Piano Birthday Cake

This was an interesting cake to make as we never actually spoke to the client. The design, order, and payment were all completed online as the client lives in Hong Kong. She found our site online and needed a birthday cake for one of the WonderGirls, a musical group, who was scheduled to be in New York City on her birthday.

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com

The hardest part about this cake was making the piano entirely edible. I find Google Images to be one of the most helpful tools for me on the internet as I wasn't even sure all the parts of a piano. I was also concerned about the structure holding up so I used Mexican gumpaste which has a long enough working time but still dries quite hard. 

Baby Shower Cake Inspired by the Invitation

One of the best parts of our job at Confectionary Designs is coming up with a design that fits the occasion perfectly! We look for inspiration everywhere by working closely with our clients to understand their needs. One of our clients brought along the invitation she had sent out when she came to us for a consultation and tasting session. All of us knew immediately the cake had to be designed from the tree and bird's nest on the beautiful invitation. Pam carefully drew up a sketch for the client and I loved seeing this cake come to life with the sprawling tree and edible bird and nest.

I hope you enjoy viewing this cake!

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Coach Purse Cake

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We made this carved purse cake for a wonderful lady for a milestone birthday. We've gotten used to carving purses after doing so many of them, but this one was a bit of a challenge as the entire purse is hand-painted using luster dusts and Everclear. I think I was buzzed from breathing in the Everclear by the time I finished painting this one!

Our Cake is Now Officially a Masterpiece!!

http://www.zwarenstein.com

OK, so maybe not the cake itself, but the painting above is definitely a masterpiece!  We were lucky enough to have a 36" x 24" oil painting done by a world-renowned artist, Alex Zwarenstein.

Alex holds a MFA from the Royal Academy of Arts in London, teaches at The National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York, has received numerous awards, and his work is often exhibited at various prestigious galleries around the world.

Alex came to our New Jersey bakery armed with his camera and within a few weeks he had my jaw dropping when I saw what he came up with. He made our cake come to life!

Thanks, Alex! This piece of art will have a special place in our hearts and our bakery.

Below is the cake Alex used as an inspiration:

Wedding Sugar Cookies

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Decorated sugar cookies, such as the ones above, are a frequent order in our shop. I especially like the details on the bridal dress with over 30 plunger flowers and intricate royal icing piping.  The pink heart cookie's swirl is done in glace icing which leaves the cookie with a beautiful sheen after a light application of edible pearl dust.

Cookies such as these are the perfect favor for weddings and bridal showers. Packaging options are endless as they look wonderful in a cello bag with a tied bow or a customized box to hold the cookies.

LA City Hall Cake

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Often in my business there is a cake design and a customer that you really enjoy and this order was definately one of them! Our NJ client's son was married at City Hall in LA and she threw a small family party when the newlyweds came to visit. Her idea was to have the wedding cake look like city hall and I found this to be quite challenging.

First, she wanted carrot cake and those of us in the cake decorating world know that this cake is quite moist and soft so it is hard to shape (I used my mother's carrot cake recipe which went over great with the client but was still difficult to work with). Second, I had never done a large scale building so I had to get out my calculator (and some input from my husband) to come up with the proper sizes for the building.

The building is made from panels using Mexican gumpaste which I find is easier to work with than pastillage and dries almost as hard. We cut out the panels several days in advance to allow sufficient time to dry. Of course, I was nervous my calculations may not be correct, but in the end only a few minor errors were made in the panel sizes and everything fit together like a puzzle.

I was pleased with the outcome, learned some important lessons, and got to work with a wonderful client!

Some of our latest cakes...

As much as I enjoy blogging sometimes I need to let posting go so we can work on bakery orders. We've been quite busy lately with an great selection of occasions to make cakes for! Spring and Summer are a big season for baby showers (hmmm....I wonder why!), graduations, and weddings.

Following are a few of the cakes we've recently created:

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The above cake was created for some great gals throwing a bridal shower for their friend, or maybe as fun as the photos they sent us looked, this would be described as a bachelorette party! The cake was made by carving a sheet cake and adding two ball pans for that extra dimension.

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com

This cake was created to welcome a new baby. The design for the cake was inspired by the cute invitations for the baby shower. The little bird and nest on top are entirely edible!

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Of course with all the new babies, there is always a need for new OBGYN doctors. The cake was ordered for a woman graduating from medical school. As all of our cakes, everything is edible including the doctor and patient.

http://www.confectionarydesigns.com

Last, but not least, the above cake was ordered by the mother-to-be's sister to welcome her first niece into the world. The party was designed as a princess fairy tale theme and the cake fit in perfectly with the decorations the soon to be aunt set up!