Inching Closer and Closer to a Real Bakeshop!

   Here we are with another quick construction/opening update post. These things never quite move as fast as we want them to, do they? I can't tell you how many times I've started a little project at home that I figured would only take a few hours, only to find myself at home depot at 9:55 pm on a Tuesday just trying to find the one stupid part I didn't have when I started the project on Friday afternoon. That's why I've recently limited myself to projects that mainly include painting, as this is usually pretty straight forward, start to finish.

So many greens! In the end, the two winners are the
two shades farthest to the right. 

 

  Speaking of painting, we've selected out final paint color options for the shop. We're gonna be using two shades of gorgeous green (which happens to be my favorite color) and we're going to accent it with pops of copper all over the shop. We also have a super cute wall paper treatment that will live on two accent walls. By itself, the wallpaper totally looks beigey-yellow, but next to the greens it works as an additional shade of green, and it's really lovely.

 

 The plumbing and the electrical work are mostly done, I believe all that is left is hooking up fixtures, sinks, toilets etc. Which would take me a month, but I trust the professionals will swoop in and be much quicker than that. The hood still needs to go in, but I believe the actual installation should only take a day or two or three. 

 

Look how excited sean is about
the dry wall going up! 

   The most exciting news I've basically ever heard is that the drywall is all up, taped, spackled and sanded. The rumor is that painting will start today, and I may just fall to my knees and weep tears of joy when I walk into the shop and it's no longer the gray of drywall and demolition. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is happening as I type this very sentence. Once painting is done, the floors will be sanded later this week (or so I've heard) and water-resistant vinyl will get laid down in the back workroom. I'm really keeping my praying that the vinyl will work out time-wise, as I've been told it may fall prey to the pope-apocalypse delivery nightmare that's headed to Philadelphia this week. Who would have thought the pope's visit could affect our shop before it was even opened? Maybe he'll come by and bless it for our troubles. He seems like a pretty good guy, and if there's one thing I know about guys from Argentina, they love desserts. 

  We've also made some big decisions on stain colors for our tables and other woodwork. That's sort of the last stage of this whole project. Installing the equipment and the millwork (tables, shelves, counters). The stain will be a pretty reddish cherry color, It works with the copper and it works with the green and it works with the overall theme of our foxy little bakery.

 

  

A small fraction of the boxes filled with
bakery stuff awaiting their forever
home.

I know it sounds like a lot left to do, but I'm really optimistic that these elements are smaller projects that can hopefully fall into place quickly. Once the shop is turned over to us, Sean and I will be locking ourselves (and anyone else who wants to help) inside in order to clean, decorate and organize all of our small tools and equipment. These are currently living in our house and my dad's basement. I can't wait to get it all in the shop, because right now our house is starting to look like a bunch of Boxtrolls live there (shout out to Laika, my sister's recent stop motion internship). Side note: I think I just thought of our dogs halloween costume for this year, a couple of box trolls, we have SO many boxes in our house.

  

 Once the shop is set and ready to go, we'll get the health inspector to come by and hopefully grant us our food license. Then, it's a mad dash to the finish while we get all of our doughs, cakes and sweets made for a soft opening. A soft opening is when a place quietly opens its doors without any fanfare before have a larger "Grand Opening." This is an opportunity for us to get the doors open fast without having to stick to a specific opening date. It's also a chance for people to come and visit with us, see what we are about and for us to get a little feedback on what works and what doesn't before our true opening. For up to the minute updates on when we will open you can like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/frostedfoxcakeshop.

   There's a lot left to do, and not a lot of time to do it. But I'm very excited to get going. If you want to take a peek at what our shop will offer, check out our website www.frostedfoxcakeshop.com.

Baby's First Birthday Cake

 

An Owl Themed 1st
Birthday.

    It just wouldn't be a birthday without a birthday cake, right? At least, that's how I feel about it. There are a lot of different schools of thought about which birthdays are the most important ones to celebrate. I just celebrated my 30th birthday last summer and we had a pretty big party (yes, there was a moon bounce).  We all know the big ones are the ones that end in "0," but then 13, 16, 18, and 21 are all big years too! What you might not realize, is that the 1st birthday is one of the biggest celebrations of all!

Rubber Duckie, You're
the One!

  

    For those of us without kids, it might be hard to imagine throwing a huge party for a 1 year old, especially since they probably won't remember it. But who cares? I think we are always looking for a reason to throw a party and eat cake, and your baby's first birthday is a huge milestone! Not only can you start telling people how old your baby is in terms of years instead of months, but you've also survived what was undoubtedly one of the most challenging years of your own life! If that's not a reason to get your friends together and party, I don't know what is! Plus, it's possible you haven't seen much of your friends since you've been understandably a little busy. 

This Was Probably a Very Cute Party.

   

 I've seen 1st birthday cakes that range from feeding 6 people to 75! 75! I've also seen people spend anywhere from about $30 for a pretty little cake to over $400 for their baby's big day! So if you're the kind of person who really likes to go all out, there's no reason not to. If we're being honest, this party is more about you celebrating with your baby and getting some adorable photos, than it is about the baby actually remembering much of it! 

A Cake to Match the Party
Decorations!

    One fun option for a first birthday, is to make a "smash cake" for your baby. This is usually a much smaller cake that is decorated to match the main cake. It's served to the baby and the idea is you just let them go crazy smashing, eating, and coating themselves in the cake. It's a great photo op, you can limit the flavor to more baby friendly ones, and you get to save the real cake for the partygoers who will appreciate it a little bit more. If a separate cake seems like too much, you can always get a matching cupcake for your little one. 

Baby's First Book Cake.

    I love making 1st birthday cakes that go along with a theme. There's a ton of adorable party supplies and ideas out there for 1st birthdays and it's so much fun to make the perfect custom cake to match. Many people like to make a cake that draws from their baby's favorite book, cartoon character or toy. You may want to pick more family friendly flavors (maybe this isn't the time to go for the chai mousse). Also, want to consider the messiness factor if you are going to let your baby really go to town on their little cake. I suggest changing them out of their party outfit and into something simple before hand. 

  In the end, make sure you take lots of photos. Just have a lot of fun with it! Even though I might not remember my own first birthday, I feel pretty confident everyone else had fun! If you'd like to order a 1st birthday cake, or any other cake, check out our website and get in touch with us!

My little brother's first birthday up top,
and my first birthday at the bottom.

  

And now for a renovation update!

Our store front prior to demolition.

    As some of you may know, the story of opening our shop has taken a little longer than I had hoped. We started out young and naive about a year ago. I remember telling people that I would probably have a shop open in early spring. Well, I was a little off, wasn't I? From watching many many a renovation TV show, I was well aware that renovations often take longer and cost more than expected. So, I thought I was bring super smart and planning for a longer time and more money than the estimates we were receiving. What I didn't realize, is that I should have taken that buffer estimate and basically doubled it! I thought I was already doing that.. but no.... no....
    Here's a quick reminder of where we've been. When we originally signed the lease on our storefront, we knew we were going to need to seek a zoning variance from the city. I knew it would take a while, but I was pretty confident we would be able to get it granted. Plus, I loved the shop, it was right near our house and if we got the zoning, it would be perfect! What I didn't know was just how long it would actually take. From start to finish it took about 5 months (I had thought 3). I'm sure there were ways to speed this process up ::wink wink:: but I didn't know them. Thank goodness we did in fact receive the variance on April 1st (this might make us April fools). So, I figured construction would start on April 2nd..... nope!

This is our store front with the zoning notice in place. Note that Sean
is wearing a winter coat and there are no leaves on the trees shadows!

    Flash forward about a month and we had our contractor chosen and our second round of permitting into the health department. This was the second step towards planning a legal bakery. They had a pretty quick turn around and we were able to get our health review plan back to us with their approval by the end of May. Then, I thought, construction can start right away, right? Nope.

Demolitions expert!

    Next up came the 3rd round of permitting, this was the building permitting needed to start the demolition/construction on the space. In addition we also needed to get the plumbing and electrical permits. This process felt like it took a million years! After a few setbacks we were finally able to start the renovation in July! The first time I came by after the demolition had started I felt like a kid on Christmas! I have possibly never been so excited! The down side? We were now officially into July and just getting going on the work. In my foolish pride, I had been telling people that we would definitely be open in July, oh, the arrogance!
    Now, we have made it through August and it's been really great to see the space start to change. There is all kinds of new plumbing in place, all kinds of new wires running everywhere. Soon we will have new walls, some new flooring and all kinds of wonderful tables, counters, shelves and appliances. My hope is that now that we are actually to the renovation part of the renovation (and not the paperwork part) things will stay as on track as possible from here on out. Our hope is that all the renovations will be complete by the end of September so that we can get in and get our health inspection done as early as possible in October. Then, fingers crossed, we'll soft open as soon as we possibly can then send out a date for our formal "GRAND OPENING!"

While this looks far from finished, there is
still a tone of progress in this photo!

   While our space is still pretty far from being finished, I am so ready to get beyond all the red tape! I can't wait to post pretty pictures of what our shop will look like. While this has (and continues to be) a long journey, I am really optimistic that we will be in this space for a really long time to come. I can't wait to spend all my time in our shop, making cakes and helping customers! By this time next month, let's all hope I will be posting about our finished space!