Real Weddings: Kimberly & Michael

Real Life: The Cake Show

... and of course, here are the cakes from the other competitors. 

This cake was completed by Beth Appleton and won the grand prize. 

This cake was completed by Nadia Colella.

Happy Mothers Day

Real Weddings: Cara & Shaun

Real Weddings: Steven & Leora

I’ll admit, I have a tendency to fall in love with my clients. Although I might be a bit of a marriage cynic in my own life, I somehow become completely entrenched into the love stories of everyone else.

Steven and Leora were no exception. There was something about them that captivated me from the start and I was thrilled when they asked me to design the cake for their wedding.

By the way, Steven owns an incredible entertainment production company. Click here for more info: MK Productions.

Growing in popularity are individually packaged mini cakes. I absolutely LOVE the idea of having a replica of your wedding cake given to all the guests as the main dessert or party favour because they become the WOW element for any event.

I've said it before, but mini cakes are like backward Oreo cookies. The idea and the final designs are spectacular, but assembling them... not so much. After covering these 200 mini cakes with fondant, I was just thankful to have 24 hour access to the hands of my physiotherapist sister.

Aidan's First Communion

The Cake Show

Come and watch me compete against two talented cake designers at this years annual Cake Show in Toronto. Competitors have 6 hours to complete an edible masterpiece in our interpretation of the theme,  The Four Seasons. 

Location: Artscape Wychwood Barns

When: Sunday, May 15, 2011 @ 12:00pm

(Winners announced at 5pm)

Wish me luck!!!

For more information, please visit www.thecakeshow.com.

Save a Bunny, Eat a Macaron

HAPPY EASTER!

Real Life: Gateau Givenchy

I was recently asked to audition for a spot on Slice Network's newest show, Cake Walk.

Part of the audition process required me to submit a show piece for the producers to see my work.

The piece I created was inspired by Cake Blanchett's Givenchy gown worn at the 2011 Oscars.

The dress was a true work of art. I translated it to edible art.

xoS

Trials and Tribulations of a Cake Designer: Transporting

Many will agree that one of the toughest and most stressful parts of running your own cake design business is the delivery. 

On the Food Network Challenges, the music cues and the dramatic sounds waves through the audience as the competitors are asked to move their cakes from their working station to the presentation table one meter in front of them.

Every week I deliver my creations all over the city. It would be typical for me to drive through over 7 stop signs, 25 traffic lights and an array of bad drivers before I arrive at my destination. Weather condition is another lemony snicket... sure, our 6 months of snowy road conditions and sporadic rainfalls don't help, but neither do those hot summer days when the temperature hits 30 degrees celsius and I have a butter based cake sitting in my back seat.

I remember one incident late last year when my girlfriend and I had to deliver a cake from downtown Toronto to Muskoka, about a two hour drive. When we hit Vaughan (about 30 minutes in), my breaks warning light went on (the image with the exclamation mark wrapped in parenthesis). Awesome. (Side note: it was pouring rain and I drive a rear-wheel car). But only a cake designer knows, there's never time to spare and delivering a wedding cake late was unthinkable, so we kept going.  Needless to say, the cake made it and so did we.

One thing I've learned is that it is very important that cake designers assemble a "cake kit" - like a first aid kit - filled with all the necessary tools you need to fix any damages during transportation. Sometimes I like to call my backseat a cake hospital. I've had to perform a few surgeries in my time but I'm happy to say we've had a zero percent  death rate.

Welcome to Candyland

"Where is Pearl Harbor?" I asked my fourth-grade history class. "Here’s a hint: It’s a place where everyone wants to go." One student blurted out, "Candy Land!"  - Readers Digest

Many of my friends get excited when they see or hear about the Candyland game. It brings back memories of childhood events. Not me. I actually never even heard about Candyland (thanks, mom) until about month ago when I received a cake request from a client.

Similar to the Monopoly board I designed a few weeks back, I like to thoroughly investigate new projects to ensure that I maximize all the little details that only a "player" would know. So two weeks before the execution, I began my research. I picked up my own copy of the Candyland game from a local toy store, 3 pounds of gumballs from bulkbarn and a couple bottles of wine from the liquor store (it was my selling point to get my friends to give up their Friday night - what can I say, I needed 2+ players).

I don't think the wine bottles contributed positively to the analysis and the gumballs made my teeth hurt after 2 minutes of chewing... but the game was loads of fun and I was excited to execute the project.

xoS

How to Eat a Cupcake

Real Life: Winter ONEderland

Yesterday, my girlfriends daughter celebrated her first birthday with a themed party titled, "ONEderland". (I know, koodos to my overly talented and creative girlfriend, Sonia, who came up with it!)

When I walked into her house to deliver the cake the place was decorated to the nine. Huge blue and white balloons, sweet tables, snowflake backdrops, candy bowls, decorated marshmallows. I was completely blown off my feet (and I've seen my fair share of dressed up wedding halls and snazzy parties).

But at the same time, I would never expect anything less from her. It's who she is and these amazing things just come naturally to her. Jealous.

Real Life: Blainopoloy

Blaine loves Monopoly. Whether for the deeper meaning of market domination of a single entity or just light-hearted fun of the game, I don't know.

When my clients request celebration cakes, many of them don't come with pre-determined ideas on what they want. We chat a little bit about the person who will be receiving the cake and together we come up with the best fit.

To maximize the potential of this cake, I knew I had to have the actual board game with me throughout the design process. When I fished through my pile of games at home, I must have picked out every single release of Monopoly (Junior, Visa, Canada, etc) except for the original version. Who would have thought I shopped with the trends?!?

I found the original game at a local toy shop and spent the evening playing a round of the game with friends before kicking the cake into gear. Here are a couple pictures of the final project.

As Seen in Weddingbells Spring Summer 2011

Love Day

Just a reminder boys and girls - Valentine's Day is only three weeks away.

Love Boxes are now available from Frost.

What's a Love Box? A beautiful pink box tied with a large white ribbon and filled with your choice of Raspberry and Vanilla Bean macaroons, Raspberry and Vanilla Bean Guimauves, or Raspberry and Vanilla Bean cupcakes.

Wedding Cake Consultation

Hello, Sweet 2011!

I can't believe this is my first blog of 2011 - has it already been 3 weeks?

Many people have already kick started this year by joining a gym, eating healthier and overall just trying to be better people. As delightful as those resolutions sound, my new year resolution was to get my newly branded company, FROST CAKE CO. on the map.

Dividing my time between my graphic designer, web site designer and marketing and brand manager - I've filled the only remaining spare time with over 20 wedding cake consultations. Did I mention it's January 21?

So farewell gym - healthy eating what? It's going to be one sweet year for me!

xoS

PS. Don't forget to check out my new webpage at http://www.frostyourlife.com/.