Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Cobalt blue...


Kally and Ben were married at the gorgeous Veritas Vineyard this past summer. Kally's inspiration was beautiful cobalt blue glass. There were hints of cobalt blue throughout their wedding...from the bridesmaid dresses, to the flowers, to backdrop lighting on the sheers surrounding the ball room. We created this cake for Kally and Ben by forming dozens and dozens of hydrangea blooms. After the blooms had dried, we airbrushed them with a cobalt blue edible food coloring. Once dried again, they were artfully placed on the cake. Their yummy cake was Vanilla Butter cake with Raspberry Buttercream and Chocolate Ganache...a classically delicious combination! A special thanks to Meg Runion Studios for beautiful images.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Scott Stadium...in Cake!

When I met Marjorie, her mom, and her fiance, Ryan last year we had a great time tasting different cake options and mixing and matching until we came up with the perfect wedding cake for Marjorie and Ryan. She had decided on a cake decorated in a fern motif...easy, peasy, I knew I could handle that!

Then she mentioned that she wanted a cake in the shape of Scott Stadium..."uhhh, no problem," I answered. And with that we were off. As her wedding date neared this cake was on my mind, morning, noon and night! I had to get blueprints from the University (it had to be 100% to scale and accurate), licenses for the logos (we wanted to keep everything Kosher) and I must have driven by Scott Stadium dozens of times (to get a feel for the real thing!). We spent hours online looking for lights (oh yes, this stadium had real working lights blazing over the field) and a way to play the University of Virginia fight song (it played back with the push of a button).

This cake had to be one of the largest undertakings I have had to date. Over 18 sheet cakes and 12 batches of buttercream...this cake fed over 300 people! The sheer size was just to provide all of the detail that we wanted to incorporate.

Some of the biggest challenges I knew I was going to face were the pergola at the entrance, as well as the fact that Scott Stadium is at street level on the student side and below ground on the opposite side.

So without further adieu, here are pics of the Scott Stadium. I will be blogging about some of my trials and tribulations and some pics of the process soon, but here is the finished product so expertly photographed by Patricia Lyons Photography Thank you Patricia, for capturing the Scott Stadium so perfectly. When I heard you were photographing it, my worries were washed away!










Monday, August 8, 2011

Adventurous Cake for an Adventurous Couple!

When Natalie and her mom came in for a tasting, I knew we were in for a fun time. Natalie and Michael are both adventurous spirits...they love the outdoors...whether skiing, surfing or something in between, they are happiest outside. Natalie saw a cake in my tasting room and fell in love with the design...an all white number with differing height tiers and lots of texture. We decided to incorporate a wave pattern on one of the middle tiers to bring in her love of the ocean. It was very subtle and it went perfectly with the cake. Natalie chose wonderful flavors for her wedding cake...Sour Cream Almond Cake with fresh pitted cherries and Vanilla Buttercream and Vanilla Butter Cake with Vanilla and Lavendar Buttercreams!

Here are a few pictures of their cakes. Beautiful pics courtesy of Jody Miller Photography.





A few weeks before Natalie and Michael's wedding, I received a call from Judy (Natalie's mom)...turns out Natalie's birthday is on her wedding day! She wanted to surprise Natalie with a custom surfboard and a birthday cake. We decided on a ski mountain with 2 kittens surfing down. The cake was a Vanilla Butter Cake with Coconut and Lime Buttercreams! Their lovely wedding took place at Montpelier, home of James Madison.