Housewarming....Cake!

A few weeks back, my buddy CharLOTT sent me this link to a pink lemonade cake recipe by Paula Deen and said it sounded super yummy.

So, I promised her when she moved into her new house (closer to me) I would bake it for her as a housewarming gift!

Pink lemonade cake/cupcakes has been on my list of things I want to bake for a long time, so I jumped at the opportunity to finally cross it off the list.

I followed the cake recipe exactly, only adding a bit of pink food coloring to make the cake really pop.

I used my usual swiss meringue buttercream recipe instead of the one listed, just because it's my favorite.
I did use about 7-8 tablespoons of the frozen pink lemonade concentrate though.
I left the buttercream white because I thought it would look pretty with the pink cake when you sliced it.

I wanted to make this a rose cake, inspired by i am baker.
Check her out...she is simply amazing.
You'll probably never read my blog again after seeing her stuff, she's that talented.

I went with smaller roses, just to be different.

Not bad, eh?

Happy Housewarming CharLOTT!

Babies like Cupcakes too!

I was asked by one of my regular customers if I could squeeze in an order of cupcakes for a Baby Shower on the 6th, the same day as the wedding I was working on all week.

I told her I could do it if she was willing to meet me on the way to my delivery in Oakland on Friday.
She agreed : )
I've got great customers.

She requested 4 dozen cupcakes: Vanilla, Chocolate, Red Velvet and Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake

She wanted White, Pink and Brown buttercreams with White and Pink heart toppers.

She wanted the guests to be able to identify which cupcakes were what so I matched up the buttercreams with the cupcakes:

Red Velvet with Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream:

Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Buttercream, Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream:

 The Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes are becoming one of my favorites to bake...because those are leftovers that I always keep for myself!

I diced up some fresh strawberries and mixed them with a couple tablespoons of glaze then scooped a spoonful out of the center of the cupcakes and put a nice dollop of the strawberries and glaze into each cupcake.

Here's what it looks like when you bit into it....Mmmmmmmm!

I meant to get a picture of the awesome 24 count cupcake containers I found at Edwards Cake & Candy Supplies aka My New Favorite Store....but I forgot, so here's a shot of all the cupcakes together in the carrier without the top : )

Wedding Week

This past week has been INSANE.

Remember this post? Well, the wedding came and went...and I am still alive.

I was hired to bake a Groom's cake, a 5 tier wedding cake (mostly non-edible, partially edible) and four sheet cakes.

The Groom's cake was to be served at the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.
Originally, the Bride and Groom wanted a Sharks themed Stanley Cup cake but this was when the season looked promising for the Sharks.

Well, we all know how that went....so the cake was changed to the Shark Tank.

The cake is white with fresh raspberry filling and LOTS of raspberry swiss meringue buttercream.

A few days prior I had made the nets and shark head out of gumpaste to ensure they were completely dry.

I covered the cake in white vanilla fondant and added the red and blue hockey rink accents.
I decided the cake needed something more to say that it was the Shark Tank so I added the water waves and shark fins around the base of the cake.

I delivered the cake to the rehearsal dinner at Jack London Square in Oakland.
It was great to see the Bride and Groom the day before their big day and also see my fourth sister, Rachel who flew in from Hawaii for the event.

Once the delivery was done, I headed back home to wrap things up with the wedding cakes.

I covered 4 styrofoam tiers in fondant and wrapped them with ribbon:

I baked, filled, frosted and covered 4 sheet cakes in fondant:

Each sheet cake was devils food chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.

I also made the top tier for the display cake for the bride and groom to cut and eat at the reception.

The morning of the wedding, I cut the sheet cakes so they were ready to serve.
I offered this service because I worried the catering staff may not take the time to clean the knife when it got covered in chocolate and that the white fondant would get smudged.

On the way to Oakland, I picked up my friend Amy Steinert who would be handling the flowers for the cake.

All the flowers were placed on the cake on site to ensure complete freshness.

Amy added pearls to the center of each flower which gave them such an elegant touch.

It was so much fun working with her on an order and I hope that we can do it again and again.

Amy arranges flowers for all occasions....holidays, parties, weddings...everything.

Remember, she did the flower centerpieces for our Baby Shower.

Give her a call if you have something coming up!

Congratulations to Tracilyn and Daniel Tegge!!!