Whew! It’s been a full week since the end of Pride, and I’m finally recovered enough to post. Err… well maybe a little procrastination was involved… whatever! The funny thing is, the day after Pride, my head was just swimming with all the stuff I had to post about.. now, a week later.. it doesn’t seem so intimidating! I just hope I don’t forget anything! Anyway, Pride was – as always – a total blast. It was a lot less work this year – last year I was the florist, and had to decorate 3 separate ceremony areas, as well as pump out custom boutonnieres all day, both days.. all the while doing the contracts for hubby’s photography!
This year, the big stress came from baking for a couple of celebrities!
Yup, the headliner’s at this year’s concert were En Vogue and Deborah Cox! Woo! I was a big fan back in the day, so I was pretty stoked about being asked to create a goodies tray for their personal green room (a funky private apartment overlooking Loring Park.. pretty sweet!)
After much fretting over what the menu would be, here is what I ultimately created for them: Blood Orange / Cardamom Dark Chocolate Truffles, Chai Nanaimo Bars, Noelles, Butter Tarts, Bananas Foster Pralines.
I included a cute little menu, as well as a personal note. I’ll have to find a photo of the set up!
Aside from baking for the stars, I also provided cake for all of the couples who had commitment ceremonies over the weekend. All of the couples who booked private ceremonies were treated to Rainbow Marbled Amaretto Cupcakes, and 2 large sheet cakes of the same were served to those participating in the mass commitment ceremony on the Sunday.
First off, the rainbow marble idea? It came to me one day in a Blockbuster store, while we were checking out some movies. I have NO idea what triggered that idea, but within 5 minutes of the lightbulb going on, I had enthusiastic approval from Pride’s Executive Director to go ahead with that craziness, so it was all good.
Here is a photo of the cupcakes we did for the private ceremonies. I cut the tops off each, filled with our delicious Swiss Meringue Buttercream, then fashioned “butterfly wings” out of the tops, placing them in the frosting.
Serving the sheet cakes was a freaking mobscene! I’ve never seen cake go so fast. I wonder if there’s a Guiness World record available for the fastest serving of sheet cake? I may have been a contender! LOL! Here is a photo that was taken *after* it died down quite a bit:
Hrm, what else to blog about? Oh! The fake cake!
This is the cake we designed to be displayed at the ceremony site, as well as alongside the serving of the sheet cakes. It was based on their advertising themes for the year, and really impressed alot of them. I guess they were shocked that their florist could do cake! LOL. I’m happy to report that the cake survived the weekend, and will likely be displayed for years to come in the Pride History Pavillion. The plan is to make them a new fake cake each year… each reflecting the current theme. Can’t wait to see what next year’s theme is.. and I’m SO disappointed that I missed some of the themes from previous years!
I think that’s it for now… can’t wait till next year!
