Aria assistant pastry chef Andy Madrid shows two of the finished cakes, including a life-size chocolate Derek Carr, for the Raiders-themed display that will be at ARIA Patisserie starting Sept. 13 at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The display will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, as well as other Raiders and Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Raiders Darren Waller meets a chocolate statue of himself that will be featured at ARIA Patisserie in Las Vegas starting Sept. 13. (MGM Resorts House Photographer Al Powers)
Executive pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee cools a blown sugar flame that will adorn the Raiders torch cake at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The flame will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Executive pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee cools a blown sugar flame that will adorn the Raiders torch cake at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The flame will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Executive pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee torches a blown sugar flame that will adorn the Raiders torch cake at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The flame will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Aria assistant pastry chef Andy Madrid shows how the flames will fit in the Raiders torch made of cake for the Raiders-themed display that will be at ARIA Patisserie starting Sept. 13 at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The display will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, as well as other Raiders and Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The life-size chocolate Derek Carr confection and a Las Vegas Raiders cake awaits finishing touches at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The pieces will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Member of the Aria pastry team Nghia Mai trims fondant icing on part of a Raiders-themed cake at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The cake will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
A cake that will be part of a Raiders-themed display at ARIA Patisserie is in the kitchen at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The cake will be accompanied by an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Raiders Darren Waller signs helmet of a chocolate statue of himself that will go on display at ARIA Patisserie on Sept. 13. (MGM Resorts House Photographer Al Powers)
Cakes that will be part of a Raiders-themed display at ARIA Patisserie are in storage at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The cake will be accompanied by an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Executive pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee works in the background as Raiders lettering made of sugar cools at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. A Raiders-themed display at ARIA Patisserie will begin Sept. 13, including an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Executive pastry chef Mathieu Lavallee kneads the orange molten sugar that will become a flame for a Raiders torch cake at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The flame will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
Assistant pastry chef Andy Madrid kneads the orange molten sugar that will become a flame for a Raiders torch cake at Aria on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021, in Las Vegas. The flame will be part of a display at ARIA Patisserie beginning Sept. 13, which will include an Allegiant Stadium cake, a life-size chocolate Derek Carr and other Las Vegas-themed confections. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @ellenschmidttt
The next time you see Derek Carr, the Raiders quarterback may look a little sweeter.
Pastry chefs at the Patisserie at Aria resort have recreated the football star as a 6- foot-3-inch sculpture made almost entirely of chocolate.
“Chocolate Derek Carr” will make his public debut at the patisserie on Sept. 13 when the pastry chefs present an entire Raiders display with a four-foot-wide Allegiant Stadium, an Al Davis Memorial torch made of chocolate, several black-and-silver cakes and a chocolate Darren Waller sculpture.
To create the Carr sculpture, Assistant Pastry Chef Andy Madrid says chefs started with a wooden skeleton and covered it with cake and 200 pounds of chocolate, 40 pounds of fondant and more than 100 pounds of sugar.
“Our cake decorator has been working on him for about two weeks,” says Madrid. “We still need to get a jersey number on him and his name on there. The decorator has been working nonstop to get his shoelaces and the wrinkles on his pants and making his helmet. It’s an ongoing project.”
On Friday, Madrid worked on creating the orange flames to sit inside the four-foot-tall chocolate torch. She heated and pulled the orange sugar into spheres and then used a hand pump to force air into the sugar and pull it into long, twisted shapes.
Other chefs worked on decorating styrofoam bases with elaborate molded chocolate and embossed fondant, which were stacked to form multi-tiered cakes.
“When it comes to a big project like this, we just have different people who have many different talents,” says Madrid. “It’s a lot of fun to work on creative projects like this.”
The patisserie will also sell Raiders-inspired baked goods like football-shaped pastries and chocolates, says Madrid.
The sweet sculptures will be on display starting Sept. 13 to celebrate the Raiders’ season opener when they host the Ravens for Monday Night Football.
