TEN . TEN . TEN

Going against what everyone says not to do, I decided to make our own wedding cake.  I had originally planned to cater the food and was going to leave the cake up to my future sister in law.  I soon realized after we had moved from Cape Cod to New York that the distance would make the work almost impossible, and showing off my cooking skills would not be best presented.  In hindsight I’m glad we didn’t task Kristen with the cake, which gave her more time to work on her amazing speech.

Instead I decided to display my talents in the form of cake.  I’d been making wedding cakes all summer long, so this was an easy task (minus the transportation to MA).  I’d had the plan to showcase a faux cake big enough to feed 1500, but bring sheet cakes to feed 300.  I wanted a unique tiered design with simple decorations and a neutral color.  Making the eyes focus on the height and flowers more than colors and patterns.

I started prepping the tiers ahead of time on Styrofoam and worked on the flowers separately for about 2 weeks.  Mostly making flowers on Sundays while watching football (so manly of me).  The base is still my favorite go to stand, the large wooden lazy-susan that Heather found at the Amvets store and one that I used for Amelia’s cake. It has the perfect width for a large 16 to 20 inch base, and elevates from the table just enough to really make a cake stand out at an event.

For flavors I wanted to show some of the tasty combinations I’ve been coming up with.  I figured on 3 sheet cakes to feed our approximate crowd of 250.  Of course I had to do the signature Vanilla Pound Cake with Raspberry preserves and Italian buttercream.  Then I made the heavenly moist Pineapple Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting.  Lastly, my favorite cocktail cake, The Irish Car Bomb.  Jameson’s Chocolate Cake with Guinness Chocolate Ganache and Bailey’s Italian Buttercream.  Needless to say, the caterer’s were happy to cut sheet cakes and with enough to feed 300, there was nothing left to take home. A good sign.

After 2 years of planning and hectic moves from Vermont to Cape Cod, then an apartment in Rochester to our beautiful house in the city.  I was very glad we decided to do separate days of ceremony and reception.  We lucked out with the most beautiful fall weather for the weekend and had enough time to relax and get everything in place.  Giving us time to spend the best day we’ve had with all of those that we love so much.  I’d like to thank again all of those who made the trip, it was well worth it. 

Dragonflies and Cowboy boots…

A few months ago my cousin Ally (who’s more of a little sister to me) called and asked about making cupcakes for her wedding.  Then she told me the date was exactly two weeks before my own…

She only wanted cupcakes because she was on a budget and the venue was going to charge her a ridiculous cutting cost if I brought her a real cake.  I insisted that she let me fix the situation and do some thing nice for her. 

Knowing her favorite thing in the world is Dragonflies, I decided to make her a faux cake with just one real section of cake for the cutting ceremony.  Her colors were silver and black, so the ribbon worked perfectly with the dragonfly ornaments I ordered.

Along with her 3 tiered cake were 200 individual chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s buttercream and silver sprinkles.  Thank goodness Williams Sonoma had sprinkles that day- I had forgot them in NY and I bought the last 3 jars they had.

The drive was easy with faux cake and cupcakes in tow, we made it to Bridgewater, MA with time to spare.  The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was full of dancing and drinks with family.  I’m glad I was able to make her day just a bit more special.

Knowing that in two weeks I was about to pull off the biggest faux cake I’ve ever done for my own wedding in MA.  For now,  I’m going to stick to delivering cakes with my NY state borders…

New Logo..

After three months of tweaking, reviewing and testing with the market base, we've come up with the best logo that we feel best represents Sweet Stuff.  Let us know your thoughts and leave a comment.  

Only more good things to come...

Baby Steps and Building Blocks

A close friend from high school recently got back in touch with me when we moved back to Rochester.  She’s a frequent customer of Lento and was raving about my desserts and saw that I’ve started a cake business.  Wanting to celebrate her son’s first birthday with something special, she first asked me if I could make 30 miniature block cakes for each guest.

I told her that it was feasible, but it would take me quite some time and cost more than a regular cake.  So after catching up on life and the past ten years we, came to a decision on the cake.  A chocolate diner cake with Italian vanilla buttercream.

We kept the block design and she really wanted the wood pattern with Janus’s name in colored blocks.  On the day of the party I showed up to a closed in yard of toddlers at play and a pleasantly surprised family.

The wide eyes of her one year old and the smiles all around was a nice greeting to see old friends.  Later I grabbed a few pic’s of the party with the best being the one of the satisfied child.  A job well done.

If the shoe fits….

So a simple request became a fun endeavor with several trips to the craft store to finish it all.  Had to get the decorations, then colors, then a larger rolling pin and glue gun to put it all together.

Not the first time I’ve been asked to make something real and something faux.  The topper was created from a styrofoam ball, gumpaste and fondant with lots of glucose syrup and pink crystal gems.

Working in the confines of our small apartment back room I was able to make the twirls and wheels a few weeks ahead of time and put them all together the night before the brides shower.  The cake was a vanilla pound with cream cheese frosting and fresh strawberry filling.

When I delivered the cake to the banquet hall I was greeted by 20 plus ladies that loved the cake and topper.  There’s something to be said about throwing that white coat back on and impressing the ol’ ladies… They just love it. 

One small step for Sweet Stuff, and a giant leap for myself…

Back on Valentines Day of 2009 an old friend of mine was proposed to by her boyfriend while mountain hiking in North Carolina.  By the time they reached the bottom of the mountain, I think Amelia had the wedding planned down to the colors of the cake. ;)

After browsing a few pictures of wedding cakes I had made in my last days at NECI, Amelia emailed me to see if I could possibly do one for her… and the fun began.  Being my first official wedding cake made from home, I wanted to do the best job I could and really show off all the skills I’ve been picking up over the past 4 years.  Soon after the first 8 or so design changes, Amelia and I came up with some great ideas and put them to paper.  We still joke that we officially used all means of technology to communicate about her cake.  Texting, chatting, email, letters, and SMS picture mail.  I may have to setup video conferencing someday to help design her future children’s birthday cakes.. =P

My Morning Jacket is one of Andrew’s favorite bands, so we worked on an album cover re-representation that most would recognize, but also not be so morbid.  So we kept the owl alive, minus his innards on display and instead I filled him with rich chocolate diner cake and peanut butter cream cheese frosting.  Which in turn produced rave reviews and Andrew was quite impressed with the design.

As for their cake, we had originally talked about doing a faux five tier, but since I moved back to NY it worked out better to make it real.  Her final design would be a champagne colored fondant with buttercream flowers and 28 hand painted gumpaste orchids.  The most challenging part for myself had to be the delivery.  With the rehearsal dinner in Ithaca, the first 2 hour drive was easy with the grooms cake.  But the Saturday of the wedding the heat shot up to almost 95 in Rochester, and driving with 5 tiers in the front seat of a black Volvo with black leather seats had me nervous.  With such beautiful country scenery going by I just wanted to roll the window down and take it all in, but instead Heather and I wore sweatshirts and cranked the AC for the 3 hour trip.

But in the end we made it, the cake came together great and just minutes before the beautiful lakeside ceremony.  It was by far one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever been to, and I could see what Amelia already had planned on the rest of that hike down…  After checking up on the cake about 7 more times throughout the night, I was welcomed to a round of applause before the cutting.  300 pounds was lifted from my chest when myself and most of the crowd dug into the vanilla Italian buttercream and raspberry filled goodness that was their cake.  To my own disbelief, as with most of the bridesmaids, we had 3 pieces each of the best cake I’ve ever tasted, just to make sure it was real.  All in all I was relieved, surprised and proud all in the same moment, and it was a great first step with hopefully many more in our future. 

Thanx again Amelia & Andrew for letting us be a part of your special day…

Felines with headwear are the best teachers…

So Gina asks me to help her with some ideas for Jackson’s birthday cakes.  She wants to do a Dr. Suess theme for two cakes, one is a party for the kids, the other with all the adults.  I came up with a great Cat In The Hat idea..

After building the frame, and learning the intricacies of nuts & bolts in wood dowels, I came to the conclusion that a rubber band would be the best thing to support the top cake.  It would hold the weight of the top cakes and be adjustable depending on how tall I made the head.

The morning I was going to deliver our friendly feline, I took him out of the fridge to come to temperature before I was going to paint him.  The condensation wouldn’t take color, so I let it sit out for an hour.  Not realizing the oncoming humidity and rain of that morning, when I got back from the store to paint him, I found a cake that was 3 inches shorter than what I had left before.

Luckily my pristine hat had turned into the realistic floppy hat from the children's book, and this time The Cat In The Hat taught me a few lessons.  Never use rubber bands near buttercream.  Always paint a cake before it goes in the cooler, not afterwards. And always transport a cake in separate pieces when possible.  But in the end, it came together well, everyone was impressed and a 3 year old boy’s jaw was on the floor when he saw a birthday cake taller than him.

That was all I needed…