In-Depth
United: One cake at a time
MLS’s Amanda Vandervort employs baking skills to celebrate life’s events
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Amanda Vandervort spent roughly 40 hours on the United Bid cake.
Photo: patrick e. mccarthy 
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Baking to the 2018 World Cup.
Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Vandervort 
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The different tiers of the cake are flavored individually based on the bid countries.
Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Vandervort 
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Seals represent the three bid countries — Canada, U.S. and Mexico.
Photo: Courtesy of Amanda Vandervort 
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Vandervort applies edible gold foil to the decorations.
Photo: Patrick E. McCarthy 
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One layer at a time.
Photo: Patrick E. McCarthy 
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Vandervort's original sketch of the cake design
Photo: Patrick E. McCarthy 
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The cake celebrates the United Bid Committee winning the 2026 World Cup.
Photo: patrick e. mccarthy 
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Trophy is made of Rice Krispies covered in fondant and edible gold foil.
Photo: patrick e. mccarthy 
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“I like bringing people together around special moments in their lives,” Vandervort says about her cake baking.
Photo: patrick e. mccarthy 
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Each cake tier is flavored according to country: : Blue for U.S., chocolate with peanut butter cream; red for Canada, white with maple frosting; green for Mexico, cinnamon with chocolate butter cream.
Photo: Patrick E. McCarthy 
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United Bid Executive Director John Kristick reveals the cake at MLS headquarters in New York City.
Photo: patrick e. mccarthy 
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The ephemeral nature of a cake reminds Vandervort of social media — "it’s out there, and then it’s gone."
Photo: Patrick E. McCarthy 
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Kristick assists in dishing out the cake.
Photo: Patrick E. McCarthy PREVIOUS
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For Amanda Vandervort, there’s a clear connection between two of the biggest passions in her life — working at Major League Soccer and baking cakes.
“I like the ephemeral nature of cake; it reminds me a little bit of social media in that you can post a tweet, it’s out there, and then it’s gone. I love that I can create something that can bring people joy and happiness, and then it’s gone,” said Vandervort, who is MLS’s vice president of fan engagement.
Vandervort, who rarely ate dessert and was not a baker, discovered her love of cake making about four years ago, when a friend invited her over for dinner and asked her to make something for dessert. She thought she would challenge herself by baking an almond cake and topping it with decorations made with marzipan.
Vandervort enjoyed the decorating experience so much that she later enrolled in a six-hour cake class where she learned to make and roll edible icing, known as fondant. Almost immediately after, she cashed in wedding gift cards to outfit her kitchen with baking supplies. Since then, she has never made the same cake twice, producing dozens out of her home kitchen in Brooklyn.
“It’s a lot of practice, and hours and hours of trial and error, but the creativity brings me back to it,” she said, noting that this particular cake to celebrate the United Bid Committee winning the 2026 World Cup took her roughly 40 hours to make. She confessed that she originally made a cake to celebrate the submission of the bid, but it collapsed and “never left my apartment.”
Vandervort’s cake creations have helped celebrate the league’s 20th anniversary season and MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s birthday (it was topped by a miniature version of his dog, Boo Radley, that was molded out of Rice Krispies), as well as her co-workers’ weddings and newborns. She doesn’t ask to be paid for her work — only to cover the cost of the ingredients — and said that her goal is not to become the next “Cake Boss,” but rather to “make more people happy.”
“I like bringing people together around special moments in their lives,” Vandervort said. “It allows us to bring a little bit of our outside lives and humanity into the office and celebrate each other as people, and to me that’s important.”
