June Weddings

Centerpieces for an upcoming wedding.

Green leaves and vines - flowers to come . . . .

Chocolate Mint - at Inglewood Golf and Country Club

Wedding Cakes in Full Swing

I just wanted to share a few photos of some of the beautiful cakes our brides have recently requested. We're in full wedding mode until the end of September and it's so fun to see all the lovely cakes, which we know are delicious too!

At the Canal

At Januik/Novelty Hill Winery


At the Uptown Hideaway on Queen Anne

At the Waterfront Marriott

2009 Seattle Wedding Cake Competition

The beautiful venue

On January 21, 2009, we helped to organize, and then participated in the (first annual) Seattle Wedding Cake Competition at The Canal. Four local wedding cake bakers - Macrina, Morfey's, and Decadence Custom Cakes accepted invitations to participate - unfortunately, Sugar Bakery + Cafe was laid low with the flu at the last minute and couldn't participate - next year maybe?

Marcia at the Canal helped kick things off when she graciously offered to host the event after I came up with the idea last summer. Then Macrina opted in right away.

Other invitees said no - surprising to me, but some folks hate the attention, a concept that is completely foreign to me :) But I had always thought that if we had 3 -5 bakers we would be ok. So, invitations went out at the Wedding Show at the beginning of January, then via e-mail later in the month.

The plan was that each baker would bring a cake to finish on site, and would give tastings. Then, the audience would vote on a winner, and then a winning bridal couple would get drawn from the audience to receive a cake from the winning baker. Fun, no? Hell yes it was fun!!

Erin decorating the Morfey's cake.

The cake up close!


Jane from Macrina
Dan with his cake.

We got to the venue really early, and then it only took about 11 minutes to set up! But it was ok - we got to meet everyone, and then lo and behold at 6:00 people started arriving! It was an open house for The Canal, and the cake competition added interest and gave everyone something to do in addition to looking around.

In the end it was close, but Dan at Decadence was the winner, and I think everyone had a great time.

Here's Dan with the winning bride.

Cakes and Flavors

Decadence - Vanilla chiffon cake filled with passionfruit and coconut mousses.

Macrina - Tuxedo cake and almond torta.

Morfey's - Champagne cake with champagne and raspberry filling.

The Wedding Show - January 2009

The booth

The damask cake

Classic swirls with roses - cookies to the left and flowers to the right

January 3 and 4, 2009 - here are pictures of our booth. This was an amazing adventure. So many new things to learn. Working on developing a logo, working on design and copy for a brochure, physically getting everything printed, deciding on what display cakes to bring, how to set up the booth for best visual impact, what we needed in the booth, staffing the booth, moving in and moving out (in the snow!), how much cake to take, the best way to serve samples (there are actually more options than you might think! - sample cups, on napkins, in cupcake holders, etc). This was so much adrenalin, and fun, and exhaustion.

The cake in the very front of the booth was an inspiration - I saw the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine a week before the show, and was able to order feather butterflies from the same vendor she used, and we were able to put the cake together in time for the show. It was really fun/funny to have people walk up to the booth and shriek "ohmygod that's the martha stewart cake!!" And I caught one of my helpers nonchalantly saying, oh yeah, they took a picture of our cake for that magazine! I stopped laughing just long enough to tell her she can't say that!

Lisa and Deb in the Bakery

No time to write, but I am having the BEST time EVER!!!

Cakes Cakes Cakes

Whew - keeping up has been impossible! And when I say keeping up, I mean: keeping up with blogging, friends, work, sleep, exercise, laundry, grocery shopping, and just about anything else you can think of. 9 wedding cakes last weekend and 16 (!!!) coming up this weekend. More dishes and pans than I thought possible. More icing than I thought possible. Hundreds of pounds of cake a week. Can you tell I'm grinning from ear to ear? I LOVE it.

Every week I call the city and say "they didn't pick up the recycle" and they say "oh yeah, there's a note from the driver - it wasn't out" and I say, "oh yes it was 'cause I put it there myself and walked past if for three days straight" and they say "oh, we'll send a truck today." Good lord. . . .

At least once a week we're getting requests for special flavors - I love that part! We've done peanut butter filling in a chocolate cake; mexican chocolate cake with white chocolate mousse; vanilla bean buttercream (with the flecks); chocolate and cayenne filling; bananas foster cake - banana cake with rum custard and caramel filling; etc. Next week is a possible green tea cake.

Oh yeah - the COOLEST thing is I get discounts at kitchen supply stores now - oh man is that ever dangerous!!!

More to come . . . .

Woo hoo! Buttercup Bakery

I bought the bakery! I did I did I did! Have I mentioned that I am totally in love with a 60-year old? Hobart that is - it's the 80-quart mixer and boy is he ever a doll! Ancient, bolted to the floor, banged up, three speeds, with a clutch. Two bowls, two paddles, and a whisk. Sounds kinda kinky I know! But it makes me happy every time I walk past! And the 20-quart is no slouch either! OK - you can't see them in this picture. But in the far back right are the old Rainier ovens - beauties as well!!

So far I've been in it 11 days - have only dropped one cake and burned myself 5 times - I'm considering this to be nothing short of a total success, considering my usual performance in the kitchen and the fact that I have baked over 200 pounds of cake during that time, and made nearly and equal weight of frosting!!

Delievered 4 wedding cakes by myself, with 4 more to come tomorrow. I am having the time of my life!!!