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Monday, November 22nd, 2010
Today I delivered a delicious cake trio and 100 of our Fleur de Sel caramel wedding favors to Kim and Steve’s wedding on the Dandeana yacht in Marina Del Rey. Rain was predicted for today so I brought all kinds of special cake-protection paraphernalia to keep it dry, but miracle-of-miracles, the sun came out in a crystalline PERFECT sky!! I was so happy for the couple that they got this lovely weather.
The trio features housemade ivory fondant decorated with ivory molded sugar lace appliques and hand-painted 18K gold bands. The smallest cake on the left is our North Beach Torte (chocolate cake with cappuccino-tiramisu icing), the center cake is our Citrus (Lemon cake soaked with lemon simple syrup and iced with orange icing), and the cake on the right is our interpretation of the Opera cake (almond cake soaked with a dark rum-coffee simple syrup then iced on top and bottom with French mocha buttercream, then a dark layer of chocolate ganache in the middle).
I love lace on cakes, but wanted to do something less orderly and traditional as you see on most cakes. So I worked with this modern bride to create more free-flowing lace patterns on each cake. On the smallest, there’s a “fan” or arch of lace just on one side of the cake consisting of several different, overlapping lace patterns and pieces.
On the cake on the left (pictured above), I laid together long pieces of lace occasionally accented with tall appliques of lace flowers to echo a kind of wave effect (we were on a boat after all…). The center cake is the star of the show featuring a regular pattern of lace at the bottom only, and thicker gold bands. I knew Kim was ordering this bling’d out topper, so I wanted to make that a focal point by letting it sit atop a less-busy tier.
I’ll leave you with this last detail shot of the smallest cake — so cute! I think it would be great on its own as a birthday cake — let me know if you want one!  Have a great week everyone,
Andrea
Saturday, September 25th, 2010
Today, right now, Candise and Paul have just professed their love for one another, said their vows, and are beginning their reception. In a few hours, they’ll be eating this cake, and hopefully enjoying the pink velvet interior (iced with three berry buttercream).
This cake began with this three berry buttercream: Fresh Swiss buttercream made only with butter, egg whites and sugar is a really pure, white base for the addition of fresh fruit. Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries look amazing against this white fluffy buttercream, no? This is a big bowl of goodness. I’m 5’4″ and if I make a circle with my arms in front of me, and just touch my fingertips together, that’s the size of this bowl. GIGANTIC. And so pretty, I had to take a pic.
You all have likely already read about the sugar buttons (see my last post, please, if not), so you already know how they were produced. The one thing I didn’t share publicly, is that we (planner Seth, groom Paul and me) planned to surprise the bride with two special buttons on the back of the cake: Her cats Moose and Monty.
According to Seth, Candise had been looking for subtle ways to incorporate her beloved cats, so Seth and I conspired with Paul to figure out how to get their sweet faces on the cake. Here’s a shot of them on the back of the cake — I wonder if Candise has seen them yet? Big thanks to James and Jamaica of Jamaica’s Cakes for the icing printer help! Big hugs to you two…
[Day-after update: Got an email from the planner saying that the bride welled up a little when she saw the cats, then plucked them off the cake to keep.]
On my way out I clicked off a few shots from a distance of the cake on a stage, just in front of the dance floor. I loved this client, planner, and cake sooo much — I’m kinda sad it’s over. Sigh. Here’s a baker’s view of the cake, as I walked to my car to leave. Enjoy!
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
Here’s a quick and sexy shot of what I’m working on this week: An assortment of 700+ sugar buttons. The wedding colors are gold and pale pink with accents of this deep blue, and these buttons will eventually adorn a four-tier pink velvet cake filled with three-berry buttercream.
These buttons are a labor of love and have been so fun to make. Yes, I’m a little insane to enjoy what others might find maddeningly tedious, but there are so many ways to make new and interesting buttons, I couldn’t help myself.
Some were cut with aspic cutters (tiny), some were molded, some imprinted, and some were hand-shaped, like the little pillow-shapes you see here.
We have access to a lot of great buttons here to use for reference, but not a lot of deeply textured ones, so I after a long search I found several perfect ones and had them shipped from Thailand, then made molds of them. You see them here as the largest gold button and the top-most gold button with the rose in the center.
 I also discovered an edible shine liquid thanks to the fine folks at Divine Specialties in Woodland Hills. It took some hunting online to find it, but it adds the perfect touch. All the buttons will have a gloss shine on them when I’m done, lending to the trompe l’oeil effect. Here’s a pic of the shiny vs. unshiny effect. What do you think?
When the buttons are finally in place on the cake sides, I’ll pipe fine gold thread looping and trailing in and out of the buttons around the cake. I’ll post pics as soon as the cake is done — can’t wait to see it complete!!
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Superfine Bakery is an appointment-only couture bakery specializing in custom cakes for clients in the Los Angeles area.
We are inspired by all facets of the baking tradition, but at Superfine we focus on the art of the edible celebration centerpiece. Our aim is to reinterpret and reframe traditional forms to bring modern, luxurious cakes to your event and make your cake as spectacular as the occasion itself.
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