I did a recent blog post about the “weekend of unusual wedding cakes.”  I could almost title this past weekend the “weekend of  minimalist wedding cakes.”  Almost every wedding had little to no design on the cake with fresh flowers being the main decoration.   Those are easy cakes for us to get done as the time spent frosting the cakes is minimal, which is the main reason we were able to do 9 weddings.  But we had a couple of unique cakes this weekend. 

Bernadette and Michael were having their reception at the Ultimate Skybox next to Petco Park.  I’ve written a blog post specifically about the Skybox as a venue;  it’s a great one (the venue, that is — not my blog post).  Bernadette had an inspiration picture of a cake that had an Eiffel Tower painted on the cake in a very rough, casual way.  I’m no painter, but I can certainly replicate that rough, quickly drawn feel.  It’s a little daunting to put brush to cake, as once it’s on, it’s on.  But it turned out pretty cool and was certainly unique.

Blake and Frankie got married at the Dana in Mission Beach — another great, contemporary venue.  Frankie’s a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan, so Blake wanted to surprise him with some sort of Dodgers’ themed groom’s cake.  I gave her a few options  including a logo on top of a round cake and a 2-D Dodger jersey.  The most expensive option was a 3-D replica of Dodger stadium.  Blake immediately fell in love with that idea after seeing the Ohio State Stadium replica we did.  We had so many weddings booked for that day, I told Blake I needed to think about whether I could sign us up for that project.  After looking over the bookings and seeing how simple most of the cakes would be to decorate, my main assistant Emily and I agreed we could do it.  This was Emily’s project and she did a great job.   I talked to the coordinator and she reports that Blake was happy with the cake and Frankie was quite surprised.  It had to be a real conversation piece at the wedding.

Hornblower sells a wedding package that includes the wedding cake.  There are a couple of cake vendors to choose from and I wouldn’t be writing about Hornblower if Twiggs wasn’t one of the options.  We’ve actually been with Hornblower for over 10 years now and we’ve seen about 7-8 other bakeries come and go in that time as other cake vendor options.    The unique thing about delivering to a boat is that you HAVE to be on time with your delivery.  If you’re too late, the reception site has set sail and there’s just no way to get the cake to the reception without the boat returning to dock.  At least one bakery got the boot due to consistent delivery problems.  I won’t name that bakery though I suppose it doesn’t matter, as they went out of business a few years back.  All the other bakeries that were options all dropped out by their own choice because delivering to a yacht is a complete pain in the neck at times.  You have to go out on a dock which generally has a locked gate.  Then you’re pushing your cart carrying the cake down the dock which is generally a very bumpy ride that jars the cake considerably.  But I’ve made peace with the delivery hassle of boat deliveries a few years ago as we get a lot of weddings through Hornblower.  This past weekend, for instance, we had three weddings with Hornblower.

Certainly no blog post is complete without a picture, so here’s a cake we delivered yesterday to a Hornblower yacht called The Emerald — probably the boat we deliver to the most.  When I was assigning decorating assignments for the weekend, I knew I sure as heck didn’t want to decorate this cake so I assigned it to unsuspecting Emily.  She about had a nervous breakdown piping all the dots.  I told her to think of it as a zen experience — mindlessly repeating the same task over and over to reach enlightenment, but that didn’t seem to work for her.  Still, when all was said and done and Emily’s hand had cramped up for the 10th time, the tedium was worth it.  The cake just looked fantastic.

Rebecca and David were getting married at the Martin Johnson House.  Rebecca had found a cake she adored in Martha Stewart.  Rebecca’s dream cake was a 7 tier fondant covered cake that would have fed 175-200 people.  Their wedding, however, was for 80.  I ended up already having the same stencils that had been used on the magazine cake, so I did a scaled down version of the cake featuring their wedding colors — a deep purple and gray.  When I got to the reception site, the florist had white hydrangeas and purple sweet peas to finish the cake.  I thought it looked great.

The next cake went to Park Manor Suites.  I’ve written a couple of blog posts about Park Manor and the story has changed about their future once again.  Initially, they were closing this venue and converting to time shares.  Then they were going to keep this venue open, but close the hotel to time share only.  Now the hotel will remain a hotel.  It’s owned by a time share company and will be available to their time-share holders as an option to vacation at, but it will also be open to the general public as a regular hotel.  The hotel is undergoing a major renovation and that renovation includes a complete remodel of the top floor / penthouse used as the wedding venue.  I had to stop and do a double take when I walked off the elevator.  The room used to have a very classic elegance.  Now it’s extremely modern and contemporary.  It still looks fantastic — just in a very different way.  It’s now all gray with white accents.  Gemma, the bride, took this into account when she designed her cake.  The cake was white with gray ribbon and branches with yellow flowers, similar to forsythia.  The cake looked like it was made for the room and really popped.

Finally, the last cake I delivered Saturday went to the serene Estancia in La Jolla.  The bride wanted a very unusual set-up.  I’ve done this offset stacking a few times and it’s always a tad unnerving, but I was the most relaxed doing this one that I’ve been yet.  Organic Elements did the flowers and they just did a great job.  It was a very unique wedding cake, for sure, and had to be a conversation piece during the reception.

The first was a bit of a construction challenge.  As happens many times, the bride brought in an “inspiration picture” of a cake she loved and wanted replicated.  Sometimes these “inspiration cakes” are something out of Martha Stewart that someone spent 4 days decorating and would easily cost $10,000.  We’ve yet to have a bride with that kind of budget for her cake.  Fortunately, this inspiration cake was reasonable to do within the bride’s budget.  The challenge came from the double tall tiers.  They’re really not difficult to do.  I just get nervous when I deliver these cakes as the taller tiers are much more likely to topple over during transit.  Fortunately, this one arrived in tact.  We made the sugar flowers and the bride provided the peacock feathers.  If I’m completely honest, peacock feathers aren’t really my thing — but as my wedding cake mantra goes — it’s the bride and groom’s wedding, not mine.  If they want peacock feathers on their cake, then I’m putting peacock feathers on their cake.  I will say that peacock feathers seem to be coming into vogue now.  I’ve done several cakes with them in the last few months and we have several booked in the future with them.  They’re such showy adornments.  All decked out with it’s peacock feathers, the cake looked quite handsome and seemed anxious to show off for the wedding guests.

Next is a design we’ve done many, many times.  Chocolate branches climb up the cake with flowers “growing” on the branches.  Typically brides use fresh flowers and the cake has a casual, yet elegant and organic feel.  This bride, however, wanted sugar flowers in red to match the color theme of her wedding.  The sugar flowers look great too, but add a slightly more formal look to the cake.  I thought it looked great waiting to show off in it’s prime spot between buffet line and seating.

Finally a simple cake with a dense, symmetrical pattern of dots.  The busier the pattern, the fewer flowers you need otherwise it starts looking like overkill.  I thought this simple cake looked perfect.  Just what the bride was looking for.

First up is a Noah’s Ark for a baby shower.  It turned out super cute and the expecting parents were really happy with it.   Then there’s a two tiered cake with an elephant silhouette for a first birthday that the mom was quite specific about.  All the design elements were taken from the invitation to the birthday party.  I’m always a little leary of people who are extremely specific and detailed with their orders as I wonder if reality won’t match their vision and they’ll be disappointed.  But this mom was thrilled and said “it’s exactly what I had in mind!”  Whew!  Finally a simple, but cute, cake with featuring Elmo along with a little smash cake with Elmo on top as well. 

Thank goodness people love their kids.  I think the number of cakes we do would easily be cut in half if we didn’t have orders for kids’ cakes.  So the pictures are below.  Noah’s Ark is full size.  You can click on the other two to see bigger images.  As always, thanks for checking out the blog!

So what should you think about regarding your wedding cake if you’re having an outdoor wedding?  Here are things I’ve learned after delivering cakes for over 20 years:

1- Direct sunlight is the death of any buttercream frosted cake.  I know at least one bakery that refuses to do a buttercream frosted cake for any outdoor wedding.  But our buttercream frosted cakes will be fine as long as they’re in the shade.  Even if it’s upper 60′s, direct sunlight will ruin a cake.  It’s absolutely essential that your cake is in the shade.  If shade just isn’t an option for some reason, you’ll have to get a fondant covered cake.  I know fondant is more expensive and a lot of people don’t like fondant.  But you made the decision to have an outdoor wedding, not us!  Your buttercream frosted cake will NOT survive in direct sunlight unless it’s 55 degrees or colder.  And if it’s that cold, the wedding cake is the least of your worries with your outdoor wedding.

2- ants can be a real issue.  Do Not let the table cloth touch the ground.  Put the table legs in cups that are filled with water.  This way ants can not climb up onto the table and onto the cake.  I’ve delivered to some places where the table is already swarming with ants because they didn’t follow one of these two directives.  At that point, all hope is lost.

3- flying insects can be a problem.  We’re very fortunate in San Diego to have very few bugs.  But there are some places that have quite a few.  I’ve found anything near vineyards, especially, to be particularly buggy.  So what’s your option?  I’ve delivered to a few weddings that had the cake in a small pergula with mosquito netting around it.  But really, flying bugs aren’t a huge problem in San Diego.  Even the vineyards aren’t THAT bad as long as your cake is 15 yards or so removed from the vines.  Just don’t set your cake up next to a grapevine or horse corral.  Don’t laugh, I’ve done both.

4- if you’re near the ocean or the bay, you just have to have someone on seagull guard duty.  There’s one bayfront venue I deliver to (which shall go nameless) which has a real issue with HUGE seagulls that will swoop down when no one’s looking.  Make sure your caterer or one of your friends is standing on-guard by the cake table if seagulls are around.  Once a crowd gathers, they’re not so likely to attack.  But before the guests arrive is a real danger zone time.

5- as long as you’re in a coastal area with ocean breezes, you’ll be great with a buttercream frosted cake as long as it’s in the shade.  If you’re in Lakeside, however, in July with potential 100 degree weather, you’ll have to get a fondant covered cake.  Sorry, but the melting point of butter is about 96 degrees.  Don’t let a melting wedding cake be a sad metaphor for your future life together.

I think that covers the main points.  I hope they’re helpful.  If you get nothing else from this blog post get this:  NEVER SET YOUR WEDDING CAKE IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT!  

Finally, no blog post is complete without pictures.  Here are some cakes we’ve set up outside which had very happy existences.  The two on the first row were both set up at the Darlington House in La Jolla — a fantastic outdoor venue (as long as you’re not hung up on an ocean view).  The lower left picture is from Piatti’s restaurant in La Jolla Shores.  They have a lovely outdoor patio for smaller weddings.   The bottom right with the ducks in the nest topper is from the Martin Johnson House at UCSD Scripps Institute of Oceanography — one of my absolute favorite venues.  Actually, all three of these venues are personal favorites.    Click on any picture to see a larger view.

Shanna had worked for Twiggs for a year and a half (nearly 11 years in the real world!) and had become a very valuable member of our bakery staff.  She began as a novice who had a culinary degree and had made cakes from her home.  I’m a bit leary of hiring home bakers as working in a commercial kitchen is a completely different animal than working at home.  The main difference is the speed you need to work at in a commercial setting.  Even the most successful home bakers will have at most 3 cakes in one weekend.  Most have 1 to 2.  We’re fortunate that we’re very busy.  In a typical weekend we’ll have  3-6 wedding cakes and 20 or so other orders.  There’s basically four of us working on cakes and you really need to work at a quick pace to get everything done.  Shanna had evolved into a great baker who worked quickly.  But Shanna has a new family and working every weekend became a big problem for her.  So she’s off to another field to work Monday – Friday.  I’ll miss Shanna and wish her nothing but the best.

As fate would have it, Zach applied for a job with us right at the time Shanna was resigning.  There’s a synchronicity in this world that I’ve learned to pay attention to.  People submit applications to Twiggs all the time wanting to work in our bakery.  I decided I needed to pay particular attention to an application that just happened to come in right when we’re looking for someone — which isn’t that often.

Zach was another person who’d done cakes out of his home and his portfolio was very impressive.  So we welcomed Zach into the fold and he’s started off with a bang.  Below are three of the first cakes Zach has done for us.  There’s a train cake for a little guy named Ian who’s fascinated with trains and a Channel purse that came out great.  But the most impressive is a cake based on the movie “Scarface” which just was terrific.   The pictures are below.  You can click on the smaller ones to see a bigger image.

Shanna’s off to a new job.  Zach’s off to a great start with Twiggs.  Life goes on.

I was talking to a florist we work with a lot on weddings.  She was talking about how her corporate orders — which use to be a huge part of her business and then disappeared when the recession hit — have started coming back.  As she said, when corporate orders come back, you know the economy is coming back.  This blog post is devoted to some corporate orders we’ve taken recently.

The first is for a cosmetic company called Makucell.  They were launching a new line of cosmetics under the Renewnt brand name.  They wanted a cake to celebrate the product launch at some industry trade show.  One of their sales reps checked out our website and then called me to see what I could do for them.  With their budget, I suggested a gift box holding the four cosmetics that they were coming out with.  She loved the idea and after clearing the cost with her boss, okayed the order.  She was absolutely thrilled with the final product.  She said she thought they’d change their plans and not cut the cake and just have it on display for the three days for the trade show.  I was a little sad to think the cake wouldn’t be eaten, but hey, they paid for it, they can do with it what they want.  Here’s the cake.  The actual cosmetic bottles are rice cereal treats, but the box is all cake.

Next is an order we got from the local Fox affiliate.  They had a show called “San Diego’s Most Wanted” which was hosted by an FBI agent stationed in San Diego.  The guy was leaving the FBI for the private sector and moving to Washington, DC, so FOX wanted to get him a cake as a send-off.  They told us the cake would be presented on the air.  We watched excitedly the morning the cake was suppose to make it’s local TV debut, only to be bitterly disappointed that it didn’t make it on the air.  They were nice enough to call us and tell us they were extremely happy with the cake, however.  It didn’t make it to local TV, but it’s made it to our blog.  Click on either image to see a larger version.

Finally, a simpler cake.  The KMart in Mission Valley was having some event to thank it’s staff.  They originally called and just asked for a big red K on the cake.  I thought that was a little too simple and suggested they add the little Blue Light Special Guy featured in their ads.  They went for it and loved the cake.  Click on the image to see a bigger one.

That’s it for now.  Until I type again!

And then we had a 2-D cake replicating a Jose Cuervos bottle.  This was actually for some guy in town for a convention.  I have no idea what he does, but his company must really like him as they ordered the cake for him.   Below are pics of both cakes.

This past weekend we did the cakes for a cake buffet at Erica’s wedding at the Condor Nest Ranch in Pala.  The Ranch is pretty isolated.  You drive about a mile and a half past the Pala Casino on 76 and then turn onto a small, poorly marked road and head 3 and half miles up into the mountains.  You drive through an orange grove before eventually reaching a large ranch house with a spectacular view of the valley below.  It was a clear day and I could even see downtown San Diego in the far, far distance.  It’s definitely rural and remote, but it’s a pretty great place if you’re looking for that sort of venue.  Despite the seculsion, it’s not a secret.  They’re completely booked for 2012.  But here’s a link to their site if you’re considering a date in 2013 or beyond.  http://www.thecondorsnestranch.com/

 Erica wanted a cake buffet with a slightly vintage feel but using rather bright colors — a golden yellow, orange and fushia.  She sent a picture of a bunch of renunculus for the color sample.   I’ve done several of these buffets and centerpiece weddings.  A common denominator seems to be that the brides all like color — no all white cakes for these women.  I talked with Erica about what she was looking for and then sent some sketches with the cautionary note that this would be a very colorful display, just to make sure she was up for all that color.  She tweaked a few designs, but none of the colors.  Her mom had gone a little crazy on Ebay buying vintage cake toppers — more than they needed actually — so every cake had their own vintage bride and groom, which was great.  

I loved the display.  Below is a big picture of the entire display and then smaller photos of each of the individual cakes.  You can click on the smaller photos to see a bigger image of each cake if you like.  So if you’re up for a non-traditional wedding cake, you should consider a cake buffet which will allow your guests a wide variety of flavors.