I did a post about a month ago about old school cartoon cakes we’ve done at Twiggs.  Well, last weekend we had a couple of more and they turned out so great, I decided to put them on the blog.  And they really highlight how cartoons are for kids of all ages.

Joan was turning 80.  Her friends wanted something very “youthful” for her and decided to get a cake with the venerable Betty Boop on top.  I had to smile as I was taking the order as I don’t exactly think Ms. Boop makes a cake look “youthful.”   To me, it makes the cake look more “vintage,” as you have to be of a certain age to even know who she is.  But her friends were excited about the idea and I wasn’t about to rain on their parade.  The cake turned out great.

Now from 80 to 8.   Dylan is a big fan of DC Comics superheroes, so his mom wanted a cake with Spiderman, Batman and Captain America on his cake.  Emily did a fantastic job on decorating this one.  It’s one of the best cartoon cakes Twiggs has done.

Below are the cakes.  You can click on them to see larger images.

I grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina.  There were some woods behind our house and the neighborhood kids believed there were “hellcats” living in the woods.  According to the legend, if you were caught by the hellcats they’d steal your underwear.   One day my brother John was walking through the field beside our house and found a random pair of underwear.  He grew wild-eyed, screamed “HELLCATS” and ran home as fast as he could. 

I told this story to the kitchen staff one day and it just sort of caught on and became a running joke in the bakery.  Tony, our fantastic breakfast cook, keeps threatening to make a “Hellcat Scramble” special one day.   My birthday was this week and the staff surprised me with a dinner party.  Bernie got me out of the bakery during the afternoon on the pretense we needed to take a half day off and go to the zoo.  While we did, the staff came into the kitchen and cooked a great dinner.  Then they surprised me by coming to our house with dinner.  To end the meal, of course we had to have a cake.  Emily had made a Hellcat birthday cake — complete with a hellcat holding a pair of tightie whities on top of the cake.   I loved it.   It was a great birthday.

We get a wide variety of cake orders here at Twiggs.  It keeps the job interesting to do different things each weekend.  This post is sort of a hodgepodge of cakes we’ve done in the last week. 

The first is a cake to celebrate a Naval Commission.  The mom, Nancy, lives in the midwest so everything for this order was done over the phone.  She selected us based on a recommendation of a friend who lives here in San Diego.  I actually got to meet Nancy and her son when I delivered the cake.  He was very surprised and she was thrilled.  I got a great note from her about a few days after.  The cake was two tiered and featured a draped American flag and a Naval emblem.  The picture is below.

Next are two kid’s cakes (my favorites).  Domo was pretty easy to make, but mom was so happy with the cake she came back the next day to get breakfast and thank me personally.  That’s rare, honestly, and greatly appreciated.  The second cake is for a little girl who loves puppies.  I love the whimsical fun in cakes like this.  They just make me smile.

 Finally, as a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, I was a little chagrined to make a cake featuring the logo of one of our rivals, Clemson.   Still, the tiger paw was pretty easy to finish so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time dwelling on being a traitor to my alma mater. 

So without further ado, here they are:  (if you want to see a larger image, just click on the picture)

It’s with a heavy heart I write this entry.  Okay, that’s a melodramatic start, but I genuinely am sad about this.  Twiggs has been doing wedding cakes at the Park Manor Suites for over 10 years.  It’s really been one of my favorite venues.  Park Manor Suites is adjacent to Balboa Park right on 6th Avenue.  The venue is the penthouse of the hotel — the 7th floor with a roof deck that provides spectacular views of downtown San Diego and the park.  The room was refurished about 3 years ago and just looks great.  It’s been a fantastic venue for weddings and other events.

Jim Harmon, the venue coordinator, is the best venue coordinator I have personally dealt with.  Jim’s been like a little mother hen overseeing weddings there — and I mean that in the kindest way.  He really has taken ownership of every wedding there.  And he’s been a great friend to us, referring us often.  Sadly, the hotel got sold this year to a group that’s turning it into a Time Share.  That’s right, a time share.  Ugh.  Rather than continue making money from the venue, they’ve decided the penthouse will make great offices and really help sell the time shares.  I think someone just wants a great office.   The last events at Park Manor Suites will be in December and that’s it. 

We’ve got one more wedding there, but last weekend Ana and Julio got married there and we did their cake.  Ana was a bundle of fun and energy and had a playful design for her wedding cake.  So here it is . . . the next to last wedding cake Twiggs will ever deliver to Park Manor Suites.  *sob*

One of the great, quintessential Southern California venues is the Scripps Seaside Forum at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla Shores.  Since all beaches in California are public by law, it can be tough to find an oceanfront venue that has some privacy and doesn’t have the unwashed masses walking past your wedding in their bikinis and wet suits.  Scripps Seaside Forum (and it’s older sister venue, the charming Martin Johnson House) are unique in that they’re on the tops of cliffs that overlook the ocean.  So anyone walking on the beach or in the ocean is way below you and not looking into your wedding.  You actually have privacy and a fantastic Pacific ocean setting — quite hard to find.   Plus the venue is brand new;  it opened about 2 years ago.  It’s a very contemporary building with a huge wall of glass looking out to the ocean.  It has a great lawn between the building and the edge of the cliff, so that’s a great place to have your ceremony and initial cocktail reception.

Although it’s brand new, it’s no secret.  I understand it’s almost completely booked for the next year and a half, so you really need to plan way ahead to use this venue.  But, of course, there are always cancellations, so you should contact them anyway just to see if something’s available.  We booked one bride and when we asked how they chose their wedding date, she said it was the only date available at Scripps Seaside Forum that year.  Here’s a link to info about the venue:  http://www.sio.ucsd.edu/About/Venue_Rentals/Scripps_Forum/

The last two weekends have featured a weddding cake from Twiggs at the Seaside Forum!  Our picture from two weekends ago was sort of washed out by the sun, but the one from this past weekend turned out well.  Karilyn wanted a contemporary cake in aqua and green that featured the patterns from her very contemporary invitations.  Karilyn and her bridesmaids actually showed up at the site when we were finishing setting up the cake.  That’s rare;  usually I never see the bride.  She seemed thrilled the cake, which makes it all worthwhile.