I didn’t plan well today. I published my post this morning not thinking about the fact that I had an article coming out in the Logan Herald Journal today. I couldn’t pass up posting about this, so today we get two posts. Here’s a link to the Herald Journal Article. I really enjoyed reading it and I think that the writer, Lael Gilbert, did a wonderful job. The article touches on my feature on TLC’s Ultimate Cake off as well as my “Journey Begins” cake that won 4th runner up at OSSAS 2009. Check it out.

Todays post is a blast from the past. I was sent some pictures today from a good friend of mine. Aleece and Rex White recently celebrated their 7th anniversary. They are an amazing couple with 5 kids. Yes! 5 kids in 7 years. A set of triplet boys a year ago quickly caught them up to my crew of 5. So, in honor of their accomplishments and to show how far I’ve come, I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of their wedding cake.

This wasn’t the first, but one of the first wedding cakes of my career.

You can’t really see the detail, but this was my first attempt at scroll piping. With no training, I think I did a pretty awesome job.

The cake was buttercream with a fondant look. That was before I knew the whole paper towel trick too. I spent HOURS working on smoothing the edges.

Overall, it was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple. Thanks Aleece and Rex for letting me be a part of your special day and for trusting me with as little experience as I had. Congratulations on 7 years and I wish you many more happy years to come.

Utah is a unique state when it comes to weddings, so I decided to write a little about Utah weddings and how they affect Utah wedding cakes. Wedding receptions in Utah can be a bit different than in other places. The biggest reason for this seems to be due to the fact that a lot of Utah families are larger than average, and quite frankly, parents of the bride and groom want to invite a lot of friends and extended family to the reception. That being the case, a sit down dinner reception can become quite expensive. So, instead of having a formal four course dinner, many couples opt for a more informal open house type of reception where many people can come and congratulate the bride and groom on their special day.

So, how does this affect a wedding cake? Traditionally, the ceremonial wedding cake cutting takes place after the dinner. With an open house setting, there are usually hors d’oeuvres and light deserts with guests coming and going. The concern is being able to serve cake to guests that come at the beginning of the evening as well as having a nice looking cake for guests that are coming later in the evening.

One way to handle the wedding cake cutting is to include a time of ceremonial events in the invitations. That way, the guests that care to watch and be a part of the cake cutting, can plan to come at that specific time. Another solution is to have a display wedding cake made that has only one tier of actual cake that is real and serve cake slices from a sheet cake. This way you can have your cake and eat it too. Be aware though that this method is not necessarily a less costly way to go. The decorator is not only making one wedding cake, but multiple side cakes as well. The cost will usually be about the same. But the cake can be cut at the time that works best for the couple and the guests can all have a delicious slice of cake whether they are the first to arrive or the last.

Regardless of the type of reception that is chosen, a beautiful wedding cake is always the centerpiece of the reception… aside from the bride anyway.

In the Month of December, Cake Wrecks decided to do a charity month. Every day they focused on a charity and included a link so that all of the followers could donate to that charity. It was a wonderful and thoughtful thing for them to do. They raised a lot of money and did a lot of good. At the end of the month their Sunday Sweets post featured an extreme cake that was made for a charity. That cake was the Christmas Tree Cake that my team made for The Utah Festival of Trees. Check out the post HERE!

I’ve always wanted to be on Cake Wrecks–Sunday Sweets only! The rest of the week is dedicated to cakes that have gone horribly wrong. If you haven’t checked out Cake Wrecks yet, you seriously need to. I can’t believe there are so many hilariously horrible cakes out there, but I’m glad there are. Thanks Cake Wrecks for the feature and for being such a cool blog.

I know Christmas was three months ago. But like I said, I’m trying to catch up on the major things that have happened and I couldn’t consider things caught up without mentioning the Christmas tree cake for the Utah Festival of Trees. A few months ago, after being contacted by TLC, I decided that it would be to my advantage to put together a team just in case we were selected. So, I called a few of my cake friends and planned a time to get together for a test run…just to see how well we work together and how quickly we could get things done.

In the process of planning, we thought it would be fun to be able to donate the cake to a charity. We had already designed a Christmas tree cake, so I thought that I would check with the Utah Festival of Trees to see if they had a place for a 7 foot tall edible Christmas Tree.

Fortunately, the Festival Committee thought it was a great idea and they even arranged for us to be able to make the cake on site. It was a really good thing for me to get together with these talented decorators and see how team decorating works. It’s so very different from working on my own.

Here are a few things I learned from my experience:

1- Be overly prepared
We ended up not having the right sizes of structure and had to have my husband run to the hardware store for replacement parts. You can’t do that at a live competition. It needs to be perfect.

2- Work FAST
Time flies when you’re trying to put together a 7 foot tall cake in 8 hours.

3- Have a detailed timeline
I learned that with several assistants, it’s impossible to communicate to each one exactly what they should be doing at all times. They are not mind readers.

4- I have amazing and talented assistants/friends
Dianne Holgate of Cakes by Dee-sign in New Mexico
Tara Churchill in New Mexico
Paula Ames of Cake Creations in Idaho
Lynn Winter of Sugar Bakers in Idaho

Amazing Misfit Toys made by Dianne Holgate

Candy garland and candy ornaments made by Lynn Winter

Skater snowman. One of the many unique little guys made by Tara Churchill.

Snowflakes and toy drum made by Paula Ames

A sugar train with working engine made by myself.

This year the ICES (International Cake Exploration Societe) Convention is in San Diego, California. Since I live in Utah and am fairly close to where the convention is being held compared to previous years, I knew that I was going to attend the convention. I have been an instructor locally here in Utah for several years and I have been wanting to branch out. So, I decided to apply for an instructor position for the convention. I hoped to be accepted, but I understood that there are a limited number of teachers and many applicants.

To my great surprise, I was accepted as an instructor. I have been chosen to teach Shadow Stenciling with Brushed Embroidery; a technique that I used on my Love Letters cake that won 3rd runner up at the OSSAS.

I feel totally honored to have been accepted as one of 26 hands-on instructors for the largest cake decorating convention in the country.

Monday, March 1st was the first day of registration for the ICES convention. I was not able to register until late that night due to a funeral for my husband’s grandmother. However, I was informed that night that my class was one of two classes that had sold out by midday. I was speechless. I suppose I am a little more well known and knowledgeable than I give myself credit for. I am thrilled for this opportunity and am blown away by the reception I have received into the world of cakes. Thank you to everyone who signed up for my class and my apologies to those who want to to sign up but didn’t get the opportunity. I suppose I need to be offering more classes.

The TLC website has just posted some application videos. Here is a link to my video.

Man did I have a time getting that video made. It gave me a whole new appreciation for videographers. I had issues with camcorders, issues with sounds, and issues with trying to add in a few pictures. Not to mention, the major task of getting it all onto my computer and burned onto a disk. I dealt with major compatibility problems. I am an artist not a director/technician (whatever the title may be that deals with all of that). Thank goodness for that.

Regardless of lack of expertise, I know how to smile and look pretty. So I think it turned out fairly well. Take a look at the video and remember to watch my episode on Monday the 22nd at 9/8 central. Yes! They changed the time. So, I believe that Utah time would make it 7:00pm. I’ll make sure and let everyone know before it airs.

Today a local news paper reporter is coming to interview me for an upcoming article. Why you ask? Because I was chosen as a contestant on TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off.

Several months ago, I was contacted by the Ultimate Cake Off Casting Crew. They were interested in having me apply for their show. So, I applied and waited. Well, my big day came. I was chosen, and competed against some wonderful and talented decorators. I can’t say much about it until after it airs. What I can say is that we had a blast! My team was made up of myself and three assistants. They were Paula Ames of Cake Creations in Idaho, Lynn Winter of Sugar Bakers in Idaho, and Susan Fox of Midway Country Corner in Midway, Utah. What wonderful women I had to work with. They were great and we had such a fun time. That’s the most important thing with competitions; that we enjoy ourselves and stay true to who we are. Winning doesn’t hurt though.

I really can’t say much more than that. You’ll have to watch and see what happens! The show airs on March 22nd @10/9 central. That’s 8:00 Utah time on TLC. I promise it will be entertaining!

The cake that I entered for the 2009 Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show was entitled, “The Journey begins”. My mother was born and raised in Bermuda. So, when they announced the theme “Of Sea and Shore”, I knew I wanted to make a Bermuda themed cake. The challenge was in coming up with a cake that was wedding cake appropriate but not cliche.

I thought it might be cool to make an old world map of Bermuda, so I started looking. On one of the many maps I looked at, it had written on it the phrase, “The Journey Begins”. That phrase made so much sense to me. I decided to play off of that title by making my cake represent both a physical journey as well as the journey that a couple begins on their wedding day.

In my research, I found a beautiful tall sail ship called the Spirit of Bermuda; an absolutely stunning vessel. I had to have that as part of the symbolism of the journey.

Then to incorporate Bermuda, I added tiers that had blue on half of the cake to represent water and a coral pink on the other side to tie in the beautiful pink sandy beaches of Bermuda.

I researched native flowers and decided on the Poinciana flower as my main flower. The Poinciana is a beautiful flower that grows on a tree. The entire tree is covered with these huge stunning flowers. The challenge with this flower was the extremely thin petals. I actually made several dozen flowers to ensure that I had enough that would make it safely all the way to Tulsa. I ended up with just enough to decorate my cake. They were so fragile. The other flowers I chose were the Oleander and the Bermudiana flowers.

I loved the way all of the colors of the cake came together. It reminded me so much of pictures of Bermuda that my mom had. To top it all off, I made a round stone archway known in Bermuda as a Moongate. The Moongate represents the eternal nature of marriage. I repeated the stone effect on the base of the cake.

And there you have it. My cake entry for The Oklahoma Sugar Art Show and 4th runner up.

As promised, I am going to catch up on all of the really key things that I have missed blogging about over the last year. On a personal note, I had a baby in July. That should explain my absence from the blog fairly well. However, I haven’t been absent from cakes. In October 2009, I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma. For those that haven’t read my other posts, I went to Tulsa in 2008 as well. The Grand National Wedding Cake Competition which is a part of the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show, is the most prestigious cake decorating competition in the country. I went in 2008 for my first time and to my wonderment, I received third runner up. I hadn’t really planned on returning, but after placing so high, I felt the need to come back in 2009. I’m not sure whether it was a desire to “defend the title” or to try to prove to myself that it wasn’t just a fluke. Maybe a little of both.

The theme of the competition was “Of Sea and Shore”. It was a theme that I wasn’t as comfortable with as the last years theme. I had a hard time at the start coming up with a design that I was really happy with. Sure, I could design a hundred sea/beach themed cakes, but to come up with one that would stand out and be technically challenging as well as amazingly beautiful proved to be a challenge. It was a couple months before the competition when I finally came up with the design that I felt was good enough.

It was also a bit more difficult actually making the cake with a brand new baby. There was a lot of stress and sleepless nights, but I was determined. In the end it all paid off. I received 4th runner up this time.

It may not sound as exciting as the 3rd runner up from last year, but to be able to place two years in a row in such a big-time competition is a huge achievement. I’m going again in 2010 and I’m going for Grand! Wish me luck.