Wine, Art and Weddings!

I really enjoyed getting to do this wedding cake. The reception was held at Lynchburg's Academy of Fine Arts downtown, and it was amazing. The decorations and tables were set beautifully and I was excited that jimmy cakes could be a part of this event. In the foyer, there was an artisan show with various pottery creations mixed right in with the hors d'oeuvres - so cool!

The cake flavors were chocolate raspberry and marble alternating tiers with buttercream icing. The chocolate raspberry tiers also had a vanilla mousse filling. I enjoyed doing this cake and wanted to stay for the reception, as a local jazz band was getting set up for the reception!

That's a lot of cupcakes!

This was the largest cake order I have done in my jimmy cakes career, and it was a lot of fun! Hours of measuring, mixing, baking, and decorating produced over 25 dozen cupcakes for this March wedding!

There were four gourmet cupcake flavors - Cookies and Cream, Chocolate Raspberry, Coconut Cream, and Strawberry Cheesecake. These flavors were pretty much created for this particular wedding, as the bride sent me a list of flavors she would like to try. Basically, the bride said that she wanted guests to be able to look at the cupcakes and know what they were picking up.

Above we have a cookies and cream cupcake, which is a vanilla cake with finely crushed Oreos in the batter itself. Topped with plain white icing, some crushed Oreos and a 1/4 Oreo.

Above is a chocolate raspberry cupcake, which is a chocolate cake batter with real raspberry fruit in the batter, topped with buttercream icing and a fresh raspberry.

Above is a coconut cream cupcake, which is a coconut cake with finely chopped coconut flakes in the batter, topped with coconut buttercream icing and freshly toasted coconut flakes.

Above is a strawberry cheesecake cupcake which is actually a cheesecake cupcake with freshly chopped strawberry pieces in the batter, topped with strawberry buttercream and a sliced strawberry.

Wedding to the Beat of Their Own Drum

What a fun experience for me! I was contacted by Krystal and Jared who were looking for something different for their small, yet intimate and personalized wedding. Jared is a professional drummer, and Krystal suggested doing a cke which looked like a drum. Through our interactions, we developed the idea of doing cupcake drums with a monogram on them and little drum sticks to match the cake they would cut.

The design for both the cupcakes and the drum cake were a lot of fun, and took a lot of time. Each little drum top on the cupcakes had to be painted with a monogram, edges and bolts piped on and then I had to dip 110 little drumsticks in the coloring. The brackets on the drum cake had to be sprayed with an air-brush after they were molded and had hardened.

The reception was held at Liberty University's Snow Flex Lodge and was certainly an intimate setting. The relaxed yet personal atmosphere made this a unique and special wedding reception. Congrats Krystal and Jared, and thanks for allowing me to be a part of your special day - it was an honor!

Last Minute Wedding

This cake was sort of a last minute deal; I stepped in for another cake decorator and sought to provide Matt and Kimberly with the cake they were looking for. This simple yet elegant cake is iced with buttercream icing and topped with beautiful roses which make it pop! Thanks guys for letting me do this cake for you, and congratulations!

It's Hip to be Square

This weekend, I was able to do this wedding cake for Christin and Joel. Their French themed wedding, was so cool! All over the reception location (the Parlor, downtown Lynchburg) there were amazing touches of France. This cake seems fairly simple decorations-wise, but it was the first square cake wedding cake I have done before, which was a little nerve-racking. It is also the first cake that I stacked before transporting, which was also nerve-racking. Thankfully, it worked out well!

I was shocked when I arrived and saw fresh flowers for the cake, which I didn't know about until I showed up. I am so glad that this couple chose fresh flowers, which I thought were the perfect touch as opposed to a traditional topper (which was what I was expecting to find upon arrival). I am really happy with this cake, and was thankful for the opportunity to decorate this cake!

Leave me out of it...

I was thrilled to do this wedding cake, delivered to DeVault Family Vineyard in Concord, VA this past weekend. It was another neopolitan cake with Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla tiers and buttercream icing.

Each of the leaves I made by hand, and this was a long process, actually about 5 different steps. After I found the cutters for the leaves, I was trying to find leaf veiners to put the indentations on them. After several hours of searching for the right ones, I came across a blog which gave instructions on how to make your own. So, I went out into my back yard and picked a few different types of leaves. I then made molds of each of these leaves, baked them, then made negative impression molds and baked those too.

After I cut out the gum paste leaves, I pressed the molds/veiners into the leaves and let them dry. Then I brushed on edible color powder and then airbrushed the edges and stems with edible coloring to add extra dimension. Lastly, I steamed each of the leaves and left them to air dry over night. Below are the pictures after I steamed them.

As I mentioned before I am not the biggest fan of cake toppers, but I am also including a picture of the cake topper for this cake, as it is the completed product. I don't think you can tell in this picture, but I offset the cakes to the left since I knew the topper would be pretty tall as well, and thought the branch would fill up the right side... I was very happy with this cake, and am thankful that set up went well, etc.

Back to my roots (or branches) - finally a cake!

This week I have been working on this wedding cake for a couple getting married in Concord, VA yesterday. This four-tiered yellow cake with buttercream icing is adorned with homemade gumpaste flowers and a fondant branch.

The bride wanted blue-green flowers (but more blue), and a black branch, but didn't know what type of flowers she wanted. These are the ones I decided to go with, and I made different combinations and different sizes so they would look more natural. After they have dried, I used a steamer to steam the flowers and the branch - giving it a shiny look, and really making the color 'pop'.

I was pretty nervous about the topper that they were going to provide, and had no idea what it was going to look like until I showed up to set up the cake. I decided to take pictures before I put it on, just in case I didn't like the topper on the cake. I seem to have a strange aversion to toppers for some reason. I suppose I am just picky and want the topper to match the cake in design and quality, and sometimes they certainly don't.

Funny story about setting this cake up... As I was finishing up, an elderly relative came up and greeted me. When I asked what she thought of the cake, she replied "It's getting there...". Not certain how to respond, I didn't. After a moment, she said "It is certainly different..." and I replied with "Yes, it very modern." I wasn't really sure what to say, and I was chuckling to myself as she walked away...

This Is So Last Year...

So, last year I did a wedding cake for Mary and Shawn, and their one year anniversary was rapidly approaching. Mary contacted me because their cake topper was not properly stored and didn't make it... She was hoping to recreate the top tier for her husband as a surprise for their one year anniversary. So, although it may look and taste the same as it did a year ago, I recreated Mary and Shawn's wedding cake fresh and new this year.

An Extra Cool, Ektrakul Wedding

I had a lot of fun being a part of this really fun wedding! I was recently able to do 150 monogramed cupcakes for Solomon and Angi Ekrakul (pronounced like 'ektra cool'). There were three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and carrot cake, and all of the monograms were hand piped from melted chocolate.

There were four different letter 'E's with different shapes and styles. I got pretty nervous though because when I started placing the monograms in the cupcakes, the humidity started melting the letters. Thankfully, it was cold at the reception site, and I was able to salvage them!

The stand was made by the brother of the groom, who was recreating a soccer stadium. He first made a template out of cardboard and finished this actual stand the night before the wedding!

French Elegance

This past weekend I was able to do the cake for a life-long friend, Courtney, who is now Mrs. French. The cake was created from a number of different ideas that Courtney and I compiled into one big cake. In fact, this is the biggest cake I have done yet.

We tried to combine several ideas, scrolly designs, Swiss dots, monogram and fresh flowers, and the colors of the wedding were black and white (although the bouquets were brightly colored flowers - hence the colored daisies). I jokingly called this cake my Neopolitan cake, because the three flavors were chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. The strawberry tier had strawberry puree mixed into the buttercream filling which was heavenly (I had two pieces!).

Courtney and Grant had a beautiful wedding, and enjoyed the cake that they smashed into each others' faces! I was thankful to be able to be a part of their special day!

Dan and Traci's Big Day

I had a lot of fun doing this cake! It is unique and I liked doing something a little different!

The wedding colors were peacock blue and gray, so I alternated the colors on the various tiers - the cakes with gray ribbon had peacock blue Swiss dots, and vice a versa. The flowers were made out of gum paste (thank you Alisha for helping me make all of those!). All the cakes were chocolate with buttercream icing.

Wedded Bliss and Cake

I was able to do this cake last weekend for a wedding here in town. Each tier was homemade yellow cake, with plain white icing. The ribbon colors were chosen to match the bridesmaids' dresses, and the monogram was made out of gum paste which I painted with gold coloring.

Everything's Bigger in Texas

A few months ago, I was approached about doing a special Groom's cake that would be shaped like Texas. It was going to need to feed about 200-300 people, and after my initial meeting with the bride and her mother, we had a few key details planned out.

I made a template for the cake, but the cake would only feed 140 people with the size I made it. It actually worked out very well because the couple only ended up having one reception as opposed to the original two receptions. All in all, it took 5 sheet cakes, and 12 batches of icing to make the cake, in addition to a few details in fondant.

The cake was a chocolate cake with butter cream icing. The boots, star, lasso, and city sign were made of tinted fondant. This cake was a lot of fun, but it was also a big challenge too! After I had already gotten the cake halfway decorated, I realized it wasn't going to fit through the doorways in my home. Let's just say my wife and I were holding our breaths as we tilted the board to a 45 degree angle and went very quickly...

Thanks to Stephen, Leslie, and the Parks' for allowing me to be a Texas Sized (and shaped) part of their Big Day...

A Special Cake for their Special Day

A good friend of mine contacted me a few months ago, when I was just starting to do cakes. She asked if I would be willing to do her wedding cake, and after we discussed what she was looking for, I agreed. I am so glad I did. I am excited to say that I have finished my second wedding cake, and was able to pull it off without any major catastrophes.

Mary was looking for a three tiered cake with these special scrolls on each tier. She saw a picture similar to her idea but the scrolls were in buttercream on a white cake, and she wanted to go with their black and white theme. I suggested we seam the cake with black ribbon, which I thought would look very nice.

The bottom tier is chocolate cake with a mint filling. The middle tier is a vanilla cake and the top is regular chocolate with white icing as the filling. I admit that I have never done a cake with this type of decoration, and I was a little leery of doing so. I practiced on a piece of paper what I would be doing, and it turned out well when I drew it out. I drew the design on the cake with a dowel rod, then filled in the design with the piped icing. Again, I am happy with how it came out, and hope you enjoy it as well!

Congrats Mary and Shawn!

My First Wedding Cake

A few months ago, I met with my friend Linley, to design her wedding cake. She showed me a picture of her mother's wedding cake, which was three tiers and covered in fresh daisies. She then showed me another picture of a cake with daisies on it, which was a little more modern; the daisies on this new cake were made out of gum paste. Based on the number of people attending the wedding, we decided on a four tier cake with little sprays of daisies from top to bottom. I wasn't sure how I was going to do the daisies at that time, and had several ideas. After testing and deliberation, I decided to use gum paste daisies. Both the top tier and the 10 inch tier were made of white cake. The 8 inch was mocha, and the 12 inch was Funfetti (at Linley's request). I had a lot of fun doing this, and was extremely happy with the outcome!