Sunday, June 21, 2009

Alright, Alright, Alright...

Time to get back on the posting bandwagon.

The good news is, I'm done with weddings this season! My poor belly can't take more of the all-nighters and lifting/bending/standing, and frankly, it's getting in the way! But I had fun, earned some extra cash, learned a lot, and am much more comfortable with doing wedding cakes. I'm excited to announce i'm actively booking for next year!

The other good news is i'm working on a MAJOR update to our website - stay tuned! I've got to get all these pictures posted on there, plus i'm just ready for a change of design. But for now, enjoy the pics below!

When i'm not doing weddings....

Here's some of the other cakes that i've been getting orders on:

A book cake for twins - they both love to read, watch movies, and they play trumpet and trombone. This was fun to make. Movie reel is rice krispies & gumpaste, instruments are gumpaste.
Bunko cupcakes for a woman hosting bunko at her house. These little dice are just too cute.
A guitar cake and matching cupcakes for my niece's 6th birthday. She wanted a "Rockstar" themed party. Drumsticks and Microphone are gumpaste. Mom made matching cookies - see my cookie post below.
Bridal shower cupcakes and a Bachelorette cake for my good friend Amber. Her shower theme was "around the clock" - I just love the bachelorette cake!
Some easter cupcakes I took to my bible study... kinda plain...
A light Sabre cake I did for a family friend - this was SO MUCH FUN. The best part is, I saw pictures of him standing next to the cake with a big GRIN on his face - then two days later, I received a handwritten card from him thanking me for his cake - he is just so unbelieveably cute, it makes my job worth all the late nights and frustration!
An 8th grade graduation cake for my dad's co-worker - she was graduating from St. Pats school, which are the fighting irish. Irishman was hand-colored with icing writers on cut out fondant. Also made 12 coordinating cupcakes (clovers are royal icing)
A queen cake for my neighbor's mom
A loaf of bread for my MIL's co-worker, who was leaving Cabela's to start his own bread delivery route - this was a lot of fun and took some creative carving/frosting!
An R2D2 cake for a little boy - this was SUPER hard to get smooth with all the different pieces going on.
Some teacher appreciation cupcakes for a co-worker's daycare:
And lastly, my FAVE cake so far (next to the chef cake) - a Chevy Silverado cake. This is actually 1/8th the size of a real truck - As I cut, Joe was giving me all the specs. It's all cake; the wheels are rice krispies.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Cookie Updates - long post :)

We can't leave mom out of the blog updates! She's been booking cookie orders faster than she can get them out of the kitchen. Currently, she's working on 100 cookies to ship next week to California for a Navy squadron's homecoming, and then it's on to a whopping 300 cookies for the re-opening of the Bonner Springs Library next month.... stay tuned for those pictures!

In the meantime, here's just a few she's been working on...
First, 2 dozen cookies for a girl celebrating her birthday at the skating rink... but her theme was the monkeys and hearts from the Justice store (yep, we had to do some research on this one)
Next, some cookies for a friend of mine who was graduating from Nursing school:

A batch of cookies for my niece, who turned 6 in May. Her party was "rockstar" themed. I made a guitar cake and cupcakes, and she made corresponding cookies:
Then, Mom got an order for a friend who was graduating from Oregon State Law School. She made a few Oregon Duck cookies (sorry for the blurry pic) and of course, we couldn't leave out some Jayhawk cookies as well!

.... Then she made some fun spring cookies, wedding favor cookies, and some UBER cute Mother's Day cookies for yours truly:


And lastly, some cookies she made for my cousin in Illinois. They were having a bake sale and she volunteered her to make cookies (the actual words were something like "My aunt makes the BEST cookies - she'll make some for us!" - How can you say no?) The best part? These adorable cookies sold for $5 a piece!!!

The Newest Addition to S&S


Introducing our little Madison Kate Reed :) She's doing great and expected to arrive around October 17th - No doubt she'll be inspecting every cake to leave the Sweets N Such kitchen very shortly!

Grinter House

June 20, 2009: Last wedding of the season! This was a 3-tiered, heart-shaped cake. I thought this turned out great, especially with the large space in between each of the tiers (6,10, and 14 inch). We had an almost-threatening delivery, as Joe had to slam on the breaks at a car wreck in an intersection, but luckily I had foil loosely covering the cakes (it was raining out), so we didn't have any carnage.

The couple also requested a jack-daniels shaped cake. Fondant covered and hand decorated. I love when I deliver cakes, and the people at the reception "ooh" and "ahh" over the cakes once i've set up. The DJ and reception site worker said "that's a CAKE?!" ..... :) .... which makes my job worth the hard work.



USP training center

May 22, 2009 wedding: Delivery to the USP training center in Leavenworth. This delivery was a tad scary, considering the reception site was literally right across from the Penitentiary's activity yard. And there were inmates playing baseball, running the yard, etc, as we pulled in. Oh well, delivery went great:

Chocolate and white cakes with vanilla buttercream filling, fondant covered, black royal icing details. A black monogram topper was placed on top.

They also had a groom's cake, which was SO MUCH FUN to make. I think I enjoy groom's cakes more than the big cake itself. :) The groom loves cheese, so I ran with the idea. The mice were created out of gumpaste.





Lodge at Iron Woods

May 2, 2009: Delivery to the Lodge at Iron Woods. This delivery was 16, fondant-covered, 8" cakes, plus a two-tiered couples cake. These were SO MUCH tougher than doing a regular cake, but they made the room look fantastic.

Flowers for the toppers and the toss bouquet were from my FAVORITE event florist, Linda Dowdle with Floralyn. She's booking like crazy for 2010; any bride would be thrilled to have Linda as their florist!

Couples cake was red velvet w/cream cheese frosting. Individual cake flavors included 4 of each: Chocolate w/Choc. Ganache, Sour Cream lb. cake with almond and orange extract w/almond buttercream filling, carrot cake w/cr. cheese, and banana sour cream w/cr.cheese.