        
February 4th, 2008
Like many online business owners, I get a LOT of email. Questions about ordering, RSVPs for tastings, fan mail, questions about tecnhiques from fellow cake decorators, and more. Lately I’ve been getting a lot of email on the same two subjects. Given recent lack of inspiration for blog entries, I figured this would be a great topic for a new entry!
The two subjects? The photography on my website, and the clear cake stands I use. Interestingly enough, the two are related! You see, I’m not really a one person operation - my husband helps me a lot with the non-baking stuff. He is the one who takes the professional photos of my work, and he also builds custom stands for me!
My husband is actually a professional photographer - mostly weddings, but getting more into product photography. He is the proprietor behind Happenstance Photography (www.happenstancephoto.com). Read the rest of this entry »
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December 21st, 2007
Wow, it’s been over a month since our last blog, about time we write about SOMETHING, huh? I figure today would be as good a time as any to address something that is a bit of a mystery to some people.. fondant!
Now, if you’ve read about fondant at all, you’ll already know that in some circles, it has a bit of a bad rap. I think I’ll start by explaining that. Read the rest of this entry »
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December 20th, 2007
The following appeared as part of the “What’s Cooking”/”Front Burner” page of the Taste Section today:
She’s fond of fondant
For Marie Porter, it’s been a natural progression from designing wedding gowns to wedding florals and now to wedding cakes. And what cakes! She’s parlayed her bartender skills into boozy concoctions such as Southern Belle (peaches and Southern Comfort) and Bananas Foster (crème de banana and rum), but also offers an unusual chai spice cake, along with variations on more traditional chocolate and lemon cakes. Her website, www. celebrationgenerationcakes. com, includes some eye-popping photos of her fondant designs, including a “Coach Bag” and a brown-and-green coating that resembles military camouflage. Prices (minimum order to serve 100) begin at $450. Celebration Generation Cakes also offers cookies, tarts and truffles. She’s based in Princeton, Minn., but serves the Twin Cities. Call 612-388-9409 or e-mail cakes@ celebrationgeneration.com.
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November 18th, 2007
A couple of days ago, I participated in the Kare 11 OnLive Potluck. Crazy amounts of fun!
A few of their regulars met at the studio for some online/OnLive chat, and a potluck to follow. I knew it was going to be a lot of fun, but I didn’t know I’d be filming a commercial, OR that I’d walk out with my very own catchphrase!
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Posted in Media Coverage, News & Events | 1 Comment »
November 11th, 2007
Whew. What a party!
Last night was my friend Mandi’s birthday. This is the woman who went from hiring me - as a complete stranger - to becoming my favorite client EVER, to the person who started me off in the HUGE change of career from flowers to cakes.. to a good friend. One of the sweetest, most fun people I’ve known, and she’s like a little sister to me.
Her husband is great too, and he planned this party as a surprise for her. To be honest, I wasn’t sure he’d manage to pull it off. She’d ASKED him to plan a surprise party (kinda makes that difficult!), she lives next door to one person that was instrumental in pulling it off, and works with someone else! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in News & Events, Brides | No Comments »
November 11th, 2007
Once a month, my husband and I get together with 20-30 of our friends for a big dinner party. Our friend Ken is an AMAZING cook, and it’s a lot of fun. A good variety of people go, from little kids to some elderly folks, so as far as guinea pigs go… it doesn’t get much better. These are the lucky people who were present for the birth of the Bananas Foster cake a month ago. Read the rest of this entry »
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November 10th, 2007
My husband’s best friend had his birthday yesterday, so I welcomed the opportunity to experiment with a flavor I’d dreamed up. I’m waiting on a photo of a slice of the cake, but the finished cake can be seen in my “less traditional” gallery as “Funky Birthday”. Why I forgot to take a photo of the slice is beyond me, especially given the amount of emails my Bananas Foster photo and description generated!
This cake started with my delicious Amaretto white cake as the base. I made a syrup out of peach syrup and Southern Comfort, and brushed that onto the leveled slices of the cake
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October 29th, 2007
Wow! What a crazy weekend!About 2 weeks ago, we were asked to provide a sick amount of goodies for a convention we were already planning to attend… in CHICAGO! A whirlwind of planning, swearing, and baking ensued, resulting in 300 or so decorated cookies, 560 servings of cake (4 tired cakes of various heights), 200 mini cupcakes, and 1500 of our gourmet cookies. Read the rest of this entry »
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October 20th, 2007
A carved birthday cake for a reality tv star! Shawn Bakken (of Beauty & the Geek fame) is a soccer playing Scout leader.
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October 14th, 2007
So, I’d like to introduce our latest flavor offering: Bananas Foster!
This started off with a moist rum and cinnamon cake. I made a traditional bananas foster as a filling - bananas, creme de banane liqueur, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pecans, and lots of rum! It was finished off with a brown sugar buttercream. The entire cake should have served 56 people.. but 25 or so people finished it off within minutes!
About the title of this blog.. I had leftover filling, and it was just tooooo good to waste.. so I piled it on top of the cake. Later that evening when we were about to serve it, my inner pyromaniac emerged, and we decided to try to set the cake on fire. Bananas Foster IS supposed to be served flambed afterall!
Well, either I cooked the alcohol off, it soaked in too much, evaporated, or just plain wasn’t high enough proof.. for whatever reason, we were unsuccessful in igniting it. Set the cake stand on fire for a brief moment, though! Good times.
I was pretty disappointed - a picture of a flaming cake would have been a wonderful addition to this blog! So, we’ll be doing a re-do at some point, with some modifications made to accomplish that one simple goal - a flaming cake. I will post photos when we do!
In the meantime, the cake earned rave reviews, and the weirdest compliment I’ve ever received. “I’d order a whole one of these if I wanted to kill myself!”. I was a bit taken aback by such a comment (from a sweet old man, at that!).. but then he explained it as a way to go by eating so much, that he loved it. LOL!!
I LOVE experimenting with new flavors, and I am thrilled at how this one turned out!
Posted in News & Events, Cakes | No Comments »
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