The Seasons are Changing - Fall Wedding Cake

At the bakery its time to put away the yellows, light blues, and other pastel colors to make space for the autumn line-up. Besides the fact that it was 45 degrees F when I got up this morning, I also know it is Fall based on the food color stains on my hands - burnt oranges and browns.

I love the color scheme on the following cake for a Fall wedding as the dark and light browns, cream, and orange work together so nicely. We used patchwork cutters for the applique on the cake tiers and the three calla lilies on the cake board are made from gumpaste.

Hope you enjoy this one!

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com

A 'Simple' Wedding Cake

Sometimes the simplest looking cakes can be the most difficult to make. Its so much easier to put random dots all over a cake than to calculate the exact distance for swags on a heart-shaped cake and make sure the swags are placed perfectly! Remember when your high school math teacher said "you'll use this math again"? Well, he/she was right as we often find ourselves thinking back to our math classes (or calling my husband or 17 year-old niece) to help us out with design placement.

We made the following heart-shaped wedding cake for a wonderful couple who were having a small reception with 45 guests. Although the design may look clean and 'simple' these types of cakes are often the most challenging to work on but we find the end result quite appealing.

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com

la Quinceanera Cake

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com/

Bogota, NJ

In every little girl's upbringing, there is a special moment to which she looks forward with excitement and pride. It could be a bat mitzvah for a young Jewish lady, a communion for a Catholic girl or she could be making her society debut. When a girl reaches her fifteenth birthday in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Central and South America, she celebrates her Quinceanera, and her entire family treats her like a princess for her special day.

Historically speaking, Quinceanera traditions date back to ancient Mexican society. The origins can be traced back to the Aztecs in 500BC where it was used as a form of initiation to instruct and reinforce important cultural ideals. These days, turning fifteen years of age is acknowledged with the Quinceanera and the ceremony is a reaffirmation of the baptismal vows made by her parents. Now, as then, a candle is lit during the ceremony to signify this.

We made the above cake for a lovely young lady for her special day. We incorporated edible items in the cake that are symbolic in many Qunceanera ceremonies, such as the royal icing tiara, the high-heeled shoe, and the gumpaste scepter.

The Season for Engagements!

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com/

Bogota, NJ

I came across a statistic a few days ago that states 40% of all marriage engagements occur over the holidays. The reason for this is that the holidays present an abundance of opportunities for memorable proposals to take place.

I have to add myself to this statistic as I became engaged at midnight at the beginning of the new millennium. Just like so many other brides-to-be, the very next day I was surfing the internet for information and running out to the newsstand to buy every bridal magazine there is. Six months later we were married in Las Vegas with 50+ of our friends and family in attendance (and, no, Elvis did not perform the ceremony!).

Looking at the statistics on our website and blog it looks like many of the newly engaged couples are doing the same thing I did. The most popular search term coming into the blog is "Engagement Cakes" followed closely by "Wedding Cake Designs."

So a big congratulations to all those recently engaged couples (and those that will become engaged on New Year's Eve!).

Custom Mocha Cupcakes

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com

Bogota, NJ

At our NJ bakery we love getting orders for custom cupcakes! Whether the client wants something cute and whimsical for a baby shower or an elegant tower for a wedding.

When we come up with a design for our cupcakes it almost always includes a wrapper. The wrappers can be ordered from specialty shops online or you can make your own. We usually prefer to make our own because it gives us more leeway for personalization. The wrappers above are a simple cutout using a Cricut machine and cardstock. The machine also enables us to do more complicated designs like lace patterns and cutouts (e.g. butterflies, flowers, etc....).

The cupcakes above are for a chocolate and coffee lover. I'm often asked how we make our wonderful mocha frosting but can never give an exact recipe as we make it to taste based on the client's request for a more chocolaty or coffee flavor. Generally what we do is whip up a batch of Swiss meringue and in the final stages of mixing add espresso powder, rich chocolate ganache, and a little kahlua to taste.

Mini Wedding Cakes

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com/

Bogota, NJ

We were asked to make 150 of these beautiful mini-cakes for a wedding. Tiny cakes such as these take much more effort than a standard wedding cake to feed 150.


The cakes are made using the following frangipane recipe:

8 oz sugar
1 lb almond paste
8 oz softened butter (approximately 65 degrees F)
12 fluid oz egg whites
5 oz AP flour

1) Cream together the sugar and almond paste until fully mixed. Add the softened butter and mix until the texture appears light and fluffy (this aids in incorporating air to help in rising).

2) Add the eggs and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated - don't overmix else you'll over-develop the gluten resulting in a less tender cake.

3) Prepare a full sheet pan by spraying with non-stick baking spray and placing a sheet of parchment on the pan. Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly (this is an important step as your batter needs to be completely level for your cakes to look perfect!). Bake for 15 minutes at 375.

4) Cool cakes

To assemble the cakes:

1) Divide the cake into three equal portions. Spread a thin layer of apricot preserves on two of the layers (note: you may also use other jams, for example, using raspberry jam is quite nice and will add a little more acidic taste to the cakes).

2) Sandwich the layers on top of each other. Cut out your desired shapes. For the mini-cake above we used a 2.5" round petits fours cutter.

3) To cover the cakes either used poured fondant or rolled fondant (for our cakes we used rolled fondant). If you use rolled fondant, be sure to apply a light coating of your jam to make the fondant stick. We also added a 'ribbon' of fondant to our cake and piped a small snail trail border with royal icing.

4) Apply a small amount of royal icing on your cake board and position the mini-cake where desired. We used 4.5" squares of foamcore, covered with rolled fondant, and glued a ribbon around the edges.

5) Pipe a snail trail of royal icing around the bottom border of the mini-cake.

6) Decorate your board and mini-cake as desired. We added gumpaste flowers and leaves to the board and a chocolate butterfly painted with cocoa butter and luster dust on the cake.