Saturday, January 28, 2012

Latte Wedding Cake


I fell in love with this couple when I first met them....and their wedding was everything I would want if I were to do it again (not that I am planning anything...I am VERY HAPPILY MARRIED!). The cake design, was something I had seen in a magazine and fell in love with, and was thrilled when they chose it to base their wedding cake from. Now while I was in love with the cake, the couple, the venue, and everything else, this was by far the most stressful wedding I have ever made the cake for...so far!!!

The cake baked and covered beautifully, but those darn Bride and Groom figurines were an absolute nightmare! I made them without too much drama, but this last week has been raining, and when it hasn't been raining, it has been so muggy and humid it was a nightmare!!! All of the fellow cake decorators out there will understand completely!

Now, we have air conditioning, and my wonderful husband discovered that they have a "dry" mode, which removes the humidity from the room.... you would think that this would solve the problem...but no, every now and then, I would go into the room to discover the figurines so shiny and sticky that I was afraid they were going to melt completely and give the wicked witch from the west a run for her money. Thankfully, as shiny as they got, they never lost their shape, and in the end I think they look remarkably good!

As I mentioned above the cake design was based on one found in a Wedding Cakes Magazine, but we made a few alterations to make it our own. For the bottom tier, we liked the double height cakes, but thought they were a bit extreme, so I suggested rather that doubling the height, we just increase it by half. So the bottom tier is a triple layer caramel mud cake with white chocolate ganache. It stood approximately 14cm high. The top tier is a toblerone mud cake, with two layers filled and iced with dark chocolate ganache.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Bridal Shower

Today I catered for Rachel's Bridal Shower. It was a casual morning tea with a few ladies, the morning before the big day!

On the menu:
 Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows
 Cappuccino Macaroons
 Chocolate Ganache & Raspberry Tartlets
 Coconut Ruffle Cake
 Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
 Zucchini Squares with Garlic & Chives Cream Cheese
 Pesto Cheese Heart Pastries
 Cucumber Rounds with Herb Cheese

It was a lot of hard work and baking yesterday, but the table looked fantastic and the ladies had a lovely morning.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Jungle Birthday

This week, a little boy named Hugo turned 1....his birthday party invitations had jungle animals on them, which became the inspiration for his cake. It was a gluten free chocolate cake, filled and iced with chocolate ganache, covered in fondant then decorated with hand modelled animal figurines. I fell in love with the little cheeky monkey...he was sooooo cute!
 I love this cake, it makes me smile....and it was so lovely seeing his Mum's face when I delivered the cake, she was just thrilled with it. I know a lot of professions go unrewarded...my husband is a farmer, and he doesn't really get people saying "thank you so much for those zucchini, they must have taken forever to grow"....but I am very lucky that when I deliver a cake, I get so much praise, and excitement it makes all the late nights worth while, and I drive home on the biggest high, with a huge grin on my face. 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUGO!!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Piped Wedding Cake

Piped Wedding Cake by Coco Jo Cakes
Piped Wedding Cake, a photo by Coco Jo Cakes on Flickr.

Both tiers are chocolate mud cake, decorated with teal ribbon and royal icing piped scrolls.

The cake was to have silver monogram letters on the top tier, however on delivery, I was told that there wasn't anything to go on top.....I whipped out my piping bag, and added some more scroll work over the top corners of the cake, but forgot to retake the picture.
Thankfully, I went to school with the photographer, so I am sure she will email me a picture :-)