Friday, July 5, 2013

Meet Rick...A Minion Cake Tutorial

It's been far too long since we posted anything on our blog, so when I started in on this cake, I just knew that I had to take pictures along the way, and create a sort of "making of" pictorial. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!


The first step took place about a week prior to cake day, when I created his eye and goggle. Some minions have two eyes, but our little guy had just one. His eye was created from gum paste, as was the goggle, which was a strip of paste, formed and allowed to dry around a ring cutter. After it had dried (a week later, right before starting on the actual cake), it was sprayed with silver metallic food spray, 2 coats. I then fit his eye in, and glued the edge to the ring with royal icing. The eye and goggle were then flipped over, and a couple of 1/2 toothpicks very carefully inserted, to assist in holding the eye to the body.


The day before cake day, I started by baking three 6" chocolate cakes, and a 6" dome cake. Depending on how tall you want the minion to be (they come in all shapes and sizes!), you could add a layer or two. I torted all the layers into two, giving me six layers of cake, plus the domed top. 

On cake day, all layers were then filled with raspberry buttercream.

The stacked and filled cake

The next step was to dirty ice the entire cake in chocolate buttercream, then chill until firm and set.

Completely crumb coated

 It was then time to give this little guy a mouth. I carved one in, and added a rolled piece of fondant, to create a lip. Then, back into the cooler he went, to set up once again.

Gettin' lippy ;)

I then covered the whole thing in yellow fondant, trimmed the excess, and smoothed him out.


At this point he kinda looks like a Simpson...

Next step was to give him some overalls. The legs were rolls of denim blue fondant, the overalls pieced together from the same colour. I used a quilting tool to give the edges of his overalls stitching, as well. The shoes, buttons and goggle strap were all fashioned from black fondant, as was the inside of his mouth.


Getting there...

Then, some arms and gloves...from fondant as well...and I must say, the hands were the hardest thing to create by far! It took a couple tries to figure out how to give him those rounded three fingered hands. In the end, they were a roll of black fondant, and then two smaller tear drop shaped pieces, attached onto the roll, and the seams smoothed out. I then added his hair (rolled pieces of gum paste, tinted black and picked with toothpicks; made at the same time as they eye and allowed to dry). I also replaced the typical "Gru" symbol with an "R" instead, for our birthday boy.


Nice 'do Rick!

He got a tongue too!

Blehhh!

And finally, his eye! This was attached using a liberal amount of royal icing, and was aided by the toothpicks previously inserted on the back of the eye.

He can see!!!



So here he is, our little minion, Rick :)






I know he will be enjoyed greatly... :)


Tuesday, April 30, 2013

I know many of you have been wondering about our Mother's Day cupcake bouquets, so here it is:

We will be offering bouquets of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes (6 of each) in assorted blossoms and colours (hydrangea, roses, etc). They will b...e $45 per bouquet (1dozen cupcakes), and available for pickup from 12-3, Saturday May 11th, at our commercial kitchen on Penno Rd.

Limited numbers will be available, so pre-booking and pre-payment will be required. To book your bouquet(s), please email kirsten@sugarsweetcakeco.ca and we will take care of you!

Order cut off will be Wednesday May 8th @12pm!!!! Please book ASAP to ensure availability :)
 
 

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Crazy Month of October...

When I started this blog for my business, I expected to blog weekly about the projects I was working on, step by step features, recipes, etc. Then I got busy...really, really busy!
In fact, October has been the busiest month by far this year! I can't complain, busy is good, and the blogging will just have to wait for me. If I can post once a month, I will be happy :)
So, here's what we did this month at Sugar Sweet Cake Company...(minus a few pictures I forgot to take! Aaah!)

Margarita, Carrot, Canadian Maple, & Irish Mocha cupcakes

Over the hill circling vulture cake :)


Harry Potter themed minis


Harry Potter & the Basilisk 5th birthday cake, to match minis

Disco themed 50th birthday cake

Ladybug 1st birthday cake


Gingerbread, Eggnog & Apple Pie cupcakes


Noah's Ark Christening cake


Ice Bird 5th birthday cake


65th birthday cake for an avid golfer


Pink Princess Castle
3rd birthday cake


Tractor birthday cake for a pumpkin patch party

Gingerbread cupcake

Pumpkin cupcakes with Chai Tea buttercream


Halloween minis for a pumpkin patch photo shoot



Egg-less Dark chocolate cupcakes in Irish Mocha & Vanilla Sprinkle


Enjoy!



Thursday, September 6, 2012

Sugar Sweet Weddings

I've slacked a bit in writing my blog. I could say I'm dissapointed in myself, but honestly I've just been too busy, and that's nothing to be dissapointed about! This summer saw lots of birthdays, baby showers and a smattering of weddings. Being that I officially opened after most 2012 wedding cakes should have been booked, I was pleasantly suprised to book the three weddings that I did. Next season, look out. We are already booking 2013 :)
Here is a collection of photography of our 2012 wedding cakes.


The cake table
Cake, cupcakes & cheesecake squares provided by:
 Sugar Sweet Cake Company


Vanilla bean cake, french vanilla filling,
vanilla buttercream & fondant striping;
fresh flowers to match bouquets


Dark Chocolate & Vanilla Bean cupcakes
topped with vanilla buttercream & edible sugar flower


Two tiers dark chocolate cake
top tier gluten free cake;
both tiers filled with whipped chocolate ganache
 

Lillies and satin ribbon detailing
 
 
Handmade sugarpaste Calla lillies

3 tiers marble, vanilla and chocolate cake.
top and bottom tiers filled with chocolate buttercream;
middle tier filled with raspberry preserves and custard
 
 
Handmade sugarpaste Calla lillies
 
 
Cake topper provided by the happy couple
 
 
Thank you to all of the wonderful couples who booked cakes with me this season! We wish you a lifetime of happiness :)



Thursday, August 2, 2012

From My Kitchen To Yours :)

When I started my cake and cupcake business, one of my former culinary instructors sent me a message. "Have you thought of pre-measured packets of cupcake mix?", she wrote. I hadn't. In fact, maybe it went against the grain of what I was trying to achieve. Shouldn't my goal as a business be to encourage people to buy cakes/cupcakes fully baked and decorated by me? I mulled it around for awhile, but the more I thought about it, the more I actually liked it. After all, there are a lot of moms and dads out there who want to make their child's birthday cake themselves, but don't have the time to go through the entire process of scratch baking with their busy family lives. There are also people who want the ease of a mix, but not all of the un-pronouncable ingredients, artificial flavours, and preservatives of most commercially available mixes. Mixes are convenient, plain and simple, but they could be so much better!
And, ours are...

$7 each or 2 for $12

Check out those real vanilla seeds

Sugar Sweet's cake mixes are made from real ingredients, no chemicals or preservatives...and you can see the vanilla seeds right in the mix. Just add melted butter, eggs, and water...that's it!
They are available for purchase through our facebook page, by email or phone call. We also sell them at special events around town, so if we have a table going, come by and pick one up! We'd love to see you :)

One of our biggest fans with his mixes ;)

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Monkeys, and Elephants and Bears...Oh My!

It was another busy weekend at Sugar Sweet Cake Company. We had 3 birthday cakes, 4 dozen mini cupcakes, 1 dozen full size cupcakes, and participated in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay For Life.

The first cake of the weekend was made for a little girl turning three. Her parents were taking her to Vancouver to see family, and visit the Greater Vancouver Zoo. As such, they requested a zoo themed cake to take with them to the coast. This cake was four layers of vanilla bean cake, layered with apricot preserves and vanilla buttercream. The monkeys and lions (not pictured), balloons and leaves were hand cut from fondant and laid into the buttercream. The tiny elephant and wired balloon on top of the cake were created out of gumpaste. The cake made it safely to Vancouver to be enjoyed by all, and apparently even reappeared the next morning at breakfast!!!











Recently, I created a ladybug "smash cake" for a first birthday photo shoot. This weekend I had the priveledge to again colaborate with Hailey Hamilton Photography on another "smash"! The cake was abloom with rainbow roses, accented with a pearlized #1 and whimsical pearl details. The photo shoot turned out, once again, so cute! Too see some shots, please visit www.haileyhamilton.com.


It seemed to be a weekend full of birthdays! These cute hockey minis were commissioned by the birthday boy's friend for his 30th birthday. Like any good Canadian man, he is a dedicated hockey fan, and loves his BC team. The minis were vanilla bean cake, topped with vanilla buttercream and gumpaste accents.




I was absolutely honored to be asked to join a Relay For Life team this year. It is an amazing event for the Canadian Cancer Society that honours survivors and remembers those we have lost to this horrible disease. My family was touched this past year, with my grandmother and aunt each fighting their own battle. This is a cause that effects so many, and is now very close to my heart.
In a fundraising effort we created daffodil cupcakes, and all net proceeds were donated to the Canadian Cancer Society.
For 2012, the theme of the Relay was superheroes, and so I created these Relay Heroes cupcakes to share with my team, while we stayed up all night, walking the track in shifts from 6pm until 6am the next morning.
I am happy to say this Relay raised over $80,000 in Kelowna alone! It was an amazing and touching experience and I am pleased to announce that we will be forming our very own team next year, and fundraising efforts start now! If you would like to help the fight, please see our website, www.sugarsweetcakeco.ca, for more details!




Last, but certainly not least, was a cake created for one of my closest friends. Her daughter was turning three, and she was having a teddy bears picnic! Like any good auntie, I went all out to hand pipe a furry teddy bear raiding the honey hive. I think this is probably now my favourite cake ever! Our little bear was a hit at the party, and more than one party guest was fooled into thinking it was actually a stuffed toy...not a cake!
Of course, the task of cutting and serving the cake was given to me, as no one else could "bear" the thought of cutting into this adorable little guy! I must admit, for the first time ever, even I found it difficult to do. But, as with all of my cakes, this little guy was meant to be eaten and enjoyed :)



Thanks again to all of my wonderful clients. I just love being able to create something Sugar Sweet for you :)

Enjoy!

Ladybug Smash

A few months back I was contacted by a mom looking to have a "smash cake" created. I had vaguely heard of this new trend, but many people I mentioned it to had no idea what it was. Basically, you have a professional photographer capture your baby smashing a cake or cupcakes for their first birthday. A cute concept, and don't we all have that wonderful picture of our kids messily eating a piece of cake at their first birthday party? This idea just takes it up a notch to frame worthy art!

She wanted a ladybug, to fit the theme of the birthday party, as well as some cupcakes for the guests. The cake itself would serve as a centerpiece, to be saved for the smashing photos the next day.

For the party, I created little cupcakes straight out of a strawberry patch. They were a mixture of vanilla and gluten free chocolate minis, filled with fresh strawberry buttercream and topped with vanilla buttercream and sugar blossoms with an edible pearl centre. The birthday girl got her very own special full size cupcake, also filled, but featuring multiple blossoms, leaves and her own little ladybug :)



The lovely little ladybug itself was a vanilla bean cake, filled with layers of fresh strawberries and strawberry buttercream. She was then topped with a layer of vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant. I added some cute antenae, and a pink sugar blossom to accent her pink lipstick.



The resulting smash photos turned out so cute, with the birthday girl decked out in her ladybug finest as well! To see some of the shots, please visit www.haileyhamilton.com.


Enjoy!