Celebratory March

The First weekend in March was a very special one - not because I had some stunning cakes to create- but it was my Wedding anniversary too!

I sent cakes all over that weekend.

The first to leave was a Two tier cake headed up to Mt Mee. 

 

This cake had Sugar Grape and vine detail- with the addition of a Willow Tree 'Promise' topper once at the venue.

The weather in the week leading up to the weekend was pretty dismal- allot of rain about (once again) and getting sugar to dry was in the capable hands of my trusty Dry Air Con :)

I also sent another cake up to Glengariff that weekend.

This one was a Palette royal icing finish cake- with sugar roses and leaves covering the top and circling the base of the top tier. 

The roses were eventually finished with lightly dusted lilac centres.  

My Biased love of all things monochromatic meant that I forgot to get a good picture of the cake actually finished- whoops! But the very light dusting was pretty indeed!

Sometimes (well actually allot) I worry whether a cake design will work or not. When designing cakes I can visualise what I want them to look like- and then when it comes to the crunch of actually putting them together- often doubt likes to creep in- making me second guess my original idea.

This next cake gave me that exact pitted feeling. I had done this same design in all White before- and whilst I could visualise how striking having bold colour would be- I was dancing around like a scaredy cat when it came time to "actually" dust up the flowers LOL!

So I took a deep breath- and went for it!

And it turned out WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved this so very much that I think I may even like it "more" than the all white version :-O

I think that the colour actually made the "playfulness" of the rolled roses stand out- whilst still being stylish and elegant!

Yep I L.O.V.E it!

It seems that touches of colour were definitely on the agenda that weekend.

This classy two tier cake with to tier 1/2 turned too had its roses dusted a pinky purple colour. 

I had a Chocolate Creation for an engagement that weekend too.

Strangely enough the first time I ever recreated this cake design  was in march a few years back- and once again it pops up in the same month.

This cake is a double stacked cake inside- with fresh white flowers spilling over the top.  

On the Sunday morning I headed over to the Landing to set up a pretty Rose Sparkle cupcake tower.

I also bumped into Linda from the Party Girls- who had chair sashes the EXACT same colour as the cake ribbon! What a match!

 The final cake for Sunday was for Baby Tommy's Christening.

A cute Single tier White chocolate Bailey's cake complete with a Bunny figurine and name blocks- adorable!

This was a freestyle design- which is great to be able to do- but so nerve wracking too! Suffice to say it was very well received :)

 This past month has been a beautiful blur of fantastic cakes! I cannot wait to share more with you......... but for those of you too impatient to wait- please feel free to check out my Facebook page and Twitter!

Have a fantastic Week ahead.. I once again have some uber cool cakes to create thanks to my awesome clients ordering them :)

Thanks for reading

SJ

Something Berry Special indeed!

 

With "Wedding Season"  in full swing- I was Guaranteed to have some amazing clients choosing equally wonderful cakes. 

Every week I feel honoured to be able to supply such a significant cake for such a monumental occasion in peoples lives.

I cannot even free my mind once the last cake is delivered- as I begin to think that- ohhh perhaps the  Bride and Groom are cutting their cake now??????? 

I often feel quite overwhelmed thinking about how many people may potentially eat a piece of my cake on any given weekend- in peak season it can often be 1000 or more :-O

This Second week in September had me not only delivering far and wide- but also sending cakes out to events in SEQ once again.

The first design  took a trip over to Stradbroke Island- This Classic Two tier cake- complete with sugar roses, and enhanced by my new  silver cake stand.

The top tier had a full dome of roses and green leaves.

The base tier had a striped overlay- which was hand painted pearl- as well as piped icing pearls- also finished with the pearl effect.

 I love how the stand adds and element of Grandeur- to what would generally be a classic and elegant two tier design.

I sent a similar version of the same design to Mt Tambourine on that same weekend- and the subtle differences in the design really change the look of the cake entirely.

Fresh flowers were added at the venue by the clients to complete the cake.  

 

Some past clients had referred the Mt Tambourine clients to me- and it was lovely to see them again when they came to collect the cake and take it to the wedding.

Purple colouring is very popular at the moment- as well as black and white designs too.

An old school friend had a baby this year- I was blesses to make Lena and Brett's Wedding cake back in April 2009- so it was my pleasure to create a pretty Christening cake for their newborn daughter Ruby Jane. Due to my big Delivery run I was unable to personally attend the christening in Kingaroy- but thankfully Lena's aunt lives in the next suburb to me and took the cake up with her. 

 

 The design itself was inspired by my cake friend Kelly- who has a business in Ireland (Crafty Confections). Her cakes are A- MAZING! Sensational work! I had seen the Blossom Cross on one of her cakes and thought it so beautiful I "borrowed" the idea and expanded the design for Ruby's cake. 

 A pretty Pink Teddy with a sleeping brown teddy sat on top- so cute!

Sugar blossoms banded the base of each tier- whimsically trailing around the base.

It isn't often that I get to make Christening cakes- and with free range to create- this pretty two tier design is a nice mix of pretty and practical- definitely not anything OTT.

Referrals form a big part of how clients find out about me- and I truly value and appreciate that.

The next clients had been referred to me through my (recently married) Sister in Law Alison.

A variation of a design I had done a few years back- complete with fresh roses supplied by the couple.

The roses were like nothing I had seen before- Pinky/Purple variegated almost. Very beautiful.

I delivered this cake to The Landing at Dockside- where the night time riverside reception was being held.

Brisbane has many great riverside venues- my next stop was no exception.

I headed over to Brett's Wharf to set up this Three tier Swarovski Pearl Design.   

 

Over 8 Meters of hand strung Swarovski Pearls wound around the tiers of this cake.

I had split the line into three sections- enough to wind around each tier 5-6 times. Then I sat patiently for a few hours "randomly" stringing the beads and securing them along the line- hoping that once wound around the cake that the "random" pattern would still be evident.  

 

The cake itself was iced in a pale pink- then shades of pink and Ivory pearls in varying sizes wound around the design. Some Sugar pearls also sat across the cake.

The Swarovski pearls will make a lovely keepsake bracelet/necklace combo too!

After the riverside deliveries were done- it was back into the city to the United Services club.

This three tier White design featured a different pattern on each tier.

The Bride was placing some fresh natives between the layers herself later that day.  

 

Fingers crossed I get to see a picture of cake all set up with the fresh natives- I can only imagine how good it would have looked.

Next it was over to Boulevard Gardens- where I once again had the pleasure of working with the fabulous Glenda Pradella.  

Glenda arrived after I did and once again arranged some fresh flowers across the cake tiers. 

I had another fave florist to work with that weekend- the beautiful Jennine from Florabella  

 !

She arranged these beautiful pink roses on a classy two tier cake for the Emporium on the Sunday.

The talented Miranda Greer was the photog for the day- and I look forward to seeing the pics soon too!

I hate to have favorites but the cake I have left until last definitely holds a piece of my heart.

I met the fabulous Bob and Ash earlier this year- they were very clear on the type of cake they wanted for their wedding- and I was only too willing to help them achieve their dream cake.

Nice doesn't even begin to describe Bob and Ash- they were so warm and friendly- I felt like I had known them for a while once their consult had finished.

A truly personal wedding- and from their images I have seen already - looks like one hell of a memorable day!

I don't know who was more excited about this cake- I couldn't wait to have a go at making my very first Kombi- and doing Bob and Ash Proud was high on my agenda.

I am blessed to see allot of wedding set ups- but when clients really take the next step and create such a unique day- totally inspired by their personalities and love- I would be nothing but grateful to be able to share it with you all too!

I have asked Ash to Guest Blog her entire wedding for me- so fingers crossed I can share that all with you soon.

So here is the Kombi Cake- a variation on one of Bob and Ash's beloved V-Dubs!

  

Such a cool cake wouldn't be complete without these AWESOME custom toppers Ash Sourced off the net.

Totally Fabulous!

So a huge Thank you to Bob and Ash for having faith in me to create the Kombi cake! It was a fabulous challenge and I felt really privileged to have been able to make this special cake for your Wedding Day. I am looking forward to Ash's blog - where you will all be able to share in her and Bob's beautiful wedding day.

Before Ash and Bob I had never asked my clients to share their day with my readers before- but I am open to any of my Past Present or Future clients submitting a guest blog about their wedding day- and getting it out on the WWW.

So for the second week in September- That is a wrap!

Thanks for reading

SJ

All the Pretty things.........

I have just returned frm Annual leave- and am getting my self into gear and getting the blog up to date!

I have some really great cakes to share with you all- so sit back relax and enjoy the next few posts to come ;))

It isn't every week that I get to make a corporate cake.

The Exedy 15 year Australian Anniversary Dinner was held in late May at Bretts Wharf.

A simple Logo cake in the company's theme colours.

I was recently in Thailand- and was amazed to see an Exedy  truck on the freeway!

  

I noticed the cobalt blue and electric pink logo as our cab sped along the freeway- amazing considering that I had never come across the company in my own city prior to making the cake for them.

It wasn't all corporate work that week in May- there was some other pretty cakes too!

 

I headed to Hillstone on the Saturday Morning to set up this version of the "cream dream" on my site. These roses were just gorgeous ( supplied by the couple) they were simply luscious!

Our next stop was Tattersalls-  where I delivered this Classy three tier cake with Fresh blood red roses.

 

The couple had chosen to supply a "Kissing couple" topper that sat perched on the top tier.

I LOVE the Mirrored boards at Tattersalls. They really make the cake stand out- often making it look allot larger than it may be.

It was back again to Bretts Wharf with the next wedding cake.

My All class design is one that is often inquired about. Each smooth iced tier is finished with a double flat bow around the base.
 

No Fuss- just a stylish cake that fits it purpose.

After the City cakes were delivered- it was off down to Tanah Merah for a Wedding held in a private home.

 

A frangipani themed cake- with Silk Frangipanis across the design.

A single sugar heart sat on top of each cupcake and also sprayed outthe top.

Last but not least was a Naming Day cake for a friend of the fabulous Toni Snell.

A single tier version of the "christening rose" design for Lily Grace!  

Baileys Macadamia Mud was inside this pretty and pink cake.

I also made matching cupcakes- sort of shabby chic with their varied designs- but all with elements from the main cake design.

Little bows- Hearts and roses- just adorable.

You can see more form Lily Grace's naming day on Toni's Blog.

That's a wrap for the fourth Weekend in May!

Thans for reading

SJ

Its up to you.............

New York...................... New York!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Yep I am a bit looney- but every time I see this cake I can't stop singing the song. One lucky lady was surprised with this awesome NY themed 40th Birthday cake! What a fabulous husband to organise - in my opinion- a pretty damn fabulous cake to celebrate your birthday. I was even contemplating dedicating an entire post to this cake. 

I get super excited when I am allowed a bit of creative license to come up with a final fun cake design. So with the NY theme I made little "icon's" for the top of each cupcake- I made a collective Icon top tier- with Silhouettes of the Sky Scrapers (inspired by a Pink Cake box design)- and a personalised topper draped in teh Statue of Liberty get up- holding a Big Brown Bag and a piece of Birthday cake- complete with an itti bitti birthday candle- modelled by my sister Kate! 

  

To say this cake took allot of time was an understatement- BUT - It was well worth the effort!

To decide a Favourite between the Red Apples- or the I (heart) NY buttons....... or the American Flags- made by layering heaps of super thin icing sheets would be just too hard. The gorgeous little Taxi's were modelled by my sister Alex- a collective family effort indeed!

  

The Cake was a success! So a Huge Happy 40th Birthday to Jacki!

Ok- the rest of the week I had some more awesome cakes- can you believe it- I have had such a brilliant run of amazing designs chosen by my clients that I pinch myself everyday- I am so grateful.

I had a return client this week- getting a Christening cake for her baby boy. I made her and her Husbands wedding cake a couple of years ago- and now they were celebrating a Christening.

A delicate single tier cake- with tiny blue tri dot detail over the entire tier- finished with a blue bear topper. Gorgeous!
 

I Loved the bear- he was super cute- his little rug underneath was simply made with my new smocking rolling pin- so effective indeed.
 

It wasn't all novelty cakes this week.

I had cakes all over SEQ. My fantastic Mum took this first wedding cake out to Glengariff- Fresh flowers by Karen from Bliss Floral

 

A smaller variation of my "chocolate twigs" design- stunning Honeymoon roses too!

While Mum was delivering to Dayboro- Stev headed into The Landing to Deliver this next cake. A soft and fresh two tier design with Pale pink roses.

Simple and pretty indeed.
  

I sent a cake out to Spicers Hiddenvale too! A lovely couple came and collected their cake- My Damask Blue design- which was altered to incorporate their Arum Lily wedding flowers- and also featured a piped monogram for the top tier.
 

I have a cake in my studio- that has been getting allot of attention of late- a wrapped design with a (what was one) black bow. So with the inclusion of the Bride and Grooms pet dogs- This cake looked magic at their Black and white wedding!  

Chocolate Chards and Fresh berries just scream- EAT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I delivered this cake to the reception- with added berries to ensure every guest got some of these sweet new season Strawberries!

Having a traditional cake was never the intention of this couple- they wanted something that you wanted to devour!

I even gave a Cherry Ripe tier a go for this couple- Fine chopped Glace Cherries inside of a dark chocolate coconut mud cake- YUM!

My anxiety levels were skyrocketed when the Groom called me at 6.30pm the night of the wedding to ask "Where is the cake????" I had delivered the cake close to 7 hours earlier and the venue "forgot" to put it in the room- in fact the Chef who accepted delivery- and assured me that the coordinator would place the cake on the table within the hour of receipt (as the room was not ready for me to personally place it) didn't even pass the message on that he had received the cake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To say I felt MAD is an understatement. Not only did I call the day prior to arrange mutually suitable delivery time- In my opinion the coordinator should have noticed that the cake was not there- and IF she couldn't find it at the venue- should have called me- but instead the Groom walked into his own reception and had to call me himself.

I only hope that this confusion did not mar the couples wedding night.

I feel blessed to have had such beautiful designs to create... this one small issue was a tiny bump in a terrific ride!

This weekend is the Debbie Borwn Workshops! I am lookinng forward to meeting a heap of fellow Brisbane cake enthusiasts- and of couse gaining some more brilliant knowledge form Debbie herself!

Thanks for reading

SJ

Happy 2010!!!

OK- Firstly a Very Big and sincere apology to all of my loyal readers for not posting on my blog for SOOOOOOOOOO long! While I have been on holidays from making cakes- the emails and calls have been coming in thick and fast- and while today is officially my first day "back to work" I am yet to actually finished half of the tasks I set out to do on my "holidays" LOL!
Any way I am back and Wish everyone a fabulous 2010 ahead.

Although we are many weeks into the New Year already I still have many weeks of cakes from 2009 to share with you all.
This blog is featuring cakes form the second last week in November- sounds like a long time ago now- time really flies over the festive season!

First up is one of my Favourite Designs to make! This cake with the piped icing pearls rising up the sides and fresh roses to decorate is just beautiful.I also had a similar design- but with the inclusion of some pale pink pearls as well as sugar roses.Piping the coloured pearls felt a bit "unusual" at first- but with the lightly dusted centers of the roses to match- it looked really pretty!

It seems that pink isn't only my favourite colour! I also had this Cherry blossom pink cake too!


This cake also had a porcelain figurine on top too!I am also excited that I got my new "Cake That!" stamp - the last one I had for 5 years then all of a sudden it vanished :0 ! So I had new ones made (including a spare just in case)!

This next tower cake was for a surprise birthday.
Fresh lilies coming out the top - two cakes inside and dark and white chocolate- could you ask for more???

Last but not least for that week was a gorgeous Christening cake design.

With the baby's name in 2D name blocks around the base tier- and a cute baby in a blanket on the top- it was just gorgeous!

The pale green blue and lemon colour theme is soft and looks fabulous for a baby boy!

More blogs to follow!
Don't forget you can also keep up to date with my cakes through Facebook- at the Cake That! Facebook group!

<<<<< Rewind<<<<<

Whoops! A huge apology for jumping this weekend's cake blog in front of last weekends, wedding season must be catching up on me.

OK, so the following are from the ANZAC Day weekend- notice the "long" missing form between the word day and the word weekend- well I think the fact that the public holiday fell on the Saturday caught a few people out, as I had 3 weddings on the Sunday, which is unusual seeing as through it was a regular work day on Monday.

Anyway- there was Weddings, Birthdays and Christenings this weekend.

I will start with my favourite for the week- this set of luscious lips was the center piece for a 50th Birthday celebration.


Inside this set of glistening lips was a Citrus mudcake coated in Lemon white chocolate ganache, then finished with a bright red rolled fondant! Sensational- I loved the sheen!!

Next was a Christening cake- a layered vanilla cake, with vanilla bean buttercream and white chocolate chards to finish.


Poor little Nixon was probably way too small to partake in apiece of cake, even with such a delicious center.

My week started early with a Thursday wedding- out at Icon at Raby Bay, this cupcake tower matched in with the Red and Black theme.


Simply iced cupcakes in black papers, with a cartoon couple on top, sweet and simple.
I often wonder if you are all thinking- "why is the bride shorter than the groom?" or " did she not measure the toppers together while making them??" but the truth be told- each couple is made to mimic the real couple- so in this instance the Groom is more than a head taller than his bride, so had she been a similar height- then they would have been a generic couple that didn't reflect the actual couple themselves.

The beautiful Karen from Bliss Floral's sister Katrina was Married on Friday the 24th April- out at Woody point's Belvedere Hotel, the reception room looked AMAZING- not just the gorgeous floral centerpieces, but she had a candy buffet!!!!! I am so having one of these at my 33rd birthday this year :))



OK- so with the table full of pink themes sweets aside, the cake was beautiful too. After originally choosing a plain iced design, Katrina opted for another cake that I had previously done with Karen, the "Pearl Lines" design. Elegant and all together very "wedding" indeed.

Topped with the bouquet flowers, which had little diamontes studded in the stephanotis- it looked so good. It was almost as nerve wracking as making a cake for a celebrity when you make a cake for an industry colleague (or their family) you want everything to be just perfect- and more.

Last but not least- it was my Mum's birthday on the 21st April, and as duly noted by some staff at her work " this is the first time in 4 years your daughter hasn't bought a cake to you at work..." Yes I got the message- I did personally deliver her flowers, so I wasn't all terrible.
I redeemed myself on the Friday night when we had a family dinner by making her a chocolate creation.
I had been wanting to do a wrap cake for a while- and what better person to try out a technique on than your mother. Yes cakes get a little OTT for birthdays with friends and family- as this is when I get to make whatever I like.


So this two tier cake is wrapped in long pieces of white chocolate, then the "gaps" are filled with fresh strawberries, all dusted with icing sugar.
So apologies for the mix up with the weeks, we should be back on track now!!!!