CNN wedded duo really take cake

As big wedding moments go, this was truly the icing on the cake. Awaiting the wedding party at Encore's Society Café on Saturday was a 22-layer, 70-pound cake replica of the White House.

The wedding couple: CNN's chief White House correspondent Ed Henry and senior CNN producer Shirley Hung, who tied the knot at Wynn Las Vegas.

The cake included 18 layers of chocolate genoise, gobs of chocolate butter cream and vanilla Chantilly. Topping off the White House was the attic, four layers of vanilla genoise and fresh strawberries with vanilla Chantilly.

"Encore general manager Brian Gullbrants and his team put the 'Cake Boss' to shame," said Henry, on his honeymoon in the Virgin Islands. "We asked for a cake to feed 90 and we could have served 900.''

There was so much left over that, when the Henrys returned Sunday to pick up the traditional top tier that goes into a freezer for the first anniversary, the Society staff had saved the entire West Wing, Henry said. The bride and groom donated the rest back to the staff.

Society executive chef Kim Canteenwalla said the project was a team effort, from Wynn's executive pastry chef Frédéric Robert, to cake artist Flora Aghababyan and the staff of Society chef de cuisine Sean Kahlenberg.

E-mail me details of your most memorable themed wedding or special event cakes and we'll follow up on Sunday.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Madame Tussauds unveils the Chuck Liddell wax figure, a first for a mixed martial artist, between 10 and 11 a.m. today. The public is invited. ...

I'm heading for a reunion in Montana and the cool zephyrs of Yellowstone and Glacier parks. Be back in a week.

SIGHTINGS

Sarah Palin, at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Wednesday, delivering the keynote speech to 5,000 conventioneers at International Bowl Expo, the bowling industry's largest annual gathering. ... Singer Jon Secada and his wife, Mari, backstage at the Chippendales (Rio) on Tuesday. Not to be outdone by the chiseled Chips, Secada put on the traditional Chippendale costume -- tuxedo cuffs and collar and jeans for a photo shoot to show off his ripped 47-year-old abs. Later the Secadas attended Cheap Trick's "Sgt. Pepper Live" at Paris. ... "General Hospital" star Julie Berman, celebrating her second straight Emmy for outstanding younger actress in a drama at SushiSamba (Palazzo) on Monday. She was joined by six ABC Daytime colleagues. ... Molly Ringwald of "Pretty in Pink" fame, breezing down the red carpet for her book release party at Lavo (Palazzo). "Getting the Pretty Back" should have been titled "In a Pretty Big Hurry." ... On hand Sunday at the Summerlin Library Theater to see cast mate David de Alba's flashbacks of the Finocchio Club, San Francisco's iconic drag club, was Paul Cummings, who went by the stage name Lavern Cummings, and longtime Finocchio ventriloquist Keny Stewart, who didn't perform in drag.

THE PUNCH LINE

Outside, it's 90 and miserable -- like Andy Rooney." -- David Letterman

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.