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!

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!

Sean and Ashley - August 22, 2009 Part 1

Hot August Nights!

Sean and Ashley have both been so much fun to work with while we were creating their wedding desserts. They were so excited about the prospect of doing little desserts with the cake. It was beautiful and the colors really let me go crazy with some fun techniques that I've been DYING to try.

Don't worry, yes, that is an ax in Sean's hand, yes, they did cut the cake with said ax, and yes, Sean IS a fireman! This was a sweet, very funny, surprise for his darling bride... I so wanted to say something, but it was hilarious and the pictures are priceless.This photo will need some retouching to make it magazine worthy (mostly the drapery) but I was thrilled with how this turned out. There are little things that bug me, but I'm not going to share them with everyone... it's just me. Enjoy the pictures!

In order from left to right: Dulce De Leche Creme Brulee, Pecan Pie, Black Forest Petit Fours, Raspberry Lemonade Marshmallows, Strawberry Chocolate Mousse, Lemon Berry Pavlovas, Salted Caramel Tartlets, Decorated Butter Cookies

Special thanks go out to: Lora Ward with A Day To Remember Wedding Consultants for recommending me to her clients. As always she was a force to recon with and was so great about staying on top of everything. Katie Edwards of Ambience Floral Design was wonderful. She made the floral balls that are shown in this picture and she created the backdrop. Thank goodness... if I'd had to do it I think I would have lost my mind! Jordan Zink of Jordan's Portraits took these and many more amazing pictures! Last but not least, Stephanie of Stephanie J Designs made the lovely name cards. I just pointed her in a direction and she went and the end product was LOVELY!

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!

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

Jessica and Jason - April 25, 2009

Jessica and Jason had a very modern club affair at Vizcaya Pavillion. It was a very city lounge feel in green and pink with lots of white furniture. Being a non-traditional event, Jessica wanted a cake, dessert buffet and appetizers. Since the theme was modern so was the food... no sit down dinner! (Sounds like a party to me!)

I can't wait to see pictures from Allison Stahl Photography, but I've already warned her that I'll be stalking her until I get good pictures to share with you. I'm not at all thrilled with the dessert pictures I took, but here is one of the cake. If you are wondering what is on top... that would be $300 worth of Marc Jacobs Waterford crystal flowers... boy did that make me NERVOUS. (For all the bakers out there who want to know... I built a plastic structure into the cake that helped support those flowers...they weren't just sitting on top, they had 10"long crystal stems attached to them!)

John and Katie - April 4, 2009

John and Katie made such a lovely couple. Their Disney themed wedding was beautiful, but understated in colors of yellow and blue and the barn at Wilson Vineyard couldn't have been more lovely!

Jordan (of Jordan's Portraits) took amazing pictures, I can't wait to work with him again in August! Lora Ward, of A Day to Remember, also orchestrated the event... it was seamless, not even a hiccup.

John and Katie went crazy! They had a small (6") wedding cake and a large dessert buffet. It was lovely and I can't wait to see more pictures... but here is a preview!