Sunday 10 November 2013

Zombie Wedding

If you know me, you know I kinda dig zombies. I  don't mean I want to have tea with one, or go to a show. But since I can remember I have watched copious zombie movies, especially savoring the "B" variety. And now that the undead have permeated popular culture I am getting more zombie themed orders. YAY!!!! 
This wedding earlier this year was awesome in so many ways.The bride gave me lots of freedom, and when I came up with the idea to recreate her wedding venue with zombies for her wedding cake, she agreed. HuZah!
So she got some Walking Dead zombie action figures she wanted me to use,three total. And I set to work planning zombie theme wedding cake and cake balls. I was so into this concept, I even  did some planning, I even did math.. MATH!!!! in preparation for the cake. I tried my best to match the actual old country lodge they got married at. What a great challenge 8) 


The  big day was held at The Polish Lodge. It was the third wedding I have baked for at that particular venue. It is so gorgeous, I love it. However I did not anticipate the difficulty level if recreating the "log" part of the cabin. I did all the math and got the cake prepped iced, and  covered in fondant, and even pretty close to the right shape!

But how to make a remotely realistic log cabin effect that wouldn't be horrible to cut or eat? How indeed. After much contemplation and trial and error I decided on a labor intensive but effective technique. I wrapped round wafer cookies in coloured fondant, and then cut them in half. I stuck to halves to the cake in a log cabin pattern, using dark chocolate like mortar. i baked chocolate sugar cookies for the roof and covered that in fondant as well. (I hope the caterers removed that before trying to cut!)  I used the  cookies to build a balcony area as well. In the end I didn't get the dimensions perfect, but it was recognizable. After all my research I was very happy with my log cabin effect. The next step was to integrate their kick-butt invitations, and the Walking Dead figures. Oh and the Zombie themed cake truffles.

I made three different kinds of cake truffles. I missed getting pictures of one type. I made cake eyeballs, as well as the blood splatter balls, and the bones and guts balls. The blood splatter was really fun to do. Vanilla cake truffles, dipped in white chocolate. I melted a bit of cocoa butter and mixed in some powdered red colour, and I used a paint brush to flick and splatter my fake blood onto the cake balls. I love how they turned out!

I based the sculpts of the bride and the groom,  and "The Wedding" font on their invitations, which you can see in the background of this photo.








I particularly love this shot of the groom holding onto the bride while she blows the head off of an attacking zombie. 


There were three zombie figures. The exploding head fella pictured above, the missing legs lady seen below, and a third two part zombie you will see shortly


heeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheeheehee
I am demented. 










Sunday 20 October 2013

Boozy Bottles

You know what is fun?
Baking cakes that look like booze. or better yet, cakes that look like booze... AND have booze in them!!!
Here are some of my favorite alcohol themed cakes!



First  Jager cake                                                 Second Jager cake




So easily personalized, and so fun. These cakes always seem t make people as happy as the liquor itself!!














Monday 14 October 2013

CAKESTARTER

Finally got the Kickstarter campaign launched! I have 30 days to reach my goal!!!
Please help me spread it around 8)
You donate through the website, and if I reach my goal, you get rewards. If I dont make it, I get nothing. It is kind of an all or nothing deal.
I can't wait to mail out all the amazing caramels as rewards!!!!

My Kickstarter Campaign !!!

Sunday 29 September 2013

Coming Soon....

Coming soon...Hopefully...
I have been working hard to get my own bakery going. Doin the freelance thing has been amazing, but I am ready to move into a real bakery! To that end, I am getting ready to launch a Kickstarter campaign soon. Here is a fun teaser trailer to make you laugh, and maybe come check out my project. I will be sure to let you know when it goes live!!!
enjoy 8)

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Spy VS Spy

 
This cake was awesome to make. I lost a lot of sleep. There was many setbacks. BUT I LOVE IT.
I designed this sweet treat for the Edmonton Public Library Books2Eat gala a few months ago. If you haven't heard about it, it is a really cool fundraiser to help out our local libraries. And books are rad, so count me in! Bakers around the area donate themed cakes, local businesses donate great stuff, there is a silent auction and dinner... so fun!
This year's theme was Spies. Of course I knew everyone would do Bond, and Bourne, and where is the fun in those?! ha ha, I like my cakes t have a sense of humour!



 the panels on all the sides were hand painted on fondant, based on old cartoons I found online.


 the Spies themselves were molded out of modelling chocolate. both holding a special delicious and explosive treat for the other, lol!

 A fella from MAD Magazine even commented on the cake, which really made my day! After growing up reading my older brothers' comics, it was surreal for them to even acknowledge my existence !

Sunday 28 July 2013

Themes




What is the theme of the wedding? A pretty typical question when deciding on a wedding cake design. The best response I have heard so far is... its old Hollywood glam... and steam punk, with feathers, and red roses....... and maybe abit of outer space.
OK maybe that wasn't exactly how it went down. But that was the main ideas. and I loved every theme for a different reason, but how the heck was I gonna tie it all together? lol. good thing i like a challenge.
my old friend Lemur built me an amazing cake board, with a panel attached on the back.
i planned out a 4 tier cake, with a huge fondant moon as a back drop. A bright red Hollywood red carpet, topped off with a plume of feathers and rowed with red ribbon roses, gears, and cogs.
I was nervous it would be to busy, but I think it all came together perfectly.


and if you look closely you can see the final touch, to bring in a bit more of the outer space...  two adorable space ship cake pops for the bride and groom to feed each other. too sweet.

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Pretty PinUp

REALLY?!?!?! SERIOUSLY?!!??!?!??
Could I be any luckier? I have the coolest, awesomest friends in the world. And they order wicked cakes from me. This has become one of my all time favourites. I adore pin up, rockabilly, and retro styles.  This was a fabulous opportunity for me to try some new techniques, and make a super cute cake for a friend.
I tried a new way of layering fondant to make the face. I know she kind of looks like a Family Guy character, but I think it works. She is a-freakin-dorable!!



Sunday 14 July 2013

Black and white

Last year my niece and my nephew got married. Not to each other, of course, lol. But a few months apart. One wedding was huge, elaborate and fancy, the other was low key and laid back.

For the big wedding, they requested a 4 tier black cake. with a lead crystal topper and rhinestone sparkly boards. It was  intense, an alot of work to pull off  in my relatively small space. 
the next celebration had an icy theme with all white and light blues. they asked for a small white cake with their frog prince topper, and a table of white bites. it was a challenge in a different way making all the individual treats. 


caramel pecan tarts




chocolate hazelnut tarts


white chocolate raspberry cream cups

as well as vanilla marshmallows, cake pops, and truffles. 


these projects were completely different, and yet both came from love and family.