My First Bridal Show

On Septmeber 30th I took a big step with my business and decided to present myself and showcase some of my cakes at my first bridal show.  To say I was nervous is a complete understatement.  I had no idea of what to expect or how to prepare myself.  

It was at this time I figured why not do a dummy for the show using my cricut cake!!  Great idea...not so.  As much as I love the cricut cake the feelings aren't mutual...but that is another post!  I have always loved the look of  a black and white damask patterned cake but haven't the courage to try the stencils so this is what I created for the show...

I love the bright pink anenomies on this cake I think it was a nice compliment to the black and white design.  I had many compliments on this cake as well so it was well worth all the work!  I didn't stop with making one dummy for the show either.  I think I just really felt that I needed to add one more thing to my list of things to do this particular week.  So I decided to make one using my favorite type of cake embellishmentn... butterflies!  I had made butterflies for cakes a few different ways before with using gumpaste and cutters as well as rice paper butterflies but for this cake I decided to try a new technique.  Making them with gelatin!!  They are completely edible with the exception of the antenae.  I love how pretty and realistic they turn out (I even had a couple people ask me where I bought them!!)

So now that my dummies (which I thought were quite beautiful) were done the real work began...preparing samples.  I had no idea what kind of crowd these type of things would bring in so I set to baking with the figure of 300+ samples in mind.  I prepared mini cupcakes as well as cake samples by the end of the night my cupcakes were completely gone (red velvet being the first to go) and I only had to bring home some of the cake that was left, which wouldn't go uneaten as the next day was my little man's third birthday party!  I had my booth set up quite nicely and was recieved  quite well by the many brides that were there. But the highlight to my booth was not my cakes!!  For each of my brides I made a cookie, which they all LOVED!!  I attached a business card to the top of each bagged treat and loved how professional they turned out...hmmm maybe cookies are my calling and not cakes!

Finally the end of the night came and I was feeling pretty good thinking my first Bridal show was a success.  I enjoyed meeting all the brides and loved getting a chance to meet the other vendors that I am sure frequent the bridal show circuit.  (I have been asked to participate in 3 more next year already!!)  But the highlight of my night came at the end when the guest speaker arrived and came to visit some of the many booths, including mine!!

Heather from the hit show The Cupcake Girls!!  She was very pleasant and friendly and even complimented my cakes!  All in all in was a good night!  Now with tired feet and the exhaustion of my busy week catching up to me it was time to pack up and head home.  Now to prepare for my son's 3rd birthday party...yawn!!  As I mentioned earlier I did have some cake left over...so did I really need to bake another cake??  OF COURSE!!  So off to my kitchen I went and created a cake based on my son's favorite show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

He was absolutely tickled with his cake.  Super cake mom pulled through again ;)

Welcome!!

Hello and welcome to my cake blog!
Let me just start by saying cake and I have a love/hate relationship.  I had always said how much I love to cook but hate to bake and ironically I stumbled into the world of cake decorating...or as I prefer to refer to it cake artistry. 
So you ask how did I decide to make cake my life (at least that is what it feels like sometimes)?
It all started with the desire to be able to make cute birthday cakes for my kids.  I remember making my daughter's first birthday cake, it was literally falling apart as I tried to spread the icing over it.  In tears I recall my mother in law telling me I could always go buy a birthday cake from the grocery store.  The grocery store???  I could not buy my daughter a cake from the grocery store it was unheard of.  You see my mom ALWAYS made our birthday cakes when we were little so I was going to do the same for my children too!!  So after adding a smartie boarder to my cake-wreck I served it at my first born's first birthday party with pride. 
When I first enrolled in the cake courses at my local Michaels I went in knowing very little about the world of cake and the endless possibilities.  I brought home my first cake that I decorated and was incredibly proud of the basic, simple rainbow that was filled in with piped stars.  I WAS A CAKE DECORATOR!! As the courses went on  I was gaining skills and learning techniques that made me vow never to make another cake that looked like my daughter's first birthday cake again!  As much fun as I was having with my classes cakes were not something  I would have wanted to do on a regular basis.  I struggled with smoothing out buttercream, hated working with royal icing and all those pesky little roses that were formed on flower nails....ugh.  Then I was introduced to fondant and gumpaste and a love of cake decorating was born!  After I finished all the courses I had the basics down and then I set out to learn and practice more with gumpaste and began making beautiful fondant covered cakes!  I have always been a crafty person and finally I found a way to put my love of crafts and art to good use. It wasn't long before friend's started asking me to create cakes for them and as they passed my name along I realized that there was a demand for "wow" cakes and it was a big demand.  In Spring 2011 I turned my love for cake decorating into a home based business.