Love is Sweet

Matt and Andrea had a chic, sophisticated, modern look to their wedding. An intimate affair, held at an artist's studio, it would reflect the couple's style perfectly.
This is a slam dunk when it comes to cake design. It's simple. Take a few key elements (a monogram, a fabulous color scheme, a simple graphic) and turn them into a clean, crisp modern cake. How about this for minimalism...Instead of putting the pattern on the side of the cake, we cut out the pattern from the fondant panels to reveal another layer of colored fondant below. I showed the technique to these guys and they loved it, so we had a cake.

One disconnect to deal with, however. As it happens, Matt comes from a family of serious sugar-junkies. It wouldn't be a family celebration without a full dessert spread. To Andrea, however, this brought visions of country club brunch displays towering with petit fours and cream puff swans swimming around on lavish sterling silver stands. Delicious, yes, but completely NOT in line with the modern, clean design of the wedding.

Enter the cake lady, who, while has quite the respect and admiration for the well-executed cream puff fowl, has grown weary of their aesthetic. It's time for a makeover. So, we took all of the family favorites, Petit Fours, Fruit Tarts, Mini Eclairs, etc. and mixed in some new treats, Monogrammed Pecan Shortbread Cookies, French Macarons, and Cake Pops. Then, we added some coordinating candies, and had all new stands built. All acrylic and glass, no filigree, no mirrors, no swans!





The couple ran with it. We arrived to the studio, and the entire length of the streetfront window was reserved for the cake and desserts. They found amazing table linens, and strung the letters L-O-V-E -I-S- -S-W-E-E-T above the table so that it was visible from the street. The groom shared with us, that the night before, at their rehearsal, a couple stopped in to see if there was a new bakery opening in the space. I guess there kind of was, just "invitation only".

We had the pleasure of meeting the mother of the groom while we set up the desserts. When I commented on the sheer volume of desserts vs. the small guest list, she took full credit. "That was me" she said with a grin that only a true dessert-junkie could understand. And I did.

Fashionista

The cake lady's got style. There's no denying that. Unfortunately, my style is limited to the world of all things cakeable. The rest, we'll leave to that talented few, whose parents, in their infinite foresight knew to name them things like Coco, Donatella, and Yves. My parents had a thing for birds, I guess, which stopped my potential for a career in fashion dead in its tracks by the time I left the delivery room.

Jasmine, however...is a different story.

Jasmine had her "people" (sister Tahlia) call me to arrange a fabulous, designer 21st birthday cake worthy of her impeccable style. I was intrigued by the prospect of designing for a designer, so I sketched up an homage to all of her favorite things. The Chanel purse, nail polish, Dior lip gloss, and Juicy Couture charm bracelet were a gimme, but we felt the need to acknowledge this little Diva's own love of design. It turns out, our Jasmine has her own line of couture goodies, so we added a dressmaker dummy with her label "sewn" to it, as well as her Vaio laptop that aids her in the design process.

Of course, these items could only be properly carried in a "Big Brown Bag", so we had ourselves the perfect cake!

I will say, that upon talking to our little Jas, I couldn't help feeling a little "Diva" myself. She calls me "Miss Robin" in her awesome New Zealand accent, frequently refers to "glittering her knickers" when she's excited, and loves when I curse on "Amazing Wedding Cakes" because it "shows how much I care". I really do think I love her....

One more little addition to the cake, a frosting ipod, with of course, Madonna's "Vogue" on the screen. Go Jasmine, you've definitely got it down...and by the way, you rocked your little white pleated baby doll dress and emerald green sparkly shoes at your birthday party.

Amber and Katy Perry?

Okay, this is actually Amber and Randy's wedding cake, but stay with me people.

When I met with Amber, her mom, and her awesome wedding coordinator Stephanie from Table 6 productions, I instantly knew I wanted to make this wedding cake. Well, not instantly...about 7 minutes into the appointment to be exact.

That's when Amber pulled out of her bridal file, not only the photo of her lovely wedding gown, awesome sparkly shoes, but.....wait for it, people....a photo of Katy Perry.

Now, those of you who know the cake lady, know that her taste in music is nothing short of a little wacky. On any given day, you might hear Etta James, Natalie Merchant, Cake (of course), Greenday, or G Love and Special Sauce playing at the bakery. It wasn't until a few years ago, though, that I discovered Katy Perry, after seeing her don a fruit dress at the Grammys. Any girl who can keep a straight face, and work it, while wearing glittered bananas and strawberries has got my undying admiration and respect. I quickly borrowed her CD from Jenna (cake girly number two) and never gave it back.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to see Ms. Perry in someone's wedding file. But it was her dress that intrigued Amber. A beautiful little ombre number fading from blue to purple. While the bridesmaids would be wearing black at Amber's wedding, the rest of the decor would be inspired by this ombre effect. Lighting, floral, and of course, the cake!

I immediately agreed, and we designed a cake that I had absolutely no idea how to do. It would have the outline of the pattern that trailed down Amber's train, but the sides would be airbrushed ombre from blue to purple sheen. Awesome....terrifying....Awesifying!!!!

Better yet, we would do a dessert/candy buffet that would also transform from blue to purple. Gimme, gimme, gimme!

Much to my dismay, the combination of the cake and dessert buffet made the delivery too extensive for me to wear a fruit dress to the wedding, maybe next time.

Thanks to Ruth from Happily Ever After for these lovely photos!