Cakes, Cakes, and more.... ummm.... Cakes...

Apologies are in order once again. I just don't know how some of you find the time to keep up with all this social media. I really do need a clone... and my clone will do nothing but paperwork, customer service, and social media! HA! I've also heard another word for clone is "intern".... but I digress... he he he

Have a cake shop can be a LOT of fun. It's artistically stimulating, a great outlet for creativity, and offers occasional ego boosts which are essential to female happiness. So, I won't complain about how busy I've been. I'll just play catch up once again and beg your forgiveness if you've come to visit several times over the past few weeks and thought to yourself, "the pretzels still?!!!!".

Cake 1:

This is a Birthday Cake for a gardener. Apparently his efforts are continually undermined by a little brown critter (aka groundhog). His chosen method for dealing with the little offender seems to be a planned attack with a broom in hand. Not sure what he intends to do if he gets close enough. But either way, it makes a cute diorama.



Cake 2:

A five tier buttercream wedding cake delivered to the Four Season's Hotel in Philadelphia. This was 5 tiers of blueberry pound cake with lemon curd filling. Can you say HEAVY??? It was a monster. But a very pretty one! The florist provided lots of fresh flowers for us to add on site. It took almost an hour to get all the flowers trimmed and arranged "just so", but I'm really pleased with the end result. And so was the bride! In fact, I was thrilled to hear that several of the guests requested a 2nd slice of cake. That in and of itself is a wonderful compliment that I was very happy to receive. Congratulations to Meg & Frank!

Cake 3:

My oldest and dearest friend requested this cake for her Mother-in-law's 60th Birthday. Faye is a huge fan of yellow roses so, Kathy requested yellow roses with a white background. I really enjoyed making these roses. Some have a little hint of pink on them, some are more peach and yellow, and some were just plain yellow. I added a little border around the bottom of each tier to pull the yellow down. But I have to say, my favorite part of this cake is the rose topper. I really do like it.

This was pound cake with buttercream filling and blueberry pound with lemon curd filling. Kathy's husband would much rather eat a steak than cake any day. So when he said he really liked the blueberry pound, I almost fell over! Finally! ha ha


Cake 4:

Another buttercream wedding cake. Only this time we mixed it up a bit by changing the color and the texture of the icing on 2 of the tiers. It adds an element of interest and really makes the cake "pop". The flowers were added on site. The toppers were made custom for the bride and groom. This cake was 3 different flavors to give the guests a variety as it was more of a buffet style reception. Congratulations Ashely & Matt!


Happy Baking, Caking, and Decorating!

Super Hero's drive the BEST cars!

This was one of the most challenging and the most rewarding cakes I've done in a while. It frustrated and confounded me, and at the same time, it went so amazingly smooth that I was waiting for something to go wrong the whole time. Thankfully, it never did!

I baked 3 half sheet cakes for this monster, then I cut up the 3rd one and pieced it together with the first two to make a nice LONG car. I should have taken more photos of the process. But, not surprisingly, I got so involved in what I was doing that I never stopped to grab the camera.

The front of the car, top and some of the back, I carved on my own. Then the back end of this car started to confuse me with all the bumps and lines. So I called my husband over to help me finish the carving and WOWZA, he did a stellar job! So here it is, the Batmobile!!! This is the 1989 version that Michael Keaton drove.




Can I tell you how much I love that car!? It was pretty big and measured almost 2 foot long! And the best part, I got a phone call from the mother of the groom (this was a groom's cake), when she arrived at the venue. She was calling to tell me that she just saw the cake and that it was AMAZING! Yeah!!! Happy Clients make me smile!

Happy Baking!

Hey Locals!!! Win a Custom Cake from Truly Custom Cakery, LLC!

Have a special event coming up over the next year? Want a Custom Cake to help celebrate? Well, we're giving one away!!! One Lucky Fan will win a two tier, twenty five serving, custom cake valued at $200.00!


How to enter:

Mandatory Entry:
1. Post a comment below telling us how much you like CAKE. Include an e-mail address so we can contact you if you win. This will earn you ONE entry.

Additional Entries:
2. Go to our Facebook Page and become a fan. Then come back here and make a second comment telling us you are a fan on Facebook. This will be your 2nd entry.

3. Share a contest with your friends/followers/readers/family either on your blog, facebook, twitter, website, etc. Come back here and make a third comment, that includes the link to where you shared our contest. This will be your 3rd entry.

4. IF you have additional Social Media Sites and you share in more than one location, you can earn additional entries. BUT you MUST make an additional post HERE sharing that location.

(THIS IS IMPORTANT! EACH COMMENT = 1 ENTRY. If you clump the steps into 1 comment, you are only entering 1 time!)


Rules:
- The contest will end Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 12am EST.
- Maximum of 6 entries per person.
- MUST be 18 or older to enter.
- Winner MUST schedule the Custom Cake 2 months in advance. NO EXCEPTIONS!
- You will have until September 30,2012 to claim your prize.
- The Custom Cake created for the winner can not break any copyright laws.
- You may choose to upgrade the servings on your cake at our regular rates.
- This contest is being hosted solely by Truly Custom Cakery, LLC.
- The Winning Cake does NOT include delivery. You must be able to pick up your cake at our location in Warminster, PA 18974 (Bucks County, PA). Should you choose to get your cake delivered, regular rates will apply.

This contest is in no way affiliated with Facebook/Twitter/Blogger or any other company, social networking site, etc.

Cake Cake Cake! A busy couple of weeks...

After 3 weeks of 2 or 3 cakes per week plus tastings, projects, and kids winding down the school year, I think I need a nap! Seems I go to bed after midnight more often than not and still get up at 7:30am most mornings to get my son off to school. Some days, it's all about coffee, good music, and focus! A good friend of mine likes to say that she's "putting her energy pants on". It's something that struck a chord with me. Because there are many days when I have to work up the energy and sort of "put on a new attitude" to force myself to push through.

I like to imagine myself literally stepping into my energy pants and pulling them up. And then plastering a smile on my face and just moving. Generally it requires a cup of coffee and a cry to God to give me strength. And then, I start moving. Once I fall into the decorating groove it's amazing what happens. I do have to give complete credit to God though. Without the talents and gifts He's given me, I wouldn't have anything to show you. I feel thoroughly blessed. ...Tired, but blessed.

So here are the cakes from the last two weeks. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed creating them.


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This first one is called "Fifty Different Flowers". I love when cakes have a story and this one certainly does.


It's an Anniversary cake for a couple celebrating their 50th Anniversary. What makes it special, is the tradition that has surrounded every Anniversary they've celebrated. The husband buys his wife a different flower for every year they've been married and presents her with the flowers on their Anniversary. So for their first Anniversary she got a single flower, for the 5th Anniversary, she received 5 different flowers. and last year for the 49th Anniversary, he gave her a bouquet with 49 different flowers in it.

So the kids asked that the cake be a representation of their father's annual Anniversary gift to their mother. So, this cake literally has 50 different varieties of gumpaste flowers on it. Isn't he romantic!?!!




And in the end, what makes my chaotic life so worthwhile? Happy Customer's of course!


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This next one is a Wedding Cake that I delivered to Waynesborough Country Club. It is covered in fondant with a painted pearl ribbon at the base of each tier. I met the florist at the Country Club and arranged the flowers on site. This was one of those times when I wish I'd have taken some photos of the rest of the ballroom so you could see how beautifully decorated it was.





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This one is a Christening Cake that went to Philadelphia Country Club. It's my most popular design. Since I try very hard not to recreate a design, I change little things about each cake. The feel is always the same, but the flowers may change a bit, the piping on the top tier changes, and of course, each baby girl gets her OWN pair of shoes! That way the cake is unique even if it is a little similar.




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This is a cake for a young lady celebrating her 18th Birthday and her High School Graduation. She was having a Tropical Theme Party and asked that her cake reflect the theme. She chose the elements she wanted me to include and chose offset squares for her tiers. She didn't mention anything about her Graduation, but I stuck a little cap on the 18 because we couldn't overlook her big accomplishment.




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This was my final project for this past weekend. It was actually ordered by my sister-in-law for a colleagues 30th Birthday. Her friend is a huge fan of travel to tropical beaches and her two pugs. So with that in mind, Michelle ordered a cake for her that reflected two of Stephanie's favorite things. She asked that it include a palm tree, some waves, sand, and of course, the two pugs.


My favorite thing about this cake is the palm tree. When I first started decorating, getting things to have shape when they were sort of "up in the air" was a real challenge. So it was a mini hurdle for me to make a palm tree that didn't look like a wilted mushroom. Sometimes, it really is the little things that make me smile.



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I hope you enjoyed looking at the cakes! I know I've been slacking a bit with my blog posts (hence the doubling up). If you are impatient and want to see the cakes as they are completed, I generally post them on Facebook once they've been picked up or delivered. You are welcome to join TCC's Fanpage and see all the cakes as they go out.

Sweetly,

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.

A Romantic Wedding Cake that makes me want to get married all over again!

When putting together designs to show potential brides, the sky is truly the limit. There are an untold number of techniques that convey many different feelings. For this cake, I wanted to show possibilities! Most brides have a vision in their minds of what they want their wedding to be like and even what they want their cake to be like. But if asking for the details... well... it's more like a "dream". There is a feel associated with it. But trying to figure out the physical, tangible, individual designs to match that "feeling and emotion" they have been dreaming about since childhood, is a little more tricky.




So for those that have the super romantic, Cinderella-ish, Elegant and soft dream... this one is for you. Each tier shows a different technique and yet the whole cake is tied together into a cohesive design. I have to say it is my favorite wedding cake to date and it really makes me want to re-live my cake cutting ceremony so I can have photos in my pretty wedding dress cutting this cake! Oh yea... my colors were white and pale pink.

This particular cake will feed 170 guests and is priced at $1,600.00.

Check out this wonderful photograph by our friend Stephen Brown of Looking Glass Photography. Thank You Steve!

Wedding Season is coming soon!!!

So that means that caterers, event planners, and bakers are working in full force to get ready for the Wedding Rush! We've got several shows coming up in February and throughout the spring so the dummy cakes are being prepared one by one.


This one is a mix of designs to show the brides some different techniques. From using Swarovski crystals, to sugar paste flowers, to lace, swags, and bows, there are lots of options to make any cake a reflection of you! The middle tier on this cake is actually done using a custom silicone mold I made from the lace on my wedding dress.



Happy Baking!!!

Christmas Candle Cake

Candle Cakes are such a great way to decorate with your dessert. And the possibilities are endless. A tutorial on how to make them is coming soon so stay tuned!

This particular cake was made for my display at Taste of Willow Grove. It was the perfect topper for my Sample Tree. Oh... and did I mention that my display won 1st Place and a gift certificate to Kremp's Florist! Yippie!