Julia turns 1

I was contacted by an amazingly talented mom about a first birthday.  I was honored to take up the challenge and make a cake and desserts for her daughter.


This was a little while ago, you can see the spring/easter theme to the party, since it was Easter Sunday.


She designed adorable stationery, bunting and styled an amazing party.  I was challenged to match those designs and to make lots of yummy desserts.


I created a 6" cake with a likeness of the baby girl with the easter bunny to match the invitation, and cupcakes with matching toppers.  I also provided some desserts, profiteroles and mini raspberry macarons with raspberry ganache filling.


As you can see, it came together beautifully, I'm particularly in love with the bunting, I wonder if she'd make me some if I ask nicely!

Trademarks and bakers

Here are some fun recent cakes.  They all have similar themes, kids love mickey mouse, minnie mouse, hello kitty and other trademarked characters.  I get multiple requests for these kind of cakes every week, and every baker that says they will reproduce these likenesses is gambling with their business.  

My solution is that I will match the theme and colors, but I will not reproduce the characters.  

Thankfully Party City and other online retailers offer some solutions with little party candles and toys.  That way I'm happy, and my customers can embellish their cakes with their favorite character.

Another advantage for the customer is the pricing, the candles are very inexpensive compared to me taking my time modeling a character.

So next time you decide you'd like an Elmo cake for your precious little munchkin, please keep in mind the baker, who is grappling with whether to put their business on the line by agreeing, or losing your business by saying 'no'.

In this set I have a little mermaid cake, a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake, Hello Kitty, Cars, Batman, Nemo and Rio

If you see cakes in my library that have the characters in, it is likely that I either made it for a charity donation, or I made it for a friend for free.  The restrictions are only on people that make profit from their cakes.

Sweet sixteen at Sweetwater reservoir!

 I was recently contacted by a wonderful mother who wanted to make her only daughters sweet sixteen party, the most memorable occasion.  I was happy to help, and she brought me all manner of fun cake decorations and papers to make her daughters cupcakes pop with color and fun!


We settled on four flavors, carrot with cranberries, walnuts and raisins with cream cheese frosting, hummingbird with vanilla frosting and coconut shavings, chocolate mud with nutella filling and chocolate frosting, and lemon with lemon curd and berry frosting.


I agreed to bring my cupcake stand, which was decorated with pink ribbon to match the occasion


I arrived at the location and found that the family had done an amazing job of decorating a fantastic venue with many personal touches.  This would be a wonderful location for a budget wedding, with rental through the San Diego Regional Parks Department.

'I was walking along looking for someone and then suddenly I wasnt'

Weddings make me teary anyway, but this lovely quote just set me off straight away!  I was honored to make the wedding cupcakes for a really lovely couple who live in San Francisco.  The location, one of the best in San Diego was at Georges at the Cove, and I was really excited to see jennywennycakes listed on the menu!

The couple chose some truly delicious flavors, who can turn down a strawberry cupcake with zesty lemon glaze and a fresh Bewise Ranch Strawberry on top!!

 

I made a pink open peony to top off the cutting cake, which matched the theme perfectly.

We made sure to give the restaurant a small box of cupcakes for the bride and groom to take to their hotel, they were smart to plan ahead and make sure they got to taste all of the flavors later!

Awesome dinosaur wedding!

What better way to start a new blog than the wonderful wedding of dear friends.

I was truly honored to be involved in my dear friends, Donna and Paul's wedding by making their wedding cake.


Donna and Paul met in the Natural History Department of the BBC, they both have a keen interest in photography and its always fun to find out what adventures they are going on, bear hunting in Minnesota, crocodiles in India, crystal caves in Chile, there is always something fun on their schedule!

Since I am based in the US and the wedding was near Bristol, UK it was no small feat, but I was ready and willing!

They are two of the geekiest geeks I'd ever met, and visiting their flat in Bristol, I realized I couldn't tell which strange artifact belonged to whom, and that they were just two peas in a pod!

At the wedding, everyone there was just brimming with enthusiasm for their partnership.  They are both wonderful people, but together they are somehow even more amazing.


To continue the impossibly geeky theme, we decided upon an ammonite for the grooms cake, since Paul's online tag is 'iron ammonite' and a recreation of the 'Lost World' based on the table mountain in Roirama, Chile as their main wedding cake.  Thankfully this shape is very similar to the 'comma' shaped baking pans!


This endeavor began in San Diego with me asking a friend to create an Indiana Jones themed bride and groom for the cake, I then jetted off to Tottenham, North London baking the four different flavors, carrot, chocolate mud, vegan chocolate and vanilla.


I made my way west and started constructing the cakes, thankfully the place we stayed in had an industrial kitchen, and I was able to work easily.

Unfortunately the weather has been awful in the UK and this was no exception, it rained nearly all day, but Priston Mill has a lovely large open barn, which easily fitted all the guests and kept us all out of the rain.  Some people have said they are a bit of a 'wedding factory' but that is a good thing in my book, the venue was a beautiful place for the couple to put their own flourishes, but were used to running weddings like clockwork with no hitches.


The cakes took on a 'cake boss' sheen from having been out in the rain, which wasn't altogether awful, but was a different look than my usual!















As you can see, there were endless beautiful details, dinosaurs and ammonites as far as the eye could see, and a beautiful jewel color scheme with the flowers.  The arrangements brought sunshine to a rainy day with gorgeous roses, calla, freesias and other bright, vibrant blooms.


I loved the touch of collecting rocks from Lyme Regis, the beach where they got engaged and using them as placeholders (yes, this is legal!).

We were treated to a wonderful dinner, hilarious light saber cake cutting, then swing dancing and more music to finish off the evening.  It was truly an event to remember, and I was honored to be a part of it.