The bride wanted a romantic, traditional cake with pillars, flowers and swirls and dots in ivory buttercream. I hope she liked the finish product!
The groom wanted chocolate cake with German's chocolate filling on the inside and a simple Dallas Cowboys motif on the outside.
Just transporting the cakes to the wedding site was quite a challenge! (Note to self: Avoid summer weddings on 100+ degree days.) The buttery buttercream was getting slightly soft on the ride to the reception, despite the A/C being on full blast and at the lowest temperature in my car. But it all came together in the end, as it always does.
And there were some "fun" cakes too, like these Transformers cupcakes and Optimus Prime shaped cake for a boy's birthday party that coincided with the release of the Transformers 2 movie:
I also revisited something I used to love to do, but haven't had time for in recent years--molding chocolate candies. I used to make these for all holidays and for parties. I took advantage of a combined birthday/baby shower order to mold candies shaped like white chocolate sea shells and roses for the birthday girl and tiny white chocolate baby bottles, rattles and teddy bears for baby-on-the-way:
Besides these few exceptions, I spent my summer baking time playing around with some new (to me) recipes culled from several new cake books I've recently acquired. My "taste testers", that is my family, my husband's co-workers, and the staff of my kids' summer camp, were busy trying new flavors or variations for me!
I also did research this summer on the "competition"-- that would be everyone and anyone who also sells cakes and cupcakes! My research was conducted during our family's trip to the Pacific Northwest and involved visiting cupcake and cake shops in Seattle, Vancouver and on Vancouver Island. Yum. And I got lots of new ideas!
School's back in session and temperatures are starting to drop oh-so-slowly, so my "vacation" really is over. Already the dates on my calendar are being filled in with orders, and it's with a very grateful heart that I look forward to each and every one!
