It's Been A Long Time..

Hello Everyone!
I know its been a long time since I blogged but I have been soooooo busy between the shop and moving into a house and now dealing with a 1 year old! So the time had flown by. So I have finally gotten mostly everything settled in the shop. I just have to put together the bookcase and fill it with the books and find a bistro table. For some reason I can't find one any where. But other than that things are going along I will be glad when spring comes around so I can really advertise the way I want to. I moved into a 4 bedroom house so I am trying to fill it with the stuff, paint and organize. Boy is it taking forever! Now I know why people are still living out of boxes months later when they move into a house. Then to top it off my little bundle of craziness Jayden turned 1 in November and has been running (literally) around the house getting into everything. So as you can see I have had a lot of my plate and blogging got pushed to the wayside. I will make an effort to blog on constant schedule. So if any of you are interested after taking a lot at all of the cakes and cupcakes I have done I am proudly located at: 1413 North George Street York,PA 17404.

So now on to the cakes and cupcakes! I have added a lot of new flavors to my cakes and cupcakes which can be found on my website Kima's Konfections. So I am going work my way backwards starting from today and then go backwards to catch all of the cakes and cupcakes that I missed.

Sunflower Cake- Peanut Butter Fudge flavored cake torted with layers of chocolate ganache and peanut butter buttercream

My first I Can Decorate Too! class was December 18th. I had 2 students who were very eager to learn and they had lots of fun. This class is like a crash course in cake decorating so what you would learn in the first 2 Wilton decorating classes you learn in one night. I am also available for questions for my students any time. The class is $50 ($55 for gourmet cake) and you just bring yourself to the class. I provide everything including the cake and buttercream. 

 Cappuccino-Tiramisu Cupcakes- Cappuccino-tiramisu flavored cake with Vanilla Buttercream and drizzled with chocolate sauce.

 Passion fruit Cupcakes- Passion fruit flavored cupcakes with a tropical punch buttercream and topped with a pineapple sauce.

 Pink Wedding Dress Cookie- sugar cookie decorated with white fondant and pink sanding sugar and edible pearls.

 Blue Wedding Dress- wedding dress shaped sugar cookie with blue fondant and light pink sanding sugar and metallic blue edible pearls.

Pink & Pearls Wedding Dress- pink wedding dress sugar cookie decorated in pink fondant and edible luster dust and edible pearls. 

So the next post will have more pictures from previous made cakes along with some pictures of my Mommy & Me Cupcake Decorating Class. Also we are in the process of putting together some birthday party packages and a Poet Cafe once a month at the shop so lots more information coming soon!

Peace & Blessings

Hakima

Changes, Changes & More Changes!

So I know its been over two months since I last blogged but I got caught up in baking cakes and other things that time just flew by! Two of the most important changes has been moving into a house and moving my business into a shop! Yes I know, Kima's Konfections now has an actually store front in York, PA! I am so amazed and proud at the same time. So now that both moves are behind me I can start blogging again.. oh I had a major milestone in my life yesterday.. my adorable son Jayden turned 1! He is no longer a baby any more but a toddler who walks and has his own attitude to boot. So you guys will be hearing more from me from now on. I have so much going on with the shop that I will just share a little bit with you now and as I transform the shop into my dream shop I will keep you updated.

First I had revamped my pricing structure and product list. I did this for a few reasons but mainly because I thought it would be simpler to have one price for cakes for my clients. I also got rid of some products that weren't selling. I also just completed (yesterday) the most updated cake flavor list. It will be posted on my site in the next couple of weeks and is available in the shop now. Other changes include our Mommy & Me cupcake decorating class for parents and their children. Kids are allowed to come into the shop and decorated cupcakes with their parents. Its great fun for the kids and their parents. Another class that will be making its debut in December is my I Can Decorate too! Class for teenagers and young adults. More information on that class will be coming soon.

So now on to the good part... cakes and cupcakes!

Amaretto Dream Cupcakes- Amaretto flavored cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream 

topped with a Dove Chocolate Square.

 Juicy Couture Handbag Birthday Cake- red velvet cake with swirled Strawberry and Banana Buttercream. All of the design elements I did myself by hand.

Fashion Diva 30th Birthday Cake- 2 tiers of Strawberry cake with White Chocolate Buttercream and 1 tier of Butter cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream. All of the handbags, shoes and makeup are all made out of sugar. Cake was delivered to Baltimore, Maryland.

 Tropical Theme Birthday Cake- Amaretto cake with Vanilla Buttercream.

 Sports Theme Birthday Cupcakes- a variety of cupcake flavors with sports theme fondant figures for 2 little boys.

 Fall Theme Wedding Cupcake Tower- variety of cupcakes on tower along with cake topper in lemon cake.

 Fall Rustic Wedding Cake- Chocolate & Cherries cake with Chocolate Buttercream. Decorated in fall inspired items like birds, pumpkins, leaves in fall colors and twigs. Wedding was at the Duke Farm in Fawn Grove, PA.

 Almost 60 Birthday Cake- Vanilla Bean cake with Strawberry and Cream Filling. Covered in Vanilla Buttercream and decorated with star gazer lilies and calla lilies. Cake was delivered in Yoe, PA.

 Princess & Frog Theme Cupcake Tower- variety of cupcake flavors with birthday's name, wands/crowns and lily pads. Cake topped with birthday girl's name on it and a little fondant frog.

 Coach Handbag Cake- Chocolate cake with Oreo Buttercream. Decorated like a Coach bag with fondant makeup pieces all done by hand. Picked up at the shop in York, PA.

 Ruffle Wedding Cake- 2 tiers of Chocolate cake with Reese peanut butter cup and chocolate filling, 1 tier of pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese Buttercream and the last tier is white cake with fresh strawberries and Vanilla Bean Buttercream. Square tiers have a maple leaf impression dusted in edible gold. Delivered to the Stone Mill Inn in Hellam, PA.

Piglet Birthday Cake- Chocolate cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream. Cake decorated to look like Piglet's face. There were cupcakes my client ordered to go along with the cake but the cake was the cutest. Picked up at the shop in York, PA.

I will be posting more pictures tomorrow and maybe Tuesday until I get all caught up. Until then.
Peace & Blessings

Another Wedding & IPOD cake

Hi,
So this entry is going to be pretty short since I posted the majority of my projects for this week yesterday. I had 2 orders for today. One was an IPOD birthday cake for my pastor's son. The other is a cake and cupcakes for a wedding. The wedding cake and cupcakes were made with the reception luau theme in mind. The bride wanted flowers on each cupcake and butterflies on the cake.

Floral Wedding Cake/Cupcake Tower- 2 tier red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream. Cupcakes are vanilla dusted with cocoa powder, triple chocolate fudge and lemon with key lime cream cheese buttercream. Various colored royal icing flowers sit on top each cupcake. Cake has wired butterflies and gumpaste flowers on top (orchid, lily, calla lily and jasmine). I made the cupcake tower as well. That was a big learning lesson and now the hubby and I know what to do differently.

IPOD Cake- Vanilla bean cake with White Chocolate buttercream filling. This cake was alot of fun to make. 

I was be posting Saturday night from New Jersey! Yeah! We will be picking up my sister in law for a couple of days before she starts school and visiting my god-daughter because she will be in another pageant! So I will have more pictures of 2 birthday cakes and my first event that I have planned (birthday party) plus cake and high heel cookie favors. I am sooo excited.

Peace & Blessings.

Weddings & Airplanes!

Hello once again,

So I have been able to blog more lately because I am learning to do my prep work for cakes earlier in the week so by the time I have to start baking cakes or cupcakes I have everything else prepared. It really helped me out last week with all of the orders I had and it also helped out a bit this week. For the past two weeks it has been really really busy for me and I love it! It lets me know that the local community is starting to find out about me :) So on to this week. First up was a cake I had to make for a couple that I did their wedding cake back in July. Due to the heat and having their wedding outdoors (which I warned them about) I had some issues with the bottom tier by the time I go to the venue and then the cake sat outdoors in the heat. Needless to say the fondant slid a little. I explained to her what happened and why the fondant slid. So because I am who I am and want all of my customers happy and coming back, I told her that I would do a smaller cake for at her choosing for free. So this is the cake, it was her husband who turned 25.

Butter cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Filling. The 2 & 5 were separate cakes that I attached to the square cake. 

The next cake was ordered from a repeat customer of mine. She is so easy to work with and gives me free reign as far as design is concern (which I love).

Strawberry Theme Birthday Cake- Strawberry cake with Strawberry Buttercream Filling. I made the strawberries on top from red fondant. The vines are dark chocolate with white dogwood flowers. This was my first time making fondant figures so I am really pleased with the way the strawberries came out. 

The next couple of pictures are from the order a customer picked up today for her sister's wedding. The wedding will be held in Maryland tomorrow. She preferred to take the cake and things down rather than have me deliver. The wedding's theme was red, blue and airplanes. This order was good size too one smaller cake (for the wedding party), sugar cookie favors and cupcakes for the guest. I love doing these kinds of orders because I am doing multiple things for one event and it shows off my skills. 

Airplane Wedding Cake- Triple Chocolate Fudge cake with Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate Buttercream fillings. The cake is decorated with blue and white compass roses on the sides. On top sits a little airplane that the couple wanted. A very talented fellow cake decorator did the plane for me since I am not that good with fondant figures yet. I had to put it together and think I did a pretty good job:)

Compass Rose Cupcakes- Matching cupcakes to the airplane wedding cake. Cupcakes were carrot, vanilla and chocolate. Topped with blue and white compass rose. 

Airplane Sugar Cookies- Vanilla sugar cookies decorated with red and blue royal icing. The cookies have the couples name and the wedding date on them. I made the favor tags as well. 

Cupcake Tower- I made this square tower to go put the cake and cupcakes on. 

I really wished that I could have set this up but I will have to wait for pictures so see how she set it up. I will be posting more pictures tomorrow after I deliver and set up a cupcake tower for another wedding. I also made some delicious cakes for my church's annual picnic for the baking contest. I also have a birthday cake to deliver as well. But I have GREAT news for everyone. Kima's Konfections is moving! Yes we have have been approved for a house in the city of York (we currently live in the township). It is up the street from a park on a quiet one way street. But the best thing to me is it has sooo much room! I will be able to have a dedicated room just for the business! Which means I can take on more customers! I am so excited and more updates will be coming soon with pictures. Move in date is set for sometime in October! 

Peace & Blessings

Updates & More Updates!!!

Hi!

Please excuse if this and the next blog entries are long because there is a lot I need to get caught up on. I have been super busy between all the orders for August I have and Jayden learning how to crawl and pull up on everything at the same time! I have been trying to bake and keep on eye on him at the same time. I also a wedding, birthday cakes and a huge muffin/cookie donation to a woman's empowerment conference last Saturday so this is the first time after recovering that I have been able to blog. So now before the rush begins for the week tomorrow, I decided to get at least an entry and some pictures up. So here we go!

Spongbob Cake- Top is Vanilla Bean with Chocolate Buttercream & Bottom is Chocolate with Peanut Butter Buttcream. Everything on the cake is edible except the wires shooting out of the top and Spongebob figures.A loyal repeat customer of mine ordered this cake for her daughter's birthday. Alix loved her cake.

Monster Truck Cake- Vanilla cake with Cookies-n-Cream Filling. A newer customer ordered this cake for her grandson's birthday. She was referred through the other bakery in York (we have a great working relationship with each other). I liked this cake because it was something different than the regular birthday cakes. 

A New Jersey customer ordered these cupcakes along with a matching cake for his daughter's birthday. The cupcakes are vanilla and chocolate covered in fondant in shades of turquoise and purple. I think added the fondant figures of necklaces, wands, hearts and flowers to reinforce the princess theme he was looking for. 

Little Monkey Cake- Red Velvet Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream. This customer wanted the cake to match the pattern on the plates and napkins she had for her son's party. So I made the fondant monkey and drew the face on with an edible marker. The monkey came out better than I expected and I love the challenge of trying to match birthday themes. 

Coach Theme Cake- Triple Chocolate Fudge with Chocolate Ganache Filling. My customer wanted a cake that represented her daughter's love of coach. Her daughter had a favorite purse that was purple with the coach signature on it. So I had came up with this design along with a design for an actual purse. She liked this one better. I think I will attempt this cake again in the shape of an actual purse once the wedding rush slows down a bit. 

Pink & Beige Birthday Cake- Amaretto cake with White Chocolate Buttercream. Another bakery referral (on vacation this time) client. She saw a similar cake I did for the bridal show I attended in the Spring and loved the look. I changed the colors to what she wanted and added the names of the birthday women along with Happy Birthday in Spanish and fondant flower on top. When I delivered it her and her daughter absolutely loved it!

This cake is my first cake covered entirely in buttercream. It was for a 50th wedding anniversary. They wanted to keep it very simple so I did. The flowers are dogwood in pink and white. The cake was chocolate with white chocolate buttercream filling and covered with chocolate buttercream. I still like fondant better :) 

Tool Box Cake- Pink Lemonade cake with Mango Buttercream Filling. This cake was made for my father in law's birthday. He is a handy man (quite good too) so my hubby wanted me to make a cake that included that theme and this is what I came up with. I am proud of this cake because it really came out looking like a tool box. The tools are made from chocolate. My father in law was quite surprised when he received on Saturday because he had no idea I had shipped him anything. I love surprises. 

So that is all for now.. I will be blogging again tomorrow night with pictures of cupcake creations. Until then..

Peace & Blessings.

Long Post Will Be Coming Soon...

Hi All!
I just wanted to let everyone that I will be posting a longer than usual post tomorrow due to all of the pictures I have to share over the last couple of weeks. I have been more and more local orders so that is where I have been... baking lots of things.... the next post after tomorrow won't be until Saturday night because I have a huge muffin donation, wedding and birthday due for Saturday.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Peace & Blessings
Hakima

Cupcakes!!!

Hi Everyone!
I have been busy with weddings and booking weddings and cupcakes! I have been forgetting to take pictures of the last couple of wedding cakes trying to get them there on time. So I have to remember to take pictures before I leave for delivery. But I have been taking pictures of my new cupcake creations so I will be posting those. I also will be posting more pictures of some cookies I decorated, more pictures of cookies are coming they just take so much time to decorate. In other news.. I am a member of an online community called Cake Central where cakers and cake decorators get together and post forum posts about many different things. The one common thread I've seen lately has been clients either trying to negotiate on the price of the cake or coming with excuses in an effort to get some of their money back after they ate the cake. Now I for one think that this is crazy and thought it didn't happened but it does! I have read soooo many stories about how customers think decorator's cake cost too much and don't want to pay the balance and try to talk the price down. Now I understand cake is food but I'm pretty sure they don't do that to caterers in coming up with menus for their events or florists or even the photography.. so why do it to the cake decorator?? Our time is worth something just like everyone else and so is our art. Cake is edible art to me, it just burns me that everyone doesn't think that way and feels like we should be cheaper than what we are. I tell some customers that if they think I'm expensive call one of those bakeries where their pricing starts at $6.00 per slice or higher and then think how expensive I am. I know there are people out there they do appreciate good cake and the skill that goes into it. It's just a shame that everyone doesn't understand that.

I had to get that off my chest.. now for some pictures!

Orange Dreamsicle Cupcakes- Orange dreamsicle flavored cake with orange dreamsicle buttercream

Sample Cake Tasting- I always make cupcakes for tastings because it is easier and I can make extra for clients to take home. 

Tropical Breeze- Mango, Pineapple and Coconut flavored cake with a buttercream made of grenadine, mango, pineapple and tropical punch.

Rootbeer Cupcake- Rootbeer flavored cake with rootbeer buttercream

Vanilla White Chocolate- Vanilla cake with White Chocolate Mocha Buttercream

Raspberry- Raspberry cake with Lemon-Lime Buttercream

Chocolate Caramel- Triple Chocolate Fudge cake with Chocolate Caramel Buttercream, drizzled with Caramel Sauce and dusted with Cocoa Powder 

FYI: In Jayden news.. he is now crawling!!! Yes my 8 month old is crawling all over the house and pulling himself up on everything so he will be walking in no time. Time is flying by.. he is getting so big its crazy to think that just a couple of months ago he was so little and couldn't do anything. Babies are so amazing!

Peace & Blessings

Kima