Town and Country

So I just got an email from Town and Country Magazine. They're looking for cakes for an upcoming article. We're pretty lucky over here at Gateaux, and have had several of our lovelies published nationally. Town and Country is one of my favorites, because they actually ask us to submit photos from actual weddings...of actual cakes, which is what we actually do.

Last summer they published Ashley's beautiful antique blue and lace cake, it was to die for.

Anyway, this time, they're going for a theme. Town and Country, is looking for exactly that...City inspired cakes, and Country inspired cakes.

As I went sifting through my latest cakes for which to send over, it was pretty easy to plop them into city, city, country, country, city, categories...until I got to Ashley and Matt's cake. While it definitely is worthy of a look-see by the editors, it completely stumped me.

You see, we based this cake on the couples invitations, designed by the fabulous Amy at Mi Mi Weddings. They wanted a vintage look to the invites, and while the reception would be on the ledge of a lake, it's Lake Calhoun, smack-dab in the middle of Minneapolis (well, not really the middle, but you get the idea). So, what to do with an urban-vintage lake design scheme? They solved this design problem with an exquisite replication of a full-color, antique map of Minneapolis printed on vellum and included with the invitations. Beautiful!

Cake with said map...not possible. That's where the amazing TK comes into play. Those of you who know us, know that we come with a crew of thousands (people who will lend a hand for a handful of cake, that is) and TK is one of them. He took the map, and cleaned it up to a one color, screen-printable version. Don't ask me how, something to do with cloning, outputting, a little bit of burnt sage, a few chants, you know, artist stuff.


So, with our screens in hand, we laid out sections of the map, printed them, and the rest is a bunch of Jenna's amazing mitering skills.

So, where to put this cake, City or Country? I'm taking votes, but mine is that the article should remain the same, only change the layout to one photo...this one. Country, City, great cake, the editors can get off early and take a nice drive to the Lake.

Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll, two out of three anyway.

We've had some interesting cakes at Gateaux over the years. Hell, we've had some interesting cakes at Gateaux over the weeks, days, etc. But sometimes, we get a week, where I look at the bakery rack of drying "cakesessories" and can't possibly wrap my head around how and why I've ended up with that particular mix of items in my shop. This was one of those weeks.
While the concept of drugs and heavy metal music aren't too foreign to each other, throw together an AC/DC amplifier and several boxes of (that's right, I'm gonna say it) suppositories, and my type "A" world starts to crumble.
It all started with a drop in from one of our favorite past brides, Krista. Her husband, Justin, was turning 30, and she wanted a cake for his surprise party that would rival his groom's cake. Justin happens to be quite the AC/DC fan (their daughter even has an AB/CD Pacifier, complete with the little lightning bolt) so she'd been kicking around the idea of theming the cake in that direction.
Now, the cake lady has pretty broad taste in music. On any given day, you can catch everything from Etta James, to G Love and Special Sauce, and of course, Cake, playing in the shop. But, I never developed the Heavy Metal side of my brain. So, some research was necessary. Google search AC/DC and you'll get a slew of inspiration. So, we sketched up a life-size amplifier, draped with a tour shirt (marked with important dates in Justin's life) and topped it with Hell's Bell (yup, I had no idea about that either). Add in a frosting vinyl record with custom label, a frosting copy of that adorable pacifier for daddy's little head-banger, and some blown off frosting boards (from what else, the frosting sticks of dynamite) and you've got yourself a cake worthy of holding up you saluting with your fist of rock while drinking from your goblet of rock, rock, rock, rock, ro....sorry, vinyl can skip from time to time.


Now that I think of it, I'm guessing that this week made more sense than I gave it credit for. After all, I'm guessing at their age, the members of AC/DC are probably more inclined to be dealing with prescription drugs than recreational drugs. So, onto cake number two (oh God, did I just make that inadvertent, and horrible, horrible pun?)
This cake was ordered to celebrate the owner's sale of his company to another company and subsequent going away party. They originally wanted a replica of the corporate headquarters, but I'm a cake lady, not an architect, so I talked them in a direction that was much more do-able, and kind of fun. I thought we could make the owner a stack of boxes that look like he's packing up his office and leaving. He collects African art, so we could have one of those pieces coming out of the top tier, and since he'll have plenty of time to ride his motorcycles now, we could make the middle tier shaped like a Harley Davidson saddle bag. The cake could be strewn with office supplies, Post-it notes, etc. scrawled with well-wish messages from his staff.
The party planning committee loved the concept, but thought the cake could represent the history of the company, and the products that put them on the map instead. So, we started with a big pharmeceutical tin of compouding powders, onto anti-poisoning remediers, and then onto their latest products, injectables and, yes...don't make me type it again...you know whats.
We added a message on the side of the cake via those edible Post-it Notes that I was pushing for earlier.

We delivered the cake to corporate headquarters, where...we had the most fun! These people were awesome. We had a constant influx of employees coming down to check out the cake set up, and don't let the lab coats fool you, these guys are one hell of a good time!

So, there you have it, two insanely different cakes, but one thing always ties things together...cake makes people happy, not just me, kind of everyone.

Nothing runs like a...(n) International Harvester

As a cake lady, you'd think I might not know all that much about tractors. You'd think right. You'd think I didn't know anything about AC/DC music either, but that's for another blog.
Enter Amy. Her fiance grew up in Iowa on a farm called, not making this up kids, "Lover's Lane Acres". He loves it there, and while that is not his chosen profession, he still spends a lot of time there, on his favorite tractor "Barney". Amy would like to have their wedding cake topped with a frosting replica of his beloved tractor.
So we meet. Surprisingly, Amy is a very fashionable, not-at-all-country girl. Upon hearing her wedding details (pink and orange gerbera daisies, white linen dining, a stunning wedding dress) I couldn't bring myself to top any wedding cake of hers with farm machinery. Fortunately, she had been leaning towards the tractor as a surprise groom's cake, so we had a deal. She provided me with photos of Barney, photos of Jake (not another tractor, their adorable doggy) and details that would be fun to include on the cake (how the groom loves to fish with his boys, etc.)
Since a tractor doesn't have much bulk to it, we decided to put a frosting replica of Barney on a cake shaped like a shipping crate, stamped with the name of the farm, as though it was sent up for the wedding.
Now the madness begins. How the hell do you make a tractor out of frosting. You start by calling in the big guns...Magic Phil...whose family owned an International Harvester dealership in Kansas when he was a kid. Thank god Barney wasn't a Green (ahem, you know who you are) tractor, or we would have lost Phil right away. We ordered a cast iron replica of what, after many hours of internet searching, I learned, was an International Harvester Farmall 756 Custom Diesel tractor. This, of course, only after looking through hundreds of tractor replica toys, and learning the subtle nuances of tractor design.
Once we got our little toy in the mail, we called in Phil to dismantle the sucker to cast some molds. He filled us in a whole lot more on tractor design, and tractor etiquette. Yes, there is such a thing.
It took us the better part of a week, and a final assembly mission involving all three cake ladies, royal icing, red chocolate, and a few cans of compressed air, but the tractor was assembled and happily, made the ride to St. Paul without a hitch (ha, no pun intended...the IH Farmall 756 Custom Diesel doesn't come with a hitch, silly urban folk).
Now onto the wedding cake. I've never made Gerbera Daisies out of frosting before. We've made cute little Shasta Daisies, and tons of little cartoony daisies, but never something as complex as these. We got them cut and imprinted, and let them dry for a day before assembling them, and learning the hard way, that they are insanely fragile. We needed three for the cake. We made six. Two days before the wedding, we made three more (just couldn't sleep without a few more extras). I know I can be paranoid, just ask the girls, but once the cake was set up, we had zero, yes, zero orange daisies left, and only one pink one. Gah!

Anyway, despite the daisy terror, this cake ended up being one of the most festive and just plain fun wedding cakes we've done. We set it up, hid out in the kitchen, and watched as the Bride and Groom entered. She was covering his eyes, so that she could surprise him with his groom's cake. So cute. And she informed me that he drove to the hotel that night with the tractor in a box, on her lap "like he had a newborn baby in the car". Now that's love.

Otters Holding Hands

So, we get this call. Her name is Rachel, and she has an idea for a cake, but her and her fiance have done some research, and have decided, that we're the only ones who can make this cake without risk of it being "creepy". No pressure.
As soon as Jenna got off the phone with Rachel, she went to Youtube, and followed the bride's instructions. This is what we saw.
Those of you who don't know the cake lady personally, you must know this. I've never met an animal that I didn't think was absolutely adorable. I once took a boat tour to "Stingray City" in Grand Cayman. While others on the boat were quite freaked out by the stingrays, who, by the way, like to rub up against your legs like cats, I found them nothing shy of adorable. Majestic, yes, exotic, you bet, but to me...adorable. The captain of the boat showed us each individually how to get one to perch on our outstretched arms, by feeding them calamari. When I saw that stingrays yellow eyes peering up at me, I instantly started speaking in tongues of baby-talk and cooing. Captain Andy had never seen anyone react quite like that, and thought I deserved to drive the boat back to shore. Sweet. But scary for the rest of the passengers. The cake lady likes to drive fast too. But that's another tale.

Back to otters, who...are cute to EVERYONE. I met with Rachel and Chris shortly after that phone call, and found them to be as charming, creative, and all around awesome as I'd expected, based on the Otter video. We designed a cake that would be worthy of such a topper, complete with waterfalls, water lilies, turtles, frogs, Koi Carp and a pair of owls, their other favorite critters.


Of course, we had to give the boy otter a bow tie, and, since Rachel wasn't wearing a veil, we gave the girl otter a little calla lily bouquet. The otters sat on my baker's rack for a little over a week in varying stages of completeness. I must admit, that by the time I put them on the cake and delivered them, I was a little heartbroken to see them go. That is, until we arrived at the wedding venue, and I opened the box, only to see our sweet Rachel tearing up at the sight of them. I have a feeling that our little otters have found themselves a good home.







Thanks to Michelle Huber Photography for sharing with us these amazing photos!

Bridesmaid Dresses!

Here's one for all of you fashionistas out there. The cake lady knows nothing of fashion, but these sisters do! Not only did they bring the dresses on which we based these cakes to the appointment, but they modeled them for us as well. Shoes, tiaras, the works. For those of you who have followed the blog for a while, this is that same family (some of my all time favorite clients) who we made the cowboy cake for last spring. I love them...but they think I can do anything. That's why, despite my minor stroke when they suggested I replicate four dresses, I somehow still muttered "okay". That's where the story starts.
Next step, how do we make these and more importantly, how do we get them three hours away from the shop without killing them. Answer...very carefully, and very carefully.
We needed a mold to cast the dressmaker dummy bodices. If there had only been one, I would have carved it by hand, but there were three, and if they weren't identical, it would have looked sloppy. So we went shopping. A My Size Barbie, the victim...Craig's list...the resource. I picked her up, and felt a slight pang of guilt for the gruesome acts that were about to follow. Let's be honest, what woman wouldn't derive at least a little pleasure from decapitating and ripping the arms off of that symbol of all that is unattainable in the female form, but before I get political, I'll get back to the story. Sorry to all my little cake fans, but Barbie had to die. We ripped off her arms, legs, and head, and cast a plaster of paris mold off of her torso. Admittedly, it actually was a little weird to do, plus, Mattel builds those suckers to last. It took a whole lot more effort and tools than anticipated to get the job done.





Being the frugal cake ladies that we are, we felt guilty throwing away perfectly good arms and legs, so we left them at the shop for a while. That provided seemingly unending entertainment for the Crew of Amazing Wedding Cakes, who would randomly appear for an OTF with a barbie arm sticking out of their shirt sleeve, or worse.

We don't typically practice cakes in advance of making them. This would be impossible to afford, but in this case, I needed a little assurance. So, we made a mock up a week before the cameras arrived, and then sent Jenna and her boyfriend Kyle out on a snowy Saturday afternoon with it in the back of my SUV. Once it stood normal driving maneuvers, they decided to test the limits, and I'm happy to report that it withstood a pretty wild ride (I believe they did doughnuts in the parking lot, but they won't confirm or deny this).

Once we were convinced that they were road-worthy, we made some serious friends by giving away chunks of that 50 pound dress cake to our neighbors.



The rest is pretty much viewable on Amazing Wedding Cakes, which I have been informed is now available for download on iTunes. Take that Lady Gaga, the cake ladies have arrived! And in style, for once.

Many thanks to Cat Manchank Photography for capturing these cakes for us before they became dessert!

A Tale of Three Cities (and one Mexican Restaurant)

When I met with Marissa and Robb, they instantly took to the idea that their wedding cake should be a “Tale of Three Cites”. You see, while they were both from the Twin Cities, Marissa had been living in New York, and Robb in LA. They moved back home within two weeks of each other, met, fell in love, and then needed a cake! My original thought was to have Landmark New York buildings silhouetted on the top two tiers, the Hollywood sign and palm trees on the bottom two tiers, and Minneapolis represented on the middle tier. It was Robb’s idea to switch the bottom tier from palm trees to Hollywood search lights (great call). We would top the cake with a well known Minneapolis sculpture of a cherry balancing on top of a spoon.
It wasn’t until I went over the design with Jenna and Julia, my trusty sidekicks, that the idea of making the searchlights actually light up was hatched. After all, I had opened my big yapper about making the cherry on the top of the cake light up when meeting with the bride and groom, and they loved the idea, so why not light up the searchlights too?
This was the first cake we’d ever made with a camera crew in our kitchen. Honestly, the idea of being filmed while working on wedding cakes wasn’t high on my list of things that sounded “fun” so it was an extra stressful day around Gateaux. We arrived to eight crew members in our tiny shop. I think I had convinced myself that this would be a smaller production than it actually is. For my own sanity, for weeks, I was happily picturing some lone camera man hiding out in the corner of the kitchen as the extent of “the crew”. Trying to act like this is all completely “normal”, we got microphones attached to us, and started making buttercream. Somehow, the ritual of the morning prep work was managing to calm me down, until everything went dark.
No, I didn’t pass out from sheer terror… power to the building was out. Off to a great start. Fortunately, the strip mall across from the shop was spared the power outage, so we packed up our little prep mixer, and busted in on two very kind, but very confused prep cooks at El Azteca Mexican Restaurant. They agreed to let us use their electrical outlet, and we managed to whip up the Mousse filling for the wedding cake within a couple of resounding renditions of the Mexican Hat Dance.
After our little field trip, we returned to our powerless shop, and filled the cakes in the dark. With the cake gods on our sides, the power came on within a half hour of our return to the shop. The rest of the cake went as planned (with the exception of yours truly breaking a number of the frosting buildings, but that’s why we make extra everything). When the day was over, I was actually grateful to have our morning field trip on film. I think Marissa and Robb will get a kick out of seeing what went into the making of their wedding cake. We often see that the process of making someone’s cake reflects their personality. These two had to travel halfway across the country to find each other right where they both started. The least we could do was walk across the street.

Much thanks to Jacki Vaughn for these beautiful photos, and to Donna at the Graves 601 hotel for connecting us with this chic and wonderful couple.

 Decorator's Notes

Marissa and Robb's cake was decorated during the filming of Amazing Wedding Cakes Season 4 at Gateaux Inc.  To see the cake being decorated, follow this link

Our Skyscraper Windows Stencil is now available to purchase!
Click HERE 

Samanthony and the Beach

Nothing makes me happier than making a cake in the middle of a Minnesota winter that is NOT snow related. Don’t get me wrong, the snow is lovely, and winter weddings are cozy wonderful events. But…come mid-February…if I have to look at another frosting snowflake, while I’ve spent the last three months shoveling pounds of their real counterparts off of my sidewalk, and scraping their icy cousins off of my windshield every morning, I just about want to pack up everything and move south.

Enter Samantha and Anthony. A quick aside, here…Say their names together enough, and you can’t help but calling them Samanthony. That officially became their code name around the shop, after every time I had to reference the couple on camera, that’s how it came out. Watch the episode closely, I hesitate every time I say their names together. Anyway, back to the story. So, I get this call for a New Year’s Eve wedding reception, and I start hard-selling champagne theme, clock theme, confetti theme, anything but snowflakes. Then, they let me know that they were married on a beach in 2009 and they wanted the cake to help bring the beach to their families at their Minnesota reception. Amen, brothers and sisters! We have a beach-themed wedding cake in the middle of a land-locked state, in the middle of the winter!


God, I love my job! Once I found out about Samanthony’s unusual marital situation, the fact that they had to have their wedding in a quick ceremony before he was deployed to Afghanistan, and that none of their family could make it to the actual wedding due to the quick timing, I was thrilled to be able to create a cake that would bring the beach to Minnesota. But how does one pack up a frosting beach for transport? Seems to me that a frosting crate would be the perfect solution. They agreed, and we quickly determined that the bottom tier would be a crate post marked with their wedding date and location, as well as some post marks of other places significant to them. My favorite was the “return to sender” stamp from Afghanistan, the bride loved it!

Now onto the baby! As it turns out, Samanthony were expecting their first baby…and knew what the gender of the child was. Samantha thought it would be fun to put a little sign on the cake that said “It’s a Boy” so that the guests would find out what the baby was when they looked at the cake. I had heard of baby shower cakes being dyed either pink or blue so that when the cake was cut, it revealed the baby’s gender. I suggested it immediately, and they loved the idea.

I began testing various shades blue cakes. Too pale, and none of the guests would be able to tell the color when the cake was cut from across the room, too dark, and no one would want to eat it. We settled on a pretty vibrant, unmistakable color. But what they don’t show you on the Amazing Wedding Cakes episode, is that in an email with Anthony’s sister (who was helping to plan the reception) I blew the surprise. I was careful to reference “pink or blue” cake when discussing the cake flavor in three different areas of the email. In the fourth reference…I blew it. I typed "blue" rather than the “pink or blue” bluff. Just be glad I'm a cake lady, not CIA, I'd fold like a cheap lawn chair under pressure! Lucky for me, the couple was incredibly gracious about it, and more importantly, Anthony’s sister can keep secrets better than the cake lady!

Want to see more about this Amazing Cake?  Check out some excerpts of the Gateaux Girls making it on Amazing Wedding Cakes!  Click Here to Watch