You just got engaged! Now what?

Ok, this was not our wedding
day, but this is the dress I
wore! (Seen here as formal
ware for an arcade fire concert).

   Getting engaged is one of the most exciting and happy moments of any couple's relationship. Then reality sets in and you realize that now you have to plan the biggest party you've ever thrown in your life and that there are about a million details that need to be attended to and they all have a big price tag! The whole thing can get really overwhelming really quickly and for most people, they haven't planned one before, so they don't really know what to expect.

    I remember when I got married there were a lot of appointments to go to, a lot of questions I hadn't considered and while everything was exciting, it was easy to get swept up and start to feel stressed instead of excited. I met with 3 florists, 1 officiant, 8 venues (probably), 2 dj's, 2 wedding dress shops and don't even get me started on trying to figure out the wording of the invitation. The only thing I didn't do was meet with a cake shop to have a tasting! The reason there was no tasting is that I was going to make my own cake at the bakery I worked for. So, I already knew what flavors I wanted and I simply filled out the design sheet with my friend who worked there too. Most people, get to have a cake tasting and might not know what to expect. I thought I would put out a little guide about how I conduct my tastings and what you can expect from them.

Rose gold, sequins and
gumpaste roses!

  The first thing I would recommend doing, before you even start calling to make appointments, is to book your venue and possibly even your caterer. The reason I suggest doing this, is because some venues and some caterers either supply a wedding cake in their package already or they have strict guidelines about who can supply the cake. While you can usually decline the cake that's included in the package, you may just want to be sure you are allowed to bring in a cake from an outside source. Sadly, don't expect to save a lot of money by doing this, but if the cake is important to you (and why else would you be reading my blog) it can definitely be worth it. I find that you can get a better cake with more design options by going with a cake shop instead of a catering company that is usually more concerned with the meal than the wedding cake. Having attended a number of weddings in my life, I have seen some pretty mediocre wedding cakes that came from the venue (sorry to sound like a snob, but the cake is very important to me). Don't let this happen to you.
 

Let's assume her cake was probably $100
a slice.... seems like a safe assumption.

Once you've decided that you'd like to seek out cake decorators, start looking around at people's websites. They will provide you with a great sense of a given cake shops style, skills and flavors. You will also be able to find some initial pricing guidelines to give you a sense for whether or not a shop is in your budget. Be prepared, wedding cakes can range in price significantly. The least expensive option is usually a supermarket, while designer wedding cakes can go from $5 per slice to upwards of $20 per slice. This is based both on the reputation of the shop and the design of the cake. If you've been dreaming of ordering your wedding cake from the cake boss, be prepared to shell out $10-$18 a slice (or so I've been told). Want a cake by Sylvia Weinstock? Consider selling your car. Our wedding cakes typically range from $6-$10 per slice, depending on how elaborate your cake becomes. Don't be afraid to ask for pricing information when you call to make your appointment, believe me, they don't want to waste your time or theirs if they aren't in your budget. It would be a real shame to design the cake of your dreams only to find out it's going to cost you your honeymoon!

     Once you've found a few places you like, call to make tasting appointments with each shop. Some places charge for their appointments and some do not. Tastings are expensive for shops and take a decent amount of time to prepare, so try not to be too turned off by someone charging. They are just trying to make sure that their business stays viable.

      When I take an appointment, I usually ask the couple to select a few cake flavors and a few filling

ALL THE ICING!

flavors they would like to taste when they come in. This way the tasting is catered towards their interests. I also request that they bring in any photos or color samples they are working with, as these can be a great jumping off point. I also provide them with photos of my work at the tasting so that they can look through them and get inspired by them.

    On the day of the appointment, I usually bring out the cake samples and explain what each one is. I give a little information about fondant vs. buttercream and then I leave the couple to taste, look at photos and discuss in private. Once they are ready for me, I usually return with my trusty clipboard and we get some of the logistical details out of the way (who, where, when, how many?).

     Then we get to the fun part. We start to design the cake and pick the flavors! I usually get the flavors sorted out first as this is usually a little easier for the couple. Based on how many people they are inviting, we determine the size and shape of the cake, then we pick the flavors for each tier. I like to give people the option of selecting different flavors for each tier if they'd like. Once the flavors have been chosen we usually have to make the biggest decision any bride ever has to make. Should she cover the cake in fondant?! Now, if you've read my post about fondant you know some of the pros and cons. If you haven't read it, check it out here.

This was inspired by something I found
on Pinterest, but I changed it around
to make it unique to me!

    Flavors and icings have been chosen and we are ready to actually design what the cake will look like. Pinterest has become a valuable tool that came on the scene in the past couple of years I've been decorating. It used to be the case that brides would come in with binders full of magazine photos, print-outs, ribbons and whatever else they could bring, now they just come with iPad in hand. Pinterest is really great for designing, although it can be tough to edit with a Pinterest board and really hone in on what it is you like about each cake. Imagine being face with a board with about 300 cake pins and figuring out which one you like the best! Also, many of the cakes on Pinterest tend to represent very detailed (re: expensive) styles, so be prepared for that.

  Some brides choose to replicate a photo of a cake they like almost exactly. That's totally ok! It's a great way to get exactly what you want and to get something off that to-do list. Other brides like to pick and choose details from a number of different cakes which is also a great way to approach designing. That way you can get something unique to you, but you also have a firm starting point. Other brides have less concrete ideas about what they would like to do, and in this case I get to do a little detective work to figure out their style and come up with a concept they will love.

    I like to offer guidance when it comes to color, style, or small details (like the border) that a couple may not notice since they aren't cake decorators. I find that on some cake TV shows, they leave you with the impression that the couple says "we like glamour" and then the designer says something like "ok, I'll make the perfect thing, see you at the wedding" and then the cake is a surprise. I find that most people don't really work like that. I think that's a recipe for misunderstanding, as my concept of "glamour" may differ from yours. I very much prefer to get all the details out and on paper, draw up a quick sketch and ensure that we are all on the same page.

Maybe you're loving the chalkboard
cake trend!

      While designing the cake, we will decide on several different aspects of the cake. What color will
the background be? Will it have texture? What style and color will the borders be? Is there an all-over design element like brush embroidery? Are they concentrated design details like gumpaste flowers? Will there be a cake topper? Will there be fresh flowers? Will there be a monogram? Will each tier be a different design? What color scheme will we use? etc. There's lots of information on a wedding cake design form. This helps us get as close to the bride's vision as possible.

      Once we've settled all the details, that's when we get down to business. I draw up a sketch and determine the pricing of the cake. This is based on the number of people the cake will serve, the type and color of icing, the overall complexity of the design, and the delivery distance. I provide this to the  couple and we go over the details of the cake contract together. Then, if they want to book right then and there, we can take care of that in the shop. If they prefer, they can take it home, mull it over, and get back to me a little later with their decision.

     I genuinely love conducting cake tastings. It's really fun to meet new couples, especially when they are at this exciting moment in their lives. Also, the cake tasting is usually one of the more fun aspects of wedding planning that both the bride and groom enjoy, so it's great to be part of the purely fun part of the plan.

     If you're planning your wedding and are interested in coming in for a cake tasting with us, check out our website www.frostedfoxcakeshop.com for all the information you need to make an appointment.
   

Cake of the Week: WALL-E addition

Let's do another cake of the week! I know what you're thinking.... I haven't done one of these for a while, and I only ever did one to begin with! Well, you're right. But let's try to get things back on track. I think in the future I will try to feature a new "Cake of the Week" each monday. In general, the cakes will be pulled from the previous week's work, that is unless we get backed up or I want to feature more than one cake from a given week. Today, let's talk about a cute little sculpted cake I made for a friend of mine at the beginning of the month.
    This friend worked with me at my previous job with John and Kira's chocolates and she's been excited to order her son's birthday cake since about January (his birthday wasn't until August!). Back in January when I was young and naive, I assured her that there was no way we wouldn't be in our shop by then, and of course I would do her cake!! Little did I know I would still be working out of my home kitchen, good thing she's a very understanding friend! (Surely, we will be in our shop soon, I promise!)
    So anyway, her little boy loves WALL-E. Like, LOOOOOOVES WALL-E. Which is great because it's a great movie and even though I sobbed through the whole thing I think it's so cool for a little kid to get into it. She asked that I make a small sculpted "WALL-E" for his birthday cake. She suggested that we make him when he is folded up into his box form to simplify his construction. I started with this photo as my base for the design:

This photo served as the basis for my cake.

    We thought that this would work out well so we selected the flavors  (marble cake with chocolate icing as the filling) and I set to work on stacking and sculpting the general shape. I noticed he isn't quite a cube, so I tried to build out the bottom half a little and build up his eyes. This is how he looked before his crumb coat of icing:

    He kind of looks like he's going to be a washing machine... doesn't he? The next step was to cover this body with a layer of buttercream icing. This serves a couple of purposes. It seals all the crumbs and pieces into the cake, it creates a nice, crisp edge and a smooth surface on which to apply the fondant and it provides the delicious flavor of the buttercream before you add the fondant layer. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the crumb coat, but imagine the photos above, except all white and smooth without any more visible cake crumbs.

    Next, I covered his entire body in WALL-E shaded yellow. This formed the base coat to which I started to apply flat cut out pieces in grays, black and more yellow to create the different components to this little robot. At this point, I made little gumpaste eyebrow pieces and let them set up so that I could add them to the finished piece. Once all the fondant was applied this is when you can start to tell he was going to be WALL-E.

   So, now you can see that he is started to look a little bit like WALL-E. Now the fun part begins. I LOVE painting sculpted on cakes because that's when they go from looking a bit like the subject to looking a LOT like the subject. WALL-E is dented, rusted and dirty and metallic. So, I mixed up some browns, reds, grays, blacks, yellows and whites and start building up layers of high-lights, rust and low-lights. I found that by painting on the food-coloring, then wiping a clean towel through it, I could achieve a cool, rusted look. After all his painting, he finally looked like himself.

    One of the thing I've decided to try to challenge myself with as a decorator is to try to add a little extra detail to make the cake extra special. I've usually had to work under such intense deadlines that it wasn't always possible to take a step back and add that extra element that takes a cake from being "good" to being "great." Now that I am opening my own shop, I really want to push myself to do this as a rule, to try not to settle for just "good." So, with that in mind, I realized that WALL-E needed to be with his best friend, a little cockroach names Hal. I started by finding a photo of him and then I built him out of gumpaste. I made his little body and teeny legs and antenna then allowed them to dry. Next I attached a pair of shiny wings and then I attached his legs and antenna to his body and let the whole thing set up on a toothpick. Once he was completely dry, I attached him to WALL-E so that they could be together. This is what Hal looked like on his own:

   The last thing I had to do was to address the cake drum WALL-E is sitting on. I decided to use cake crumbs to create a dirt look, since WALL-E is a trash collecting robot on a desolate Earth. Then, for the birthday message, I made a couple of leaves (just like the one WALL-E finds at the beginning of the film) and wrote "Happy Birthday" on them. I was really happy with how WALL-E came out. I can't wait to do another sculpted cake. Here he is in all his finished glory!

   So there you have  it! If you'd like to see more of our photos or if you  are interested in ordering a cake, please check out our website www.frostedfoxcakeshop.com for the how-to and photos. Also, please "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/frostedfoxcakeshop  or on Instagram for more current posts about our shop, our staff and our projects! Thanks for reading!!

Cover Your Cakes in Sugarveil!

This lace wasn't piped, it's molded!

     Have you ever been piping an elaborate lace design on a cake and thought "MY GOD! THERE MUST BE AN EASIER AND FASTER WAY TO DO THIS!"? Well, the good news is, that there is an easier way to do it, SUGARVEIL! Just what that heck is SugarVeil? Well, SugarVeil is a brand name for a product called "confectionary lace." There's also some other brands like "SugarDress" but from what I can tell, sugarveil arrived on the scene first. It starts as a dry mix, then you add liquid and mix it into sort of a goo. Once it's the right consistency (think, royal icingish) you can pipe it, spread it out or work it into thin silicon molds. You let it set up either at room temperature for a few hours or in a 200 degree oven for a few minutes and you have this magical product that peels away but stays flexible!! You can attach it to your cakes, smooth it over cupcakes or decorate cookies with it. It's totally edible and pretty tasty and it allows you to make a ton of perfect lace quickly.

 
 
  Have I peaked your interest? Let's get into the how-to. For my photos, you should be aware that I
am using "SugarDress." I have, however, recently switched over to working with SugarVeil and saw a lot of really great stuff from them at the ICES convention. In fact, the creator of the product was there to demonstrate how to use it! I'm not an expert on this stuff yet, but it's just so cool and fun to use that even as a novice it was really approachable and I would definitely recommend trying it! Both products work about the same way.
 

Magical White Powder...
No, not that white powder....
This is before icing it up.

   The first thing to do is follow the instructions that come with your product to mix it up to the proper consistency. SugarDress involves a powder and some sort of magic liquid goo, SugarVeil is just a powder that you mix with water. It's pretty straight forward and no more difficult than making a little bit of royal icing.

  SugarVeil has different suggestions for mixing based whether you are going to spread your sugarveil into a mold or pipe it out by hand. If you are going to pipe it, you will want a slightly stiffer consistency. If you are going to spread it into a mold, you will want a runnier consistency so that it will flow into all the nooks and crannies.

SugarDress, silicon mats and tools of the trade.

     If you are going to pipe the SugarVeil you can free-hand it onto a flat surface, which is pretty cool. It makes it a lot easier to pipe than trying to pipe directly on the side of a cake and you could follow a pattern really easily by piping onto transparent acetate over a template. You would then let your design set up completely. Next, and this is the really awesome part, you can peel it up off your acetate and directly apply it to your cake, cookie or cupcake! It's so cool! It's flexible, so it won't snap like royal icing could (but be careful because you can still rip it if you're not careful.) I just about lost my mind the first time I peeled it up! My husband and business partner, it should be noted was less excited than I was.

    If you are going to mold it, you can use one of the many silicone mats that are being made for this

The blue mats and all those packets on the left are my
SugarVeil haul from the ICES convention.

product. There are a ton of different patterns to emulate everything from lace to burlap, spiderwebs to steampunk gears. And, the mats all have a TON of detail. So much detail that it looks like you have real lace on your cake. The downside? The mats aren't cheap. The upside? Hopefully you will save so much on labor while making such gorgeous cakes that it will be worth it. Also, the designs are SO pretty. There are a quite a few brands on the market selling these mats, so shop around for a design you like. Also, some mats have just about a 14" length of design while some bigger mats have 3- 14" lengths. I would really recommend getting the bigger one, otherwise, if you have to cover a whole cake with lace you might get stuck repeating the process over and over again. That would sort of defeat the labor-saving appeal.

   Using the molds is pretty easy. You start with your pourable SugarVeil and you treat it sort of like you are going to grout some tiles. You pour it over your mold and then use an offset spatular or a rubber scraper to spread it over the entire mat. Then, you use a straight edge (like a rubber bowl scraper or on the stiffer scrapers that they sell specifically for this purpose) and you carefully scrape over the entire mat and remove all the excess SugarVeil  that hasn't been pushed into the mold. Once the surface of your mat is clear, you can allow it to dry at room temperature or you can dry it in a 200 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. I would recommend adding a second coat at this point, then dry it a second time before trying to remove it from the mold.

Above you can see me applying the Sugarveil,
Spreading it out and removing the excess.

   

This how it looks after coming out of the oven.

    Now we're at the exciting part! Once your SugarVeil  is set and you can carefully peel up an edge,
you turn the entire mat over (so the SugarVeil is facedown) and carefully peel the mat away from the lace. This seems to work better than trying to peel the lace up out of the mat when it comes to preventing tears. Try to use an even hand (or your scraper) when peeling the mat away, and keep an eye on the extra delicate parts, they may need a little help out of the mold to prevent tearing.

I know, I'm pulling the sugarveil up exactly like I told you not to. But you might not be able to see it the other way!

    Now you've got some really awesome flexible confectionary lace and it's ready to go onto your cake! You've saved yourself hours of piping time! Your lace looks awesome! Just brush the back with piping gel (or maybe watered down royal icing) and attach it to your cake. You can cut away what you don't need with a pair of scissors of a craft knife. You can also paint your SugarVeil with an airbrush or by hand to add some pop.

It's so flexible and delicate! Seriously,  SO cool.

    If you're not quite ready to put it on your cake, that's totally fine! Another awesome thing about SugarVeil is that you can roll it up, or gently fold it, put it in a plastic baggie and will stay good and flexible for a really long time! We're talking, months! OR you can let it set up hard, store it, then bring it back to life with a little steam or a moist paper towel. HOW COOL IS THAT!? You can get ahead on those wedding cake details for June (when it's crazy) in March (when it's slow)!

My secret shame, I didn't pipe this lace!!

   So, while I really love SugarVeil and I think it's super fun to play around with, I do feel a little www.sugarveil.com and see a bunch of photos of stuff they've made with the product. You can also check out SugarDress products at www.globalsugarart.com where there is also a ton of other decorating product. I don't want you to think I've been paid off by theSugarVeil people, I haven't, I'm not nearly that important!! I'm just really excited about this cool, and still fairly new, decorating product.
guilty when people compliment the lace and I know that wasn't really all that hard to make. That's the kind of person I am, I'm bad at taking a compliment. I will always be more impressed by a cake that is completely hand piped than one which uses molds, but that doesn't mean the cake is any lovelier. I don't think SugarVeil can or should replace all hand piping, but it is a super cool tool that belongs in any cake shop. It also invites creativity to use the SugarVeil  in ways that you can't use royal icing. When I saw their booth at ICES I basically bought everything because it was just SO cool. If you have the chance, check it out. You can buy it from their website
 
    If you are interested in having a beautiful lace cake, but aren't quite prepared to make it yourself, check out our website www.frostedfoxcakeshop.com and get in touch. We'd love to make a gorgeous cake for you, especially if you're interested in using some gorgeous confectionary lace as part of the design. If you enjoyed this, like us on Facebook too (www.facebook.com/frostedfoxcakeshop) and pass it on to your friends! Feel free to message us with any questions you have!

Cake Conventions and Royal Icing!

   Sorry for the long delay between posts! We had a busy weekend at the ICES conventions in Omaha and we've been playing around with our new decorating toys ever since we got home. My intention is to continue with our little series on icings and talk about royal icing today. Luckily, royal icing and ICES go together like, well, cake and icing.

One of the award winning cakes at the ICES show! This cake traveled all the way from Sri Langka and it's covered with
delicate royal icing string work! Everything red on the cake is super fine piped royal icing.

Me and ICES Hall of Fame Winner Dominic Palazzo!
Bonus: this lady photobombed the crap out of us!

   What's ICES? Well, I'm glad you asked. ICES stands for the International Cake Exploration Society. It was founded 40 years ago and is made up of professional and hobby decorators as well as anyone else who is really interested in the sugar arts. My husband and I joined ICES this past year and this convention was the first time we attended one of the society's meetings. There were demonstrations, hands on classes, a cake competition and a pretty sweet vendor room. What's cool about the ICES show is that there are a lot of really wonderful, world-class, master sugar artists and cake decorators. There are a ton of great tools, supplies and techniques to explore while attending the show. It's a cool place to go to get inspired and to learn something new.

    Now, if I'm being completely honest, the convention wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It seems that membership may be slowing a little bit and attendance at the conventions has been down. My hope is that in future years it will peak again. Apparently Omaha was a little hard for some people to get to. But, we saw great demonstrations and met some great people. I'm already hoping to attend the next convention on the cake circuit (The America's Cake and Sugarcraft Fair) but it depends on whether or not the shop is open by the time the event takes place in Orlando. Also, for the record, we learned at the convention that ICES seems to be pronounced to rhyme with "Pisces."

The central cake is a great examples of many different uses of royal icing.

   So, how does royal icing tie in well with the ICES convention? Well, just about all of the classic decorating techniques utilize royal icing as their medium. Royal icing is basically an icing made of egg whites and confectioner's sugar. Sometimes people add meringue powder, lemon juice or cream of tartar. Sometimes I simply mix confectioner's sugar and water if I need to let the icing flow over a surface (imagine the top of a decorated cookie). You can adjust the consistency of royal icing depending on your desired application, sometimes it is better that it be stiff, and sometimes a more liquid icing is required.

This gorgeous cake has a ton of amazing royal icing piping, collars, brush embroidery and gumpaste flowers!
Note how the lattice work on the second and top tiers stand away form the cake!

   When do you use royal icing? You can ice an entire cake with royal icing if you like, although in the US most people don't ice their cakes with royal icing. It's more common to see it on British cakes where the cake itself is usually very dense fruit cake that doesn't need to be refrigerated. Royal icing will tend to set into a hard shell, so that's another reason why people in the US don't usually use it. I tend to think of royal icing as being a better fit for icing cookies, gingerbread houses or for additional decorating on top of the base layer of fondant or butter cream.

This rounded white mounds are made by
criss-crossing piped strands of royal icing to
 create the"cushion lattice" technique.

    There are many techniques for decorating a cake that require royal icing. String work is a type of decorating that requires the strength and setting ability of royal icing. Collars and color-flow use royal icing to make solid plaques of royal icing. You can also make "lace points" by piping royal icing onto acetate or parchment into pretty designs, then letting it set up stiff, removing it from the sheet and attaching it to the cake.

    Of course, you can also pipe many kinds of flowers with

The central rose on this cake is a
great example of brush embroidery.

royal icing. What's cool about piping flowers our of royal icing is that you can let them set up hard and then apply them to your cake in really cool ways. Once they are set you can paint details onto them as well! Another technique that I love which uses royal icing is called "brush embroidery." With this technique, you pipe a thick outline of royal icing then, before it sets, you use a damp brush to pull the icing towards the center of the design to emulate the look of embroidery. In fact, I used brush embroidery on my wedding cakes!

I made these "UP" themed cookies for
a friend's baby shower. The cookies are iced
with royal icing.

   Another use for royal icing is to decorate cookies. You've probably seen cookies iced with royal icing in countless magazines and pinterest photos. You can either pipe an outline of color with the royal, then fill it in with a thinned out version, or you can dip the flat surface of the cookie into the icing and let that make a thin layer to cover the cookie. Once you've applied this first layer, if you work quickly you can pipe details in that will smooth out flush with the surface, drag a pin through to make designs or add sprinkles and attach other details. If you let the surface set you can pipe on additional details that will sit above the first layer to add depth and texture to your design.

    In our shop we don't use royal icing too often. We do use it decorate cookies, but we will usually use butter cream or fondant for most of our cake and cupcake decorations. While string work, color flow and collars are really cool, they are very traditional and don't seem to appeal to the modern American bride as much as they used to. Now, it's totally possible that they will come back into vogue if ornate cakes cycle back into popularity. In the meantime, it's really important to have those skills in your repertoire so that you can play around with interesting ways to use them. The applications for royal icing are pretty endless, but be aware it can be susceptible to moisture and humidity. Next time, I'll talk about a newer product called "Sugarveil" which is being used to emulate some of the affects you can get from royal icing.