We were asked earlier in the month if we were interested in submitting some photos to Chatelaine for their 14 days of cupcakes. what did we say? Well heck yes, of course!

Who doesn't want to be featured?!

After taking shot after shot i reread the email where it (clearly) states- one shot looking down, one looking straight ahead.

Boo.

Jenn went to town with her artistic creativity and her fancy camera.

So here are just a few of the shots we took that we couldn't submit.

Yum!

Check it all out here!

Here are some pretty shots care of Bond over at BLF Studios, one of Winnipeg's talented photographers. Man, we've got talent in this city, let me tell you...

wordless friday anyone?....

Up to my ears in cake and fondant, but wanted to keep at the ole' blog.

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, thanks for coming by!

happy movember!

doing our part to help save the boys we love!

grow a stash to help raise awareness, or buy a Guinness stout cupcake with Irish cream butter cream to show you REALLY care.

everyone we sell we will donate $1 to Prostate Cancer Canada

check out movember.com to see what you can do

(should growing a stash not be your cup of tea...)

how do YOU get to work?

Fancy motorcycle perhaps?

Monster trucks?

Personally, I favor my submarine.

My yellow submarine.

Where we all live :)

my very first cakewreck inspried cake...

I used to love Highlight magazines when I was a kid. Those pages where they would get you to try to find a number of things wrong with a picture. There's 6 in the above, can you catch 'em all?

if held, this may melt in your hand...my apologies...

Thought I'd post some more pics just for fun on this long weekend. If you are like me, you are stuck in the city, covered in paper work, when all I want is to be covered in sunscreen. But diligently, I'm trucking thru. Business start-up is tough but at least it won't be in this phase forever.
And September is so underrated! See you at the beach then :)

gumpaste goodness

I have decided I will take some fine arts classes this fall. I need to learn to sculpt. I could use some help with sketching. I'd also like to work on water colours and painting. And of course creating miniature versions of customers children in gum paste.
There's a class for that, no?

local love

Anyone who knows me or that has seen me in the last couple of weeks has either seen me completely stressed out or gushing about our locals.

I prefer the latter, obviously...

Whether it's been Brian from the Exchange Biz getting his hands on anything chocolate, or Bryson from the Line Up, Bonnie from My Secret Garden or Mariver from Where the Wool Things Are; I love the familiar faces and smiles everyday. And you all are so darn nice and supportive! It's so great to work in an area full of hustle and bustle. There are literally hundreds of you already. The couple of young ladies who come in everyday with shiny loonie in hand for their one cakette, the shy guy with what seems to be quite a daily cupcake habit.

One night I even found this...
how's that for awesome? thanks Jessica :)

And then there's the imperialists. I think we may need to start a frequent buyer card.
Or perhaps a support group...
or both...

Anyway, the photo above is a bit of an order I did for the Craft Councils AGM (who are close by, thanks gang!) Super cute little balls of wool (Mariver those were for you :) I've seen all kinds of crafty cupcakes and cakes on line and was itching to do my own and it seemed like the perfect fit.

butter cream...

Oh sweet, sweet butter cream.
So unpretentious.
So comforting.
So delicious.
As I've talked about before, fondant is lovely, but also something that seems to be trending out of popularity. As the trends of weddings and gatherings have returned to more natural, organic settings, so have cakes and sweets. While formal hotel weddings are still the norm here in Winnipeg, it's nice to see some of you using venues that are creative outdoor spaces. Barns, ranches, old country homes. All begging the handmade touch. Simple details, yet details that are intentional, like hand picked bouquets, vintage linens and clever shoes.

Unclear about the shoes? Seriously, check out these...

How's that for your something blue...
(photo courtesy of Sterling Images, here in Winnipeg)

I adore that both the bride and groom matched their foot ware. So cute.
(photo posted on GreenWeddingShoes, (seriously gorgeous weddings) taken by Marianne Lozano out of California)

But enough of the shoes! More butter cream!

Ahh, the Swiss meringue butter cream.
Truly lovely.
And it is so easy to make smooth, a real delight to work with.

Don't you just want to stick your finger in it? Swipe a finger full? Suddenly I'm 4 again and waiting until the coast is clear, adults are busy drinking coffee, cake waiting for me...
So don't feel confined, have your cake and eat it too :P

So you own your own biz. Congrats! Business is tough (I can vouch for this personally!). Customers are happy, business is booming, staff are working hard. But are they happy? Like really happy?

You should send them cake :)
Or in this case, 12 cakes.

I would be happier if my boss sent me cake. Or 12 of them.

All right, so I have to admit, I did a lot of google searching this past week for the weekend cakes.

Hannah Montana? No idea...
Vincent Van Gogh? Not so bad, but needed some help.
Nascar? No clue.

So a big thank-you to the makers of the internet. You know who you are. Mr. Flickr, Mrs. Google. The rest of the bunch. Without you, I would be making cutesy little cars, probably with faces...

Not like this car (my apologies for the fuzziness, my camera is quickly dying).
This is Tony Stewart's actual car. We shrunk it down with my shrinky-dink potion in the oven


....seriously.

water lily inspired cake, little bubbles...
refreshing lemon cake, lemon butter cream filling and finished in a pale pink cream cheese icing

princess jessica

ahhh, to be four.
Princess's are so real, the thought of being one, not so outlandish, and wearing that tutu puffy skirt to the grocery store? Completely acceptable. In our house, it's even encouraged.

I was excited to make this little ensemble for an old friend's daughter (isn't the world of facebook wonderful?) 6" banana cake, topped with a fondant crown and matching cupcakes for her little princess friends and guests.

I received an email asking if I was familiar with the work of Eric Carle. Boy am I. Regardless of if I think my girls will enjoy the book, I buy it simply for the art work. His images are so clean and basic, yet the detail within say the bear, orange or flower is exquisite. Layers of colour and texture; just awesome. So I jumped at the chance to do a cake and cupcake set for a birthday this past weekend. A 6" cake featuring none other than the Very Hungry Caterpillar himself, then two layers of cupcakes featuring all the weeks worth of food he ate. The cupcakes are a variety of flavours, all topped with a swirl of vanilla butter cream. Then I made fondant disks and painted the fruits on using food coloring. The caterpillar and cake is done in fondant.

Oh butter cream, I am beginning to fall back in love with you... This little gem is not only done all in butter cream, the entire thing is done without any milk or milk products. Everyone should be able to enjoy cake! The cake is zesty lemon with a layer of raspberry preserves, then finished in butter cream.

Fozzy brought a friend! Couple weeks back I did a Fozzy the Bear cake, now it seems he's been chatting up his appearance on cakes with his friends. Kermit gives me a call and sure enough, needs to be featured as well. I have a feeling with the number of characters on the Muppet Show that I'll be busy for awhile....

On a side note, for those who don't really really love fondant, this cake was done in butter cream, with the characters cut out from fondant. Bit of both worlds...Best part though is the flavour combo, our personal favorite in our house; spice cake with butter tart filling....

Here's a Sweet 16 cake for all you teens out there. Sweet and simple, pink and brown.

Changing things up a little from my usual work, this cake is finished in butter cream. The flowers are done in fondant though. Couldn't break away altogether, must ween myself gradually :)

The plaque is done in a disk of custom molded Callebaut chocolate. All the piping is done in mocha butter cream, the numbers are done in fondant as well. he cake it self is chocolate and done with vanilla butter cream. Sweet.

Lessons taken away from my first wedding cake for 2009. Take pictures at home when I can control the lighting. Sigh. This picture is sadly the best of the worst. It simply doesn't do it justice. Often I like to take pictures of the cake in amidst the grandeur of the reception room. A dark dreary day and a very heavily curtained room did not help my case.

Fortunately for me though, this cake was a referral from the wedding photographer, who is a friend of mine. You can see her stunning work here.

The cake itself is marble with cream cheese icing. It is finished in all butter cream, and speckled with white Callebaut chocolate dipped strawberries.

My cupcakes this weekend were feeling extra photogenic, thus explaining the batch oh photos. I also found some gorgeous fabric and wanted to show it off a little :) We have here chocolate cupcakes, vanilla butter cream swirls, fondant decorations and blue sanding sugar. Yum!