PARIS, April 22 -- Competing for attention with Jennifer Lopez is no easy task. But at a recent wedding in India where the American star performed in a barely-there sparkly leotard, it was arguably the cake that stole the show.

The towering multi-tier construction, several metres high and inspired by Rajasthani architecture, became a talking-point among guests and featured prominently in media coverage of the 500-guest extravaganza last November.

Its designer was French celebrity pastry chef Bastien Blanc-Tailleur, whose creations are to cakes what Haute Couture is to fashion: one-off, hand-made, and requiring extraordinary investments in time and money.

"We rarely work on a wedding that has a budget of less than a million euros," the ...