Pièce montée

A pièce montée (pronounced [pjɛs mɔ̃te]; from French, literally "assembled piece" or "mounted piece", plural pièces montées) is a kind of decorative confectionery centerpiece in an architectural or sculptural form used for formal banquets and made of such ingredients as confectioner’s paste, nougat, marzipan, and spun sugar. Although the ingredients are typically edible, their purpose is purely decorative, and they are often not really meant to be consumed. They are associated with classical French chefs, such as Carême. Carême had studied architecture and is credited with saying, referring to pièces montées, that architecture was the most noble of the arts and that pastry was the highest form of architecture.