Sunday, March 28, 2010

Melbourne Wedding Cake | Cupcakes
This week we have been very busy - with three weddings and a.... gotcha!  No, no funeral! (Now you know you filled that line in, admit it!)  Just three weddings!

First up, Frilyn and Russell:

This cake is two tiers, a square 9" base of Caramel Dream filled with caramel buttercreme, and a round 6" top of Java Jolt filled with mocha buttercreme.  Both cakes are covered with ivory fondant over ganache, and the base tier is also brushed with edible gold lustre.

The couple's names are piped nto the presentation board, and are also highlighted with the same edible gold lustre.  The two toppers were supplied by the clients.




Next are Katie and Steve.

The overall theme of the wedding was elegant peacocks, and the cupcakes for this event were to represent the tail of the peacock, striking in it's majesty.  The cupcakes are a mix of Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Fudge, and each is crowned with a swirl of vanilla bean buttercreme, and topped with a single, hand-painted and styled sugar-paste peacock feather.

The co-ordinating cutting cake is Chocolate Fudge, filled with chocolate truffle filling, with bridal white fondant over ganache.  It is styled with a arch of sugar-paste peacock feathers.




And finally we have Caroline and Scott.

This two tier cake and cupcakes was a tale of pure romance.  The top cake of two tiers, a 7" round base in White Truffle with white truffle filling, and 5" round top of Chocolate Fudge with chocolate truffle filling, is covered in white fondant over ganache, and decorated with a tumbling arbour of overblown China Roses and perfectly bloomed Tea Roses, and a pair of pink pierced-work butterflies.

Cupcakes to match the cutting cake were White Truffle, and were served to the parents of the bride and groom and the bridal party. Other cupcakes were decorated in two styles - half with a single pierced-work butterfly, and half with piped initials "SC" for the Bride and Groom.



Next week we have Easter, which I have closed out in the diary to have some peace and quiet with my family (and what is they say about hte best laid plans??)... then straight back to it with birthdays galore, and more weddings (the season is running later this year!), and I'll show you some concept details for a couple of parties coming up...

Happy baking!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Melbourne Wedding Cake | Birthday Cake | Easter Cookies

Well, excuse me folks, it seems that it's been more than an just a little while between posts!  Not only have I been absent from posting, but missed our competition deadline completely... (but there is a winner below, so don't fret!) but I've missed updating you on all the fabulousness that has been happening around me recently.

So let's begin:

Using the good old RANDOM.ORG, we have selected a winner for our Bake it Pretty competition:
So, could AJ, of the comment dated Feb 10 @ 9:56 pm please contact me for details on how to claim your prize.  Congratulations!

In the month (and a bit!) that has passed since my last update, we have worked on some truly amazing projects, met some wonderful and inspiring brides, and had some fabulous international coverage.

First up on our list is Eleanor and Russell.  Their wedding was a family-focused event held on the stunning Mornington Peninsula.  Their cutting cake was White Truffle Raspberry, and their co-ordinating cupcakes were a mixture of Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Fudge.  The decoratiobn brief was tones of silver and grey, so we covered the cupcakes in white and two shades of grey, with Tiffany butterflies highlighted with edible silver, and a cluster of blooms on a trailing vine.  The cutting cake was covered with the paler grey shade, and decorated to co-ordinate with the cupcakes, and was tied with a silver-grey mouseline ribbon.



Next on our bridal list was another wedding at the gorgeous Elmswood Estate.  This couple chose a silver and white theme with a touch of lilac.


Next up we moved away from weddings and moved into birthdays!

This birthday cake is for one of my repeat clients, whose Brother and Sister-in-law were both celebrating their 40th birthdays.  A Vanilla Bean cake was torted with buttercreme and raspberry preserves, the covered with white fondant over ganache.  For decoration we deceided upon a slightly grown-up version of an almost "Dick and Jane"-style bunting design (am I showing my age there??), but I think the end result was really quite pleasing.  One side of the cake was marked with one name, and the other's name was on the opposite side.  Some silver candles in black posts helped balance out the design:



Next up our calendar was pulling us fair and square straight to Easter, with some corporate orders for early Easter cookies for conference gifts:



These cookies are available in our standard flavours of Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Sable and Gingerbread.

Next up, and the pendulum swung us back to weddings again!  This time the lovely Linda and Giang tied the knot at Roslyn Court... mint green, lavendar and ivory were the shades of the day, and we wanted something that was both pretty and subtle.  I think that we achieved that balance perfectly, and Linda was very ahppy with the result:



And then, we were almost done - but we saved the biggest and best until last!

Our next diary date produced the following:




This wedding buffect incorporated a 3-tier stacked cake of 9"/7"/5", 2 companion cakes of 6", cupcakes, cookies in both personalised styles and a hot air balloons, and lilac and white coconut ice.  The decorative theme was lilac and red roses.  I'm not sure what I'm more thrilled with - the overall effect, or the fact that I got to use my treasured vintage glass cake stands for this event!

Now, I'm sure you remember, as it was the backbone of the Bake it Pretty competition, but the quetion asked was, would you like to see a co-ordinated bridal event (like the wedding above), or would you like to see many idfferent cake ideas to stimulate the senses?  Well, the overwhelming majority told me it was a co-ordinated approach.  This train of though also mirrored my own personal preference, but, you still want to give people what they want to look at, right?  So, the reason behind my question was that I have a magazine shoot coming up, and I was pretty certain how I wanted it to look, but your opinions confirmed it.

So, without further ado, these are some of the results:





And the most thrilling thing of all, is that these pictures have been picked up by the amazing Amy Atlas, and also Style Me Pretty.  You could have knocked me over with a feather!  Thank you to Amy and also the ladies at SMP... these are both blogs that I haunt in order to keep up with trends on the opposite side of the Pacific, and to be featured among their amazing offerings is beyond amazing to me, so thanks again!

The photos above are not the advert though, you will need to wait until July to see it!  It will be in Melbourne Wedding and Bride, and I will be sure to let you all know when it hits the streets!

So, that's it for now, more weddings and birthdays coming up win the next few weeks, as well as some concept drawings for some amazing birthday parties we have approaching in the next couple of months - so stay tuned!

Happy baking!


PS - What do you all think of my new blog header?