Hotlanta Field Trip & Giveaway

Even though we live in a very small town, we are lucky enough to be about 20 minutes from Chattanooga, TN and only about an hour's drive away from Atlanta, GA.  This past weekend we didn't have any cakes on the books, so I decided that a field trip was in order.  You enjoy reading about my baking adventures, so I thought you might enjoy reading about our cake field trip.

CAKE ART
Our first stop of the day was at Cake Art.  You can get the standard Wilton stuff from Michaels or Hobby Lobby around here, and we have one or two small cake shops, but Cake Art is a decorating Mecca!

SO many impression mats to choose from!

A whole aisle of sprinkles!  One of each, please!

YOUR DEKALB FARMER'S MARKET
YDFM is probably the closest thing to experiencing shopping in another country.  This place is a no-frills warehouse piled from floor to ceiling with some of the freshest, most exotic ingredients that I have ever seen.  Row after row of spices, specialty flours, and various sundries from various countries doesn't even start to scratch the surface.  There's also a huge produce section packed with fruits and veggies, some that appear to have been cultivated from other planets.  And then there's their seafood and meat department!  It's the only place I have ever seen where you can buy fresh octopus!!

Photography was not allowed (?!?) But we managed to snap a quick pic!

HIGHLAND BAKERY
If you have ever looked at cakes on the Internet, or watched a Food Network cake competition, then you have probably seen the amazing work of Karen Portaleo from Highland Bakery.  I wasn't sure I was at the right place at first.  I walked in to a very small bakery area with a huge restaurant.  We were hungry, so we decided to grab a table and get some lunch.  Where we were sitting, I could see into the kitchen, and I had convinced myself we were at another Highland Bakery.  But when I asked the waiter, he told me that Karen did indeed work there and that there was a huge baking kitchen behind the bakery counter.  Karen wasn't there, but I did have a great lunch!  Their peanut butter french toast was the bomb!!

TRADER JOES
If you have a Trader Joes in your town, consider yourself lucky.  Whenever we get a chance to go to one, we always bring a cooler.  Needless to say, we filled the cooler and then some.  Look at all that loot!

I know it looks like a full buggy, but to be honest, the buggies are really small!

IKEA
We really weren't planning on an Ikea visit, but we were still feeling energetic, so we spent the last of our energy there.  I actually think I made it though there in record time!  Here's a little something I scored that you will be seeing in future cake pics!

Still thinking about painting this guy chrome!

All in all we had a super great day traipsing around the big city. As always, Cake Art was my favorite stop.  I shop online every week for cake supplies, but there's something very cool about seeing the items and holding them in your hand.  Once we got home, I collected our Cake Art haul all together...

There's actually a lot of stuff there!  And since I scored big, I saw no reason why I should leave you guys out!  So... I picked up an extra pack of impression mats to share with one of you guys.  The pack I'm giving away features a chevron pattern, plus some other stuff.  If you're interested in winning, leave a comment on this post and make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win.  You have until midnight (EST) on Sunday January 13th to leave your comment and enter the giveaway.  I will announce the winner on Tuesday January 15th.  Good Luck!

ICES 2011 Charlotte - Celebrity Edition

This weekend we didn't have any cakes on the books so Chaddy and I packed an overnight bag and jaunted off to Charlotte, NC for ICES 2011.  Even though we had to get up at 4:00 (that's frikkin AM) to get there for the opening, there was SO much going on that we didn't stop until after the vendor room closed at 5:00.

This place was filled to the brim with cake celebrities!  I certainly knocked several people off my "Cake Celebrity Bucket List" (cake people I MUST meet before I die!).  As much as Chaddy stays behind the scenes, he keeps up with all the cake stars (and reads your blogs too).  We had been at the show about 15 minutes and I was talking to a lady about a new airbrush when I hear Chaddy saying "Holy crap, YOU'RE Debbie Goard!  I'm Chad White  I LOVE your cakes!!". By the time I got over there they were deep in conversation about sculpting and pound cakes.  Chad pulled me in saying, "Honey, this is Debbie Goard from 'Debbie Does Cakes'".  She was super sweet and we talked for quite a while.  She even gave me some great advice on airbrushes!

Me and Debbie Goard of Debbie Does Cakes

We turn on the next isle and I see the Fondarific Booth in the distance.  In the booth I see Joshua John Russell and Tracy Quisenberry from Icing Smiles.  We have been big supporters of Icing Smiles since they began so I had to introduce myself.  Amazingly enough, she remembered us right off and thanked us for our help during their Pepsi Refresh Grant campaign.  We talked a while about how their organization has grown and some of the hurdles they have overcome.

Me and Tracy Quisenberry of Icing Smiles

Just a few feet down and I see Mike McCarey's booth.  Inside the booth?  None other than Mike McCarey and Lauren Kitchens!!  I spoke to Mike for a while and told him how modeling chocolate had changed my life! - His response: "Well, then I did my job!"  I told him how excited I was to be taking his Big Bird class in October and then Lauren walked up and joined the conversation.  She was SO nice in person (as is Mike) and told me she would be back in Atlanta in April to teach classes.  I do believe I'll be signing up!!

Me & Lauren Kitchens of Fancy Cakes by Lauren

Karen Portaleo from Highland Bakery, Looking beautiful in red

I'll have to admit that when I spotted Kerry Vincent that I actually gasped a little.  Chad snapped this picture before we actually made it to her booth (he's always scouting ahead) but when we got to her someone had just brought her a salad.  She was trying desperately to eat, but everyone kept stopping her and introducing themselves and asking for photos and autographs.  She was super kind and never gave off any semblance of being mad or put off because of it.  A class-act all the way.  I decided I would move on and try to allow her to eat ad stop back later.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it back.

Hall of Fame Sugar Artist Kerry Vincent

Mary Moy was ALL over that convention.  I didn't get to met her because she was always on the move, constantly running around or doing demos.  I can only wish I had her energy!  Here she is doing a pulled sugar demo - so talented!

Mary Moy from Patisserie 46

I have seen Mike Elder on it seems like a dozen of the TLC's Ultimate Cake Off, always in a challenge.  So we visit the cake room and in the back corner they were having a cake challenge, and there's Mike... going at it!  We later saw him again sculpting a car cake (below).  He had drawn a HUGE crowd - that's showmanship!

Mike Elder from Black Sheep Custom Cakes

When I first spotted Norm he was pointing someone in the right direction of a booth.  I had to introduce myself.  He was such a nice man, he's exactly the guy you know and love from The Food Network Challenges.

Me & Norman Davis of The Sweet Life

Chaddy and Zane Beg of The Sweet Life

We walked right around the corner and ran into none other than Norm's Challenge partner, Zane Beg.  He and Chaddy hit it off and talked for several minutes.  Zane was awesome, just super nice, with the cutest smile!

Sharon Zambito of SugarEd Productions

All day long, Ashley Vicos was running around in the hugest pinky/purpley glittered high heels.  If I walked in those for more than an hour I would be in the Emergency Room.  But not Sweet Ashley; this picture was taken right before the vendor room closed and she was still going strong.  When Chaddy walked up to her he said, "Wow, you're a tall drink of water!"  Not his best pick-up line, thank goodness!

Chaddy & Ashley Vicos of Sweet Ashley's & "Have Cake, Will Travel"

And I saw so many more cake celebs that I didn't get pictures of!  Marina Sousa, Jason Ellis, Dana Herbert, Jay Qualls,  and Edna de la Cruz, just to name a few.  Rumor was that Lindsey Sinatra and Colette Peters were there also, but sadly I didn't see them! :(

And I haven't even talked about The Cake Room yet!  OK, how about you stop back in on Friday and we'll look at some awesome cakes from ICES 2011?

Brown and Blue Ribbon Wedding Cake

Thanks for taking a break from the Royal Wedding to stop by!!

Simple and elegant wedding cakes are all the rage these days!  And this cake is about as elegant as they get!  I layered blue and chocolate colored ribbons to give a nice border and then scattered silver dragees on the tops of each tier.

This cake was delivered to Niko's Southside Grill.  It was the first time I had been to their upstairs reception room.  It was a very nice space to host an event.  I even got to ride on the dumb waiter!!

Speaking of Niko's, I once had dinner with Jane Seymour and her husband James Keach at Niko's.  Yes, THE "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman" Jane Seymour!  It was years ago in my previous career.  She developed a line of bedding and home accessories for our department store.  She made personal appearances to all our larger stores and in my role as regional visual director I got to join her and our executive staff for dinner.  She was very nice with just the right amount of "celebrity kookiness".

Since she's been named as an ET correspondent for the Royal Wedding, it's like I have an inside track to William and Kate's wedding...  OK, maybe not!

Formal Affair 2011 Cake Competition

OK, so the bridal show and the cake competition is finally over!  Sadly, we did not win, but we had a great time making the cake and an even better time visiting with the other cake competitors.  There is a lot of great cake talent in Chattanooga, and it was great to see everyone's different styles come together.  I am proud to be among them.

I will go into greater detail in future posts, but today I'll be discussing the cake competition.

This is going to be a lengthy post, so click the link below to read all about it!

Cup a Dee Cakes - Celebrity Edition!

I know it seems like I have been slacking lately, but actually we have been covered up at the bakery! In fact, I can barely find time to hobnob with some of my favorite folks. A few weeks back I spent a couple of days with the Amazing Mike McCarey. Mike opened my eyes to the wonderful world of modeling chocolate! Ever since then I can't seem to keep enough of it made up in the kitchen! Take all the stuff you like about fondant, then subtract most of the stuff you don't like about fondant and you have modeling chocolate! And it even tastes better than fondant. BONUS!

Yesterday, Chad and I took off to Altanta for the day. We visited IKEA, as well as several bakeries. We ended out day up at the Barnes and Noble in Buckhead where we got to meet Jen and John Yates of the oh so wonderfully funny Cake Wrecks! They gave an awesome presentation and slide show. There were several really good wrecklipas there and we really turned the Children's Book Section into a party zone. They were as witty in person as they are on the web, and seemed like such a nice couple.

Well, I must go now; I am preparing for my cake decorating class tonight at Dalton State College. Only 2 more classes and my stint as a teacher will be over I fear. I leave you with a shot of the CakeWrecks crew and the Cup a Dee Cakes crew giving you a big smile that's sure to last all week long!