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.