Cupcake Perfection

This very sophisticated wedding at Ocean International demonstrated exactly how to use black and cream in perfect proportions and shun the traditional white wedding.  Jane’s wedding required two deliveries, one to her house (where I was lucky to sneak a peak at the bridal transformation) with some of the bespoke bonbonniere packages so they could get their photos taken by a professional photographer and of course one to the venue (where I took my less than professional photos!). 

This was my very last wedding for starting my new job and when I went to pick up the stand the next day, the very kind lady at reception told me how much she and everyone else loved the cakes and asked for my card.  I am getting very good at saying sorry lately, between circumstances like this and emails and booking enquiries that I am still fielding I feel like I am letting people down but wedding cakes are very labour intensive and require ones full focus and attention so until I well and truly settle into my new job I will be unavailable for bookings. 

There are still a few cakes for me still to show you from this year so I will be back from time to time to show off more of my less than perfect photography skills!

Just a little catch up post on the day before I start my new job.  Another lovely young bride organising her wedding from afar selected Cupcake Perfection to design and deliver not one cake but 2!  American tradition is for a groom’s cake as well as a wedding cake.  It was not bride Lisa’s intention to follow American tradition for what started out as a solution to satisfy the fruit cake loving and mud cake loving friends and family became a cheeky wink to her husbands addiction to games.  The decorations on this large square cake covered a fabulous fruit cake (well by smell and sight and I must say sadly I didn’t get to try it) baked with love by her Mother-in-Law.    The wedding theme was purple and white and the reception set up was fresh and young with symbols of love abounding – I loved the Mr and Mrs chair covers- fantastic. 

Life is all about experiences and the number of stories you have to tell at the end of your days.  Well that is what I think anyway, so off I go on a new adventure leaving my love of weddings, baking and design aside (well mostly) while I start making some new stories of my own.  

I have been offered a job in the workplace where all of my recipes were first tested – well I guess that the cakes must have tasted alright but seeing as though it is a transport company I am not sure they actually want me for my cakes.  I would like to thank all of my clients, particularly those who pushed my creative boundaries and allowed me to prove to myself that I am more capable than I could have ever conceived.  Thanks as well to Sinful Coffee, Starcut Flowers and Lucy Dillon for Brides who gave me such great opportunities. 

I will continue to be available for a very limited number of bookings for Saturday weddings only.  Stay tuned for upcoming available dates – at this point no availability until November 2010.    In the meantime I will be continuing to blog a back log of work and showcase some real weddings from 2010 as well as look at the latest in event styling trends.

When I am unavailable I am more than happy to recommend to you Francesca at Sugar Siren Mackay

Check out her blog at

http://sugarsirencakesmackay.blogspot.com/

Soft and romantic neutral tones of white, champagne and mushroom were used in this cake to tone in with the beautiful resort setting at Shingely Beach Resort for Aimee’s wedding.

The ceremony was held across the road on the beach front with big white paper lanterns hanging from the trees.  The venue is perfect for an all-in-one event with guests able to stay on site and it is quite private, away from the buzz of Airlie itself.  The setting was just beautiful.

The sun in the afternoon filtered into the dining room and made taking good photos a challenge but hopefully you can still appreciate the stunning hand set swarovski crystal cake toppers made by Crystal Couture.  They are laser cut from stainless steel and as such will last forever without tarnishing.  I think they would be perfect recycled after the wedding by cutting the little legs off them that secure them into the cake and fixing them to your bedroom door – glam!

Kacey and Mick, a lovely young couple from Moranbah were married in Mackay recently.  Organising a wedding from out of town must be challenging but the couple were so organised and knew what they did and didn’t like.  I met with the couple over coffee a good few months before the date and together we designed a tower to tie in to the wedding theme of soft and romantic chic with love birds.  The cake flavours selected were a mixture of white chocolate mango mud and white chocolate bounty, both with vanilla frosting in shades of white, cream, lemon and yellow.

The wedding colour scheme came together beautifully at the reception with cream chair ties and fresh green, lemon, white and cream flowers on the tables.  The couple supplied thier own topper and their florist wired up individual flowers for me to arrange on the top cake.   The little love birds look like they are sitting in a nest of flowers don’t you think.?

This is certainly one of my favourite towers to date, I probably do have too many favourites to list but this one is up there for sure.

If you are looking for an unusual and even quirky cake table then book your reception at Magpies.  Would you believe that Sky’s function room offers brides the option of having thier cake displayed on top of a baby grand piano!!  It looked uber elegant at Lauren’s wedding. 

Lauren’s tower of cakes topped with a rough finish top cake and lovely blown roses (provided by her florist) consisted of both double chocolate cakes with vanilla buttercream and a crust of edible pearls and blonde cakes with pink vanilla buttercream swirls.   Whether guests were chocolate lovers or devotees of fluffy vanilla cake all bases were covered.  

These cakes were for a sweet 16th birthday party.  The birthday girl gave her mum the instructions “no flowers” so we worked lovely berry tones in with black cases and black crystal set bows.  They were a hit.  The cupcakes themselves were blonde flavoured which is a moist and light vanilla cake and they were topped with a generous dose of vanilla frosting.

Renee had the wedding dream team working behind the scenes for her big day.  Sarah of Blossoms and Blooms (counting down the 5 weeks until her first baby arrives and for obvious reasons not working with flowers any more) and Lauren of Lauren’s Blush and Beauty did their thing and the end result was a beautiful bridal party and a beautiful reception.

Renee’s cupcake tower featured a three layered double chocolate top cake filled with chocolate ganache and 66 cupcakes baked in white foil cases in red velvet, vanilla and almond, chocolate chip and double chocolate flavours.  White foil cases were used in place of white paper cases – foil is not transparent and does not show through any of the cake like paper does and thus provides a nice professional display. 

Renee’s bridesmaid’s dresses were the inspiration for the motifs on top of the cupcakes.  Each motif was embossed with a floral pattern and hand set with silver cachous.

Some brides are realising that it is worthwhile ordering takeaway packaging for left over cakes.  This packaging can be decorated like Paula’s (with themed decorations) or Tamsin’s with personalised stickers.  Either way they make cupcakes transportable – kind of like the cake bag for cupcakes.

A nostalgic nod to the soft rainbow coloured bridal parties of the 1960’s, this pastel and frangipani themed wedding cupcake tower is whimsical and something out of the ordinary.  A lovely country couple Tamsin and Bryan were married at the Chalet in Eungella and chose double chocolate and hummingbird cakes so their guests could choose their favorite.  Tamsin told me that the chefs desserts which were part of the catering package were hardly touched in preference to the cupcakes!!  The couple chose take away packaging with personalised stickers so their guests could take dessert home and I made selection of flavours easier by making all the pink and blue cakes double chocolate and the yellow, green and white cakes hummingbird.

It was a hot day, even in Eungella and we had to wait a while for things to cool down before I could set up the cakes.  My buttercream frosting is quite heat tolerant but I never risk it.  The marquee was buzzing with the couple’s relatives setting up the tables and making sure everything was perfect.  I ended up waiting until the ceremony started to set up the cakes so I actually got to see Tamsin walk down the aisle – a rare treat.