Cake-A-Licious, Custom Wedding Cakes

The Bridal Extravaganza

04/02/2012 18:02:00

Don't miss the Spring's best and biggest bridal show at the South Towne Expo Center on Saturday, April 14th! Come check out our booth and taste some delicious samples! If you're getting married in the next few months, you can't miss this show! Great vendors, lots of ideas, and tons of fun prizes to be won!

Make sure to pre-register for a show discount.

Hope to see you there!

Ruffles!

02/01/2012 23:02:00

Okay, so I've been really, really bad at my blog the past few months. I have had lots of things I've wanted to blog about, but just haven't had the time. It's heavy wedding-planning season, so I've been super busy talking to lots of new brides I'm excited to work with and have been getting ready for the upcoming bridal season. Needless to say, my blog has been neglected, so I'm going to try to do better.

I wanted to talk about one of my favorite trends for this year, which is ruffles! There's so many ways to do ruffles on cakes, from vertical to horizontal to fondant ruffles and creamy buttercream ruffles.

Ruffles can go so many different directions style-wise too. They can give a vintage flair and even a contemporary or modern flare. I think that's one of the reasons I'm so in love with them and why I'm so excited to try a lot of these techniques this year.

Ruffles look great in all white or ivory and super fun in different colors as well. I have such a hard time picking a favorite style!

Ruffles add a lot of fullness and softness to a cake. Combine them with flowers for a stunningly beautiful cake! But ruffles can also stand alone and add just enough texture to a cake to make it interesting but still simple and chic. If you really want to glam up the cake, add some pearls, jewels, or buttons and you've got a showstopper!

Here's some examples of some different ruffle techniques I've been able to try lately, but I'm looking forward to a lot more of these fun styles to come!

Which one is your favorite?

Woodland Inspiration Shoot

10/26/2011 14:04:00

I have yet another fantastic photo shoot to share with you all! I've participated in several photo shoots the last couple months, so I'm excited to share those with you as I get the photos back in. This shoot was created and coordinated by a couple of truly talented ladies, Amanda with Branches Floral and Mollie with Polka Dots and Daisies. They did such a fabulous job with the concept and I was truly stunned at the beauty of it all. The theme was a woodland fall wedding. I myself love rustic and natural elements, so this shoot was so "my cup of tea." The colors were rich cranberry reds, moss greens, and touches of metallics like copper.

For the cake, I wanted to do something really bold and different and not be afraid to show how a very deep colored cake can be seriously beautiful. Amanda and Mollie still wanted to make sure we had a touch of whimsy in the shoot, so the colorful fantasy mushrooms were a fun addition to the cake. The cake was done in fondant in a deep cranberry color with fondant "moss" to give it a really organic feel. The mushrooms and birch wood borders were done in fondant. Copper floral wire was twisted to give some metallic accents to it. The cake is very tall and narrow, which is one of my favorite shapes right now.

This was such a fun cake to work on and a beyond fabulous project to be part of. There were some absolutely amazing vendors that participated in this shoot. You can see even more stunning images of it at Azure B's blogspot or Camilla Binks.

Photo shoot Concept & Design: Polka Dots & Daisies and Branches Event Floral
Venue & Food: The Bungalow (http://www.bungalowwedding.com/)
Floral: Branches Event Floral (http://www.branchesfloraldesign.com/)
Stationery, tags, favors: Polka Dots & Daisies (http://www.polkadotsanddaisies.com/designs.html)
Dress: Gateway Bridal (http://www.gatewaybridal.com/)
Cake: Cake-A-Licious (http://www.cakealicious.net/)
Hair & Make-Up: Hair & Make-Up By Steph (http://www.hairandmakeupbysteph.com/)
Photography:
Camilla Photography (http://www.camillabinks.com/)
Azure B Photography (http://azurebphotography.blogspot.com/)

Fall Inspiration Photo Shoot

10/10/2011 08:20:00

Utah Bride Blog Fall Inspiration Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago, I was asked to participate in an amazing photo shoot with some incredibly talented vendors that was conceptualized by the fabulous ladies at Utah Bride Blog. The inspiration was Rustic Chic and the color palate was rich berry colors, mustard gold, and teal. Honeybees and hexagon or honeycomb patterns were also part of the inspiration.

I love getting to do inspiration shoots. It gives me a chance to really play and be creative, and I usually like to go a little bolder, more unique, or just think outside the box for the cake design. For the cake design, I wanted to really stick with the rustic and organic elements of the theme of the shoot.

I loved the honeybees and honeycomb idea we had to work with, so I made fondant honeycomb pieces and fondant honeybees and randomly attached them. I also wanted to give the look of actual honey dripping from the honeycomb, so I used piping gel, which is a thick sugar gel, to make it look like honey and brushed it on some of the honeycombs. I love grossgrain ribbon and the organic texture of it, so I used a fondant grossgrain ribbon texture for the teal bow and also for the yellow ribbon borders. The buzzing bees were added to give it some whimsy and also a bit of movement.

Fondant blackberries and raspberries were added for that pop of bold colors. Dried purple flowers and twigs were also added. The cake base was covered in burlap, which really tied in with the rest of the theme. This was a blast to work on and I had a wonderful time!

The incredibly talented Jimmy Bishop with Gideon Photography photographed the shoot. His work is absolutely stunning.

Make sure to visit Utah Bride Blogfor more details and photos of this spectacular inspiration shoot!

Featured Wedding: Kaitlyn & Derek

09/13/2011 18:53:00

Congratulations Kaitlyn & Derek!

Kaitlyn & Derek held their ceremony and reception at the Marriott in Downtown Salt Lake. And what a beautiful reception it was. They have been planning their incredible event for over a year, and it turned out spectacular. I met with them last fall and have been looking forward to this cake all year! It turned out just as I'd imagined it.

This cake was so elegant, simple, and regal, all at the same time. I loved the design. Sometimes less is more, and this cake was just that!

The pattern on the cake was hand piped and then hand painted with edible gold food coloring. The ribbon was real fabric trim and added a subtle sparkle to the cake. I loved how the gold and ivory tones of the cake went so well with the beautiful gold accents from the chandeliers and sconces to the table linens and floral elements.

This cake was tall, towering, and made a statement. Once the flowers were placed on the cake, it finished it off perfectly. Emily with Emily Brooks Designdid the flowers. I always look forward to seeing the final product when a cake has fresh flowers that will be added at the reception. Emily did a fabulous job on this cake adding all the roses and strands of ribbon. Beautimous!

Kaitlyn and Derek chose some fabulous flavor combinations for their cake including yellow butter cake with toffee crunch buttercream, red velvet cake with Bavarian cream buttercream, and white chocolate cake with rasberry buttercream.

I had a great time working with them on this cake for their beautiful wedding and was so pleased with how it turned out. It was a pleasure working with them.

I want to wish Kaitlyn and Derek a beautiful new life together!

Featured Wedding: Brittney & Cory

08/13/2011 20:07:00

Congratulations to Brittney and Cory!

I just loved this cake! Brittney and Cory were super fun to work with. I think this may be one of my favorite cakes of the year. Brittney brought me a picture of a cake she'd seen in a magazine and wanted it to be very similar, just changing a couple things and colors. This cake was beautiful and elegant, but also very unique. The blue texture behind the flower vines is a lace pattern done in light blue buttercream. It gave just a subtle hint of something interesting behind the focal point of the cake, which was the flowers and vines.

The flowers are all sugar flowers, with 2 large open peonies and then the orange/yellow vine flowers. The flowers are all handmade from gum paste and then colored with special edible food color dusts. They were so pretty and my favorite part of the cake. The colors just popped against the white and blue background.

Brittney and Cory's reception was held on the top floor patio of Noah's, which is such a beautiful venue. It's open, airy, and very gardeny, and the cake fit in perfectly.

This was such a fun project to work on, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with this sweet couple. I wish them a lifetime of happiness!!

Featured Wedding: Lacey & Jeff

08/04/2011 14:44:00

Congratulations Lacey & Jeff!

Lacey and Jeff were such a great couple to work with. They had a very fun and specific theme for their wedding, Baseball!! Both are huge baseball fans, Lacey's favorite team being the New York Yankees, and Jeff's favorite team being the Atlanta Braves. They wanted to incorporate their love of the game and their teams into their wedding. Let me tell you, it was such a cute wedding reception. They kept the theme throughout so many details but added beautiful flowers and other details so it was fun and whimsical yet elegant as well. They had some fun things for their guests to enjoy like a photobooth (how fun are these at weddings!), a gorgeous red colored candy buffet, and wait for it........a snow cone machine! How awesome is that??!! I'm sure their guests had an absolute blast. Suzzi Williams from Smile Now Photobooths did the photobooth, candy buffet, and even the snow cone machine. She's a fantastically talented lady who is all about making a wedding your very own. If you are looking for any of those services, be sure to check her out at www.smilenowphotobooths.com.

The colors for the reception were white, black, and red. Keeping in theme with their team colors. Lacey wanted the wedding cake to be elegant and beautiful. It was a very fun and unique cake. The entire top tier was covered in single sugar flower blossoms. The middle tier had the black floral stencil and red fabric ribbon. The bottom tier was done in a buttercream version of a pleated design. I loved this cake, and it was all Lacey's design. She took several elements of cake designs from other cakes and made her very own cake, which I love because it's truly a unique cake for her wedding.

One of my favorite parts of their wedding were the cupcakes. Instead of serving cake to their guests, they had cupcakes. There were 2 flavors of cupcakes and 2 designs of cupcakes, one with the Altalna Braves team logo and one with the New York Yankees team logo. I thought this was such a cute idea and it let guests "pick their team" by choosing which cupcake to go with.

Lacey's team flavor was chocolate with peanut butter buttercream and Jeff's team flavor was apple spice with cream cheese buttercream. YUM!! We set them up on 2 tall cupcake towers. They fit in so perfectly with every other fantastic detail of the reception.

I just loved working with Lacey and Jeff! I wish them an absolutely blissful life together and thank them for choosing me to be part of their special day. Congrats again to both of them!

Featured Wedding: Amber & Brandon

07/03/2011 13:36:00

Congratulations Amber & Brandon!

Wow, it's been an insanely busy month! June is the busiest wedding month of the year, and oh boy has it been crazy busy this month for wedding cakes. I've been so swamped, I've been terrible at the blog lately. I wish I had time to blog about so many of the awesome cakes we've been able to do the past few weeks, but I don't so I'll just try to do better at getting some posts up as often as possible.

One of the most unique cakes I've done in the last little while has been this super cute and colorful cake for Amber and Brandon. They are a very fun and happy couple, and their cake showed that perfectly, I think. I love the color differences in this cake. The blue and green sides were covered in fondant first, then I covered the rest of the sides of the cake in white fondant. Aren't these colors so sweet together?

The ribbon down the side of it is also fondant, with fondant pleated white ruffles. It was a tricky technique to do, but I loved the outcome of it. The buttons down the ribbon were real buttons. I love that this cake is bold, colorful, and whimsical, but still elegant enough to be a beautiful wedding cake. Adding the monogram topper and a few fresh flowers completed the look. I always enjoy doing some color on wedding cakes. Don't be afraid of color! A white cake is always beautiful, but it's not the rule anymore. Your wedding cake does not have to be all white or ivory. If you really want to make a statement with your cake, the best way to do that is to add some fun colors, shapes, or design to it. This cake had it all, and it's definitely one of my favorite cakes so far this summer.

Congratulations again to Amber and Brandon! They were so much fun to work with and I enjoyed every minute of it. I wish them a magically happy life together!

Featured Wedding: Kala & Shane

06/02/2011 17:35:00

Congratulations to Kala & Shane!

Kala and Shane held their ceremony and reception at Willow Creek Country Club in Sandy. It's a beautiful place, so peaceful and scenic. I met with both of them along with Kala's mom last fall to start planning their wedding cake. They had such fun and bright colors they were using, which were bright pink and orange, and a pretty buttercream yellow. The cake was a square tiered cake covered in ivory fondant. The yellow ribbon border was also done in fondant to match the yellow of some of the accents they used throughout the reception.

One unique detail we did on the cake was add the pattern, which was a pattern that was embossed onto all the favor boxes they gave to their wedding guests. They wanted to use a similar pattern on the cake to tie those details together, so they supplied me with a sample print of the pattern that I then tried to replicate on the cake. It ended up being piped with icing freehand. It added that bit of texture and interest to the cake, and it turned out beautiful. The gorgeous flowers were added by their florist, Jerry from Hillside Floral. Aren't they beautiful?! Again, I love the bright colors. Perfect for a spring wedding!! The flavor of the wedding cake was one of my favorites, Almond cake with Almond buttercream.

They had so many fun ideas for their wedding. Both Kala and Shane are fans of the Utah Utes and the San Diego Chargers, and they wanted to bring that personalized touch to their wedding. They decided to add cupcakes for their guests at the reception, so they had 3 different styles and flavors of cupcakes, 1 style with each team logo on them and another style bringing in their wedding colors with cute little fondant flowers. Each cupcake design was a different flavor: Strawberry Lemonade, Red Velvet with Bavarian Cream, and White Chocolate Raspberry. Kala's mom and dad made custom cupcake towers that were placed at various tables throughout the reception dinner where we mixed and matched all 3 styles of cupcakes and guests could help themselves to them. Such a cute idea! I love when brides and grooms add theirown tastes, likes, and personalities to details of the wedding.

This was such a fun wedding to get to be a part of and I had a blast working with them! I wish them a wonderful new life together!

Featured Wedding: Chelsey & Jake

05/26/2011 19:27:00

Congratulations Chelsey & Jake!

Chelsey and Jake held their ceremony and reception at Talon's Cove in Saratoga Springs. It was my first time delivering a cake out to this lovely venue that overlooks Utah Lake and has stunning views of the mountains and lake. Wow! I met with Chelsey and Jake last fall to talk about their wedding cake plans. Chelsey later brought me in a sketch her florist had come up with that was an original cake design, and I loved it! Chelsey chose a lovely color combo of ivory and champagne colors. The cake was covered in ivory fondant. Then I added ivory scrolls and sugar pearls.

Down the center of the cake we did a gradually widening champagne-colored inlay with black corset-laces with champagne fondant pearl borders. Chelsey found these beautiful brooches we used for the centers of each lace section. They were so pretty!

When we got to the reception to set up the cake, we added the beautiful peony flowers her florist had provided. The flowers added that final perfect touch to the cake. It looked so beautiful in the reception ballroom with all the other fabulous details they did there. I am so proud of this cake. It turned out even better than I had pictured it in my mind. I love when I get to see the bride's reaction when she very first sees her cake, and Chelsey's reaction was priceless! She was a gorgeous bride and did such a great job on all the details of her wedding.

Chelsey wanted to surprise Jake with a groom's cake. Jake is a big Boston Celtics fan, so we did a Celtic's themed cake with basketball cupcakes! Jake had no idea, and I got to see his reaction when she showed him his cake. It was great to see his reaction.

Chelsey and Jake were awesome to work with and so much fun! I wish them a wonderfully happy marriage!