Can Paper be Delicious?

Yes, grasshopper, yes...
As a lot of our clients already know, we're huge fans of good wedding dresses. What's not to love? They make our brides look gorgeous, and often give us amazing source material (no pun intended) for designing our cakes.

One of our favorite designers is Monique Lhuillier. She is responsible for the likes of our "Margeaux" cake as well as many of our Alencon Lace designs. The embroidery, fabrics, and techniques she uses are so beautiful and diverse, that we relish every time a bride gives us the opportunity to knock off one of her dresses with a cake.

The exciting news is that Ms. L. has just come out with an amazing line of wedding invitations. As soon as we heard, we made the necessary nagging phone calls, and now we are proud to offer her invitations in our portfolio of letterpress and artisan stationery companies.

Now, while none of us have actually tasted them...yet. They are indeed delicious. How, you may ask? How about beautiful 100% heavyweight cotton papers, letterpressed or engraved with designs inspired by couture wedding dresses. Yummy.

So it was the shoes that did it...

Jan and Brian were friends. They ran in the same circles, and hung out with the same group of people. Nothing more. Until, as I was told, one night when they all went out and she wore this pair of high heel leopard skin shoes. According to Brian, that was it. Who needs cupid when we have Gucci and Manolo? Needless to say, when they began planning their wedding, Jan knew that one part of her wedding ensemble had already been determined. And what better than wearing the shoes that made it all possible? How about topping the wedding cake with a frosting replica? Okay!

It turns out that our Groom had some pretty awesome footwear in mind for the day as well. A pair of Vans that were designed with a wingtip pattern on them. Now we've got a pair of cake toppers!

It took us two weeks to build the frosting shoes, piece by piece they had to be dried in the proper shape, and assembled bit by bit, then handpainted. I have a new respect for all of those Italian shoe makers out there. But once they were complete, and perched upon a cake trunk, hatbox, and shoebox, it was worth every minute.

They kept the cake a secret from everyone, but we gave them all a little hint with the invitations. A wine colored folder with leopard skin paper accents and the wingtip motif printed as a border around the text. I have the best job in the world.

Jordan and Brad

So this bride calls me up, and asks if I can make a groom's cake shaped like kettle bells. No, this isn't the set up for some "guy walks into a bar" joke, it is just a slice of a typical day at Gateaux. Turns out, Jordan's fiance owns a hard core gym, where they use extra-special implements of torture in their workout routines. Sure enough, upon walking into my own (significantly wimpier, sorry Matt) gym the next day, I spied a pair of these bad boys in the training room. Of course the ones at my gym weren't quite the size of these, but then, we're getting back into that bad joke territory.

Anyway, I met the lovely Jordan, and loved the look of her wedding plans, so we quickly sketched up a crazy-beautiful offset stacked wedding cake to stand next to the kettle bell cakes. We also designed an awesome invitation for her. Round! How cool.

Thanks to Noah Wolf Photography for the great pictures of both cakes, including some from later in the evening after someone tried to lift one of the Kettle Bell cakes up by its frosting handle. Now, we're good over here, but not that good. You can imagine the carnage. I've been assured it was well after the guests had seen the cake, and all was well. Thank God, I wasn't around to see it myself, oh the horror! Cake abuse.

Cake Buffet!

Nothing beats a beautiful wedding cake...except maybe a beautiful wedding cake surrounded by 14 of its gourmet cake buddies! Molly and Dan wanted to make sure that their guests had plenty of flavor options for their wedding reception. We obliged, by creating a three tier wedding cake designed after their wedding invitations as well as two-eight foot tables worth of decadent gourmet cakes. They sereved our Cream Cheese Nirvana, Blackberry New York Cheesecake, Turtle Cake, Passion Fruit Cake, Chocolate Chip Mint, Pumpkin Walnut, Banana Creme, and that's just to name a few.

These smaller cakes were decorated with fondant silhouetted birds to match the ones on the wedding cake, as well as with fresh Dahlias from the Bride's Aunt's garden. I could learn a few things from this woman. I've never seen Dahlias like this before...beautiful varieties, some as big as a dinner plate! What talent, I can't even keep a house plant alive, think I'll stick to cakes.

Stephanie's Wedding

Stephanie had the most beautiful wedding. She chose Navy blue and green as her color scheme, then accented with orange in the flowers. We've been doing weddings for 11 years, and never had this color combination before. It was unique, but most of all gorgeous! For her cake, we copied the etching pattern from a couple of glass hurricanes that she bought for wedding decor. Her monogram was stencilled out of royal icing for the green accent on the cake. She found the awesome cake stand, and we used it, loved it, and bought it from her so we can use it again on future cakes. Maybe she'll do some personal shopping for us in the future!?

The Taj Mahal of Cakes

Allison and Sourabh's cake was inspired by of one of the most famous monuments to love, the Taj Mahal. Rather than recreate the Taj itself, we took our favorite architectural elements from the building, and incorporated them into this four tier beauty. The cake was accented with edible 23 karat gold filigree. At the last minute, we decided that the gum paste turrets should be lit from inside. Luckily, we had some battery operated lights in out "things that sparkle" bin in the office (yes, that is actually part of our filing "system", now accepting applications for office manager...)

Pop Rocks and Cats in Convertibles

So we get this call from Lynn. Her husband is turning 50 and she's throwing him a party. He's a lawyer, but not "that" kind of lawyer she points out. As a matter of fact, he loves to bike. So much so that he's been on long-distance bike treks all over the globe. While these days, most of his biking is done on a tandem bike with his kids trailing behind in a burlee.

The cake was awesome to plan. I've never seen such an extensive list of countries to include in a jet-setter's cake. We made so many frosting location flags, that we were unsure we'd even fit them all on the cake. We topped it with the scales of Justice weighing his new age. My favorite element, however, was the frosting convertible (his gift from Lynn, not frosting, real) being driven by cartoon likenesses of their three cats.

The party was quite the fun 70's theme in decor, so we added a candy buffet of nothing but the finest candies the 1970's had to offer. Pop Rocks, Bottlecaps, Gobstoppers, Razzles (still haven't committted to whether they are a candy or a gum) Candy Cigarettes, and tons of other amazing candies that will bring you right back to your Bell-bottomed youth!

Captain Leisure's First Marathon

Any of you who have met with me know that I'm lucky to be married to an incredible guy. The Goo (Brian) and I have been married for 13 years, and he still amazes me on a regular basis. His latest, the Twin Cities Marathon this past Sunday. Wow.

He finished in 4 hours and 44 minutes. It was crazy cold and rainy, but he always had a smile on his face whenever I saw him along the route. The girls from Gateaux, and their boys showed up at mile 22 to show some much appreciated (and incredibly generous, on their day off) support. They're awesome.

For all of you out there who ran, my hat is off to you. I was inspired by every one of the thousands of runners that I saw that day. You guys are amazing! Speaking of amazing, one of our Bride's for this coming winter, Kristin Zinsmaster ran the Marathon as well. I haven't talked to her since the race, but I've heard she's quite the runner. If I remember correctly, she was going out with the group that was pacing to finish in 3 hours and 15 minutes. She'd cringe if she knew I was posting about her. She's quite modest about her abilities, and blushes every time I point out how incredible she is. She'll just have to get used to it.

My awesome personal trainer finished the race in 4 hours and 9 minutes. Sarah is an absolute stud-girl, running the marathon less than a month after her first Iron Man triathalon (which, for those of you who didn't know, ends with a marathon length run). She finished first in her age group at that event, and still returned to Minnesota to destroy my weenie-butt two days later. You know, she could have taken some time off after that, I wouldn't have complained.

My good friend, neighbor, and Speck's Uncle Steve (check out the blog he does for me when I'm away and Speck stays with him and Aunt Kathy at http://www.specktakesatrip.blogspot.com/) started the Marathon despite a nagging hamstring injury. Steve has run many marathons, this was his first Non-Finish. As long as he doesn't injure any muscles required to hand out treats, and administer tummy rubs, Speck doesn't care.

To all of you amazing people, thank you for reminding me what you can accomplish if you put your mind (and body, in this case) to it.

Sisters!

Paige and Caitlin were married within a month of each other this summer. And who referred them to us? Their brother, who was married a year ago. I told Karen (their mom) that she deserved her own honeymoon after two years like this! As it often is with sisters, their styles were completely different from one another. Both were beautiful weddings, and we were thrilled to be a part of both (even if we did call Caitlin "Paige" from time to time).

Paige's wedding had a more modern, tailored design to it. Her main colors were black and white, and she accented the room, and other little details with hot pink and orange. We got to go the the Graves 601 to set up her utterly unique cake. As a matter of fact, Paige let us use a new stacking technique that we discovered while preparing for our "Food Network Challenge" Dr. Seuss cake. I can't tell you how pleased we were (and a little nervous) to try out something this unique. The best cakes are those that scare you a little bit. This was one of those cakes!

Keeping with her black and white design scheme, we had her invitations done on a white sparkle paper with black ink and carried through the accent colors with an iridescent hot pink and orange ribbon. The monogram from the invitation turned out so nice, that we decided to incorporate in into her cake.

Sisters, Part Two!

Now, Caitlin had an entirely different feel to her wedding design. While she is quite the outdoorswoman (her love of hunting represented by a camouflage garter) she kept the elements of her wedding traditional and elegant. We designed her cake around the lace pattern on her dress and the sashes on the bridesmaids gowns, but gave it a twist by incorporating her sage green and periwinkle blue color scheme into these otherwise traditional couture elements of the cake.

We designed her invitations to reflect the bride and groom's love of hunting and fishing by incorporating a fish motif and caption "Catch of a Lifetime". Their favours were the most elegant little white boxes tied with periwinkle ribbon, but inside the guests found little chocolate fish. I just love when a couple puts their personalities into the favours.

We just had a great time with this family. I still can't believe how relaxed and easy going they all were, especially with two weddings within a month, and three weddings in two years. You'd think they did this every day... we wish they would, we'll miss them around the shop.

Courtney and Ash Spice it up!

So I get this phone call from a woman named Lynn, who is looking for a groom's cake shaped like a Bottle of Tabasco Sauce. Turns out, she's actually not insane, she's just got this daughter who fell in love with a Tabasco Junkie.

Courtney and Ash had a beautiful wedding with the most unique color palette I've seen in a while. They jokingly referred to them as Florida Gator colors, but the whole look was just beautiful. We incorporated their colors into the main wedding cake, and, of course, whipped up a giant bottle of Tabasco Sauce (Chocolate, not spicy, sorry Ash). They finished the night with a surprise fireworks display for their guests. Some people just know how to throw a party.

Thanks to Lace Hanky Photography for sending us these awesome pictures.

Pictures from Andrea and Kris

As many of you know by now, I am a photo junky. Nothing makes us happier at Gateaux than our favorite couples sending us pictures from their weddings. Being the behind-the-scenes vendors that we are, we rarely get to catch a glimpse of our beautiful brides all decked-out for their big day. Needless to say, when they send us pictures, we just love it! These were taken by our friends over at Coppersmith Photography.

Here are a couple that Andrea and Kris sent us from their wedding this past July. We've already posted their cake, but had to add these to the blog. Beautiful couple...inside and out.

Jaclyn's Cake

How's this for a twist on a classic? Jaclyn's cake used all of the traditional elements to a wedding cake, but incorporated them into something completely new. Let's call it "Nouveau Classic"... okay, how about just Awesome!

Pauline and EJ at the Zoo

I can't think of a cooler venue for a reception than the Discovery Bay room at the Minnesota Zoo. Where else could you share your happiness with a couple of dolphins and an open tank of sharks and stingrays?

For Pauline and EJ, this was the perfect match. They love the ocean and all the strange and beautiful little critters in it. Armed with books of sea life, they sat down with me and scared the living daylights out of me with requests to recreate everything from crabs to christmas tree worms out of frosting for their cake. Following my general rule of thumb "If it scares the crap out of me at the initial meeting, it's going to be an incredible cake" I gleefully obliged. We started the fish, anemones, and other advance elements of this cake a full two weeks before the wedding in order for the peices to dry hard enough to support themselves, then be hand-painted, then assembled. It was fun to see the bakery racks pile up with varying phases of completed sea life. I must say, I kind of miss that little puffer fish smiling at me each morning when I came into the shop.

Oh well, I can't think of a nicer couple to have adopted (or maybe eaten) him.

What happened to the Kitty cake.

A lot of our faithful clients have commented on our appearance on the Food Network "Dr. Seuss Cake Challenge" this past March. The most common question is "when are you going to do another?" The answer is, "not so sure". While the great crew over at the Food Network has contacted us in regard to doing another challenge, we just haven't had the time to get back for another taping. Insiders to Gateaux, also know that we actually practiced, baked, and brought the cakes, supplies, cake stands, colored fondant, chocolate paste, airbrush colors, rice crispy treats, and other accoutrements for not just the Dr. Seuss cake, but a backup cake (as the contract to use the Seuss name had not yet been signed when the challenge was taped). Long story short, we, in our ultimate Gateaux Type A fashion, spent day and night for three weeks planning, practicing and racing the clock to learn to complete both of the cake designs in 8 hours flat. When we arrived in Denver for the taping of the show, we still didn't know which design (Green Eggs and Ham, or Three little Kittens who lost their Mittens) we would be competing with. We surely hoped that it wouldn't be the lesser practiced, and still not quite-figured-out Kitten cake. Luckily, the show went ahead as a Dr. Seuss challenge, and we didn't have to create the Kitten cake in competition. However, the sheer torture of having to practice two cakes of that magnitude, with uncertainty lingering over us took its toll. Upon arriving back in Minneapolis after the show taped, a smiling Rice Crispy Treat Kitten popping out of an 18" diameter cake shaped like a pie greeted us at the shop. It hadn't been disassembled from our practice run a week prior. Like all good stressed-out cake women, we resisted temptation to drag the nearly 60 pound chunk of stress to the dumpster. Instead, we carefully planned its demise. So here it is. Poor kitty.

Jennifer and Jacob

I just got my favorite thing in the mail today...bubble wrap envelope! This can only mean one thing, an awesome bride just sent me pictures from her wedding. Here's a few choice shots from Jennifer and Jacob's wedding. We made them a love-bird topped chocolate and gold wedding cake, and finished the guests' collective sugar-high with a candy table.

Couldn't help but post a couple photos of them, they're so adorable. Thanks to Serendipity Photography for capturing the day so beautifully.

Don't you just love when they match?

When you do the kind of crazy custom stuff that we do over here at Gateaux, there can be an whole lotta' clashing cakes in one fridge in any given week. But every once in a while, the cake gods smile down upon us, and for no apparent reason, there is refrigerator harmony, even with three wedding cakes in there! This was one of those rare weeks.

While all three weddings were quite unique in their own style, they looked really cool together in our humble Coldtech fridge.

Here's a shot of Alison and Toby's Casino themed reception cake (married in Vegas, if you hadn't guessed). Also, Lacey's beautifully graphic, ultra chic cherry blossom look and Michelle's over the top guilded (yes, that's edible gold) number.

Okay, okay, the football helmet cake didn't quite fit the fridge motif for the week, but it was a damn good surprise to Michelle's CSU-crazy groom!