Christmas M&M tree

I hope everyone had a warm and wonderful Christmas weekend!  The holidays are always a busy baking season.  I'm sure you had your hands full rolling, icing, and baking sweet treats.  This year I made an assortment of white chocolate bark with almonds and cranberries, peanut butter blossom cookies, and millionaire shortbread bars.  To top it all off, I made a simple yet festive cake that my friend's daughter so kindly helped me decorate.  A three tier vanilla cake covered in green buttercream, decorated with colorful m&ms for lights, and a gumpaste star.  A quick, simple, and kid-friendly idea for your holiday table!  

Flower Pot Cake

There are a handful of edible flowers in the world like hibiscus, pansies, gardenias and roses...but hydrangeas are not among them.  Hydrangeas are actually considered moderately toxic. The best way to eat any flower in my opinion is a sugar flower, of course with chocolate cake crumbs acting as dirt and an orange fondant clay pot!

This flower pot was a small individual sized cake made for a friend who is an avid gardener.  I thought it would be an appropriate way to show appreciation for her hobby while celebrating her birthday. 

Garden Party Cake: The Knot - Winter 2011

The new Winter issue of The Knot magazine is now on stands.  Check out the cake we made for it.  If this design seems familiar it's because we originally made this cake in red/yellow/pink hues (last picture).  I love how the same cake can be fitted to any occasion just by changing the color palette!

More Eiffel Tower Cake!

A couple months ago we made a small Eiffel tower cake for a 16th birthday.  This time around we made the same cake...only much larger!  This 80th birthday cake barely fit in the trunk of the delivery vehicle as it was almost 4 feet tall and weighed...well, a lot :)  This was such a sweet cake to make because three sisters collaborated to get this for their mother's big bash in NYC.  When you turn 80, you definately deserve a cake this big!

Here's a look back at the other one. This one was only about 14" tall, but still so cute!

Moustaches, banners and silhouette

Just Married!  We recently made a cake, cupcakes and moustache cookies for a wedding that was held at a bar near the Brooklyn Bridge.

Here's a closer look at the silhouette topper of the excited bride and groom.

The banners are made of all edible gumpaste and the tiers were simply adorned with swiss dots.

The table consisted of our chocolate and red velvet cupcakes, vanilla moustache cookies and the Just Married banner cake.  In addition, there were classic black and white cookie from Juniors!

Brides Magazine : White Hot Style Shop

Last Thurs-Sun Brides Magazine put together a White Hot Style Shop open to the public.  It was a large space in Soho filled with dresses, invitations, jewlery, makeup, ideas and more.  We had the opportunity to participate in the Style Shop by creating a cake for display and holding a tasting.  Here are some pictures from the event!

This cake we made is perfect for brides who want that traditional white wedding cake, but with a modern twist.  The tiers are uneven heights and we added a modern chevron pattern that is painted in pearl dust so that it won't stand out too much.  A few flowers ended up being the perfect color accents.

We made mini red velvet cupcakes for the tasting on Sunday afternoon.

Baked by Melissa spelled out Brides with mini cupcakes :)
Other beautiful cakes on display at the shop.

Red Velvet Cake Debate

Ah the ever so popular red velvet.  Is it odd to eat something that is so unnaturally red?  Is butter based or oil based recipes better?  Can it only be made well in the South?  Did you know there is vinegar in most red velvet recipes?  Does it only taste good when paired with cream cheese frosting?  Should I use beet juice or red food coloring?  Is it just a hybrid of vanilla and chocolate cake?

If you've ever pondered Red Velvet cake in this way then "The Red Velvet Cake Debate" is where you want to be tonight.  From 6:30-9pm, Nichelle Stephens of Cupcakes Take The Cake will be hosting an event surrounding this discussion with a guest panel and of course tastings in the form of cake pops, cupcakes and cake.  Check it out.

Also...last year at Target I found none other than...Red Velvet Chocolate Milk!! What??  So I baked a small red velvet cake, took it to a friends house and had everyone try the pairing.  :)  The milk itself just tasted like extra sweet chocolate milk, but it was fun to experience it.

Brides Magazine Pop Up Shop

It's back....the Brides Magazine White Hot Style Shop!  Open tomorrow on 477 Broome Street in SoHo, the Style Shop is a free pop-up shop were you can meet Brides editors, view the latest bridal fashions, get free hair/makeup trials, sip on cocktails and most importantly... taste cake!  We will be handing out mini cupcakes at the shop on Sunday Oct. 16th @ 2pm so be sure to stop by and say hello!  We also designed a special cake for the gallery so check that out too. 

Thursday Oct. 13-Sunday Oct.16 

 Check out their website for the daily schedule of events. 

NYC Wine and Food Festival 2011

Last Friday I had the opportunity to assist the talented Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes at the 2011 Food Network NYC Wine and Food Festival.  It was such a fun experience filled with lots of tasty desserts and it was great to work with Elisa again!  Here are some photos from the night.  

We made over 600 of these adorable cake push pops.  How cute!

Confetti Cakes table.

With Bobby Flay

Candace Nelson of Sprinkles Cupcakes

Ron Ben Israel aka Sweet Genius

Chef Anne Burrell

Dorie Greenspan, she's so cute :)

Overall it was such a fabulous and fun event to be a part of.  Proceeds supported two wonderful causes,  Food Bank for NYC and Share our Strength.  Check their websites out for more information.  Also check out the Confetti Cake blog for more photos!

I (heart) you.

A small, simple cake can truly remind someone that they are loved.

I made this cake for a friend to give to her husband on his birthday.  It was their first time celebrating his birthday together as a married couple.  Even if it isn't for a birthday, this would be a cute cake to give to a special person in your life any day of the year.  Share your love for someone with a small cake this week :)

A Lot, A Little :: The Knot Fall 2011

In the current color issue of the Knot, we made two cakes to show how you can incorporate a lot or a little bit of color into your wedding cake.  I thought it was a such great concept for a cake story and here's how it turned out.  Check out the other "a lot/a little" cakes in the Fall 2011 issue.

America's Most Beautiful Cakes :: Brides September 2011

Back in January, hundreds of bakers across the country were invited to participate in the Brides Magazine annual search for America's Most Beautiful Cakes.  It started with a couple sketches and finally the September issue with the top 24 cakes has hit stands.  We are so honored to be selected among the winners.  If you have a chance, definately take a look at all the other cakes on Brides.com or buy a copy of the issue, because they are truly beautiful and innovative.  Additionally, if you have the Brides Mag iPad app there is an excellent behind the scenes video by wedding style director, Maria McBride, that documents the entire process of the contest.

"A white dress with a black floral overlay gave Liz Shim food for thought. The result? A stylized showpiece featuring flowers painted with lustrous black dust."

 

(Above photos by Anna Williams for Brides Magazine)
Here are some behind the scenes photos upon delivery at the photo studio. 

We originally sent in 3 sample tiles of our design in orange, green, and black.  Then we were asked to create the actual cake in both green and black.  Finally, the editors narrowed it down to the black one!

For more behind-the-scenes info, check out Aisle Say, which is the blog from the editors of Brides. 

Eiffel Tower Cake

Bonjour!  This Eiffel Tower cake was sculpted for a young lady that was celebrating her 16th birthday.  Although the cake was served here in NY beforehand, I was told that on the actual day of her birthday she would have the delight of eating a meal at the restaurant inside the Eiffel Tower in France.  How fancy and awesome is that?

Here's a view from the top...

 

 

The Knot: Summer 2011 Cake Feature

When I was asked to create a fun cake for the Summer 2011 issue of The Knot, I jumped at the chance to use a pattern that I've been eyeing.  I was browsing online for clutches one day and I came across this yellow pattern that I loved and knew had to be on a cake.  For this seemingly simple pattern I ended up spending a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to go about getting a sharp look.   Stenciling, hand painting, using cutters, making a stamp, etc.... In the end I was reminded of the morsel of truth I was taught while working at Confetti Cakes.  Elisa would always say, "the more difficult and time consuming way was usually the right way"...which in this case meant I had to free-hand cut all the light and dark pink pieces with my x-acto.  This is how it came out:

Keith Haring

Ever come across Keith Haring's art work?  Maybe on a poster, maybe on a t-shirt, maybe on a mouse pad, but how about on a cake?  Unique outlines of people dancing and celebrating were a perfect fit for this couple who wanted to express themselves through the design of their wedding cake.  

This Keith Haring inspired cake was covered in black fondant, the dancing figures were piped on with royal, then hand painted gold with edible dust.  The J & J logo, created by the couple themselves, was a perfect design for the center.  Topping it all off were two dancing dogs, which is another iconic image of Keith Haring.