Blue and Gold!

This is probably the most detailed cake I've done to date. Lots and lots and lots of gold dragees and gold decorations... all hand made. Yeash! The inspiration cake for this wedding was a Martha Steward cake, but we took some artistic liberty including the monogram. The cake had two tiers of white cake filled with chocolate buttercream and raspberry buttercream and two tiers of yellow cake filled with salted caramel sauce and salted caramel buttercream.
I guess it's a testament to my naivety about photography... but I was amazed at the color variation between these two pictures! This just goes to show you... never trust that the color of a cake in a magazine was ACTUALLY the color of the finished cake! (If my mind's eye remembers correctly, the top picture is the closest to the actual color.)

This darling couple wanted some little dessert bites to go along with their cake. So we made some chocolate raspberry tartlets, salted caramel truffles and cab reduction truffles (not pictured). These two trays were served along with the port and cigar station! How lovely!

Special thanks to Allison Stahl Photography for the beyond beautiful pictures and Laurie Schmalzel Events for referring me to her darling clients!

Birthday Shoe!

I got a call a couple of weeks ago from my girlfriend NJ, she needed a cake for her shoe crazy aunt. I asked her to do a little research and give me a sample of what she was looking for...even I need a little guidance!

Here is what we wound up with...some of my favorite details... the buckle, the stitching, the woven fondant, the shiny look of the patent leather, and the marble board... yes, that was made with fondant! Sweet!

Normally I wouldn't post blurry pictures, but when NJ sent me the pictures she said that her aunt was laughing and this is the best she could do. Fine by me, best excuse EVER!

OK, shoe on the table? Ick... don't you just love the comparison between the shoe Auntie was wearing and the cake? I love it!

Last, but not least, the guts! There was so much black fondant... I really hope they pealed it off before they ate it... no one likes black teeth!
By the way, the cake was chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream and a layer of fresh raspberries. Yummy!

Got Green? Boda de Verde!

I am horribly addicted to reading everyone's blogs... florists, chefs, photographers, planners... addicted. With this little bit of downtime I've been catching up with my addiction and a recurring theme is GREEN. No, not necessarily eco-green... the actual color! All shades and textures, and boy, when paired with one of the oh-so-vibrant colors (pink, orange, purple) you do get very dramatic results.

Ashleigh and Matt had a beautiful outdoor wedding and reception at Sequoia Restaurant in Placerville. Their colors were green and pink. Very pretty. I really liked the combination of shapes in this cake, and they asked that I use the "branch" pattern that they'd seen on another one of my cakes, which is always a pleasure.

This cake was split between chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream, chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries and white cake with raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries. mmmm Raspberries and Chocolate... always a lovely flavor combination.

Thank you to JR Photography for the picture, via Ashleigh, of course!

L & D: It's all in the {French} details

Elegant events are about the details, and this wedding had them in spades! The colors were sapphire blue and white, but there were fleur de lis details dotted throughout the wedding and reception.

As soon as the bride heard that there was a dessert bar option she got very excited. She was all about the chocolate.

The wedding cake was a clean lined and elegant chocolate cake with layers of vanilla bean buttercream and fresh strawberries. These beautiful tags were made by Stephanie J Designs... THIS is what I was saying about the details. So nice, elegant, and really appreciated.

I absolutely adored these chocolates. This is another example of the little details really shining! This is also a great example of how the extremely popular salted caramel tartlet was transformed into a salted caramel truffle.

Even the fruit tarts got special attention. The groom specifically chose the fruits to be used. I heard several comments from guests about how pretty these little guys were. All of the serving pieces were lined with cream paper that had gold fleur de lis' on them. So pretty.

A nice top down shot, that shows off the symmetry and the crème brûlée!

Thanks to Memory Journalists for the pictures and A Day to Remember for referring me. I really do like doing dessert bars, they are fun and challenging and really let me flex my creative muscles!

Sharing the LOVE...

I swear, we're not in cahoots, we are just two of the founding members of our own mutual admiration society!

Memory Journalists did a wonderful blog post about us today. This was such a fun little project, cakes for little ones are always a hoot and when I actually get to see their little faces it's even better!

The flavors of this care are rapidly becoming one of our most popular... Chocolate Cake, Peanut Butter Buttercream and Fresh Raspberries. (Good for all ages!)

TNT Wedding and Rehearsal Dinner

I'm anxiously awaiting pictures from Tracy and Tim's rehearsal dinner and wedding this past Friday and Saturday.

For their rehearsal dinner I made two desserts and plated them together, here is the sketch, it'll be great to compare the finished product to the sketch. I'm just waiting for my photographer to get over some sort of nasty bug and then get me a picture!

For the wedding I made 350 cupcakes. To date, I think that's the biggest cupcake order I've received and although it did take a certain amount of planning, it wasn't too hectic. I think the best move was buying the prettiest little strawberries from the strawberry stand out in Granite Bay (on Sierra College Blvd.). The worst move was torching the S'mores cupcakes on site. Silly me, I just didn't put two and two together. I torched the cupcakes using my rockin' new butane torch and proceeded to light the majority of the cupcake papers on fire. Graceful, I know. Tracy's Dad was a fireman for the longest time, and I was totally envisioning setting off the smoke detector or getting the fire department rushing into the reception hall (I'm sure Arden Hills Country Club would have LOVED that!). Bad move, good cupcakes.

Here are two pictures that I shamelessly stole off of Tracy's Facebook. More to come!

UPDATE!!!! Tracy was really sharing the love this morning on her blog! I'm so glad she loved the cupcakes, as I mentioned above, it really was a fun project! Darling, THANK YOU!http://tracy-girl.blogspot.com/2009/09/cupcakes.html

Family Birthday!

Yesterday was my nephew Joel's birthday. He's turning 9. Oh my goodness! How the time passes! Of course he wanted chocolate/chocolate cake (chocolate cake and chocolate frosting). Always happy to oblige, even though I did throw in some fresh raspberries.

What a Weekend!

Saturday was a two wedding weekend and with the help of my lovely assistant, Lisa, it was smooth and everything went off without a hitch!

The first wedding was Laura and Gary out at Newcastle Wedding Garden. They had me take the pattern off of their invitations and switch the colors from blue to the oranges that they were using with their flowers. Georgia (the owner of Newcastle Wedding Garden) and I concluded that the end product wound up feeling like Alice In Wonderland goes to Morocco. I was delighted.

If you look closely you will notice that the background buttercream is two different shades. This was entirely on purpose. Two cakes were chocolate with macadamia nuts, filled with coconut pastry cream and covered in coconut buttercream (I used a combination of coconut milk, coco lopez and Malibu, yum!) The other two tiers were white cake with vanilla bean pastry cream and one layer each of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries and then covered in vanilla bean buttercream.

While I was out at Newcastle, Lisa delivered and set up event number two in Placerville at Silverthorn Meadows. What a gorgeous Sierra wedding location. I particularly liked how the meadow was surrounded by trees and mountain side and that there was the prettiest pond and fountain!

Toward the end of dinner Lisa and I put out the cake and the desserts. This is the first dessert table I've done in the round and I just loved the effect! Everyone was able to get to all the desserts and the overall look (with the beautiful nature background!) was exactly what I was hoping for!The pattern on the cake is a traditional quilting pattern called Wedding Rings. It seemed very appropriate! The desserts were vanilla bean creme brulee with strawberries and blackberries, salted caramel tartlets and lemon tartlets two ways (half with raspberries, half with meringue). (The awesome pictures are from Diana Kay Photography. Thank you for the amazing turn around time!)

Last, but not least, here is a picture of Lisa with one of the three sheet pans of creme brulee. Mmmmmmm. They were the hit of the night and she was my saving grace! Thank you LISA!

A Sweet for your Sweets!

I got a call from one of my upcoming brides this past week. She needed a cake... nothing huge, just a tasty treat. It turns out that she and some of her bridal party were getting together on Saturday to assemble favors (a great recommendation!) and she wanted to have a little something sweet for them!

I brainstormed with her and we came up with Mocha Almond Fudge (yum!) (Chocolate Cake with Roasted Almonds, layers of Coffee Buttercream, covered with Coffee Buttercream and Glazed with Chocolate... more Roasted Almonds to Garnish). This worked out great because that is a flavor I'll be making for one of my darling brides in September. (Side note: I also had family in town, so I made two. I have to say I got 16 servings out of a 6" cake and I was barely able to finish my serving... soooo rich, but soooo good!)

Mini Abstract Chocolate Sculpture/ Dessert Pedistal

Photo by: Siegel's Portraits

Pictured of some little place chocolate sculptures/dessert pedestals that I made for Wershing and Ward Eventeurs for their Chocolate Table that was entered into the tabletop design contest this past week at NACE's (National Association of Catering Executives) monthly meeting. This month was out at Wilson Vineyards and boy was it hot... so hot that the sculptures were starting to melt as soon as they were put out. This changed the look at bit... the little tartlet that is shown on the side was supposed to be on TOP of the sculpture... and the part that you don't see is that under the chocolate dome is another tartlet (kind of a hidden surprise). The tartlet was a salted caramel and chocolate tartlet with gold and silver leaf on top.

This is a great idea for an edible favor that can pull double duty as table decoration!


Enjoy!

Photos by: Jacqueline Photography

Kate and Paul - June 14, 2009

Sunday (a beautiful California day!) was Kate and Paul's wedding at La Provence Restaurant. The first pictures here are from Brandy Novey-Capik (Brandy Sommers Photography), and the lower photos are from Monica Lunardi. This was a beautiful wedding with a food and wine theme and the evening's desserts were all about the chocolate! Amber Novey of Platinum Planning did a lovely job coordinating all the little details!

Kate and Paul were all about the chocolate, the cake was more of a formality, so we made it small, understated, and elegant, but elevated so that it was still the center of attention on the dessert table.
Chocolate Raspberry Mousse (with raspberries skewered with chocolate cigarettes and Dark Chocolate Tulip Cups (filled with white, dark and milk chocolate mousse and fresh fruit)

Yup, that's me! I didn't even see her take that picture!

Kate and Paul cutting the cake... look at all those lovely candles!

The dessert table all set up!

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse

Opera Cake with Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans and Gold Leaf

Wedding Kisses and Tying the Knot Truffles (Cabernet Reduction Truffles with Strawberry Dust and Grand Marnier Truffles with Candied Orange Zest Knots)

Tri Mousse (Dark, Milk and White Chocolate) Tulip cups with Fresh Fruit

Chocolate Eclairs with White Chocolate Hearts and Tying the Knot Truffles

Rehersal Dinner Desserts

Last night I met with Tracy and Tim and Tim's Mom to discuss the rehearsal dinner. Boy what a fun event. They are having food stations at La Perla Bistro and a band. Instead of a traditional Groom's cake or petit fours I presented them with four plated desserts. (Unfortunately the Mocha dessert had two frozen components so with the last minute plating I didn't get a picture.)

Four very different styles and flavors, but basically two chocolate desserts and two fruit desserts. I'm already scheduled to make cupcakes for their wedding at Arden Hills Country Club, so I thought something a bit different would be nice for the day before. (Side note, I also know that the day before a large wedding is very heavy on production so I don't want to over-commit myself! Plated desserts are lovely, but also far less stressful than a Groom's cake or lots of little bites.

Below are pictures and descriptions:

Lemon "Meringue" Tart (Lemon tart with graham cracker crust, topped with whipped cream and meringue shards, candied blueberry compote and vanilla ice cream - not pictured, but sat on top of blueberries)Strawberries and Cream (Mascarpone mousse with strawberries hidden inside on a white cake base, tarragon caramel, roasted strawberries, super fresh/ripe strawberry, and strawberry sorbet - not pictured)Mocha (Dark chocolate pot de creme topped with a layer of Vietnamese coffee ice cream - sweetened condensed milk and espresso, coffee granita, whipped cream, gold leaf, chocolate cigar, coffee caramel on plate)

Chocolate orange (Dark chocolate mousse on a chocolate cake base, topped with salted caramel, orange confit, grand marnier ganache, salted caramel sauce) - this was also supposed to have a salted toffee chip garnish, but I flubbed and totally forgot! After much discussion they decided to go with two smaller versions of two desserts on one rectangular plate. I'll be doing the Lemon "Meringue" Tart and the Mocha... it will be LOVELY!!!!

Kathy and Dave - Lake Natoma Inn

As I may have mentioned before, this past weekend was a doozie! (BTY, last night was some serious quality time with the TV, a box of pizza and beer... I felt like a frat boy!)Here are some darling pictures of my bride and groom from my Sunday wedding. Kathy was so sweet. Every time we talked it was, "Oh Girlfriend!..." She was so excited and so clear about what she wanted. I just got an email from her and I had to share part of it with you all!

"My friend, I must tell you, not just because it was mine, but the cake was FABULOUS beyond words. The beauty of it alone, was breathtaking. I'll send you a picture here soon, but I did my centerpieces the same as the cake! And boy, were there rave reviews. ...Not to mention, it was so very very very very yummy-licious! So, I bow to you in thanks!" .......Mrs. Kathy Harrison{that is going to get some getting used to proudly}

This wedding cake was chocolate cake (In the bride's words... WE LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!) with two layers of milk chocolate mousse and one layer of white chocolate mousse.

Edit: 4/6/09 - I totally forgot to give photo credit (bad blogger!). I big thank you goes out to Debbie Brown Photography who kindly reminded me and who also has a lovely blog post about this darling couple.