Purple and Black - January 9

Tiffany and Tanner had their very dramatic purple and black wedding at Sequoia Restaurant in Placerville. This really is an example of the little details making a big impact!

I'm forever telling my couples to be creative with their cake toppers. Tiffany received the Corpse Bride and Groom as a Christmas present... they are ornaments! Keep in mind that when you get creative with cake toppers you may need to take into account support. There is NO WAY that adorable little groom would have stood up without those flowers... as it is you can barely see his shoes!

The decoration for this cake was a quilted pattern with black dragees at every intersection point. Clean, simple, beautiful!

mmmmm Salted Caramel Tartlets (I do LOVE that pink Hawaiian sea salt!)

I love elevating the simple cream puff. These little guys had white chocolate "hats" that had the same pattern as the name cards and the "Sweet Treats" sign. I'm tellin' you, it really is those little details that show up in the pictures, and, although they might not be noticed at the time that everyone is eating them, really does contribute to a sense of continuity when you look at the entire display.

Fruit Tartlet... enough said!

This is only the second time I've make butterscotch pudding for a wedding, but how fun are these! I particularly like the rough shards of toffee sticking out of the glasses.

Strawberry Mousse, I just LOVED the tiny quanelles of whipped cream on top.

Lemon Mousse... I'm forever hearing that these look like high healed shoes. The cookie on the back is a ladyfinger, and nothing goes better with lemon than blueberries!

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!

Artistic License - Take 3

This is a continuation of the free wedding cake series... three of four.

The bride's colors were chocolate brown, pink and gold. She asked for something "princess-y" and all I can say is that my husband said she'd better have been happy with this cake! That being said this cake was a real phoenix from the ashes experiment. My original intention was for the stenciling to be done in pink... let just say that it didn't work like I had wanted and I had to break out a little pastry magic to get back to a clean, blank slate and try again for take two.

I was very happy with how this cake turned out. Nice detail. Nice composition and I think it fits the request for "princess-y" without being overly girly (I'm there for my grooms too!)

Enjoy the pictures... Brandy Sommer Photography (Brandy is working on building her website, so you'll have to wait to see more of her work until it's done.) did a great job, my favorite is the one with all the blue sky... and yes, we very much did a Where's Waldo with this cake and Sequoia... whenever I have a super stable cake and a beautiful venue I'm going to work it as much as possible to get the best possible pictures!

Go Army!

Libby and Mike were married at Sequoia Restaurant in Placerville back in June. This was a lovely white chocolate covered cake! Their colors were navy blue and army green, so we used blueberries and fresh kiwi as a garnish... perfect for their colors!

I just love their cake topper... absolutely charming!

Gold Country Weddings

Gold Country Weddings will be hosting a wedding event this Sunday (2/8) at Sequoia Restaurant in Placerville. I'm looking forward to participating and can't wait to see you all there! This is a FREE event for all who wish to attend! Stop by my table, get a little bite and say Hi!

Groom's Birthday Cake

I got an emergency call on Monday from one of my brides... "I need a birthday cake for my honey... on Wednesday. Can you help?" I usually like to have two weeks notice on all orders, but I was able to help. Here is a pic of Alex's birthday cake.Details
White Cake Filled with Sweet Marsalla Mousse and Frosted with Whipped Cream(This cake was wrapped in white chocolate with red dragonflies. Topped with berries and finished with white chocolate Happy Birthay ribbon.)

This weekend I have four cake tastings and Sunday is the Sequoia Bridal Event sponsored by Gold Country Weddings. I hope to see all of you there!

Not quite there yet...

Well, last I wrote I was expecting that Friday would be a very big day for the business (new commercial kitchen!). Well, not quite. The negotiations continue. A little frustrating, but I have to keep reminding myself that Rome was not built in a day and neither is a strong, successful business.

On the upside I had a great day on Saturday. I met with one lovely couple for a tasting on Saturday morning and they chose to go with a really fun cake option. They are having a small wedding reception (25-35 guests) so they only needed a small cake. We're going with two tiers, but the top tier will be a large Napoleon! (Crazy side note: It's not uncommon for me to dream about desserts. I actually dreamt about this being an option!) The other fun variation is that the whole cake will be covered in gold tinted white chocolate modeling paste with black ribbon trim and black piping. It should be spectacular!

I also delivered an order on Saturday evening for a retirement party up at Sequoia Restaurant in Placerville. 100 tartlets! Very fun!

I have the honor of creating the Valentine's Day Dessert for Sequoia too! They will be serving Chocolate and Salted Caramel Mousse with Orange Confit and Vanilla Orange and Caramel Sauce. Here is the mock up that will accompany the final order. Very exciting... and very tasty!
Consider this your reminder: Valentine's Day is only 10 days away. Are you ready with dinner reservations? Have you placed your order for flowers? Picked out that perfect card?