Website

Hi friends, I want to let you know the official Dessert First Cakes website is coming soon. The blog was useful but I can't wait to show you the real thing! Special thanks to Addie for the web design! Check back soon!

Cake-o-saurus

The four year old birthday boy said he wanted a dinosaur cake - didn't matter what kind. So I did some research and came up with a plan for a stegosaurus. He went through some lizard-like stages until I added the spikes. They were actually the hardest part. I was trying to make it more complicated than it needed to be. First I melted down chocolate and piped it onto wax paper in spike shapes. After they dried I inserted them into the dinosaur's back. That worked great... for about five minutes. Then they started to droop and it looked like a whale in captivity! God bless my husband - he said just use hershey bars. That worked perfectly! Sometimes simple is best.

Tribute to Grandma

My grandmother turned 85 this week. We threw her the first birthday party she may ever have had...
the reason being she has two birth certificates. They both have the same year but not the same date. She is the kind of person who doesn't like to draw attention to herself so whenever we'd suggest a birthday party she'd say it's not her birthday. Well we didn't give her a choice this time. We surprised her with presents, a good meal, lots of family, and of course a cake. My grandma is Puerto Rican and she collects beautiful fans. I always think of her when I see one. This was a very special cake for a very special lady!

for the piggies

We celebrated my husband's birthday yesterday in rare fashion. It was kind of mean to cut it... but it was funny having his face on a plate. This is my first guinea pig cake. I'm really enjoying the cake orders - I have my first topsy turvy cake coming up this weekend. I'll post soon. Thanks for looking! -Rachel

*favorite*

After 5 months of doing cakes in 2009 I have a new favorite. I love the tiffany boxes. This cake was for my friend Ashley's bridal shower.
You know I almost never buy books but this last week I found like 5 cook books. Most were at a yard sale. I picked up "The Cake Doctor" by Anne Byrne and "Quick Fixes for Cake Mixes". I have a lot of reading to do!
A word on boxed mixes:
I use them.
All the time.
I have never had a scratch made cake that is as moist as Betty Crocker's or Duncan Hines. Seriously. It tastes good and it saves me a bunch of time and money. This way I'm able to concentrate on frosting and decorating and I'm able to keep by prices reasonable. I'm looking forward to 'doctoring' the mixes and making unique flavors. Cheers!

Sorry that I don't update this blog more often - I was under the impression that not many people read it because most fans are on facebook.
Thanks for your continued referrals - I really enjoy staying busy with 2-3 cakes per week; a pace that has remained steady. There was one week with 7 cakes last month - that was insane! Lots have been donations lately, which gives me a chance to try new ideas. I literally have a list with about 15 new techniques / recipes I want to try and I'm just waiting for the right time.
That's all I have to say - I'm going to watch Ace of Cakes now. We don't have cable so I just downloaded it for the first time. Woohoo!

First castle cake

I've waited for a long time to get asked to do a castle cake. It was so much fun to make! I'd also love to make a boy's birthday castle sometime. Maybe frost it in chocolate and make a dragon to go around it. I did a cupcake giveaway on facebook last week - there were a lot of people who responded. Unfortunately I can only give cupcakes away to the first person who responds, but I'll do another giveaway again soon. I'm not sure how to post a link to a facebook group, but let me know if this works:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=26625164312&ref=ts

My son's birthday cake

Just had to throw in one picture of my son's second birthday cake. It was based off his favorite book: Curious George Feeds the Animals, where George feeds peanuts to all the whole zoo. The palm trees were made out of pretzel rods and the animal figures are fondant/gumpaste. When Andrew first saw the cake he shouted, "Monkey!"

Sorry I've been so slow about updating this blog. I realized it's been a while. The cake orders are getting more regular now that winter is almost over. There was one week in February where all my orders were cancelled because I was sick. I only get sick about once a year and it happened this time on a week where there were 6 orders for one of my regular clients. When she heard I was sick she gracefully let me back out. I was really disappointed to let that business go, but I realize my health is more important and I really needed to rest anyway. So since then I've been able to try some new decorating techniques that I've wanted to try for a long time. Among the new things I've learned is making chocolate cigarellos, like the ones in the picture. That was my Mom's birthday cake. The cigarellos are just hollow little tubes of chocolate and they complemented the chocolate whipped frosting and strawberries so well. It was basically a chocolate strawberry shortcake. I've started making a list of new things I want to try. There's about a dozen new things I've been wanting to learn such as painting with pearl dust on fondant and carving a purse cake. Hopefully this year will allow me to be creative and learn some new things.

A week off

This is my first week I've had no cakes to do since four months ago. I love keeping busy with cakes but I think it's about time I did some laundry instead of mixed frosting. So thanks for the continued referrals! This wedding cake was the largest one yet - it served about 200 people. The flowers are made of fondant - the ribbon is black satin. No more weddings on the books for a while, but there are several baby showers coming up in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted!

Wedding cake marathon

Well the busiest cake-making week of my year is almost over. There was one wedding cake on Tuesday, the one pictured here, and the last one gets delivered this afternoon. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage two weddings in one week, but thankfully they were spaced out just enough so the preparation time didn't overlap. It's been a fun week. I hope to do more wedding cakes as word gets around. I'm starting my prices at about 30% below market value because I'm still relatively new at this. I've learned a lot with each new project. Thanks for the referrals, I look forward to serving you more in 2009!

Going to the chapel

Gonna get married? Apparently there is a surge of winter weddings. I've done one real wedding cake before. That was fun. So I've been waiting to be asked to do more since August. Well when it rains it pours. I've been planning for a couple months for a large wedding cake for January 3rd. But this last week I got a request from a desperate bride whose cake lady had cancelled - three weeks before her wedding! So since it was a small wedding cake I agreed to help them out. It's going to be on the Tuesday before I have to do the big cake. So I've got my work cut out for me the week after Christmas. Oh - does anyone know what a paisley is? I didn't before this week. The bride wants a cake covered in paisleys - which, as I understand, are little bent teardrop shapes with dots around them. Should be interesting.

Taking care of business

This month I've been busy every Thursday afternoon finishing up my official cake education. This last class is the Wilton fondant and gumpaste course. I thought that after learning gumpaste flowers I'd use them a lot on my cakes, but after tasting gumpaste, I think I've changed my mind. Although gumpaste is foodsafe, it's actually not meant to be eaten. Which is the most nonsensical thing I can think of to put on a cake. I know there are great cake artists out there who spend hours making gumpaste flowers, but I think you might as well use real flowers if you can't eat them. My favorite thing I've learned in this course is the calla lilies. They are actually made out of fondant which is meant to be eaten, so I can justify that. But the lilies look so realistic, is amazing.
Oh and here's an announcement: if you like handmade crafts and free cake please consider coming to our craft fair at the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ on December the 6th from 10am - 12pm. It's in Raleigh near NC State campus. There'll be many booths with familiar vendors and well as handmade crafts and light refreshments. Hope to see many familiar faces there!

Cake Crisis

Don't let the picture fool you... this cake was nearly a disaster! The idea seemed pretty simple. I baked four layers of an 8 inch square cake. I stacked them up and then carved each panel inward to make it look like a cardboard take out box. Unfortunately this caused the whole cake to become unbalanced and lean to one side. It was around 11pm and I was scraping the frosting off of half the cake and trimming sides. After much trimming and balancing, it seemed stable enough. It survived the transport thankfully. But this was harder to make than I anticipated.

Keeping Busy

Well I just looked at my calendar and realized I've had a cake to do each week since September 5th. And I have at least one cake per week on my calendar through November the 14th. I am so thankful for the referrals. It's really a blessing to be able to stay at home with my son (my full time job) then do cakes on the side while he sleeps. The truth is, I'd continue to make cakes even if I never sold another one because I enjoy it so much. I've found the best advertising is by word of mouth. There's another wedding cake on the books for January, so the weekend of the 3rd is booked. But if you or someone you know needs a cake, the earlier you call, the better! Thanks for the continued interest and support.

Carolina Cake Show

Last weekend I went with my Mom to the Carolina Cake Show in Charlotte. I submitted a cake in the intermediate novelty cake category. The theme was an underwater carousel. But we were in such a hurry to get home that I forgot part of the cake at home in Durham! I realized once we checked into the hotel that my 'horses' - which were really seahorses made from royal icing attached to candy sticks - were still sitting on my kitchen counter. Mom and I went to the Carolina Place Mall and tried to find a substitute in the short time we had. We found gummy sharks -a good substitute that fit with the underwater theme. To attach them to the candy sticks we actually took super-glue! It was the best we could do with our time and resources. I was just laughing by this point. And they actually turned out great! My cake got 2nd place in my division. I was so excited! My husband thinks a shark carousel is sadistic. But I loved how it turned out.
I feel like I'm running a cake marathon this week and next week. I've never had so many to make - that's 9 cakes in a two week span. I'm very thankful. I just finished three cakes for a friend's rehearsal dinner, she wanted one Carolina theme, one musical theme, and one monogram cake. I was very pleased overall with how they turned out. I took some flack from my husband over the UNC themed cake - he's a big NC State fan. Well this busy baker is going to get some rest. Thanks for reading!

Cancellation

Well, I learned my lesson. I didn't write up a wedding cake contract then the bride said she found somebody cheaper. I guess everybody has to learn the hard way sometimes. But from now on I will require a deposit for wedding cakes. It's really to protect my time and interest. I was pretty disappointed when she canceled, it was my major cake for October. So if anyone needs a special occasion cake for October, I'm probably available! I leave you with a picture of some mandarin orange cupcakes with cheesecake whipped frosting. My grandmother and I made them together. They were delicious!

Chocolate Fondant

This cake was my first experiment with chocolate fondant. I was quite pleased with the taste of it - it was a lot like fudge. I have mixed feelings about fondant. A lot of people don't like it because of its chewy texture and over-sweet taste. On the other hand, it looks phenomenal on a cake - a smooth, finished look. I think the taste of a cake is equally important to its looks. So I'm not opposed to using fondant when a customer requests it- but it's not my preference for taste. This particular cake was just for fun - three of my family members have birthdays in August so we knocked them all out with one big cake. It was a fun one to make. The next two weeks I will be doing prep work for upcoming projects including royal icing flowers.

Raspberry cake

Here's a cake that I tested on my church for a potluck. It was very much a test-cake because both the cheesecake whipped frosting and the inside raspberry cake were brand new recipes. I was pretty pleased with how it tasted, though it may need some tweeking. I have an order coming up this weekend for a 4 year old's birthday party. He wanted a starfish cake - so I'll be designing this one off the top of my head. At first the mom said she wanted a "Patrick the starfish" cake from the character on "Spongebob Squarepants" except she said she wanted him without the pants. Ok - so a naked cartoon starfish - that's a first. Then she drew up a sketch of what the cake should look like, which is basically just a star cake with eyes and a mouth. So that's what I'll be doing this weekend.

Pirate Ship

My son Andrew looked at this cake and said "Boat, boat!" It was for a pirate - themed birthday. It was a fun one to make. The sails and cannons are fondant and the cake is yellow with chocolate buttercream. This will be my last cake for a couple of weeks cause we're heading out of town. But I have two new projects each month from now through October, including one wedding cake. I'm excited for the chance to try new things. Check back soon!