Renat Agzamov
What are two-meter-high cakes made of and why some of them can cost millions
- We looked through dozens of photographs of your cakes - are these two-meter castles really edible?
Certainly! How could it be different? We make all the parts of our cakes edible - most of them are chocolate, some are caramel. People like it, they are willing to pay for it.
- How much do you need to pay to order a Renat Agzamov cake?
1 kilogram of cake costs 2000 rubles. If you are having a wedding with 200 guests, you will need a 15 kg cake - it will cost about 30,000 rubles. Decorate it with chocolate flowers - the price will rise to 35,000 rubles. But this is the minimum.
If the customer wants the cake to be illuminated, to float in the air, with chocolate butterflies fluttering around, the cost is calculated separately. It’s just difficult for someone to make a chocolate horse 30 centimeters high, but I can make it life-size. At least a hundred pieces. But this is a very expensive pleasure - a lot of silicone alone will be needed to remove the mold from a real horse, and also multiply its price by the cost of chocolate. These are million-dollar projects, but if the customer has such a desire, there is no problem. I can even make a cake in the shape of a life-size Boeing and have it fly into the hall.
Renata's cakes are very popular among Russian pop stars. Anita Tsoi, for example, ordered it for her birthday
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- Is this really possible?
Everything is possible.
I almost believe this is edible. But can it be tasty? You know that a dish that looks too impressive is not always tasty.
We have refused to use confectionery mastic and marzipan; we do not use them as a matter of principle. When I worked as a pastry chef at the Nostalgie restaurant and a half-eaten dish was brought into the kitchen, our chef would get wildly upset and run out into the hall to ask the guests what they didn’t like. At the same time, the cakes were always returned with half-eaten mastic - in principle, no one ever ate it. It is inedible and greatly weighs down the cake. At the same time, everyone uses it - there are enough reasons to refuse it. Since then, we have started covering cakes with chocolate velor (a thin layer of tiny chocolate particles that creates a velvety surface. - Note ed.).
As for taste, I don’t like complex flavor combinations in desserts. A person who has eaten several completely different dishes should not have a dessert with raspberries, rosemary, garlic and wasabi sauce at the end of dinner - he should get a simple and understandable taste. I spent a year and a half developing a cake that contains only sponge cake, cream and fresh raspberries pureed with sugar. Everything is very simple, but we steam the biscuit. And this cake is one of my top sellers.
A cake for Philip Kirkorov, on which four figures of the artist (in different images) modestly flaunt. All Philippi are edible
- What does the process of making such large-scale cakes look like - from coming up with the design to transporting it to the event site?
The first step is developing a product design. Sometimes it takes several hours, and sometimes it takes a whole month. First I make sketches of the sketches, after which they are redrawn by a professional artist. Then - the approval process with the customer and calculation of the cost of the work.
As for transportation, we have three mobile teams that either deliver our cakes to the customer in parts, if we are talking about Russia, or everything is made directly at the venue of the event, if the order comes from abroad.
- And what is the most difficult cake you have made so far?
This is a cake with sound and light monitors installed inside it. As they worked, they started to heat up, causing parts of the cake to melt. We also had to quickly organize ventilation inside. It was a very complex project, in which lighting and sound artists participated, and I blew everyone’s minds back then.
Children's cakes made by Renat Agzamov account for up to 70% of all orders
About Russian taste in desserts
You make a lot of cakes for lavish celebrations in different countries - are the wishes of Russian and foreign customers very different? And in general, what is fashionable with them now in terms of confectionery decorations?
It makes no difference whether it is abroad or Russia. This is more a question of culture and tradition: if the wedding is Caucasian, regardless of location, the design style will be national - a lot of gold and flowers. Americans, for example, often order cakes with skulls and protruding eyes.
I don’t remember that customers wanted “fashionable” - everyone basically adapts to the overall design of a particular event. For example, now for one wedding in Uzbekistan, where everything will be in ruby tones, we are making a cake in the form of a huge pillow with a ruby. Once I was ordered a dessert in a caramel bowl - I had to go to Versailles and remove the silicone molds from the dishes of Louis XIV there.
- We spied in your instagram that you recently took off your uniform from the Western Wall in Jerusalem and went on a business trip to Istanbul. What kind of projects are these?
We are making a cake for an event in Israel that will bring together a lot of rich people. A very complex and very serious project, I think people will remember it for a long time. It will be phenomenal.
And in Istanbul, one local resident was thinking about a gift for his wife on their tenth wedding anniversary. Every year he surprises her with something on this day and decided to conquer his wife with my cake. It’s difficult to surprise wealthy people who already have yachts and planes with anything, and Renat Agzamov’s cakes are ideal for this.
- How often are your cakes ordered from other countries?
No more than ten cakes per month - as a rule, they are small, we send them to the customer abroad by plane. The main geography of orders is Moscow and the Moscow region.
- Does it happen that people are dissatisfied with what you have done for them?
Yes. Some people think that the honey cake has too strong a taste of honey, while others think the cake they ordered was too pale. Recently, one woman who ordered a simple cake with daisies for 6 thousand rubles called and said: “I expected more from Agzamov.”
- What do you do if the customer offers to do something completely tasteless?
I'm convincing you. I say this: “You know, the idea is great, you are geniuses and great guys, but you don’t see the end result, but I do. Let’s refine your idea a little, based on my professional experience and artistic taste.” That is, I will try to improve the idea with small touches so that the result is a completely different cake.
- Can you refuse the order altogether?
Yes, if they ask you to do something vulgar, for example. Or they want a five-meter single-tier cake in the form of a conical flower bed. In such cases, I answer that I am creative, and not everything in this world can be bought for money, and I am simply not interested in making such cakes.
- What's the wildest idea your customers have ever given you?
The wildest idea is mine. This winter the wedding of a Middle Eastern sheikh will take place - 12.5 thousand guests are invited. I suggested this option: live elephants carry the cake into the hall, and edible helicopters with hanging flowers fly in the air, and I conduct them. The sheikh really liked the idea.
How clothing designers and store chandeliers influence the artistic perception of a pastry chef
- Where do you get ideas for your own sketches for future cakes, what are you inspired by?
Recently, fashion week took place in Milan, and many designers showed collections with gold - airy, light dresses with transparent and gilded inclusions. Very elegant, not obscene - these are the techniques of clothing designers that I often get inspired by when coming up with sketches. This does not mean that heels appear on my cakes - I mean the color scheme and harmony.
And recently I went into a chandelier store and realized that this was an unplowed field! My head started spinning with ideas there! I just asked for a chair, sat down, threw my head up and sat there for an hour. I think a little more and they would have called the police and thought I was crazy. But there’s a treasure trove of ideas there, you know? Especially if the chandeliers are Italian. And there is no need to reinvent the wheel - everything has already been invented, all that remains is to transfer it to cakes.
- I wonder what the cake looked like at your wedding?
Small and chocolatey, my friend made it - the most ordinary one, the kind you can buy at ABC of Taste, for example. In general, I don’t make cakes for myself or for my loved ones; for me it’s a disaster. You see, I need the viewer's reaction - as an artist. But I can’t get it from myself.
- Imagine that you are not limited in time or money - what kind of cake could you make under such conditions?
I want to create a life-size replica of Notre-Dame de Paris. Two years ago I proposed this to the mayor of Paris, but there is no answer yet. I plan to implement this idea with sheikhs from Dubai. This cake can be placed in a special glass building with a certain temperature - and this will become a place of pilgrimage, where people will come from all over the world. I will do everything in such a way that everyone’s hair will stand on end.
Renat Agzamov- chief specialist of a confectionery company.
Title holder:
Champion of Russia in confectionery,
- World Championship winner,
- Member of the Russian Olympic team,
- Member of the Ice Sculptors Association.
He often goes on internships to France, from where he brings new technologies. Recently I studied at Olivier Beaujard's school, where Christophe Michalak (the best pastry chef in the world, captain of the French national pastry team) taught.
His motto: “Never stop there and constantly improve!”
The team also includes florists, graduates of the Japanese school “SOGETCU”. They take part in the development of cake designs and make chocolate flowers using a unique technology that cannot be distinguished from real flowers.
The team includes graduates of the “Venice School of Gift Making” who will make the cake box an independent gift.
Among the confectioners there are real talented masters of their craft, who are capable of decorating a sweet delicacy in an unusually beautiful way. But this unique pastry chef creates truly masterpieces.
Agzamov is a member of the council of the Guild of Chefs of Russia, the Russian national confectionery team and even, oddly enough, the Association of Ice Sculptors. He has been baking since childhood - already at the age of seven he took a notebook with recipes from his grandmother and stood up to the oven. Brother Renata, now one of the best Sochi chefs, was responsible for the “unsweetened” food in the house.
Renat runs a confectionery factory that supplies sweets to supermarkets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and for fun he makes exclusive cakes - including for famous people like Garik Kharlamov, Ilya Reznik and Evgeni Plushenko. He regularly posts cakes on his Instagram, which has almost 300 thousand followers.
This Russian boxing champion did not continue his sports career, but plunged headlong into confectionery art. Such a strange choice was understandable: at the age of 7 the boy baked his first pie, and after school he graduated from culinary school in Sochi. He was always interested in cooking and enjoyed helping his grandmother in the kitchen. Having become world champions in confectionery art, he created a unique school that teaches complex technologies for making unusual cakes.
Culinary masterpieces, made under the guidance of the most famous confectioner in Moscow, resemble real art objects that turn out not only fantastically beautiful, but also very tasty. Renat Agzamov’s unique cakes are now flying all over the world, and more and more people want to order them for their celebrations every day. The young man is only 34 years old, but he has been running a large confectionery company for a long time. His premium art is now at the peak of fashion, and all the stars of show business order cakes made by Philly Baker without fail.
Renat Agzamov, who has trained in different countries, whose cake resembles a real work of art, often receives the most complex orders and carries them out with ease, shocking viewers with the creativity and realism of the details. A huge team works on amazing cakes: more than a hundred people, each doing their own thing. Renat admits that the baker in his company does not work with chocolate, and the professional manufacturer of sweet sculptural compositions is not trusted with anything else, which is why there is such a large staff that guarantees high quality products.
“We never deceive the customer by saying that the chosen dessert will be low-calorie,” explains Renat Agzamov. A cake of original shape and non-standard size, containing a huge amount of sugar, will not be considered dietary. The master warns those who are fond of flour products that low-calorie sweet products simply do not exist in nature, and everyone who hangs such labels on their products is misleading the buyer for the sake of profit.
“The fashion for confectionery products and their decorations often changes,” says Renat Agzamov. Cakes, the recipes of which are as close as possible to ideas about proper nutrition, contain exclusively natural ingredients. Some ingredients disappear, others appear after improvements in technology, but none of the cakes presented by Agzamov contains any chemicals. Several years ago, the company offered more than forty different fillings, but has now settled on only seven. For example, the most delicate soufflé might not reach the customer, but some of Renat’s creations travel a 12-hour journey by plane.
As you know, all pastry chefs are offended by uneaten leftovers on the plate. Most often, they leave behind mastic, which is used to decorate sweet products, turning them into a real work of art. All of Renat Agzamov's exquisite cakes are decorated with his own invention - chocolate velvet. This light and thin layer of color, sprayed onto a sweet surface, adorns all his masterpieces.
When asked about the possibility of repeating the cake at home, the pastry chef replies that some of the work, of course, is available to housewives, but it will take a long time to tinker, but the main activity associated with complex technologies is carried out only in special conditions. It was these basics that Renat Agzamov studied abroad for so long. The cake will not work if you follow the principle that all the ingredients are taken, as they say, “by eye.” A large company that employs a huge number of professionals cannot risk its reputation. Thermometers are used in production to control the temperature of various processes, on which the excellent result and excellent quality of the final product directly depend.
The pastry chef, who has designed more than 2,700 wedding cakes, has never repeated himself. Often his masterpieces are decorated with sculptures of actual human height, looking very realistic. For this occasion, Renat’s team employs masons, turning out the figures; later, the pastry chef removes the mold from them and begins his work with chocolate. Before sculpting, photographs of the main character in front and profile are carefully studied, and the labor-intensive work takes up to 5 days.
But Renat Agzamov is famous not only for his fantastically beautiful confectionery creations. The cake, elegantly decorated, is not the only thing it boasts of. It took him 1.5 years to develop a real chocolate fountain that shoots jets of liquid glaze. And recently he amazed everyone with the skill of a cook and magician, who sent a huge cake into free flight. I must say that no one in the world does this.
Renat has a lot of dreams that he will definitely bring to life: now, for example, he is working on a unique project for a sweet masterpiece in which a chocolate-vanilla heart will beat. Well, let's wish good luck to the master of confectionery art, who makes viewers admire his bright works.
Famous Russian confectioner. Champion of Russia in confectionery, member of the Russian Olympic team in confectionery art and the Council of the Guild of Chefs of the Russian Federation. Host of the show “Confectioner” on the “Friday!” TV channel.
Renat Agzamov. Biography and career
Renat Agzamov born on April 13, 1981 in Sochi. Since childhood, I have been interested in the art of cooking; I baked my first cupcake at the age of 7. After graduating from school in Sochi I studied at a local culinary school. At the same time, together with his younger brother, he was seriously involved in sports, even winning the title of Russian boxing champion. However, he gave up his sports career, making a choice in the direction of confectionery.
Renat Agzamov: “My grandmother let me in on her culinary secrets. And my father, a former chef of the dining car, always cooked. I grew up with a great love for cooking. When I was 5-6 years old, my father taught my brother and me to use knives and other kitchen tools correctly. This is a family thing for us."
He started working in a Sochi confectionery shop. INIn 2002, he won the confectionery championship in Krasnodar and then decided to go to Moscow with his brother to earn money, and also for new information and experience. In the capital, he first settled in cafe-confectionery in Kitai-Gorod. Then, having changed several jobs, he was a pastry chef at the Nostalgie restaurant for 2.5 years. Restaurant critics began to write about Renata, and he gained popularity. Then I gotto the French confectionery chain Legato, where he began to manage a number of enterprises. Mastered the basics of accounting and other managerial skills.
A few years later, Renat joined the company Fili Baker, which opened a separate project specifically for Agzamov - the Fili Baker Premium factory.
Renat Agzamov is the owner of many titles, including: champion of Russia in confectionery, prize-winner of the World Championship, member of the Russian Olympic team in confectionery, member of the council of the Guild of Chefs of the Russian Federation.
The master of culinary masterpieces gained even greater fame after made a cake for the presenter of “Dom-2” Ksenia Borodina. She posted her gratitude and a photo of the treat online. As a result, in a short time, the number of Renat’s Instagram subscribers reached a million.
Renat Agzamov: “Instagram made us popular all over the world. I can say for sure that thanks to him we have projects in Dubai, Australia, America, and Japan. We probably would have ended up there anyway, but in 20 years, not earlier.”
Spring 2017 Renat Agzamov together with the actress and star of the “Let's Get Married! Larisa Guzeeva and her husband, restaurateur Igor Bukharov, became the host of a culinary show on Channel One “TiliTeleTesto”, in which amateur bakers compete with each other.
In 2017, Renat became the host of the culinary project of the Friday! TV channel. "Confectioner". The reality show features amateur pastry chefs from all over Russia who have decided to radically change their lives and learn from Renat all the tricks of the profession. The second season of the show was released in the spring of 2018, and a third is planned for 2019. Agzamov not only runs the program, but also acts as the main mentor of young confectioners.
Renat Agzamov: “Every customer, coming to me, regardless of who he is, wants to be delighted. This means that the cake should make a person proud of it and, of course, provide aesthetic and taste pleasure to all guests. Here are the basic requirements. But the main request is individuality. Every time I listen to the customer, I have to surprise! And I can do it."
Renat Agzamov. Personal life
Renat Agzamov is married to Lera Agzamova. They are raising a son Timur.
Renat Agzamov: “My wife and son, unfortunately, don’t like sweets. Lera taught Timur to eat healthy food from childhood. He would rather eat celery than a piece of cake... My wife is my ideological inspirer. Lera gives me strength, energizes me, supports me. In honor of her, I named one of my brightest and most skillful works - a fountain made of chocolate and glaze. It took almost a year and a half to create. Although this is a perfect project, it still does not convey even a part of who my Lera is for me...”
Participant name: Renat Agzamov
Age (birthday): 13.04.1981
City: Sochi, Krasnodar region
Education: Culinary school
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Read with this article:
Already at the age of 7, the future champion of the Russian Federation in confectionery art began to make great strides in baking cookies and cupcakes.
At the age of 10, he even surprised his family with his own bread. Having collected money in his piggy bank, Agzamov decided to spend it on a mixer. Renat did not grow up alone in the family; his brother Timur was also partial to cooking.
His father taught his sons how to handle food, and his grandmother always supported Renat’s interest in culinary experiments. This is how the Agmazov brothers learned the basics of the master and became famous culinary experts in the future.
At the age of 15, Renat became a student at the Krasnodar Culinary School, and then began working in a restaurant as a cook. In 2002, the guy took first place at the confectionery championship, which was held in Krasnodar, and therefore realized that it was worth going to conquer the capital. Together the Agmazov brothers went to Moscow. The guys had no connections, no money, and no housing, but nothing stopped them from becoming true talents and becoming famous in their native country.
During the first six months of his life in the capital, Renat worked in 7 public institutions. He did everything just to master the necessary techniques, and therefore agreed to work for free.
The culinary specialist's first serious job was the position of chef at Nostalgia.. He worked in this restaurant for about two and a half years.
A little later, together with the head of the restaurant, Renat became the founder of the catering service “Creative Catering”. The project became successful, but the work with the partner did not work out, and therefore Agzamov gave up everything and left it.
During the first time, the confectioner did everything just to create his own business and begin to develop further. He began working with the reputable company Philly Baker. The Fili Baker Premium confectionery factory was built especially for these purposes, which grew and became a large company with international projects.
Now Agzamov is a famous pastry chef, developing cakes for famous people; he bakes at an average price of about 3 thousand rubles per kg. Basically, his profit comes from wedding cakes. The chef's official website provides examples of his work, which you can view to place an order.
At the end of 2016, Renat began collaborating with Channel One on the project “Tili Tele Dough”. The show featured amateur confectioners who competed in preparing delicious desserts. Since April 6, 2017 he has been working on the Pyatnitsa TV channel. Renata can be seen as the host of the new culinary project “Confectioner”.
Plus, Agzamov conducts seminars on confectionery skills, participates in numerous projects on TV, and became one of the organizers of the Renat Agzamov International Cake Exhibition. The first exhibition took place in Kazan.
In his personal life, Renat also has something to be proud of. He is married to a woman named Lera and is raising his son Timur with her. In honor of his beloved woman, Agzamov named one of his best works - a fountain made of chocolate and glaze. Son Timur is a fan of healthy eating and is indifferent to sweets. Renat notes that the main values in his life have always been close people and work, and he is not going to change this in the future.
Photo Renata
More often, photos of his culinary works appear on Renat Agzamov’s Instagram, but sometimes you can also see personal photos.
Luxurious cakes for celebrity celebrations are mostly made by one person - pastry chef Renat Agzamov. Ksenia Borodina, Philip Kirkorov, Anita Tsoi, Olga Buzova, Evgeni Plushenko and other show business stars have been collaborating with the culinary specialist for a long time. How Renat earned such trust, what celebrity ideas he managed to implement and how much his sweet masterpieces cost, Teleprogramma.pro tells
Many years of experience
Since childhood, Renat has been interested in cooking and baking: the boy was constantly hovering around the stove, and he made his first cupcake at the age of 7. After secondary school, the young man entered a culinary school and began an internship in a Sochi confectionery shop. To gain more experience and increase his own income, Renat decided to move to Moscow, where he got a job in a small cafe in Kitai-Gorod. Then he moved to Nostalgie, and a little later to the French network Legato, where he already took a leadership position. Now Agzamov works at Philly Baker, where he has developed a separate premium line of products.
Big name
Renat’s merits and awards can be listed for a long time: champion of Russia among confectioners, prize-winner of world competitions, member of the country’s national confectionery art team and the Guild of Chefs. All this is certainly appreciated, but regalia alone is not enough for promotion. Agzamov owes part of his success to Ksenia Borodina. It was the TV presenter who ordered a cake from a pastry chef for the first time and told her fans about it by posting a picture on Instagram. After which the general public learned about Renata, and other celebrities began to take an interest in his creations. Now among Renat’s clients are not only singers and actors, but also politicians, oligarchs from many countries of the world, as well as the largest companies: Aeroflot, Lukoil, Gazprom and others.
Serious approach
Each cake for famous people is exclusive. To fully satisfy the customer’s wishes, the design and taste of the dessert are discussed and worked out in detail. First, Renat creates a sketch of the cake, to which a professional artist gets involved. Then - production of the dessert in a reduced form and approval with the customer. And in the end - its creation itself. If the cake is too large, the pastry chef and his team go to the hero of the occasion and create it right at the venue of the event. “More than 200 people work on each cake. In our company, there is a division of labor: someone sorts the nuts, someone cuts the biscuit, someone beats the eggs, and every pastry chef has a hand in each cake. This is not the achievement of one person, this is the achievement of a team, and I am proud of it,” says Renta about working on high-profile orders.
Quality
We don’t think it’s even worth talking about the quality of the products. But Renat’s production is thought out to the smallest detail - everything is organized so that the cake is not only tasty, but also retains its presentable appearance for a long time. “We have abandoned the use of confectionery mastic and marzipan; we do not use them as a matter of principle. Mastic is inedible and makes the cake very heavy. At the same time, everyone uses it - there are enough reasons to refuse it. Since then we started covering cakes with chocolate velor. As for taste, I don’t like complex flavor combinations in desserts. A person who has eaten several completely different dishes should get a simple and understandable taste,” the man reveals some production secrets.
Crazy ideas
One of the most important arguments in favor of Renat is that he is ready to implement absolutely any idea. We are talking not only about the scale of the cake and its multi-meter height. Among the pastry chef's works are copies of castles and landmarks, backlit desserts, built-in screens on which thematic videos are broadcast, with moving figures and other intricate details. What the stars need to amaze guests at the end of the celebration. One of Renat’s craziest ideas is a cake for an Arab sheikh, which is carried into the hall by elephants, and edible helicopters fly around the procession. Or a life-size replica of Notre-Dame de Paris. As the man assures, all this can be done.
Prices
1 kg of cake from Renata’s team costs 2,000 rubles. That is, an ordinary dessert for a family dinner without fancy decor will cost the customer 5-6 thousand, and a wedding dessert weighing 15 kg (for about 200 guests) will cost 30 or more. Of course, the price of star orders increases tens or even hundreds of times. Agzamov does not disclose commercial secrets. But it is known, for example, that a cake weighing 400 kg for the 50th anniversary of Philip Kirkorov cost the singer about 2 million rubles. And the price of one of the most expensive orders - the Zwinger Palace cake - reaches 8 million rubles.
On Renata's website you can purchase sweets similar to star cakes. Thus, a dessert in the form of a red crown, created for Victoria Boni, will cost the customer 37 thousand rubles per 10 kg; three-tier green cake with apples from Natasha Koroleva’s celebration - 53.5 thousand; a dessert for the family of Sergei Zhukov with a figurine of a princess costs 42 thousand, and a sweet for Rudkovskaya with bear cubs costs 57.5 thousand.
Star orders
Wedding of Shubskaya and Ovechkin
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