An Evil Minion took over my kitchen!!!!

So the last few weeks probably went down in the books as, "The Weeks of Unthinkable Hell." I've been tested in so many ways and really had to get my act together and my head back into my business. There was no better way to do that than with the Evil Minion cake! This cake was for one of my most loyal customers. She has three little boys and we have so much fun coming up with each of their birthday cakes.

For anyone that is unfamiliar, a Minion is a character from the movie, "Despicable Me," and the Evil Minion joined in the sequel. Below is a picture of a normal minion on the left and evil minion on the right. Game on!

I started the cake by stacking two 8" cakes. I probably doweled the bottom cake more than necessary...umm better safe than sorry? The top cake needed to be rounded to help give the illusion that the Minion's hair was sticking straight up. I applied the buttercream and smoothed it out with my handy-dandy scraper. Where can you find one of these little guys, you ask? Home Depot, my friends! The cake had to then be refrigerated for a couple hours to chill the buttercream.

Next up, I mixed the fondant to match the purple of the Minion. I used AmeriColor Violet and Regal Purple, and honestly it's just trial and error with color matching. P.S. that's the reference picture that I used throughout the process to make sure my colors,  dimensions, and placement were all correct. 

Making the eye was actually a lot easier than I expected. I made the white background from gumpaste and then marbled the purple with a darker shade of purple for the center. Then I added the pupil and a small white accent for a little jazz. Next, I did the little eyeball compartment...is there a technical term for this jammer? Hmmm.. either way I used silver luster dust spray that's made by Duff Goldman (aka the Ace of Cake's dude) to make the compartment look metallic. I really love Duff's product line which you can find at Michael's and Walmart. 

 At this point I started to slack on taking pictures, mainly because I like to work quickly through the Final Scrape/Roll Out Fondant/Cover Cake in Fondant/Trim Fondant stage. I consider all of that one, big stage! It's essential to move quickly through these steps to avoid the buttercream from softening and the fondant from cracking.

Above, you'll see the steps where I added his teeth, lip, and the base of his overalls. My go-to adhesive for decorations on fondant cakes is chocolate. I try to use a color that is similar to the fondant covering the cake, so I ended up using Wilton's Lavender Chocolate Melts. The bond is almost instantaneous which is huge since I don't have the patience to stand there and hold decorations against a cake while the royal icing or piping gel dries. 

Then I attached his arms and hands! His arms actually face backwards and he only has three fingers. I used the purple fondant for the arms and black fondant for his hands.  I finished the smaller details of his overalls, adding "stitches" along the borders, buttons, pants, and his feet. Every part of his lower body was made from the black fondant. 

I used the chocolate to adhere his eye, then added the band and hinges for the eyeball compartment. I used piping gel to get the band to stick around his head. I'll use piping gel when the decoration is lightweight and doesn't have to support any other decorations. 

The very last element of the cake was adding his crazy hair! I used very stiff royal icing and used a star tip to pipe the icing all over his head. I had to work in sections and layers in order to get the height I wanted. I would pipe a layer, let it dry for about 15 minutes, and then add the next sections. I seriously just kept piping until I ran out of icing haha and I was pretty satisfied with the final product. 

This cake was SO much fun to make and it really did knock me out of my funk! Hope it brought a smile to your face, as well! Thanks for reading and for all of the support! 

Always, 

Sarah 

Winning the lottery...

I'd like to run through a conversation I had with Boyfriend last night.. 

Boyfriend: "Babe.. question."

Me: "Alriiight."

B: "Would you still bake as a hobby if you didn't have to do it to make a living?" 

Me: (think for one second) "Yeah, I would. Why?"

B: "Seriously?"

Me: "Yes. I love it and I don't know why I would ever stop doing it. Why?" 

B: "Well after I win the Powerball tonight, you won't have to."

Me: "Oh. Right. So you already know that you're going to win? Yup... That totally makes sense." 

Needless to say, we didn't win the lottery last night. I heard some lucky bastard in California did, but that's not the point of me telling this story. I'm telling it because I honestly cannot imagine my life without doing some sort of baking. Every single day I thank my lucky stars that I am able to make a living doing what I absolutely love. Can you say the same for yourself? Would you stay in your job or the same field of work if you won the lottery? 

Here's the thing... because I'm so passionate about my work, I have finally realized one of the biggest downfalls of pouring my entire life, energy, money, and soul into my job... rejection. I've been doing consultations for my 2014 weddings and I had my first couple turn me down for their cake. This will be my second wedding season and it was bound to happen eventually, but the whole thing left me shaken. I wanted to call the perspective bride and ask for a more specific reason other than, "We decided to go with another bakery." Was it me? Were my prices too high? Did they not like the cake I brought to their tasting? I had so many questions but after a few tears and some positive reasoning, I told myself, "Oh well. I have 29 other couples to worry about and I'll make sure each and every one of them is thrilled that they picked me to do their wedding cake." 

My family and friends know that I have two qualities that make AND break me... I'm a perfectionist and I'm ridiculously sensitive. They make me because I will do everything in my power to make a client's vision come to life. If that means spending 6 hours working on one aspect of their cake, then so be it. I sacrifice A LOT to make sure my clients get what they pay for, and if that means I can't go to the gym or visit my friends, then so be it. I also get emotionally invested with just about every single client I have... not in a creepy way, GOSH, get your head outta the gutter! I just mean that I feel like I make a connection with them because they are trusting me to be a part of a very special occasion. I cannot explain the emotions I feel when I experience a bride seeing her wedding cake for the first time. Or when I get to surprise a 3 year old with a birthday cake that makes her squeal with excitement. I'm tearing up right now even thinking about it. See... Miss Sensitivity. Oy vey! 

But like I said, these two qualities can break me at the same time. Facebook is my best friend and worst enemy. Anyone that has a Facebook Business Page knows that you can see your page's insight, which includes site traffic, visits/views, audience stats, and "Likes." I monitor my "Likes" on a daily basis and whenever it shows that someone "Unliked" my page, I immediately say, "Well, what the f**k?!" I again go into defense mode wondering what I did to make someone say, "OMG, I can't stand seeing one more cake from this wack job so (clicks "Unlike") TAKE THAT YOU CRAZY CAKE LADY!!!" Ok.. I'm sure that's not what they all say but you get the picture. I wish I knew who the person was because I want to know what I did wrong and how I can fix the situation. Did I offend them (uhhhh I warned you guys in my first blog post that I have an R-rated vocabulary!)? Do I post too often? Do I not give away cakes enough... relax, Flavor Spotlight Friday will be back. Don't even get me started on my page's star rating feature. I cried for about an hour when I discovered that four people gave me 1 star and two people gave me 2 stars. Again, I wanted to know what I did wrong because 63 people that gave me a 5 star rating would disagree with your shenanigans in giving me a poor rating. 

Here's how this whooooole post comes together... ready for it....okay...  because I'm so passionate, because I get emotionally invested, because I'm a perfectionist, because I would still bake even if I won the lottery... because of all of that... I know I'm doing what I was placed on this world to do. Again, I ask you... can you say the same? Boom! (Drops the mic and walks away) Hahahaha I've always wanted to do that! Thanks for reading and I'll try to get my act together and spend some more time blogging about actual cakes but until theeeeen :) 

Always, 

Sarah

Icing Smiles

I hate my birthday. This is common knowledge to just about anyone who is relatively close to me. However, my reasoning behind this hatred might not be as readily known because I usually tell people, "Because I've had some really crappy birthdays."

The worst one to date was my 14th birthday. I turned 14 in the back of an ambulance that was speeding from an ER in Scranton to the ICU at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I had spent the 2 years leading up to this joy ride suffering from ailments that didn't have explanations. Doctors said my excruciating joint pains were probably growing pains because all of their blood tests came back negative. Test after test came back without a diagnosis. I even lost all of the hearing in my left ear because a "virus" caused nerve damage. Everything came to a boiling point the day before my 14th birthday when I ended up in the ER with fluid surrounding my heart and lungs. The local doctors recognized the severity of my case and sent me to the ICU in Philly. 

I'm not going to lie... I barely remember the first few days in the hospital. I do remember when the doctors finally came to me and my family with a diagnosis: Lupus. It wasn't terminal but the road to remission was going to be a long one. I was placed on a HIGH dose of prednisone that over the course of a year that would bring my overactive immune system down to the activity seen in a normal immune system. That summer was spent driving back and forth between home and Philadelphia for check ups. 

It's been 12 years and I'm still in remission. I definitely had my fair share of flare-ups but I've been lucky. I have never allowed Lupus to be a large part of my life, and I tried to grow up as normal as possible. Normalcy is ALL I ever wanted. When I was diagnosed, I was so young and naive. I never really saw the larger picture until years later. The stress it put on my parents... my sister. Financially and emotionally. Dealing with a sick child is something that I wish upon NO ONE. I'm so fortunate that my illness, with treatment, was controlled into remission. Others aren't as fortunate. 

Which brings me to the whole reason for this post. Icing Smiles. This incredible organization is working to bring that sense of normalcy that I spoke of before, to critically/terminally ill children and their families. I'm going to quote their mission statement because my words won't do it justice. 

"Icing Smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by the critical illness of a child.  We understand that the simple things, like a cake, are luxuries to a family battling illness.  Our goal is to create a custom cake for the ill child, or their sibling, that provides a temporary escape from worry and creates a positive memory during a difficult time."

I got goosebumps the first time I read this and I knew this was something I needed to be part of. I've been there.. I know what it feels like to want that temporary escape and I cannot wait until I am able to provide that to a family. I'm official registered as a "Sugar Angel" and have been added to the list of vendors in the Scranton (and surrounding 120 miles) area who will donate custom cakes to families that apply. 

I've always been looking for a way to give back and I've found it. If I can make one child smile, temporarily forget about their pain,  and possibly prevent them from hating their birthdays in the future... then I'll do everything in my power (and in my kitchen) to make that possible. Please take some time to check out Icing Smiles and their Facebook page to see what an extraordinary organization this is! I can't wait until I get to donate my first cake and I will definitely post a blog about it. Thanks for reading! 

Always, 

Sarah

Soooo about that....

I vaguely remember making some sort of statement way back in July about trying to blog more and clearly that went over well. It's now October and I finally have a free minute to enlighten the masses with my cake knowledge. My deepest apologies to those who have been sitting patiently, checking my blog for a new post each day. According the my page insight thinger-ma-bob there actually is one person checking it each day... buuuut that might just be me. Who knows!!! 

Wedding season is slowly coming to an end and I have to take a second to look back over the last few months and feel so incredibly blessed. I wouldn't have made it through this time without the support of my family, Boyfriend, and closest friends. I faced the harsh reality of being a business owner and what I have to sacrifice in order to better my company. I haven't taken a vacation since last February, I only had one weekend off over the entire summer and that was to torture myself in the Tough Mudder, and any amount of down time I have I don't have the energy to do much more than watch reruns of Breaking Bad on Netflix (don't you dare judge me!). I've lost a lot of "friends" and I say that with quotation marks because I assume that these people weren't truly my friends in the first place. I'm busy all day, every day and I invest whatever free time I have into the people who bother to send a quick text or leave me a voicemail to say that they are thinking about me. Yes, I'm well aware that telephones go both ways but for the first time in my entire life I am putting 100% of my energy into something for ME, and if that makes me a selfish person then so be it. My business is my passion and I don't think that most people would understand the time, effort, and sacrifices that one has to make in order to build a successful business. So I'm going to keep trucking along, count my losses and blessings, and look forward to the future. 

So now that I have that little ramble off my chest, and if you're still reading this then let's move onto one of the most stressful and amazing cakes that I did this summer. The snowmobile groom's cake... dun DUN DUUUUUN! The bride, Melissa, and I grew up together in the same neighborhood. She's an incredible person and when she contacted me to do a cake for her fiance, Coty, I jumped at the chance to work with her. Coty and his entire family are HUGE snowmobile fans... snowmobilers?... Uhhh I don't know the correct lingo.. but whatever you get the point... they LOVE snowmobiles. Melissa wanted me to make a replica of Coty's sled and I was sold. The bigger the challenge the better. Ok, who the hell am I kidding?! I lost a lot of sleep over this cake. Every night before I fall asleep, for some reason my brain decides it's going to go over every worst case scenario that might ever arise with a cake and cost me precious hours of beauty rest. 

When Melissa and Coty's wedding week arrived, I was on a mission. Melissa had sent me a ton of photos of Coty's sled but I was having issues visualizing how I was going to carve the cake, which led me on a field trip to Rusty Palmer, which is a huge snowmobile dealer about 45 minutes away from my humble abode. Once I got there and saw a sled similar to Coty's, everything seriously clicked in my mind. 

I had to do a trial run with styrofoam before I started hacking away at the stacked cakes. So I sat outside on my back porch and left a massacre of green foam everywhere, but at least I knew what I was going to do with the cake! 

Then it was time to bake, fill, and carve the cakes. I had to use two 9x13" cakes in order to get enough servings and create a cake that was in proportion to the real thing... because I'm OCD like that. Next up I had to get the whole thing covered in buttercream for a crumb coat. Crumb coats basically remove all of the crumbs, cover the rough edges, and serve as the building block for carving details in the cake. The first picture is the first crumb coat and then the second picture is after I smoothed it out. I had to go back in to some spots to cover up thin areas of buttercream but this part is always crucial because once a cake is covered in fondant, then every single bump or flaw will show up... at least it does to me. 

I dropped the ball in taking pictures throughout this process so you'll have to forgive me for skipping some steps. But basically the next steps included covering the cake in black and white fondant. I had to use black for the seat area and white for the front part of the sled (again, I apologize if I'm not using the correct lingo).  All of the detail was done with gumpaste and fondant.

Next up, I had to get the windshield on and make the indents for the lights.

Hooray for lights!! I found these little lights at Michael's a while back and they are great because they have tiny little batteries in them which eliminates the need for wires and battery packs! 

Then it was just about adding the final details. The track, the speedometer, the handlebars, the taillight etc. 

Once I had the cake on the board that I was going to transport the cake on, I was able to add the skis. I had also made some awesome foot rails (seriously, I need a snowmobile dictionary!!!) buuuut they broke into about 12 pieces when I tried putting them on.  No use in crying over spilled milk! The very last finishing touch was adding "snow" which was fluffy royal icing that I sprinkled with clear sprinkles. 

And here, my friends, is one of the professional pictures that Miss Amanda, of Amanda Krieg Photography took for me. She has a ton more on her Facebook page so make sure you check them out. 

When all was said and done I loved this cake. It challenged me in so many ways and when I sent a picture to Melissa before I delivered it, her reaction made EVERYTHING worth it. The long hours, the sleepless nights... everything. Making my clients smile and giving them something that they can always look back on and remember with such fondness.. it makes my job worth it. 

Thanks for reading and for your continued support! 

Always, 

Sarah 

Can someone tell me where the last two months have gone?!

I swear to you that I blink my eyes for a split second and May and June have come and gone! I don't know where the time went, but I do know that almost every single day I have been begging for one more hour in the day. The last two months have been very busy with cake orders every single weekend, another TWO deliveries down to Lancaster, running a Tough Mudder,  AN ENGAGEMENT... not mine, but my sister's, and turning 26! I need to tap the brakes because this summer is flying by. 

I've been posting almost all of the cakes that I've had recently on my Facebook page, but I've been saving the following cake because it's really special to me. As I've mentioned before, I went to Millersville University and while I was there I was a personal trainer at the Fitness Center on campus. I really loved the other students that worked there and we pretty much had a little Fitness Center family. That's how I met Lynn. She worked there as well and I looked forward to any shift that I got to work with her. After college, we obviously went our separate ways but cakes brought us back together. Lynn actually has her own cake business called, Lucky Duck Cakes, and it's been great watching her grow her own business as I do the same. Her and her fiance, Matt, have been two of my biggest supporters and when Lynn contacted me about potentially doing their wedding cake and cupcakes I was honored! A fellow baker... trusting ME to do her wedding... shut the front door! Talk about pressure, too! I know how much of a cake snob I am when it comes to trying other people's cake, so I was definitely nervous about entering this venture.

Lynn and Matt had the FABULOUS color scheme of orange, blue, and silver. They also incorporated a chevron pattern and orange slices into their theme. I love when brides think outside the box and use bold/modern colors, themes, and decorations. Lynn had mentioned to me before we started the design process that they were leaning more towards a "modern" and "fun" vibe, rather than a "soft" or "overly feminine" feeling. They also wanted just a topper cake with different cupcakes instead of the traditional wedding cake. My mind was racing with ideas and I couldn't wait to get everything down on paper. Lynn, Matt, and I went through a few different concepts for the topper cake but finally settled on the one below. We included the chevron pattern and an orange slice that was part of their wedding invitations. 

The final cake design (sorry for the blurriness!!)

For the cupcakes, we decided to distinguish the different flavors by using cupcake toppers and a cupcake menu. I made a the cupcake menu to be displayed on the cake table in a frame that Lynn decorated. 

The cupcake menu

Oh yeah, totally forgot another element to this whole cake... it had to be delivered to Lancaster! Yup, another 3 hour drive in sub-zero temperatures. Alright, they weren't sub-zero but I definitely lost feeling in my nose, toes, and fingers! The good news is the delivery was a breeze and so was the set up at the Eden Resort . Below are a few pictures of the cupcakes all set up as well as the cake topped with a wooden "A" that Lynn made.

The topper cake with gumpaste orange slice, fondant chevron pattern, and wooden topper

A close-up of the cupcakes 

The entire cake table... which was PACKED with yumminess! 

All in all, it was a successful cake. I was so happy when Lynn contacted me to let me know how much she, Matt, and their guests loved the cake and cupcakes. A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders because I got the stamp of approval from a fellow baker!! Congratulations again, Lynn and Matt, and many wishes of love and happiness in your future.

Thanks for reading and I'll try to post to the blog more often! ... Key word there is, TRY! 

Always, 

Sarah 

A little road trip...

I received my undergraduate degree from Millersville University which is smack dab in the middle of Lancaster County. If you haven't been to Lancaster then I would definitely recommend it! It has a natural beauty that is hard to describe. When Danielle contacted me in October about possibly doing her wedding cake at Lauxmont Farms in Lancaster, I had a few thoughts go through my head. The first, "Wow, Lancaster County in the beginning of May is going to be GORGEOUS!" And then, "Oh my god, how the hell am I supposed to get a wedding cake down there in one piece?!" Lancaster is approximately 3 hours from my basement kitchen and if you are from PA then you know how terrible our roads are after the winter season. I've delivered a cake down to Lancaster once before but it wasn't a stacked cake and it was covered in fondant. Needless to say... I was nervous!!! 

Danielle and Jonathan had a color scheme of white, light pinks, and navy. It isn't your typical color scheme but it looked stunning, one of my favorites actually. We played around with a few ideas for the cake but settled on the design below. A white buttercream cake with navy ribbons and a full cascade of gum paste peonies, hydrangeas, and filler flowers. 

Original cake sketch

 I made all of the flowers by hand and I was actually going to do a tutorial for the peonies until I realized how much work actually goes into each flower... I decided my time was better spent working on the flowers themselves than the tutorial. Maybe next time! I used petal dust and luster dust to accent the flowers and leaves as well. 

One of the twelve peonies that I made for the flower cascade. It was as big as my hand! 

When it finally came time to transport the cake, I knew that the safest way was going to be unstacked. I had to wrap each tier individually, pack it into a cake box, and then surround that with freezer packs. I also had to endure 3.5 hours (thanks to Central PA traffic, I had to sit in a traffic jam for almost 45 minutes) of blasting the AC. When I finally got to Lancaster I could barely feel my legs or fingers from being so cold, but the tiers made it through the trip without a single issue (thank god!!). I was able to get the cake stacked Friday night and ready for the flowers to be applied the following morning. 

The cakes before the trip to Lancaster!

Arranging the flowers took almost 3 hours. I never have an exact idea of what a flower cascade is going to look like, just a certain amount of main flowers that I intend to use. All in all, I ended up using 12 peonies and a ridiculous amount of hydrangeas and fillers. There was a few casualties with gum paste leaves and a few hydrangeas but the peonies held up like champs. 

Half-way there!!

The cake was delivered to the Rotunda venue and it was breathtaking. Seriously... I was speechless. 

The view of the Susquehanna River from the Rotunda

I cannot get over how beautiful this venue was and my cake paled in comparison! 

I took so many pictures because I wanted to capture the beauty of everything but pictures didn't do it justice. The cake made it to the venue without any issue and as soon as I started driving away, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders... until I realized that I had a big ol' wedding coming up the following weekend. Such is the life of a busy baker. 

A close up of the cascade

At the venue.. before I realized I forgot to put the cake onto the cake stand! 

The finished product! Cake stand and all!! 

I'm so happy with how beautiful this cake turned out, and I hope that Danielle and Jonathan were as please with it as I was. I wish them nothing but happiness in the years to come! 

Thanks for reading and the continued support! 

Always,

Sarah 

I like books too... especially if they involve Harry Potter.

I would like to consider myself a reader. Before I got into the whole cake business, I often had my nose buried in a book during my free time or while I was mindlessly working out on the elliptical at the gym. Now that I don't really have an abundance of free time I have found that I really miss reading. Like Harry Potter! I'm a HUGE Harry Potter nerd and will proudly admit it that I have read each book multiple times as if each time was the first time. I miss Harry Potter... I miss reading... oh my gosh, enough about that! 

This cake was ALL about books and I looooved it! It was for a bridal shower that had an entire literary theme, including the cute invitations that were a play off of the Penguin Publishing Group book covers. I'm so, so fortunate to share this cake with professional pictures by Amanda Krieg Photography. Amanda and I went to high school together and she conveniently is also my neighbor! We are both in the beginning stages of starting our own businesses, so we have decided to work together and help each other as much as possible. Love her, love her work, and would LOVE if you supported her as well! : ) 

On to the cake!!!!! 

I decided to stick with the whole Penguin Group theme for the books. The mother of the bride helped to pick out the titles of the books, with the top book being the bride to be's favorite. Well, her favorite book is actually, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," but the M.O.B. suggested we play around with the title and change it to, "Her Eyes Were Watching Ryan." Too cute! 

All of the little penguins, book spines, and placards were made from gumpaste. 

Each book was covered in white fondant and then I wrapped them individually in three bright colors, purple, turquoise, and orange. I then went in with a fondant cutter/Wilton tool that I don't know the name of, to make the page indents. 

I added two extra decorations to pull the whole cake together. I made a bookmark out of gumpaste that said, 

"To mark your spot,

And save the date.

June 11, 2013

She will wear white,

He won't be late."

I also made some reading glasses out of black gumpaste. They were a last minute addition... as in I made them an hour before I delivered the cake. 

I really enjoyed working with the mother of the bride to make this cake so personalized and one of a kind. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'm sorry I've been slacking with updating the blog. Spring is a busy season for cakes but I'll do my best! 

Thank you for your support and for reading! 

Always, 

Sarah