I had the privilege of delivering this fabulous cake tonight for a popcorn fanatic.  Didn’t get to meet the guest of honor, but I enjoyed every minute of this order; from original sketch and concept with Mara, his daughter, to delivering to The Palace Theatre on James Street, where I got to meet Paul and his staff as well.  I have lots of photos for you this time, several views of the cake, and then a shot of the gorgeous flowers which were very creatively set up by Frank Brice on Teall Ave, and also a shot of the short table tops with 45’s and retro candy.  This cake had a lot going on as you’ll see, and it was received really well.  I sure hope the birthday boy loves it too!  I think a photo will be sent when Mara has a chance, I’ll be sure to add it if it arrives.  On to the cake!!

Full front view first, then various shots.

Josh and Mallory were so much fun to work with; knew what they wanted, provided a tiny challenge while being easy to please, eager to give their guests some great tasting cake, and just plain fun.  I couldn’t be happier with their cupcakes, and I’m thrilled to know that they feel the same way.  They booked their wedding order last year;  180 cupcakes, a topper cake and a new technique later, all is done and gone.

I had intended to use the edible printer system for their logo when the order was placed.  But along the way, I decided to use screen printing for them instead.  I’ve been wanting to use this technique many times, but never seemed to have just the right job for it.  Too many variables usually, too many individual changes needed for multiple pieces for one order.  I’d love to use it for instance on the awesome cookies that Erin and I offer at Sweet Talk Boutique but I won’t make a screen for every single cookie order that comes in, as they do tend to come in singles.  A one color logo is perfect for this technique!  And low and behold, that’s what this amazing couple wanted.

I took the high res image of the logo that Mallory sent to me via email, burned it onto my food safe screen ~ sunlight baby, no chemicals! ~ and practiced with the ink ~ food coloring of course ~ until just right.  The ink has to be exactly the right viscosity for a great image.  The screen has to be crisp and clean as well.  It takes some skill, but I will be using this more and more.  You can have your own logo screen printed in edible format, just give me a call!

So Josh and Mallory wanted their “L” on half of the cupcakes, I made about 120 logos all together, and the other half of the order was to have the prettiest little ice blue flower on them.  Then the topper cake in White Almond with my amazing raspberry citrus schnapps’ syrup and lemon curd/raspberry filling combo was finished off in fondant with the logo applied to the edible band.  As you can see by the photos they sent to me, it’s a lot of cupcakes!  I’m so thankful to be able to share their photos with you, along with a photo of the  cupcake with logo and a variation or two of complimenting looks.  The logo discs are perfect for application to any edible item, and the logos can also be screened directly onto cookies, etc.  The screen is also shown in the final photo.

Thanks so much to Josh and Mallory for letting me be part of such a wonderful day and thank you for your awesome feedback!! You guys are amazing!

from Mallory and Josh:

Thank you Jen!  The cake was AMAZING.  Everyone LOVED it.  And when Josh and I cut into the topper, we nearly died.  It was like butter and was WAY better than we had remembered.  You really helped make our day special.  (Not to mention, the leftover cupcakes were awesome for the bonfire later that night…and for my colleagues at work!!).  We are so happy with everything you have done, and will be sure to contact you again in the future.  Stay in touch!   Love, Mr. and Mrs. LIttle aka Josh and Mallory

It’s T-ball and Little League season here, and one of my little ones is playing ball so I thought it would be perfect to show off some cupcakes from a recent order picked up in Manlius.  Perfect for a sports coach and perfect for your little all-star!

Here are some cakes and cupcakes I’ve recently done for Communions.  I really enjoy doing these cakes.  I hope that they were received well and thought to be fancy enough for the occassion, but not take center stage over the importance of the day.  God Bless!

Here are some cute cupcakes and a topper cake that were ordered for a surprise wedding shower. 

With a honeymoon in the tropics, brightly painted tropical shirts and flowers were in order.  Aren’t they cute?!

The shirts are little hand cut fondant pieces, then I painted them with food colors.  The topper cake also has hand painted flowers on it and then as you can see there are some little tropical fondant flowers as well.  I hope they were enjoyed as much as I enjoyed making them.

I recently had an order for custom cut tandem bicycle cookies for a bridal shower, they looked so great in red and white that I made a few extra and then added some cookies for “mom” to the mix.

Check out this cute photo of these eye catching cookies.  There are a few left if you’d like to stop by the showroom on Friday night between 6-7:30 when Amanda will be there for clients to pick up their orders.

Today’s Birthday Girl made my day!  When Melanie and her mom and little brother came in to pick up her cake, she had a surprise waiting for her.  Debbie, mom, had ordered it and gave me total freedom to do whatever I wanted for this little cake for Mel’s sweet sixteen.  I was feeling a little paisley today.  Even Debbie didn’t know I chose to do a purse cake so I decided to be a little bit playful at pick up time.

They came into the showroom, Mel leading the way, and we made small talk for a little while.  After about 5 or 10 minutes she finally asked “where is my cake?”  I said “it’s here”.  “Where?”  “Over there”, I said.  Again, she asked “where?”  I had to go to it at the table, point to it and say “here”.  Her reaction was so wonderful!  Exactly the type of reaction cake designers hope for!  While the rest of us chatted about the cake, Mel continued to poke and touch it to be sure.

Thanks Melanie, I’m so glad you loved it!!!  And thanks for permission to share the photo on my blog, I think my readers will get a real kick out of it too!  Hope you had a great birthday, glad I was part of it!  Below are a few more photos of this fondant covered, hand painted purse cake with a sweet little 16 in bling.

Popping in real quick to share a photo of this sweet Bat Mitzvah cake from this morning.  I delivered it to The Lodge at Welch Allyn and was greeted by smiles as usual.  Nino from Backyard Garden was also setting up and the potted centerpieces fit wonderfully for Dorie’s natural aesthetic.  Fondant and gum paste flowers adorn this picket fence lined, mock two tier cake.  A second cake for servings was kept in the kitchen.  Thanks for looking!  And Happy Birthday Dorie!

And I love every minute of it!  Ok…almost every minute, but your faces make it all worth it!  I will try to update on each thing next week, but you know me by now.  Here is just a snippet or two of what I’ve been up to, and a few photos as well.

The Open House was fantastic!  Thanks so much to everyone that came out to see the new space, and thanks to all of you who placed orders that week!  I do wish I could be there everyday.  I’ll have some one in so that orders can be picked up on Fridays, and possibly take on that intern sooner than later.

This week I had the privelege of making a cake for Thom Filicia from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Dress My Nest fame for his book signing that took place in Skaneateles to benefit Positively Pink Packages.  PPP, if you follow my blog old or new, as you know is Jennifer Tom’s non profit organization that puts together wonderful care packages for women who have been diagnosed and are facing breast cancer.  Jennifer is an amazing woman.  And Thom…well, he’s an amazing guy with a great sense of STYLE.  That’s his new book by the way; Thom Filicia STYLE.  It’s full of awesome photos and ideas that will really inspire you.  Professional photos are coming soon, but for now, here is a shot I grabbed with my bb at the event of the cake I designed and created for Thom.  I wish I could say a photo is coming with him standing next to it, but it was such a crazy night and there just wasn’t an opportunity for that.

The book in front of the cake is a hand painted cookie book, done by me, to mimic the real thing.  It was time consuming and I’m pleased to say it showed.  I do think everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.  I know they devoured the cake once it was sliced. Gosh, I hope someone took a piece to Thom!

The rest of this weekend is full of orders for Communions, Birthdays, a bridal “show” at Henry Wilson Jewelers, and a wonderful cake for Dori for her Bat Mitzvah tomorrow.  A couple orders that went out tonight are shown below, I’ll post the others another time.  For now…enjoy!  And thanks again to all my new and old cake friends and fans!