Sunday, August 9, 2009

"Cheese" Cake


We do create a lot of fun groom's cakes, but every once in a while we get to make one that is just truly unique. This groom had a quirky sense of humor and had actually been in the cheese business, so making a Parmigiano-Reggiano wheel made perfect sense. The two mice crashing the wedding were a cute touch to the cake.
Capitol Stamps in Austin created the rubber stamps that I used to imprint the "rind" of the cake. I brushed on brown food coloring for each stamping, and then airbrushed the whole cake to match the color of the actual cheese wheel. Hopefully the guests realized it was a cake and not a giant wheel of cheese (which would have been delicious, too)!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Red Furry Monster



I don't mean to be evasive about the name, but my friend Tony put the fear of copyright infringement in my mind a while back. I'm pretty sure that the folks over at CTW aren't going sue me (I'm not exactly mass-producing these cakes and selling them on Canal Street), but just to be safe, I will refer to this cake as the Red Furry Monster cake (RFK).
That being said, RFM was for a 2 year old's birthday. He loves basketball, so we incorporated a cake one into the design. I also added RFM's pet and a gift box for festiveness. I wish the photo were a little better - I should have turned the cake around for the photo.
His slightly dilated eyes, nose and party hat are rice cereal covered in fondant. It's a little hard to tell, but his mouth is really open - I cut into the head to create the open mouth. Even though we had a lot of fun working on RFM, we started to get loopy applying the fur! I got the idea to use the meat grinder attachment on the Kitchenaid from last week's Food Network challenge. Sesame Street cakes, of all things! Perfect timing.
Cue in piano... la la la la, la la la la, RFM's world... RFM loves his goldfish...

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Burnt Orange Cake Craziness




I'm actually surprised it's taken this long for someone to order a UT stadium cake. It makes a great groom's cake - which this was. I'm not even sure how long it took to decorate, but the architectural details of the stadium are permanently embedded in my brain. The whole thing is edible except for the 5 turrets, which were PVC pipe covered in fondant. The lights and screen are sugar paste.

Monday, June 29, 2009

"Cupcake" Cake


I know cupcakes are all the rage right now - they're cute, portable and easy to make. But, they don't make for particularly grand wedding cakes. Unless the cupcake is 7 inches tall and can feed 10 people. The bride's whimsical style called for a cake that was fun and festive without being childish and overdone. She also really liked cupcakes and wanted to incorporate that into the cake design.
The bride and her guests loved the cake, and the lucky couple got to save the giant cupcake for their anniversary. I think this cake design would also work really well for a birthday or bat mitzvah.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Peony Cake



The peony cake was for a couple that wanted to incorporate traditional Chinese motifs in a western style wedding cake. The bride, who is from Taiwan, had a pink peony design for her stationery. The sugar paste peonies were SOOO time consuming to make, but I think they turned out stunningly, all thanks to my new assistant! I'm hoping to do more sugar flowers now that I have someone else on staff who has some experience with them.
More fun cakes to come!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

In the Knot



I picked up the lastest the Knot the other day at Target since I knew that one of my past brides was going to be featured. (Here's her story) I didn't realize that I would have a couple of other mentions, too. In a cake q&a article, the white Jonathan Adler-inspired cake was shown as an example of a different take on white-on-white. This cake is one of my all-time favorite designs.
There was also an article about planning an eco-friendly wedding in Texas, giving brides advice on how to be more green in their selection of flowers, catering, etc. Coco Paloma Desserts was highlighted as an all-natural cake shop! Their exact words were: "Pastry chef Paloma Efron couples earth-conscious baking practices with her graphic design background to make one-of-a kind cakes. Though her designs ranged from traditional with a twist to colorful and modern, every creation is made from exclusively natural ingredients."
I've got some fun wedding cakes coming up for June, so stay tuned!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Unconventional Wedding Cake



This past weekend I made a wedding cake that looked like a lighthouse on a cliff. The groom proposed to the bride at a lighthouse in Hawaii and wanted to recreate that memory with the cake. The cake is a replica of that very lighthouse. The sand at the base is turbinado sugar and the base itself is covered in poured sugar. I created the cliffs by packing some rice crispie treats around the cakes. (I think every bakery is now stocked with Rice Crispies thanks to the Food Network)
The bride and groom are gumpaste and admittedly a little out of scale with the rest of the building. How did they fit through the door? Hmmm... something to ponder.