Louis XIV established the Paris Opera Ballet and School in 1713. But what I learned today, is that the term more likely comes from the dodgy early history of the lives and “careers” of the young children who danced for the opera house.

When I first saw the term, I thought it referred to the fact that the very young students are always cast in the role of the mice in the Nutcracker. There is limited information on where the term “petit rat” comes from. Les petits rats are a select group of students of the Paris Opéra Ballet, all of whom dream of becoming stars, the best of whom go on to become professional dancers in the Paris Opera Ballet Company. Today I spent the afternoon watching a very young group of artisans at the annual demonstration of the petits rats de l’opéra at the opulent Palais Garnier. 70: Young Artisans, les petits rats de l’opéra I was so happy with the finished cake and everyone seemed to really like it.No.

I loved how the red rose looked on the black cake, it really stood out. The rose was also made out of gumpaste and wired up with leaves and a green stem to make it look realistic. Then using gumpaste I cut out the shape of the half mask and laid it over the top of the adapted plastic mask and left it to go hard. To create the mask I brough a childs face mask from a local hobby craft shop and using cling film I was able to adapt the mask to have more male features to chow the brow line and the cheak bones. On top sat the iconic mask and red rose, both made out of gumpaste. The cake was a 10inch chocolate cake covered in black icing / fondant. This was such a fun cake to do as it is such an iconic part of theatre and I wanted to get it right. The cake was based on the poster for the stage show with the half face Phantom mask and the red rose… A little while ago I was asked to create a cake for a true Phantom of the Opera fan.

Phantom of the opera cake decorations