What a Wild Weekend!

Wow! What a crazy weekend! On Friday I got a call from my good friends over at The Chattanoogan hotel. It seems an Atlanta bride brought her wedding and groom's cake with her to the Chattanoogan. Her cake didn't really survive the trip and with her cake decorator 2 hours away in Atlanta, she was freaking out just a bit. I grabbed my emergency repair kit and scooted up to assess the situation. Things weren't great, but 2 hours later the cake looked good as new and the bride was tickled pink. That's why all quotes at Cup a Dee Cakes include setup and delivery within a 30 mile radius. Just ask THAT bride, that's one thing you don't want to worry about on your big day.

Saturday started out with a customer standing me up for a large birthday cake (grumble grumble). The rest of the day faired much better. We made our first delivery to Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamauga, GA. What a nice facility! We had a lot of fun with the bridal couple; they wanted an Alice in Wonderland themed cupcake tree. The best part was they left the design of the topper cake completely up to us! We decided to go with a Mad Hatter's hat cake to top off this whimsical centerpiece. We even made a really cool pocketwatch using gumpaste and a little edible image trickery!! Normally, we don't get that immediate reaction from the bride, but this time the fates put the brides path to the alter right by the cake just as we were finishing setup. She was so excited and happy - it was a very VERY nice end to our crazy little week.

Minnie Mouse 2 tier cake

I have to share this cake that Ava's mom helped me design. I try so hard to bring kids character cakes to life without breaking copyright laws. I think we did a pretty good job here. The top mouse ear's is a cake covered in black fondant. The ears are gumpaste with wires in them for stability. Everything else is mostly buttercream with fondant accents. I really like the ribbon on the cake board. I thought it added that little something extra! One Minnie Mouse cake done!

Handy Manny 2-tier cake

This is a good example of under estimating time it's going to take to do a cake! My customer wanted a cake that was over her budget, so she choose a less expensive version. By the time I was done I spent more time making this Handy Manny cake and cupcakes than if I would have just done the more expensive cake in the first place! Of course, she got the cheaper price because I don't believe in going back on my word, but I lost some money on this one! The good new is that I enjoyed doing the cake and learning some new techniques. Something like this looks so simple until you break it down into all of the pieces. I had a fun time and made friendly tools! I hope Handy Joshua enjoyed his cake!

What a great day!

Today was great. We got a lot of icing made (ran out of butter, only used 26 lbs). We made some gumpaste circles with the logo of the company we are catering for on Friday. We are going to put them on all of the cupcakes for a special touch. We made and cut a ton of brownies. Lord the kitchen smelled so chocolatey! Worked on a brim for the "mad hatter" cake for Saturday. These things have to dry and it takes a while. We are making a couple hundred cupcakes for a great Alice in Wonderland theme wedding at Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamauga, GA. I know it will be super cute. We've been working on gumpaste daises for some of them. Well, I'd better get to answering emails!

This is a great picture of an arrangement by Divine Designs by Amanda, http://www.divinedesignsbyamanda.com/

I really like her work. This was a the Sheraton Read House last Saturday. The linens were a great silver color and matched the venue very well. It is the Silver ballroom for goodness sakes! The White Table provided the linens. http://www.thewhitetable.com/

I liked the extra sparkly one that was one the cake table! The walls in the ballroom are cream, so the cake coordinated with them and the gumpaste lilies were all bright white with a touch of baby pink. It came out very pretty! I used a new technique of using the laser level to line up all of my dots! Smart! Only took me 4 years to figure out! Have a great week!

End of the week!

Well, a much better week with time management. I'm done and it's not 3am like last Friday. The kitchen is covered in pink over spray from the airbrush. I had a couple dozen orchids that needed color. I can't believe how that over spray goes everywhere! I have been clorox-ing for two hours! We will be delivering our creations this week to the Sheraton Read House in Chattanooga, TN. I love there silver ballroom and can't wait to see what it will look like this time. I'm so lucky to get to see these venues in such different themes. Every bride has a vision for their reception and I love to see how my cakes help it come to fruition. I'll post pictures after delivery.

Cute Fairy Cake

One of my favorite customers does it up big and TALL for her daughter's birthday. Each year we get a little taller. This year I made a three tier cake with some pillars for even more height. I don't have a picture of it finished yet, but here are a couple to tide you over until we post the finished cake! I liked the dragonflies and bumble bees best! We airbrushed the entire cake with pink and it had lots of glitter! After it was carved I coated it in buttercream and got it very smooth. It did look a lot like fondant, but it wasn't! Not an easy thing to do! Have a great one!

Vendor Showcase!

I just wanted to take a quick second to tell you about a couple of Chattanooga Wedding vendors that are just awesome. I will do this from time to time, so don't feel left out if I don't mention you this time around.

The first is Love Birds by Tess Lorraine. I spoke to Tess a long while a couple weeks ago at a Premier Bridal meeting at the Chattanoogan hotel. She is very sweet and energetic, and has a gallery full of beautiful stationary, invitations and save the date cards on her website http://www.tesslorraine.com/lovebirds. Her prices are VERY affordable, you should give her a call. The business cards that she gave to me were printed on the prettiest shimmery iridescent paper. I think I may need some of that paper for my business cards!

The second vendor spotlight is on Divine Designs by Amanda. I'll say Amanda turns flowers into art, because I think 'florist' just doesn't cut it. Her website can be found at: http://divinedesignsbyamanda.com/ - please take a few minutes to check out her lovely arrangements. She was also a huge help to me this week in my search for a new commercial cooler. She took time out of her busy schedule to help me, and I really do appreciate it. Call Amanda if your next event needs a flair that only florals can provide.

Well, I suppose these wedding cakes aren't going to decorate themselves, so I had better get back to the kitchen! Have a great weekend and a hippity-hoppity happy Easter!

Un-fun stuff

Yesterday we baked layers until we almost ran out of eggs! I have 2 coolers totally filled with naked cake and I have 2 days to turn them into icing works of art! If I do say so myself..he he.
I have some plain cakes and some crazy cakes. Guess which ones I'm looking forward to!

Zebra cake and present cake

I guess it's the nature of the beast. If you have a website, many people find it easier to just pick a cake and want it duplicated. Sometimes they change colors, sometimes nothing. These two cakes are just that, copies of originals with different colors. The zebra wonky cake is much improved over the last one. The fact that I did a wonky cake in buttercream is no easy feat! I was much happier with it than the last one (which pictures will go away and be replaced with this one!). The bow cake was boring so I added a zillion dragees in assorted sizes to the bottom as a border. I guess I should give my customers a disclaimer that I will remake a cake, but reserve the right to improve on it!