Food and Wine...and Cake

No really, it's all edible. We really should have charged a buck everytime someone asked us that this weekend. After all, there were around 10,000 people at the food and wine show and I really think every other one asked us that!

Those of you who faithfully follow the blog know that we figured out how to make incredibley realistic wood grain this summer, for Magic Phil's 70th Birthday. So, when the Food and Wine show contacted us for their first annual "Cake Czar" challenge, we couldn't help but use our new favorite technique to create crates of what else?...Food, and Wine. Don't worry, though, we didn't get off that easily. We had to figure out new techniques for standing the top wine bottle cake up on end, and for creating realistic looking scallops, clams, Pinot Grapes, and Caviar.




Overall, we were pretty happy with our entry, and are even happier to report that Gateaux is Officially the Twin Cities' first annual Cake Czar!

Best part of the whole experience, is that we created a new cake flavor for the event, that we are adding to the menu for our future Brides and Grooms. Our own version of a Black forest cake...Devil's food cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla Mousse surrounding a layer of Tart Cherries in a Port Wine Reduction. Yeah, it's pretty amazing! Took us three tries to make it go from "delicious" to "Crazy Delicious" (or some other descriptor that one of my favorite 2010 brides used to describe it) but hey, this is a family friendly blog, so I'll keep that one to myself.

Anne and Colin at the Walker

I met with Anne and Colin while they were in town on a wedding planning whirlwind tour. It's difficult enough to plan a wedding, but to plan one from a distance is a whole other complication. Luckily, they made an awesome team. I met with the two of them, then finished up the design session with Colin while Anne moved on to her next meeting.
It's not too often that the groom is involved in designing the cake, but (as I found with Colin) most guys really get into it if given the chance. We had good source material...their invitations had a beautiful floral vine motif, and the reception was at the ultra-modern Walker Art Center.

These two elements dictated a clean, sophisticated design. We sketched up several options varying the pattern from black to pale silver, and playing around with round vs. square tiers. The design finally evolved to a square fondant-panel cake with the pattern on alternating sides of the offset tiers. Colin came up with the coup de grace...the color of the pattern would deepen on each tier from pale silver to black. The cherry on top? Well, we were at the Walker, so how about a frosting version of that Iconic Cherry and Spoon Sculpture right outside the venue?


Everything was in place, until about two weeks before the wedding, when I laid out some cake pans to figure out the placement for the cake plate centerpost holes to be drilled. The original design was a three tier cake, but once I stacked the pans, it just didn't work. So, I emailed Anne, told her that I didn't like the silhouette, and changed it to a four tier. You'd think a last minute design change might make a bride a little jumpy, but she was all for it. And happily, all three of us got our dream cake!

They like us...they really like us.

Just got the word that we're a knot pick again this year!

Congratulations! Every year, brides on TheKnot.com vote for their favorite local wedding professionals, and this year, you were voted a Best of Weddings winner!

Black tie...pinstripes, buttons, and houndstooth.

Here's something refreshing! I've done my fair share of cakes that imitate wedding dresses, so when sitting across from these two incredibly well-dressed guys, the answer was simple. Create a cake entirely based on men's fashion and textiles. Why not? It fit their beautiful black tie wedding to a T! With a touch of yellow to make the decoration pop, this was one of the most striking cakes of the year.


A word to the fashion-wise...black tie is ever-evolving. Their invitations were done in my all time favorite alternative to black and white. A gunmetal silver and metallic yellow color scheme made these invitations sophisticated but completely unexpected and unique! We just love working with people who aren't afraid to take a risk...the payoff is so worth it!

Damn these Bitches can Bake Part II

Those of you who have loyally followed the blog already know what's coming next. First comes wedding season, then the Holidays, then...wait for it...Shameless self-promotion time! Hooray! Allright! Yeah baby! Woo and or Hoo.

So here it is. The Minnesota Bride Magazine "Best of 2010" Voting is now open to all who wish to vote. Simply go to Minnesota Bride's website, or click on our beautiful propaganda banner above to vote for Gateaux as your favorite Wedding Cake maker, or for our awesome invitations, favours, or if you really think we're neat...all around wedding vendor.

Last year, we had an incredible response from our clients to our pleas for votes. Alas, we were still edged out by a bakery who does over triple our volume of wedding cakes in a year. That's a whole lot more people to vote for you. Now, we're not being sour pusses about it...they're a plenty nice cake company. But this year, we'd like to take home the shiny, pretty plaque and the awesome publicity. So, if you like what we do, spread the word! Vote for us, and pass the word on to other fans that you know of. In the meantime, we'll stick to our "only three weddings per week" rule. While it may not get us the volume of votes, it sure gives us the time to make each of our wedding cakes as beautiful as it can be!

Britta

Sometimes the best cakes are the most simple designs (simple, by the way does not equal easy). Britta's aesthetic was clean and monochromatic, with the accent on texture rather than a bunch of color. We obliged by modifying a tier of Darcy Miller's (editor of Martha Stuart Weddings Magazine) wedding cake, then topping the design with one magnificent, enormous hand-made and oh, so fragile, gum paste rose. This follows my rule of gumpaste floral...if you want a realistic flower, use a fresh one. If you want frosting flowers, make them dramatic, exaggerated, stylized, something that you can't get from mother nature.

Quinn and Mike

Quinn and Mike were married at Chambers hotel in downtown Minneapolis. We decided that the silhouette of the wedding cake should be a spiral so that the bubble decorations could flow effortlessly to the top. It was a challenge to get the angles of all three cakes consistent across three diameters, but the final effect was well worth the effort. Thanks to Studio 306, I have this incredible photo to share with you all.

I had to snap this picture, myself, to show off the crazy cool art hanging in that room. I've never had a better backdrop for a cake.

Mike's groom's cake was a riot to make. The pizza box cake was a first for us, and en entirely confectionery slice of pizza and "greasy" napkins were pure entertainment for us in the kitchen.

Once the whole thing was set up at the hotel, the gracious groom saw shorty-cake me struggling to get an overhead shot of the cake. When I returned from talking to the caterers, he had snapped this awesome top view with my camera for me. Thanks Mike!