Victorian House

I am always asked, "What was your most difficult cake ?" Honestly there have been a number of challenging ones (think six-foot tall sock monkey) but one of the cakes that was both challenging and most detailed was a Victorian House cake we created over a year ago for a wedding.


The wedding actually took place at the Jedediah Hawkins Inn located in Jamesport, New York. The cake was an exact replica of the house from the structural details, down to the flowers outside the house.





One of my friends who is an architect came by the bakery to help me figure out the exact configuration of the roof. We even had the event planners send us the paint chips of the renovated house so we could match all the exact colors.



It was this project that first gave me the idea to film the building of our cakes (which eventually led us to shoot two videos on YouTube). Unfortunately I thought of it in the middle of this project so it was too late, but I did take some still photos that will give you some idea of the process. The entire house was Banana cake filled with Chocolate Ganache. I insisted on the ganache, since it holds up better structurally then buttercream, once I learned (a week before the wedding) that the cake would be displayed in a tent filled with 300 people rather then an air-conditioned room. Did I mention that this took place at the end of August (think very hot and humid)!

This week after we finish a five year old's princess cake, I'm off to judge, demo and teach in Austin, TX at That Takes the Cake Show. There are only a few spots left for my class on March 2nd. We are making the Sushi Cake from The Confetti Cakes Cookbook.

V-Day

I LOVE Valentine's Day. Not a day goes by that I don't tell my husband that I love him but it is an extra special time to remind everyone of the loved ones in their own lives. (I also hate to admit it but I love all the cheesy decorations that go up in retail stores this time of year.) During the end of the year and all the holidays that come with it there never seems to be enough time to make things from scratch, but Valentine's Day stands alone, it's the perfect holiday to make something ...yes I have to say it...from the heart. And this year it is on a weekend, even better.


One of my favorites is a project from our second book, Confetti Cakes for Kids. But if you don't have all the materials used here then you can adapt this project to heart shaped cupcakes and ice with plain old frosting, Yum! You can also take this idea and decorate heart cookies either with a message or without. You can use edible food markers, royal icing or we use special Letter cutters called TAPS. If you do go the cake route then use our delicious Red Velvet Cake recipe.

The message is the best part. You can personalize the cookies, cupcakes and cakes with an inside joke that will make any friend, relative, girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse laugh...and of course be touched that you thought of them in the first place.

Check out this blog, they used our book to make their very own sweet treats.

We're off...

I have already failed on my New Year's resolution to write more frequent blog postings but I have a good excuse. My assistant Lauren and I are off to Denver, Colorado tomorrow to participate in one of the biggest Food Network Challenges ever! I can't really tell you too much more then that but you will have to catch it on the Food Network when it airs this spring.

In the meantime besides shipping A LOT of cake and all of our equipment out to Denver we were busy do a demo at ICE, completing cakes and teaching too. I also had a chance to kick-off the Lower East Side Girls Club cupcake-of-the-month. Last week I headed down to The Sweet Things Bakeshop and we created a snowball cupcake for the month of January.


The last cake we did went out yesterday for a little boy's first birthday party. The theme of the party was from the movie Finding Nemo and the cake was created using some of our favorite cake recipes, Red Velvet Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Banana Cake filled with Chocolate Ganache.



I am also excited to tell you about two upcoming classes. I am spending a weekend in Austin, Texas the end of February as a judge and teacher at That Takes The Cake, Sugar Art Show and Cake Competition. I'll be teaching how to make our sushi cake and demoing a gift box cake.

In May I will be flying to Toronto to teach a class at Flour Confections. You can sign up here.

So we are off, wish us luck!

Buzz

December is a crazy month for just about everyone, except Cake Designers. I mean if you have a retail bakery then of course you will be very busy with holiday orders but usually cake designers are not driven by holiday traffic, when people are baking at home they don't get married or have an elaborate cake at their family event, so we have our share of work to do but we are not "crazed with cakes." And although that is generally true, I have certainly done my share of Christmas present cakes and even a dreidel cake for Hanukkah. But when you run a small business I can say without hesitation you are ALWAYS busy. The end of the year brings a fervor of cleaning, book signings, photoshoots, planning for next year and year-end accounting (I love that quick books), not to mention celebrating! We had our Confetti Cakes Holiday party last week and then I was at Ron Ben-Israel's home (a.k.a. The King of Cakes) on Sunday making Latkes with my friend Zac Young (Executive Pastry Chef at Butter).

But of course when my friend called me up from Sports Illustrated Kids and said they needed a cake to celebrate their 20th Anniversary how could I say no? (Well, quite honestly I don't know how to say "No" and that is why I usually do not answer the phone!) So we replicated their mascot Buzz Beamer popping out of our delicious Chocolate cake. You will have to check out the issue in 2009, Buzz will be featured on the contents page.


So we all know what my new year's resolution is right? To write a more consistent blog...and to win the next challenge on the Food Network :-). The last one I did will air on Dec, 26th.
Happy Holidays to all!

The Style Network

One of the three wedding cakes I made for my very own wedding

Am I the world's worst blogger? I know it! Trust me I am always filled with TONS of ideas to write about on the blog...I even keep a list of things I want to talk about! Somehow I just never find the time to sit down and write it.

So here is a good excuse...we will be featured on The Style Network tomorrow, Tuesday 12/16 evening at 9pm/8 central. The Show is, Martha Stewart Living: "The Art of Cakes II" A Wedding Special.


The awesome producers over at Martha Stewart Weddings came to the bakery and filmed us and sat me down for an interview over at the MS Headquarters. They also took the DVD and photographs from my very own wedding to incorporate into the show. They wanted to show what a cake designer, someone who is in the industry and designs wedding cakes for a living did for her own wedding. So check it out and see for yourselves.

Me and my hubby, October 6, 2007. Photo by Jamie Watts

Leaving on a Jet Plane.....

That's right I am off to Savannah, Georgia on Monday to teach a class at Minette Rushing's. I'm very excited to meet all my students and to make one of my favorite cakes from our new book, the Safari Gift Box Cake. Last time I was in Savannah I was on Paula Deen's Show and I had to carry a huge sculpted disco ball and decorated sugar cookies, so I am happy to say that I am traveling a lot lighter this time. I have been so busy that I didn't even have time to write a blog entry but yep, our newest book, Confetti Cakes for Kids, came out last week on November 5th.

We have had a lot of events going on besides our usual cake orders so it was especially busy. We had one press event last Tuesday at Dylan's Candy Bar. We were lucky enough to have Rachel from the awesome blog Cupcakestakesthecake attend and she took lots of great photos.

Thursday I was talking with Mario Bosquez the host of Living Today on Martha Stewart Radio about baking secrets. I even brought him some of our cupcakes made with Brown Sugar Buttercream swirls on top...yum!

Then Martha Stewart Television is working on a special that will air on the Style Network December 16th so they came to visit us in the bakery. I've been lucky enough to be interviewed by many blogs recently so just in case I haven't had a chance to mention them before here are a few:
Cupcaketakethecake.com
Alistbaby.net
Cakelava.com

And of course I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the cakes we had this week too. We created a bottle of Champagne made out of chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream, standing on a silver platter, with grapes and a napkin all made out of sugar. Today we had a cake go out to celebrate a 70th birthday, how exciting! I wonder what I will be doing at 70? Probably still baking!

Coming up:
Tomorrow, Nov.16th we have a recipe in PARADE
Cake Classes, Dec. 4th (sold out) and Dec. 6th
Book Signing in CT, Dec. 7th

Happy Halloween

We have these little pumpkin cakes from our new book. I think they look like mini pumpkins with funny faces just like Mr. Potato Head.

I love Halloween! When I was a little girl I used to spend a lot of time planning my costume and then proceed to complain to my mom if she made me put a coat on to cover it up.

Well, yesterday was a lot of fun and a really hectic day. I started out at the Today Show in the morning, showing Kathie Lee and Hoda some of our cookie lollipops from our new book, Confetti Cakes for Kids. Instead of making them in the design of candy lollipops we created ghosts, pumpkins and witch hats. (kinda like we did in our first book, The Confetti Cakes Cookbook, but less fashion focused.Watch it here and click here for the recipe.

Everyone at the Today show was so nice to work with, it takes so much behind-the-scenes preparation for just a four minute segment! We had brought along a few cakes too but we ran out of time.

We made this Witch Hat cake especially for the show but I don't think anyone could see it!

After that show I ran over to Martha Stewart to shoot a segment for a wedding special on The Style Network. I'll let you know when that airs.

Well, we have a jam packed couple of days with more classes today and next week, while we work on sugar decorations for our upcoming cakes and start making cookie dough for our next big event! And the Food Network just called for a HUGE challenge....