Caitlyn’s mom, Annette, whose father, brother, uncle and two cousins all attended the College. “It’s such a gorgeous building.”
Villa Italia’s “Cake Boss,” owner Bobby Mallozzi, whose lineup of creative cake structures includes the new Yankee Stadium and the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, accepted the challenge. Using a combination of pastillage, a type of sugar-based dough, and fondant, a creamy decorative coating, and other types of frosting, Mallozzi built a stacked tier cake nearly as impressive as the Nott itself.
“What’s challenging is that you only get one chance to make it right,” said Mallozzi, who estimated it took six hours to replicate the landmark, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “It would help if I had an engineering background!”
On Friday morning, Union President Stephen Ainlay visited the bakery and marveled at the 20-pound creation, which consists of three 12-inch and two 10-inch cakes. It will rest on a full-size sheet cake and should feed at least 100 people.
As Ainlay prepared to leave, Caitlyn, her mother and her five-year-old sister, Jillian, unexpectedly walked into the shop for a sneak peek of the cake before Sunday’s party at their Rotterdam home. Meeting her college president and admiring the cake only whetted her appetite for Union.
“Wow,” said Caitlyn, who will major in biology. “Wow. I’m just counting down the days for when I can start.”