Win this beautiful Silver & Diamond Live, Love, Hope Necklace!

This week I was fortunate enough to take part in City of Hope's, Let Them Eat Cake, Wedding Cake Competition.

City of Hope is a leader in Cancer Research and Treatment. So it's only appropriate that one of the prizes I received was this beautiful Sterling Silver and Diamond Live, Love, & Hope Necklace. The necklace was designed in memory of Roberta Z. Kanfer. They call it "Bobbye's Dream". You can read about her story on City of Hope's Website HERE.

To help celebrate, I thought it would be appropriate to give away one of my prizes and I chose this necklace.

The pendant is .925 sterling silver with a disc laser engraved with Live, Love, Hope. The diamond ribbon has .05 ctw of HI-I1 genuine white diamonds. It is on an 18" sterling silver cable chain.

The contest is taking place on Truly Custom Cakery's Facebook page. Just visit this link to comment on the photo. If you are unable to comment, you will need to "like" the page first.

If you would like to donate to City of Hope, just visit this link. With donations of $100.00 or more, you will receive your very own Live, Love, Hope Necklace.

God Bless and Good Luck!

A Busy Weekend in Cake!

Last weekend was incredibly busy. It was one of those weekends where I had so much to do and was so unbelievably worn out and tired that all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep...

Thankfully, all the orders went out successfully, I got fabulous feedback from my clients, and made it to and from the competition on Monday without incident. It might have been crazy, but it was successful. So I can't complain.

My favorite cake of the weekend was this Dandelion Bridal Shower Cake. The cake was designed to match the invitations. I wasn't sure going in how it would turn out. But once it was finished, I was absolutely thrilled. It has such a flowing romantic feel to it. Who'd have ever thought a dandelion weed could be so pretty!

I also had a Birthday Cake due for 5 year old Tommy. He is a huge fan of Phineas & Ferb as is my family. In fact, when Tommy's Dad came to pick up the cake, we were chatting about watching this cartoon. Turns out my husband isn't the only one who turns it on at night AFTER the kids are tucked in bed. ha ha ha ha ha Gotta love it!

Mom purchased the figurines from Disney and dropped them off to me so I could put them on top of the cake. It turned out so bright and fun. I just love it!

On Saturday morning I delivered a Wedding Cake for Purposeful Events. This was my 2nd Wedding Cake for this wedding planner and both cakes went over so well that I got rave reviews which is very exciting for me. I'll post a better picture later when I get a copy from the photographer. There was a fresh flower topper added to the cake after delivery so I don't have the photo of the cake in it's finished state. This is a simpler wedding cake in buttercream with brown swiss dots and a brown satin ribbon.

The Wedding Planner called me on Monday morning and told me it was so good they couldn't stop eating it. She said they were joking around asking if I put Crack in my cakes. She totally cracked me up. No crack, lol. Just moist, yummy, and homemade with love!

For pricing information on wedding cakes, visit my website HERE.

Truly Custom Cakery Takes the Cake!

The 2011 Competition took place on Monday, April 11, 2011 at the Lowes Philadelphia Hotel and benefited City of Hope; a leader in Cancer Research and Treatment.

There were 40 entries in the 7th Annual Event and included Pastry Chef's from across the area. The theme this year was Historical Romances - Love in Any Age.

Once I knew the theme, I just had to choose a direction and design for my cake. I did some research on the most romantic couples in history and decided on Romeo & Juliet. Once I figured that out, I went through SEVERAL revisions of my design. There were frustrating moments as well as moments of inspiration that had me bursting with excitement and possibilities.

I researched architecture, the foliage of Italy, the clothing of the era, the writing style, and styles of cake that would best convey my vision. I also spent a lot of time pouring over the cake photos from The Oklahoma Sugar Arts Show to see what the masters considered a worthy competition cake. This may have been my first competition, but I really wanted my cake to be on par with the masterpieces created by the top sugar artists in the nation.

It was finally decided that the cake had to have a variety of mediums, needed to show mastery of several different techniques, and it needed to have a LOT of detail. When it was all said and done, I had spent about 2 months doing research as well as prepping detail pieces for my cake, planning, making custom molds, and sculpting.

About a week before the competition, I spent some time creating a new dark chocolate cake recipe and deciding on my flavors of cake to serve the judges and the attendees.

I chose a 2 layer cake. Dark Chocolate Cake & White Almond Sour Cream Cake separated by homemade Raspberry Filling and iced in Chocolate Buttercream. The Dark Chocolate Cake, Raspberry Filling, & the Chocolate Icing are all scratch recipes that I created myself. So it meant a LOT to me that they won!

The design is a table with a cup of coffee and a napkin and a very old, bound manuscript of Romeo & Juliet open to the balcony scene. The idea is that the story is being read and is coming to life in the form of a cake and bursting out of the book. So without boring you with any more details, here are my photos of the cake and some from the event.
















I want to add a special note here that my husband, Matt played a HUGE role in my success. He built and stained my custom table. He prepared the framework for the cake so that I could build a tree into the garden tier. And he helped at home A LOT so that I could focus on filling orders and getting ready for the competition. AND THEN, as if that wasn't enough, he helped me on the day of the event by loading, driving, unloading, and serving cake. After it was all done, he helped me get it all home safe and sound and then gave me a back rub. He is an amazing husband and I'm so very proud to have him!


I took this picture from the hallway during the judging when we weren't allowed in the room. The judges did not know who the cakes belonged to so the judging was based completely on taste and talent. It was really nerve wracking to sit out in the hallway and watch. After the event ended a couple of the judges came up to me to congratulate me and tell me that they had judged my cake. It was a very surreal experience and one I'm not sure has totally sunk in yet.

The biggest surprise for me was that I won best tasting. It truly was the icing on my cake last night! Thanks so much to City of Hope, Mark Kingsdorf, Harry Giordano, my husband Matt, and my dear friend Suzy. I feel very blessed!

LET THEM EAT CAKE!


For more photos of the event, cakes from other competitors, and info on the prizes, visit us on facebook!

Ladybugs and Bows Baby Shower Cake.

It's a little late but here it is, the baby shower cake from the weekend. It was a huge hit and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE good feedback from my customers.


If you look closely at the edge of the blanket, it's got a lacy look to it. I actually used a scrapbooking tool to do that edge. It's a tricky process. Tried it first with SugarVeil but that stuff is pretty hard to get "just right". I ended up throwing away almost an entire bag of product after repeated failed attempts. Must be missing something. But haven't given up entirely.

This blanket is a mix of fondant and gumpaste rolled VERY VERY thin. Then I take the scrapbooking tool and run it along the edge and punch the pattern. It is slow going and can be a little frustrating but overall... the effect is well worth it.

Have a Super Sweet Day!