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!