Geocachers

I wanna be a pirate.

I want to travel to uncharted seas,  see exotic lands and discover lost treasures.  I want to rock out an eye patch, have a parrot named Pete, and go where the trade winds carry me.  Don't we all?

Much to my dismay, I get terribly sea sick, would shudder at the thought of sharing restroom facilities with a boat full of swarmy-unbathed men, and my coordination is such that if I wore an eye patch, I'd probably trip over something and break my leg...maybe that's why pirates often have peg legs?  Either way, not really my cup of tea.

So I go about satisfying my need for discovery by travelling as often as I can.  Discovering things that so many have discovered before me, but with fresh and awe-filled eyes.  Between my trips, I go about my daily routine.  I work, go to the gym, do laundry, walk the dog.  But always, my inner Pirate lurks, waiting for the next adventure.

This is why I was so intrigued with Roxanne and Dan. I think they're Pirates. 

Let's rewind a bit.  They didn't meet on a sand-bar in the Caribbean.  To the contrary, they met on a field trip to a Twins game in middle school.  They don't sail the high seas, they Kayak, typically on lakes and rivers.  Not an eye patch between the two of them.  But what they do have is a keen sense of adventure and discovery. 

They hike, bike, camp, and most interestingly, they Geocache.  I'd never heard of Geocaching before I met them, so I needed a lesson.  Turns out, there are Pirates all around us!  They bury their treasure in old army ammunition cans, plastic film canisters, even Bison tubes.  Then, they list them on geocaching sites for other Pirates to discover.  Typically, there is a log book or sheet inside the cache to keep track of who has been there, and often there is a little treasure for the taking.  But mostly, there is that incredible rush of discovery!  Where are they?  I wanted to know immediately.  The answer was surprising.  They're everywhere!  Dan told me that there were several located in the very business area surrounding Gateaux Inc.  Some are more rural and difficult to reach, others are urban and hiding in plain site. 

So this begs the question...how does a pirate propose to another pirate?  Of course, with a treasure hunt!  With a trail of rose petals, Dan lead Roxanne to a Museum Adventure Pass (you can check these out at the Public Library for free admission to museums and sites all over the Twin Cities, who knew?  Pirates.) and a note to meet him at the top of the Foshay Tower (one of the locations covered on the pass).  When she got there, her Pirate was waiting with her with the ultimate treasure...and a ring. 

Now onto their cake.  We kicked around the idea of a hiking cake, a biking cake, even a kayaking cake.  Maybe a Twin's theme?  That's how they met, and they're still quite the fans, it's one of their favorite date spots.  But we kept coming back to the geocaching.  Easy, we make the cake look like a hollowed out tree trunk with caches of all sorts hidden around it.  Then, we'd make a cake in the shape of an ammunition can sitting at the base of the trunk.

Now, let's treat this particular cache like one that tells their story.  Imagine you found the ammo can, and unpacked it.  What items would they put in this cache that would represent their adventure together?  That was easy...we'd make frosting Twins tickets from the game that they met at.  Like any smitten Twins fan, Dan could tell me the date, who they played that day and the final score.

They'd have to include some red rose petals and the Museum pass to tell the story of their engagement.

And let's not leave out their biking adventure in the Ragbrai 7 day ride across Iowa.  A frosting route map and edible entrant bracelet would cover that tale.

A couple of ski passes, and a silhouette of them (he in a baseball cap, and she in a veil, of course) kayaking on the top of the cake, and we'd cover all of our bases.

But what does the future hold for our Pirates?  One last addition to the cake would tell their guests that their adventure could continue.  We created a map of their honeymoon geocaching road trip to finish off the tale.

So I learned a couple of things from my Pirate friends.  You don't need to be in a far-off land to soothe your Inner Pirate.  It's all about perspective.  Keep your eyes open and discovery is right around the corner.  And you don't even need to risk Scurvy to get it!

Thanks to Captured Glory photography for sharing some of their fabulous images with us.

Tiger and Dragon Seeking Lost Dog

I have no sense of direction.  This is not an exaggeration.  As a matter of fact, my directional instincts are inverted.  My husband, The Captain, thinks it's hilarious how when leaving any hotel room for the day, I always turn the wrong direction to get to the elevator.  Always.  Lucky for me, The Captain has an uncanny sense of direction.  Give him 24 hours in a new city, and he has some bizarre overhead map view of it in his head.  I put this to the test in Florence, Italy (my favorite place on earth, by the way).  We had been there for our first time a year earlier, and were returning because...well, because we had to....Florence, people.  Beautiful, amazing Florence.  This second time, we were staying in a completely different area of the city than on our first trip.  On our first day back, I lamented that I had not written down the address of this little shop that was near our hotel the year before.  It was nestled in a tiny alley somewhere in the city, a one-woman shop, selling hand-made puppets.  We had bought some for my best friend's kids, and I really wanted to pick up a couple for my Neighbor's new daughter.  From across the city, on foot, with not a single wrong turn, a year after our first trip there and from a different starting point, The Captain marched us straight to the Puppet Maker.  This is not an isolated incident.  He's navigated our way through Cairo, across Germany, through Austria and all over Prague.  Barcelona was a breeze, and Paris not a problem, and Beijing and Shang Hai didn't stand a chance.  The only exceptions I have seen are Venice (hopelessly lost after a water taxi dropped us off in an unfamiliar area) and, ahem, St. Paul.  The man just can't get a handle on St. Paul.  I would judge, but, remember, I can't even get out of the hotel!
You'd think that these musings had nothing to do with our lovely couple Jasmine and Ben.  But, be patient, as convoluted as the Evil Cake Genius's stories can be, I always manage to tie them up in the end.
I met Jasmine and Ben with their lovely wedding coordinator Julia LaCroix.  They were excited to design a cake that would represent their Asian heritage, but would remain modern and chic enough for their reception at the Graves 601.  We started by designing invitations using their beautiful gold and apricot color scheme, and a stylized cherry blossom motif.

From there, we designed the cake.  It would be muted gold with fondant panels down the front stenciled with that same pattern.  Then, Jasmine suggested that we incorporate their Zodiac Signs.  He was a Tiger and she a Dragon.  Gimme, gimme, gimme.  I love the style of Chinese folk art almost as much as I loved the fact that these two truly embodied their Zodiac Signs.  Ben was serious and focused, sharp witted, and thoughtful.  Jasmine, well, Jasmine is me.  I think somehow, somewhere, we're related.  She's a Dragon through and through.  Passionate, funny, spunky...Dragon. 
I found the perfect art for the cake, and had stencils made.

We also added the Chinese Characters for their signs to the Pecan Shortbreads and Petit Fours on their dessert buffets.  A task that I found a little bit worrisome, considering every time I tried to pronounce Jasmine's last name, she couldn't help but giggle.  Mandarin...not my language, I'll stick to brutalizing Italian, thank you very much.

When the wedding day came, Julia found me and said that the couple had invited me to their suite for a few photos before they made their grand entrance to their reception.  I've never been invited to do this before, so I abandoned Jenna with the desserts to follow Julia to see my favorite Dragon and Tiger.  She took me up one floor, then we switched elevators and went up a few more floors to the couple's room.  My girl Jasmine was a vision in pleated Chiffon, and Ben looked the picture of the classic groom in his white tux.  We took a few photos, and I excused myself to return to my work down in the ballroom. 

I'm not a Dragon or a Tiger.  I'm a Dog.  Never made the connection until that day, but there do seem to be an awful lot of movies written about lost dogs.  And this Dog didn't stray from her usual hotel directional impairment.  Cue sad lost dog music, now.  I got into the elevator, and tried to press the button for the 5th floor to return to the Ballroom.  No such button existed.  Okay, I got this.  I went to the 6th floor and would switch elevators like my Julia did when she walked me up.  After sniffing around the 6th floor for entirely too much time, I decided to cut my losses and take the stairs.  It's only one floor, and I couldn't find the second bank of elevators.  I entered the stairwell, went down one flight, and heard the start of the cocktail hour.  Perfect timing, I'd just pop through this (locked) door and make my way to the Ballroom to complete setting up the desserts.  Nope. Locked.

I could hear the guests on the other side of the door.  I could smell the Hors Oeuvres.   Like Benji, I let out a few whimpers and pawed at the steel fire door, but the humans on the other side couldn' t hear me.  I walked up to where I entered the stairwell, but the door had locked behind me.  Fortunately, I had my cell phone in my pocket (take that, Lassie!) and called Jenna.  She was finishing up the desserts and had no time for my antics.  So she did what any good handler does.  She sent out a search party.  Have you seen this dog?  Last seen in the stairwell at the Graves 601.  Lucky for this pooch, the staff at the Graves thinks I'm amusing.  So they scattered to the five stairwells to seek me out.  After a few minutes, I was rescued, and safely returned to my Jenna. 

Dog references and all, she was not amused.   Maybe she's more of a cat person.
 

Decorator's Notes:

Jasmine and Ben's beautiful wedding cake was stenciled with custom stencils created by the Evil Cake Genius, herself.  We loved them so much that we've decided to share them with other decorators.  You can now buy these on our Evil Cake Genius site HERE

Half the fun is getting back.

I don't own a refrigerated truck.  I own a refrigerated SUV.

Truth be told, you probably own a refrigerated SUV or car, you just didn't know it. 

We get asked all the time about how we deliver these little beauties, and the answer always surprises people.  First, we do not deliver wedding cakes fully stacked.  More power to those who have the cahones to do so, but that is simply not in my risk-reward mental make up.  Second, while we don't have a refrigerated truck, it is a little known fact that if you relentlessly crank the Air Conditioning in a relatively new SUV at high speed and the lowest temperature setting, while recirculating the air through the vehicle, it can get damn near refrigerated!  This is most noticeable when the driver (and often her poor assistant) deliver a cake several hours away. 

We begin by packing the cake tiers in their sealed corrugated cardboard boxes securely in the back of the vehicle, then we suit up.  Not unlike an arctic expedition, cake delivery can require multiple layers of clothes and high calorie foods to keep you going.  My typical accoutrements are as follows:

• 1 pair thermal long-underwear
• 1 pair jeans
• 2 pairs wool socks
• 1 pair lambs wool lined clogs
• 1 tank top
• 1 long sleeve t-shirt
• 1 long sleeve thermal shirt
• 1 pullover hoodie
• 1 zip front hoodie
• 1 pair hello kitty stretchy gloves
• 1 pair mittens
• 1 family-sized bag of nacho cheese Combos
• 1 family-sized back Twizzler Cherry Bites

And we're off.

So, I get this email from Jason.  He's not a groom, not a wedding planner, he is, however, the world's most awesome brother.  Why, you ask?  I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons, but what pushed him into the number one slot is that he contacted me because he wanted to buy his sister Shaina and her fiance Zac an awesome wedding cake.  I've  been doing this for 17 years and never had a sibling pick up the tab on a cake.  Best. Brother. Ever.  When I asked Jason why, he said "seemed like the thing to do". 
Shaina and Zac came in for the design session without Jason (he lives on the East Coast) so possible motive number one...controlling the cake design for your own cake-design glory at the reception...not it. They also picked up samples without Jason...(again, he lives on the East Coast)  so, possible motive number two...securing an invitation to the cake tasting...also not it.  We'll solve this mystery before the blog is through.

We designed a fabulously modern, graphic and beautiful cake for Shaina and Zac.  Their color scheme of apple green, sky blue, and royal blue is nothing I ever would have come up with myself, but it pops!

The cake would be delivered to Two Harbors, Minnesota, a healthy 3 1/4 hour drive from the shop.  The good news is it is a beautiful drive along Lake Superior, passes close enough to Cloquet to merit a stop at Gordy's High Hat for some awesome burgers on the way home, and Two Harbors happens to be the home of Lou's Fish House.  Lou has been smoking whatever they can pull out of that lake for years, but in my heart, he'll always be king of one thing...Beef Jerky.  Long before the Evil Cake Genius was a Cake Genius (she's always been a little Evil) she and her now husband, Captain Leisure and their flannel wearing hippie crew of college friends frequently camped along the North Shore, and Lou's was one of the scheduled stops along the way. 

I was sure to share this nugget of wisdom with the soon-to-be newlyweds.  Hopefully they took my advice and made the pilgrimage to that Mecca of all things smokey.

So, why is half the fun getting back?  Because getting there is a bitch!  Despite the layers of clothes and cranked up seat warmers, it is a bone-chilling endeavor to deliver a cake my way.  To make things worse, it was pouring rain until we reached Duluth, about 2 1/2 hours from the start.  When we arrived in Two Harbors, the sky had cleared, a huge relief for an outdoor wedding, and we gradually defrosted ourselves while stacking the cake.  The wedding party was around for photos, and we got to meet Jason and even see our bride and groom!  Reluctant to get back in the rolling freezer, we hung out for a little while and watched the ceremony from a window in the reception space.  And then it happened.  We got our answer to the great mystery.  As Shaina walked down the aisle we watched her brother beaming with joy.  Motive number three...a big brother sharing in his little sister's happiness....it was all over his face. 

So, mission accomplished, and mystery solved, I kept true to my odd tradition of paying my employees bonuses in meat by loading up Jenna with beef jerky at Lou's followed by a late-lunch at Gordy's...including a brush with burger greatness...Gordy himself was behind the counter!  It took not a minute for the Cake Ladies to seize the day and have our photo taken with the legend himself.

Yep, the Man Himself...Gordy!

North Shore Has it all...even architecture.  Frank Lloyd Wright!

And life on the North Shore is good.

Theme vs. Design Scheme

Despite what your 3rd Grade english teacher may have told you, "Theme" is a four letter word.

I can't tell you how many times I hear a bride and groom talk down their own fabulous ideas for their wedding celebration because they are worried that it is too "themey".  In general, I agree.  Themes are great for kid's birthday parties, hell, even adult birthday parties, but you'll never catch me endorsing a "My Little Pony" or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" themed wedding.  Well, at least not yet.

Let's make a critical differentiation, shall we?  Yep, a theme can be tacky, trendy, and otherwise distracting from the celebration of two people committing to spend the rest of their lives together.  But a Design Scheme...hints of personality running throughout your event, sharing with your guests your story, your favorite things, what makes you love each other so, actually adds to any wedding.

Now, onto Carrie and Nick.

When I met with Carrie and Nick, they were excited to be getting married, but the planning process had fallen a bit flat.  Within a few minutes, I heard about Nick's proposal at the State Fair, and how he'd like to integrate a Griffin (his family name, and a really cool-looking mythical creature found in many heraldic crests) into the stationery somehow.  They wanted to keep a classic look to the wedding in all elements, but also wanted their guests to cut loose and have a good time.  For favours, they absolutely required Sweet Martha's cookies...their very favorite tradition at the Fair (I'd like to meet someone who hasn't walked around with one of those buckets of cookies at least once). 

So, how do you incorporate the fun, casual, even somewhat bumpkin (yes, people, there is a Swine Barn) aspects of The Great Minnesota Get Together, with an elegant formal country club wedding?

Easy.  As they were talking, I could see them working it through.  While the Griffin that Nick pulled up on his smart phone is one ugly creature (Sorry Nick), the Heraldic Crest for the Griffin Family that he pulled up a few minutes later was beautiful.  But more importantly, it reminded us of a vintage carnival logo...you know, the kind of thing you'd see painted on the side of the traveling circus trains.  We just incorporate the crest with a circus stripe background pattern, keep everything in their beautiful color scheme of pale blue and slate grey, and run with it. 

And run with it, they did!!  By the time they left, we had decided to name the guest tables (rather than number them) after different rides at the fair.  Carrie had a photo of place cards shaped like tickets that entitled each guest to a seat "on the tilt-a-whirl", "tunnel of love" etc.  She loved the concept, but the cards were solid bright colors and far too informal for their venue.  We can fix that!

And the biggest hold out of all, was that Nick wanted to do an old-fashioned ring-toss instead of letting the guests simply clink their fork against their glasses to get the bride and groom to kiss.  Sounds like he had a lot of Coke to drink in the coming months to put this all together!

For the cake, we kept it classic.  Don't forget, we're dealing with a formal event in a beautiful venue.  We copied the bride's lace pattern from her dress, and incorporated details from her jewelry and the Griffin Crest.  Topped it with an enormous Gum Paste Dahlia and called it done (until a few weeks later, when they emailed to tell me that their Doberman Pinscher, Capone really wanted to be on the cake, so I sculpted him out of chocolate paste, and gave him the best seat in the house).  By the way...we miss seeing you around the shop Cappy, come by for a visit, sweet boy!

We got our hands on Sweet Martha's Cookie Dough, and baked up the little sweeties the day before the wedding.  Coupled with little pints of milk, tied with the most adorable paper straws that Carrie found, we put them out for guests to take home at the end of the night. 

Here's the best part.  What Nick and Carrie did, was to take the often daunting, stressful job of planning a wedding, and embraced it.  Each idea led to the next, and their wedding was filled with all of the things they love.  It was natural, relaxed, beautiful and fun...just like them.

Many thanks to Fine Exposures Photography for these lovely photos. And to Ambiente Wedding Coordinating and Minikahda club for taking the reigns on the wedding day and letting the Bride and Groom just enjoy themselves.  Got to love the floral, as well, so hat's off to Zinnia Designs Floral.

Love in an Elevator

Now that I've got that horrible tune in your head, I'll try to redeem myself.

This blog isn't about Aerosmith.  I just lost half of you, but that's okay.  This blog is actually about smart people.  Not your average smart people...your MIT Media Lab, Mechanical Engineer, smart people. 

Suffice it to say, that the first two line items on the groom's virtual resume are as follows: Max/MSP chiptune externals and virtual circuit bending-enabled emulators.  Template-directed bytecode instrumentation for program visualization. 

 

 'Nuff said.

Laura and Kyle met at MIT.  They both worked in the Media Lab there, where, I still have no idea what they do. I do know two things.  One, they shared their first kiss in the elevator at the Media lab, and two, Kyle proposed four years later in that same elevator.  I instantly went for the obvious...an elevator cake, but Laura reeled me back in, and pointed out that the Media Lab's elevator is nothing to write home about.  Instead, she and Kyle recommended that we use the Media Lab building as loose inspiration for the cake.  She also suggested that we make little frosting robots to top the cake.  Did I mention that I heart Laura?

As we began sketching, we copied the paneled texture of the atrium of the building, worked in the gear motif from their invitations (engineers, people) and even incorporated my first-ever cut out, overhanging cake, again, inspired by the Lab's architecture.  They suggested that the Cake-Bots be building their initials on top of the cake, as  MIT students are known for "hacks" (pranks), many of which involve building things on rooftops.

Laura even requested that her Cake-bot be holding her "favorite drill".  No kidding, she has a "favorite drill".  I'm liking this girl more and more.  When I asked her for a photo of her with the drill, she didn't have one, so she gave me the make and model of it, and sent me this little beauty of a pic instead.  It was entitled "best picture of me with a power tool". 

Now, I've recieved a ton of extranneous collateral from my clients in my day.  Photos of their pets for our frosting ASPCA doggies, photos of wedding dresses, centerpieces, and honeymood destinations, but none will ever delight me as much as this one.

With the bulk of the cake designed, we had one blank tier (by luck, or maybe subconciously by my own brute determination to share the elevator story with their guests).  So, I laid it out there once more.  With my best sales pitch, while whining a bit and bouncing up and down on my chair like a third grader who has the answer to the teacher's question, I once again suggested the elevator.  It would look like the button panel of the elevator, and we'd even carve out the cake behind the 3rd floor (Media Lab level) button. We'd put an LED light behind the number, printed on a sheet of vellum so that it lit up.  Not sure if it was my incessant nagging, or the LED light that did it, but it was a yes!

The wedding day came, and while setting up the cake, one of the Caterers asked about the meaning behind the Cake-bots.  I began to explain that the bride and groom worked in robotics, and turned to one of the bridesmaids (also from MIT) for verification.  She got as far as "well, robotics is a small part of what we do at the media lab..." before my brain shut down as though she were surely speaking another language that I will never understand. 

Suffice it to say...Smart People.

Many thanks to Shelley Paulson for the beautiful photos!!

 

50 Years Family

I recently hired a teenager to come in for the summer months and do dishes at the shop.  While I'd like to take credit for this brilliant idea, it was Jenna who suggested it.  It just so happens that she also provided the teenager...her little brother Sam.
One day at lunch, Sam took a Rubik's Cube out of his bag.  I can't believe kids still have these things.  I'll date myself here, but I remember going to the mall and buying one of these suckers the year they hit the market.  I brought it home, mixed it up, got to the point where I could solve two sides, then smashed it apart, and rebuilt it (OCD, lack of spatial skills, and rash behavior are not a good combo).  There it sat on my shelf until the next family garage sale (where I earned back 10% of my investment, because everyone else in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1980 had already learned  that  a toy that made you feel inadequate was not a fun toy).

Imagine my amazement when I watched this kid solve his in under 2 minutes!!  Needless to say, I probably punctured his eardrums with my cries of disbelief and envy...and then insisted that he teach me.

What does this have to do with Marsha and Gary, and their 50th wedding anniversary?  Trust me, we're getting there people.

It's been a couple of months.  I've learned how to solve the Rubik's Cube.  Yeah, I said it.  I may have a copy of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables on my bedside table, but I also have a copy of Christopher Moore's "The Stupidest Angel" and right between the two is my Rubik's Cube.  My best time so far is two minutes, fifteen seconds.  But there's a difference between me and Sam.  When I'm working on the Rubik's cube, it takes concentration, silence, and some pretty weird facial contortions.  Sam, wait for it...makes it look Easy.

Aha!  Enter Marsha and Gary.
They've been married for 50 years.  They were having the party to prove it.  And they made it look so incredibly easy!!

My first thought when planning our meeting was antique lace, soft pink and ivory, maybe some gold accents, but definitely not anything like I got.  As a matter of fact, within the first five minutes I told them as much.  They had a clean, modern style and sensibility.  They were incorporating gold into the color scheme, but the floral would be a riot of fuschia, orange, and bright beautiful color!  Their invitations, designed by our friends over at Amy Zaroff  Events + Design, were laid out beautifully.  The text being the main graphic design, not a doily, wedding bell, or dove in sight.

"What did you expect?  We'd be wheeled in with oxygen masks on?" was, what I believe to be the exact wording of Gary's response to my shock.

The cake designed itself.  We took the beautifully laid out date "motif" from the invitations, and decided to add other significant dates to the cake.  I suggested the date they bought their first house, had their children, took meaningful vacations, but to Gary, this was a no-brainer.  What he and Marsha had built was a marriage, and a family.  We put the birth-dates of their children on the second tier, their grandchildren on the third, and top and bottom tiers would be their wedding date, and the date of their anniversary.  Cake. Done.

With that out of the way, I spent the next half hour just getting to know Marsha and Gary, and doing what I do best...poke my nose into other people's business.  I've been married 17 years.  I want to be married 50 years, so I have something to learn from these two.  But they couldn't give me a Magic Bullet.  No simple formula like solving the Rubik's cube.  Turns out, being married, and happy together for that long isn't easy, but it's simple.  As I got to know these two over the course of planning their cake, sampling cake flavors, and the incredible encouraging messages from Marsha on our Voicemail (I saved them, and listen to them when I have a rough day, not kidding) I learned that being happily married for fifty years is no different than being happily married for seventeen, or even one year.  These two genuinely like each other.  Respect each other.  Treat each other with dignity and honor. And love each other.  Every day.

They truly make it look easy.

One more thing for me to practice.  Oh well, if I Sam can teach me that Damn Rubik's Cube, I'll rely on my experience with Gary and Marsha, and work on this.  Maybe they could write me little instructions on the back of cake sketches the way Sam did.  Or maybe, we'll just have to get together for dinner sometime.  I'd love that.

Ain't that a kick in the head?

How lucky can one guy be?

I kissed her and she kissed me

Like the fella once said,

"ain't that a kick in the head?"

I've had the pleasure of working with couples of all ages, all sorts of backgrounds, and (I thought) all professions.  I've made cakes for professional athletes, Hollywood celebrities, doctors, lawyers, prison guards, cops, paramedics, even two bona fide NASA rocket-scientists (they prefer to be called aerospace engineers, but I can't help but think the former is a far cooler title).  So when I was meeting with Elissa and her Dad to design her wedding cake, and she informed me that her groom wouldn't be sampling the cakes because he was "training".  I needed to know what on earth kind of career would limit someones cake intake!  My professional baseball and hockey player-clients have had no trouble packing in the goodies...and my NFL player-groom practically considered it a part of his training regiment!  So what exactly does this guy do that is so disciplined that he won't indulge in a little cakey goodness?

He's a UFC fighter.

The Evil Cake Genius is a lover, not a fighter.  I'd never seen a UFC fight before.   Just never had any interest...until then.  Turns out, I wouldn't have to wait long... the groom was scheduled to fight that weekend.  So, on Saturday night, I popped some corn, put on my favorite pajamas, and my husband "The Captain" and I curled up on the couch with our little dog Speck, and put on the fight. 

GRATITUDE CHECK:  Cake decorating may not be the glamourous, exciting job they depict it to be on most shows.  The work is rewarding, but downright physical at times.  There's a lot of heavy lifting, long hours on your feet, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning, more time than you'd ever expect is spent doing mundane office work, and when you finally produce your masterpiece, it is inevitably cut up and eaten.  But even on my worst day I can pretty much go to work with the safe assumption that no one is going to beat the living crap out of me.  Just sayin'.

Back to our lovely couple.  Nik has a great record.  He's a hell of a fighter, and we watched as he fought despite a possibly fractured orbital bone (pretty sure that's his eye socket).  I will NEVER say that my job is tough again.

A week later, Elissa called back to book the cake.  I was glad.  She's really fun to work with, and I love the design we came up with (based on her beautiful dress). 

She wanted to keep the sweet understated cake, but wanted to know how we could include the groom a little in the design. I'm glad I watched his fight, because I knew the answer immediately.  A frosting band aid.  Nothing could be more appropriate.  She agreed, and added that he is a huge fan of Star Craft.  Being more geek than athlete, I had a slightly better idea of what she was talking about (only slightly).  So we added the Protoss symbol to his band-aid (that's his race in the game). 

The wedding day came, and we set up the cake amidst all of the insane sound and lighting that any good UFC wedding reception should have (smoke cannons included).  In all of the excitement of the day, I'm sure a little frosting band-aid on the back of a wedding cake could easily go unnoticed.  That's why we were surprised and delighted to hear that the groom actually Tweeted a photo of it.  Elissa told us that she had to wait to cut the cake because he insisted on Tweeting it live.  Cake mission...accomplished.

My head keeps spinnin',

I go to sleep and keep grinnin'

If this is just the beginnin',

My life is gonna be beautiful!

 

She's tellin' me we'll be wed,

She's picked out a king-size bed

I couldn't feel any better or i'd be sick

Tell me quick oh, ain't love a kick?

Tell me quick ain't love a kick in the head?