Spring flowers.. in a hurry!

Ok, so we try to stay on top of all of our orders. But, despite all of our best efforts, sometimes, we get really busy and something slips. In this case, it was good family friends whose daughter was turning 7. They had called Joanne on her cell the week prior, and her scribbled notes ended up staying in her pocket and never making it onto our kitchen's white board and calendar.

So, Saturday morning, the day the cake was due, the phone rang at 11:45 a.m. They wanted to know what time the cake would be delivered.

WHAT???

So, we had a bit of time to work with, the party was from 2-4 p.m. and the cake wouldn't be cut into until around 3:00 p.m.

We jumped into action and got to work. It was a two-tiered cake, chocolate with vanilla buttercream. The theme was flowers.

In three hours, we managed to bake, ice, decorate and deliver this cake. It was likely the quickest turn around we've ever done, and despite the mix-up, they were really pleased. In fact, they've ordered two more cakes, since! Those are both already on the white board, and the calendar in the kitchen, as well as on Joanne's electronic calendar on her phone, as will every future order!

Foodie Food

We all know someone who loves to cook! We were asked to make a cake for someone's 40th birthday. When we asked what theme to go with, they said he loved to cook and cycle. He is also French.

So, how do you incorporate food and cycling into a cake? We decided to make it with lots of food and an apron on top, along with some recipe books and a cycling book ("Vélo" is French for bicycle).

The cake was three layers of cake, chocolate, vanilla and chocolate, all pulled together with our yummi chocolate hazelnut buttercream (Joanne's favourite).

The cake was a HUGE hit. This is how it turned out:

And Sachin sculpted most of the toppers.

Winter Wonderland!

It is winter, and everyone living in Halifax knows it; how many snow days have we had these past few weeks?

So, Joanne got some new cutters in the shapes of snowflakes and boy are they cute!

Here are a few cupcakes we've made, so far.

This first batch was for a fundraising bake sale at Dalhousie University for the INDISA student society. They are chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing. The snowflakes are fondant with some sprinkled on non-pareils.


The second batch was brought to class as a Happy Friday treat. They are chocolate cupcakes topped with fondant.


And this final batch is two dozen cupcakes, in a cupcake tree (which we rent out for $5 with an order) that we donated to the Camerata Xara Young Women's Choir, for their Sweet On You fundraiser, held at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. These are chocolate cupcakes with some chocolate mousse filling and topped with vanilla buttercream. The snowflakes are fondant and they are also sprinkled with the snow-like non-pareils.

Nothing like some yummi cupcakes to warm up any chilly winter day!

New Year's Eve Wedding

Ok, ok, so it's been way too long since we've updated the blog. It's been a busy winter, so far, with Joanne going back to school full-time to finish off her degree at Dalhousie.

It doesn't mean we haven't been making cakes, though! We had an exciting order for New Year's Eve: a wedding!

They wanted 10 dozen cupcakes (yup, that's 120 cupcakes) with a small cake on top with a topper. The wedding was hosted at a local hotel, in downtown Halifax.

The cupcakes were: a few dozen red velvet with vanilla cream cheese icing, a few dozen white chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and a few dozen chocolate cupcakes also with minty buttercream.

The topper cake was a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream. Yum! They provided us with the cute little couple cake topper, too.

This is the cake:

The whole tower with the cupcakes looked like this:

Some cupcakes were topped with flowers that had pearl centres, others had just two differently-sized pearls on them and finally some had some tiny little snow-like non-pareils sprinkled on. As you can see, the colours were white and red.

The cupcake tower itself is ours and with an order, we will rent it for $25. It's modular and can have up to 7 levels!

Congratulations to the happy couple and happy New Year to everyone!

Jungle Boogie

We were asked about making a jungle-themed cake for a little boy's first birthday. The theme was so cute that Joanne couldn't wait to get started. She started with a lion to go on top of the cake and sit next to a palm tree. Then, she added an elephant on the bottom tier and a crocodile swimming in the water, next to the cake.

The cakes are both the moist chocolate cake with dark chocolate mousse filling and vanilla buttercream.



Here is the elephant!

And what jungle would be complete without a monkey??

This cake is what Flynn's mother called the "smash cake" - a separate cake for the birthday boy to have his way with. Apparently, it was quite the show, here's what we heard:

"It was so sweet when he went to eat it...he very carefully ate one eye at a time then stuck a finger in a corner and tasted the cake. He slowly worked his way up to grabbing a whole fistful of cake and shoving it into his mouth. Not sure who enjoyed it more...Flynn or everyone watching him!!!"

Here's hoping it was a wild party, happy birthday, Flynn!

Black and White Elegance

This order came in for a woman who was celebrating her 40th birthday. Her friends were throwing her a surprise birthday party and the theme was vampires. The cake is the moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and almond buttercream.

There is a small, six inch cake and a dozen cupcakes. They are covered in white fondant with black flowers and silver dragées as accents.



The vampire theme came out when the cake was sliced and the buttercream was dyed red!]

The cupcakes were decorated to match the cake and are also chocolate.

Wedding Bells

Sorry about the radio silence for the past month - it is a very crazy time of year!

We've been busy with work, Joanne's schooling, some friends and family events (we both had birthdays in the last 6 weeks!) and, of course, cakes!

Here is a wedding cake we made for a bride and groom who just arrived in Canada from Germany to have a small wedding with the bride's family (who is from Nova Scotia) before heading back to Europe. They were already married in Germany but wanted to come to Canada and have a ceremony here, too.

The order was put in just a couple of weeks before the big day and the cake had to travel from Halifax to Sydney, Cape Breton!

It was a reasonably small wedding, so the top tier is Styrofoam. The middle tier is vanilla cake with strawberry mousse filling and vanilla buttercream, while the base is the moist chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and the same buttercream.

This picture is from the kitchen as I finished placing the satin ribbon we were given (to match the Maid of Honour). Then, the cake board was cleaned up and it was boxed for its travel to Cape Breton!

Here's what we heard: "Everything went really well and the cake travelled perfectly. Everyone loved it and said it was delicious! My sister and I, both being pregnant, had a few too many pieces but it was so worth it!!"

As soon as we have pictures of the cake at the wedding, we'll post them. Congratulations to the happy couple!