Crust & Cream: August 2013

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Uniform modeled cake

Mothers are special,adorable,admirable and role models. A cake for a special Mum, a ten star general......(as she is always addressed). A beautiful surprise from her kids with luv.......

Friday, August 9, 2013

Teju & Gbemis traditional marriage

Love is in the air for the two lovebirds .... A match made in heaven

The family that prays together, stays together.....

Preeeeeeeeettttyyyyy happy bride

Friends usher in the bride.....

Latest addition to the Grooms family.....Gbemis mum takes her new baby Tejumola.....

D cake

Preetttyy

Bride & Groom

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Understanding the Art of Cake making.......

One person recently told me that “it doesn’t take that long to ice a cake.” I understand that the icing of a cake doesn’t take very long, and if that’s all I was doing then it wouldn’t justify a price tag. But…That’s not all that goes into a custom cake.

Let’s say that you want a round cake for a baby shower. You call and tell me about what you’re looking for, and I tell you that I’ll send you some photos for ideas. I do, and you agree to book the cake. Then I go buy the ingredients after planning the shopping list, prep the icings and fillings, prep the decorations, then bake the cake and decorate it.

So there’s a bit more that goes into a cake than just icing it. It’s not just hands-on cake time, either. Before I even start mixing the batter I’ve spent time on the phone, researching designs, doing paperwork and prepping the individual cake components. Not to mention the costs involved with the ingredients themselves, the electricity to power the oven, and the cost of wear on the equipment used to make the cakes.

Look at it this way…If your boss wanted you to give a major presentation, you’d be getting paid for the time that you prepare for it. If it took you two weeks to do your research and get your powerpoint together you’re going to be paid for that time, not just for the half hour it takes to give the presentation.

Grocery stores can sell things that cheap because they use bulk mixes, bake in a large factory situation and ship cakes frozen to the stores. Bakeries in grocery stores are also generally a loss leader for the store…they lure you in so that you’ll spend money on other things while you’re there.

Whether I’m making a wedding cake, a birthday cake, or another special occasion cake, I spend a lot of time on them. Many birthday cakes take as long or longer than wedding cakes to do because they involve more design details. For some reason birthday cakes usually require a lot more communication beforehand, too, so it’s not unusual to spend a total of an hour or so online or on the phone before the birthday cake is even booked!

Booking your cakes at least a week ahead gives us time to give you the best!

Why Do Custom Cakes Cost So Much?

It’s just flour and sugar, right?

Not quite, there’s much more to it.

There so many elements that go into creating your custom cake, the ingredients being only a small part of that but lets start there.

In a standard 3-tier cake which serves 120-150 people, there can be as many as a dozen eggs, 5 pounds of pastry flour, half a cup of real vanilla, several pounds of unsalted butter, several bars of premium chocolate, large quantities of fresh fruit or nuts and more! The filling and buttercream may contain 3 or 4 more pounds of unsalted butter, another dozen or more egg whites, and several pounds of sugar plus the chocolate or fruit to flavor it. If you have a fondant covering, add about 5-8 more pounds of icing sugar and butter.

Now you need equipment. While some of the basics are in nearly every kitchen, not many home bakers have a set of tiered cake pans in various sizes ranging from 6” to 18” (depending on your cake) and an oven that will fit the larger pans, a heavy-duty stand mixer, professional grade food colors and dusts, piping bags with specialty tips, a rolling pin that can roll out a 2 foot diameter circle of fondant, cutters, molds and more. Depending on the design of your cake, there can be hundreds of dollars of specialized tools and molds required. It’s not hard for any baker to spend many thousands of dollars on tools and equipment for their art. There are boards and boxes to safely deliver your cake and a vehicle large enough to securely transport your masterpiece.

In addition, there is the cake artist’s time to bake and create your masterpiece, her (or his) experience, and potentially thousands of dollars and countless hours in workshops, training courses, and conferences spent honing her craft.

You are paying for her baking experience in using recipes that are tasty but can stand up under the weight of being stacked and shaped, structural engineering of the support systems (that need to be there whether your cake is pillared or not), artistry in decorating, sculpting skills in creating a topper or flowers (some flowers can take up to 4 hours each to create), expert delivery and repairs of any mishaps that may happen along the way, and more.

A note about delivery: one of the most risky “cost-saving” ideas I’ve seen is to decline to pay for your cake artist to deliver your cake. She knows how to transport it safely and how to repair any minor damage that may occur. If your cake is pillared, or more than 3 tiers high, delivery is essential, but even for smaller cakes, it can be critical.

Consider also that even the simplest cakes usually take 8-10 hours of time and that more elaborate or difficult designs can take 45+ hours, it’s a wonder that a custom cake isn’t much more expensive. If it were marked up in the same manner as a wedding gown or some of the other services you purchase for your wedding/event, it would be.

Monday, August 5, 2013

In-season wedding cake

There are so many flavors for wedding cakes and groom's cakes today.

Ask any bride or groom what their favorite part of wedding planning is and you'll most likely hear them say, cake tasting. How many times in your life do you get to sit down and sample a multitude of flavors until you have found the one?

Today's wedding and groom's cakes are not as traditional and classic as the 1970s and '80s white-vanilla cakes with white frosting our parents had. When it comes to the flavor and design, husbands- and wives-to-be can practically choose whatever they want. It's their wedding after all.

Here are the most popular and in-season flavors for both the wedding and the groom's cake:

Wedding Cake Flavors

Honorable Mention: While it is still summer, and will be for a few more months, spice cakes are some of the most popular cakes - more so during the fall. Cinnamon, apple, and spice cake flavors pair deliciously with a simple vanilla butter cream or even a chocolate ganache.

Lemon

A lot of brides and grooms want an in-season flavor and citrus, lemon cakes with a lemon curd or vanilla butter cream frosting are all the rage for summer weddings. The sweet and tart lemon cake paired with a refreshing, tart and smooth lemon curd is perfect for the season. Many brides and grooms like to add fresh fruit to the cakes, such as raspberries, blueberries and strawberries for a nice complementary flavor.

While this is a popular wedding cake flavor, sometimes the groom's cakes will be lemon because the bride cannot resist having chocolate in the main cake. Ain't nothing wrong with that.

Chocolate may seem unconventional, but it is a popular flavor for a lot of wedding cakes.

Chocolate

Which brings me to the next popular wedding cake flavor - chocolate. This is definitely non-traditional, but if the couple loves chocolate, then who should tell them no? Many brides will choose to pair the chocolate cake with a fudge filling, chocolate ganache and even mocha mousse. Go big or go home, right? Janice Jucken of Three Brothers Bakery says, "I did a seven layer mocha cake for my wedding. Each layer had mocha and fudge in it."

In fact, many wedding cakes today pair two flavors into one cake by stacking different cake flavors on top of each other so each slice has both. Nadine Moon of Who Made The Cake! says, "We have a lot of brides, especially if they are not doing a groom's cake, do a combination flavor." Many times the cake will have white cake with chocolate cake, or cinnamon with chocolate. Having more than one flavor in a cake gives guests more options in one slice, too.

Carrot Cake

Why not go with a fun cake flavor for a fun cake? Carrot cake is such an unexpected flavor to have at a wedding, especially if you are expecting to have chocolate for the groom's cake. But, if the wedding cake has a bold flavor like chocolate, fudge or caramel, it's appropriate to contrast that cake with something light. The spices in the carrot cake are perfect for the fall and winter, and the soft cream cheese frosting makes it perfect for the summer or spring.

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

If a groom wants a chocolate cake, he usually goes all out for it, and that means chocolate is used in every way, shape and form. From the chocolate cake to the chocolate filling to the chocolate frosting, most groom's cakes are covered head to toe in the decadent flavor. For a little variation, some grooms will choose to add caramel or cinnamon to the chocolate. If they are going to add a fruit, raspberries are the number one pick, just as they are preferred on a wedding cake. Garcia says that strawberries, while they may seem popular, are not the number one pick for fruit, and cherries are too strong for some people's taste, but raspberries come out on top as the choice berry.

Red Velvet

Who can resist the classic Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting? Usually a groom's cake is smaller than the wedding cake, so it is easy to decorate with a cream cheese frosting. Not only does the cake taste incredible, but it is colored. And Red Velvet is always a crowd-pleaser in Texas.

What flavor would you like to taste in your wedding cake?