Stephanie & Pete, Amazing Wedding Cake, Ridiculous Weather

I moved to Minneapolis in 1989 to go to the U of MN. My family is from the east coast, and moved to Wisconsin when I was three year’s old. My mom loves to tell the story that leading up to our move, everyone kept telling me that I was moving to a place that got a lot of snow, so when we got off the plane in mid July to move into our new house, my first words were “Where’s all the snow?”
Well, thirty-seven years later, I finally have the answer. It’s in Minneapolis.

And we love it…my Husband, the Goo, once timed a half our news cast during a run of the mill snowstorm, and they spent eighteen minutes covering the weather. Subtract commercials, and that left about six minutes for news and sports. And when a potential storm is on its way…the hype rivals that of the Superbowl lead up.

That’s why I typically don’t concern myself with weather forecasts. They hype it up to the level of “we’re all gonna die” and sometimes, the storm misses us completely.

That was certainly not the case on the day of Stephanie and Peter’s wedding.

Like I said, I’ve lived in Minneapolis for over twenty years. I’m used to driving in the snow. I had planned to make the St. Paul wedding cake deliveries myself, with Julia following me in her car. But, on my way to the shop, I called the Goo, and asked him to come drive for me. I’ve never done this before, in fifteen years of business…never. And I’ve delivered through some pretty nasty storms. Being the prince that he is, he met me at the shop, and it was definitely the right decision.

For those of you who haven’t driven in a blizzard, here’s the trick. No matter how high you have your windshield defrost set, the windshield wipers ice up. And they don’t do such a great job when they’re basically two sno-pops dragging across the windshield. The only way to fix this is to roll down your window, grab the wiper, pull it away from the windshield, and let it snap back against the glass to break the ice off. Well, if you’re 5’3” and have arms to match, this is impossible to do while driving. But with the Goo at the wheel, we were golden.

Let’s complicate things a little…this wedding cake was one of the nine cakes that were to be featured on Amazing Wedding Cakes on WeTV. So, we had a film crew caravan of cars behind us, and about 2 miles away from the reception, they ripped off the driver’s side wiper trying to snap the ice off the blade. The call came over the Walkie-Talkie that they needed to pull over. But we had a wedding cake to deliver, and it really isn’t the best idea to pull over on the highway during a blizzard. So we talked them into continuing for the last two miles with… wait for it…the driver hanging his head out the window. Ahh, dedication!

Well, Stephanie and Pete got their wedding cake, and were the most gracious of couples. The wedding was a success despite all of the obstacles that the weather put in their way.

Julia’s car spent the night at the reception site, it was hopelessly stuck after the time spent setting up the cake. We drove to the nearest auto parts store, where the crew got a new wiper, and headed back home via the backstreets (they had pulled the plows off the major highways). The snow was over waist deep at my house, but Great Wall Chinese Restaurant in my neighborhood, as usual, was open. Apparently, they don’t listen to weather forecasts either.
Thanks to Kemmetmeuller Photography for these fabulous images!

My birthday twin!

I've never met anyone with the same birthday as me. At least not to my knowledge, I suppose it isn't something that you discuss in casual conversation while checking out at the grocery store, or ordering lunch. So, when Rita from Premier Planning called me about a cake for a 40th birthday party for a December 14th birthday girl, I thought that she was planning a party for me. As it turns out, it was the next best thing...a party for Frances, who, as it turns out not only shares my birthday, but my taste, a lot of my opinions, and definitely my sense of humor. So, at our meeting, we quickly sketched up her/our Harlequin dream cake, and then spent the rest of the time chatting like old friends.

Old friends, with one common curse! Frances chose December 11th as her party date, and I had two wedding cakes that day as well. Unusually busy for December. If any of you live in the Twin Cities, that date might ring a bell as the date of the biggest blizzard in 20 years! So, while I was steadily tracking down I-94 to two St. Paul Weddings, Jenna, my full-timer was trudging to set up Frances' cake. Fortunately, they all made it in their cakey glory to their destinations, and Frances was kind enough to send me this pictures from her party.

When I asked her about a joint 41st next year, she said "only if it's somewhere where it doesn't snow". I've been thinking about that Frances, and after this winter, I think I may be calling you on that...let's go!

Come Together

Amber and Gregg came in with a plan for a chic, modern wedding reception at the Graves 601. Color Scheme: Yellow and Slate Grey. That's plenty to get me started. As we got to know each other, I found out that Gregg proposed at Abbey Road in London because Amber is quite the Beatles fan. Hmm... I'll let that go. After all, not EVERYTHING I like about a couple has to inspire their cake.

What else did they have planned? They had picked a florist, Amber had a beautiful dress, and a great photographer. And, they had a Beatles cover band for the reception. Maybe I didn't word that well enough, because, how it really went down, was that they were bouncing in their seats with excitement when they told me about the band. Hmmm...

So, we designed some very pretty cakes, perfectly suitable for the Graves, and they came in a week or so later to pick up their cake samples. Meanwhile, I got my new invitation album in from Oblation Papers. Every single design in that album screamed for a wedding at the Graves. One, however, jumped out at me. Although, it came in a portfolio of invitations called "The Black Album", it was blind debossed, white on white...completely remniscent of the Beatles "White Album". I couldn't resist! So I showed them to Amber's mom, who picked up the samples (mom's usually hate invitations that have fonts that are difficult to read, so I was a little apprehensive to show her invitations printed WITHOUT INK). However, being insanely fashion forward, she loved them...and so did the bride and groom.

So, we ordered them, and I'd bide my time...

Once the invites came in, I got an email from Amber. She really didn't want to be a pain, and really loved the cake designs, but...could we maybe...if it's not too much trouble...design a cake that maybe...kind of...relayed the Beatles feel that the invitations had. Hah! What took you so long kid?

Well, the rest is self-evident on the cake. We had a great time designing it, and even laid out "The Rohdes" as the topper (Gregg's last name). Amber designed the amazing programs using that logo, and finally, we succombed to the idea, and let our Fab-five fly! They picked out their favorite songs to Name the tables, rather than boring old table Numbers, and we even found the most adorable, and kind of groovy "love" chocolate mold for the favours. Again, courtesy of Amber's amazing creativity.

This is truly they kind of creative process that explains why we do more than simply cakes. Every time these guys came in, we added another layer to the overall reception design. It was a joy to be able to see the whole thing Come Together...hah, one last reference!

By the way, thanks to J. Stoia for the incredible photos!

Lobsters Mate for Life

Sarah and Andrew have impeccable taste. Their wedding colors were antique gold with accents of pumpkin orange and fuchsia. Their aesthetic, classic and timeless. Their invitations, letterpressed brocade (one of our favorite custom invitation jobs of the year, so elegant). Sarah looked the part of Audrey Hepburn at her wedding...classic...timeless.

Now, when it comes to cake, these guys get it. The cake introduces the start of the reception. It announces that the party is about to start, so what better than to cover it with edible confetti? Keeping in the same color scheme that we used for their invitations, menus, place cards, etc. we made the cake antique gold, soft white pumpkin and a tiny bit of fuchsia. So still incredibly classy, but fun!


So when they approached me about making a groom's cake that was in the shape of one of the buildings on the college campus where they met, I was intrigued, but felt it was a bit stuffy to be sitting next to our confetti cake. After all, these guys were young, energetic, and quite a lot of fun to hang out with. Then, Sarah mentioned that she calls Andrew her Lobster. A little strange, yes, but there's a cake in there for sure! Turns out, Lobsters mate for life. Who knew? Well, I guess Sarah and Andrew. So when I pitched the "lobster hot tub" cake to her, she was all over it. More importantly, it was too good to share with the groom just yet. So we surprised him with the cake.



I will say, it was a challenge to make the little crustacean couple "cute", so once we completed sculpting them, and attached their veil, bow tie,and a glass of champagne and gin and tonic in their little claws, we decided that they were best described as "cugly" (cute, ugly, you get it). Sarah agreed when she stopped by a few days before to pick up her programs, and take a sneak peek.


Speaking of sneaking, we love that photo that Shelly Mosman sent us of Sarah sneaking a taste of her wedding cake. I've never seen a more adorable bride. Thanks Shelly for all of these great shots!

We're Bringing in the Celebrity Endorsements

It's been another great year for us at Gateaux. We made some incredible cakes, worked with some fabulous couples, and are in the process of taping our first season of "Amazing Wedding Cakes" for WEtv. What could possibly be the icing on this cake? How about that ever-elusive title of
Minnesota Bride Magazine's "Best Wedding Cakes"?
The winner is decided by online voting, and there are bakeries in the Twin Cities that do more wedding cakes in one weekend than we do in several months. So, every year, our loyal clients and fans vote, and every year, we get nominated, and (almost) every year, we...fall short. So, in an attempt to motivate the troops, we've turned to our good friend Bill Murray to say a few words of motivation to inspire our team of underdog voters.

So, if you love good cake as much as we do, please take a few minutes and go to Minnesota Bride by clicking on the link below to vote for the Best of 2011. You must vote for at least six of the categories in order for your vote to count, so this gives you the chance to give a nod to your favorite florist, restaurant, hotel, etc. too. Or simply vote Gateaux for Cake, Best All Around Vendor, Invitations, Favors, and, well, I guess you'd still need to vote for two more.

If your guests were impressed with your cake, and your in-laws were wowed, forward this email to them. If you've ever had our cake and thought if only I could do something to tell the world how good they are! Vote. Hell, if your dog got the leftovers, have him vote (only if he has a valid email address, but what self-respecting pooch wouldn't?)

Taj Mahal, no really.

Those of you who have been following the cake log for a while, know that we are no strangers to requests for Taj Mahal Cakes. What better physical representation of a man's love for his wife is there? So, we've tinkered with this in or years of decorating. The first was a Taj Mahal Edible Cake Topper for Lynn and Himanshu, the rest of the cake was decked out with gold patterns from the Bride's and Bridesmaid's Saris. A couple of years later, we made our "Taj Mahal Deja Vu" cake as a step closer to that ever-requested scale model replica.

Well, finally, Yesmin walked into the shop, and would accept no excuses. She and her fiance wanted a cake shaped like that beautiful monument. So we took our favorite elements from the previous Taj-inspired cakes, and took to some "Cakeitechture".

Of course, Magic Phil hooked us up with some incredible little lights that he rigged on posts for us to light up the minarets, that just goes without saying. But he also built us a water-tight stand so that we could build our own reflecting pool in front of the cake.

One thing I've never seen in my 15 years of doing this...the bride had stanchions set up around the cake after it was set up. We've joked about doing this for years, you never know who's going to give into temptation and test out the cake's authenticity before it is cut. Yesmin wasn't about to find out!

Ann and Jon

Ann's mom Linda called me about cakes for the wedding, but before we knew it, we were discussing invitations. Sometimes, I work in reverse. Anyway, Ann and Jon wanted something clean and classic, but Linda wanted something with a little personality. Once I met Ann, it became clear...this girl was refined, elegant, but way too much fun for a boring traditional invitation. We chose several different stripe motifs, and a pair of love birds, from one of my letterpress albums, then let their designers run with it. Much to my surprise, Ann chose pieces featuring different stripes, and motifs, rather than having the entire invitation suite match. The cake lady is entirely too "Type A" to have seen this as an option, but once the set came together, it was delightfully non-matchy match. I'll be encouraging others to do the same!

Now, onto cake(s)...

How can a girl possible settle for one cake, when she has all of these beautiful invitation motifs to play with? Luckily, Linda brought in a photo of a most interesting wedding cake display. Not one cake, but 5 wedding cakes, some single tier, some two tier, and one three tier in the center. I quickly sketched up my dream cake buffet for them, and they let me run with it!



Linda decided to nest the cakes in a bed of Hershey kisses rather than a fussy display of floral, making the display, once again, clean, tailored, but FUN!

The only downside to this business, is that once the wedding is over, your busy with a whole crop of new weddings. Some people need to have multiple weddings so that I can work with them over and over again. What do you say Linda?