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

Cakes & Cookie News!

Hello Again!
I have been a busy little bee trying to come up with new flavors, working on cakes and starting a new decorated cookie line. So I need to go back to last week with my delivery from last Friday when I delivered a groom's cake and matching sugar cookies. The bride to be wanted something that represented her fiance so she gave me a card from the game Magic The Gathering and wanted me to create a cake that looked like the card. Well I didn't disappoint and she was so happy! The cookies were a bit of a challenge in that up until this point I didn't do decorated sugar cookies. Well I was pleased with the way the came out but thought I could do better. So after checking on my favorite forum in the world..CakeCentral.com I decided that I could do cookies.. more about that later!

Vanilla bean cake with Chocolate Tuffle Filling

Sugar Cookies with Glace Icing and Fondant Accents

So now we fast forward to this week. I received two orders for July 4th related items and I decided to make some samples for my business class that I have been taking on Thursday nights at York College. I want to open up a shop at some point so I figure I should get as much knowledge in the business arena as possible hence the class:) The first order was for star sugar cookies. So I made 3 dozen little star cookies. The second order was for chocolate covered brownies. Then I baked up some mini cupcakes and chocolate covered strawberries for class. 

Star Cookies- sugar cookies with vanilla glace icing in red, white and blue. Decorated with USA, 4 and some dots. 

Chocolate covered Brownies- brownies hand dipped in red chocolate and decorated in red, white and blue glace icing.

Cinnamon Bun Mini Cupcakes & Chocolate/Caramel Mini Cupcakes- cinnamon cake with vanilla buttercream and sprinkled with cinnamon; triple chocolate fudge cake with chocolate/caramel buttercream and drizzled with caramel sauce

Raspberry Mini Cupcakes- Raspberry cake with Lemon buttercream

Chocolate covered Strawberries- dark and red chocolate covered strawberries in various designs

So now for the big news after some thinking and designing I am launching my own Konfection Cookie Line. Sugar based cookie (in various flavors) decorated to match a theme or event. I am working on some mock up cookies now so pictures will be coming over the next couple of days as I finish them. Also since summer is officially upon us I have some summer cupcake flavors that I will unveiling tomorrow. So until then...

Peace & Blessings

Kima

Birthday & Father's Day

Hi Guys!
So I have some orders last week that I waited to post until Father's Day because one order was for Father's Day. So the cake up on deck was the Father's day cake that my adorable god-daughter asked me to make for her father (my god-father). The cake is Lemon flavored with Vanilla bean buttercream filling. The cake is decorated in white fondant with yellow and copper colored circles. 

Next up is some cupcakes that I made for Father's Day. 6 were Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes and the 6 were Chocolate cupcakes.

   

Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes- Cinnamon infused cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and topped with cinnamon 

Chocolate cupcakes with half chocolate buttercream and half vanilla buttercream.

Next is a birthday cake I made for a friend of mine. Her sister contacted me because my friend loves my cakes so she wanted to surprise her by having me make her birthday cake. 

Matching cupcakes- White Chocolate Cupcake with  Pink Vanilla Buttercream topped with Black Sprinkles

Pink & Black Fashion inspired Cake- White Chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream. Decorated with black fondant swirls, boots, handbags and high heel shoes. 

One of my repeat customers order another pineapple upside down cake for her husband for Father's Day since he loved the first one so much. I really appreciate it when customers come back and she is definitely a repeat customer because I will be making her daughter's birthday cake in July! 

8 inch Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

The order I made was a special one... for my husband who has been a great dad! I wanted to show him how much I appreciate him so I made him some handy man cupcakes!

Hand Man Cupcakes- Raspberry cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream topped with Blue fondant figures of hammer, screwdriver, drill, tape measure and the word handy man. 

Lastly I am trying to come up with different ways for packing. Here is one I am thinking about for specialty cakes; white tin containers. I also had a logo sticker made up. Please let me know what you think :) 

Until next time... Peace & Blessings

Second Wedding Cake Order... plus new Equipment!!!

So I delivered my second wedding cake today. I loved the way it came out! My client Hong wanted a cherry blossom wedding cake because they were having a pink and white wedding. Him and his fiance are Asian and wanted something to reflect the heritage. So I made them a 4 tier round wedding cake in white fondant with pink/white cherry blossoms. The branches are brown colored vanilla buttercream.

I was also recently blessed with the money to bought some much needed equipment to expand my business so now I can do edible images and more complicated scroll work. I was able to get a Agbay cake leveler (which is a godsend because I get my cakes perfectly level now), Cricut Cake, Food Color printer ink and dedicated printer and a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer! Now I would have given my left arm for the mixer itself, it makes baker so much quicker and easier. So you can imagine I was doing the happy dance all around the house when I was able to get everything else... it is Christmas in June for me!

 My beloved new mixer and its purple!!

So look forward to more cakes coming soon. I will be doing my family cake for my cousin Gensis's first birthday. It is going to be a candy themed cake (so much fun). Until then... Peace & Blessings

First Wedding Order Done!

Last weekend I had my first wedding to cater and it came out beautifully (with the help of the hubby)! The couple I had the pleasure of catering a dessert table for Jessica & Steven wanted a yellow and green nature themed table along with wedding cake. The cake was 3 tiers carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The cake was covered in green fondant with yellow cherry blossoms. They wanted simple yet elegant and I think I achieved that look.

The dessert buffet was for 200 guests so I made a combination of brownies, cupcakes, cookie truffles and cake pops. The brownies were plain chocolate with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon which is my signature brownie. The cupcakes were cinnamon bun with cinnamon cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream, lemon with lemon-lime buttercream, strawberry with lemon-lime buttercream, carrot with vanilla bean cream cheese buttercream, red velvet with vanilla bean cream cheese buttercream and chocolate chip with chocolate buttercream. The cookie truffles were chocolate oreo and golden oreo truffles. And the cake pops were strawberry, banana/chocolate, and white chocolate. Yummy!!!

 I will be blogging again on Saturday after the delivery of yet another wedding cake! Vanilla and raspberry cherry blossom... Until then peace and blessings!

Slow Period..

I haven't been blogging much lately because business has slowed down over the past two weeks. I really didn't have much scheduled but next week the rush starts again :) So this week I had a baby shower cake (my first request) and a candy buffet to do. The baby shower came out really cute though I really wanted the fondant accents to come out better.. oh well don't have to worry about that once I get my Cricut Cake! That thing looks great and will make my cakes look much better and will make decorating cakes go a lot faster. So the baby shower cake was pink with a baby bottle, safety pin, baby carriage and rattle on the top. The cake was lemon with strawberry filling and strawberry buttercream.

The other delivery I had today was for a candy buffet and cupcakes along with a small personal cake for a 5 year old. It had to be delivered to a skating rink. When I got there they didn't have an extra table for me to set up the buffet :( But I made it work nonetheless.. and I think it came out really cute. All the candy was blue, pink or purple to coordinate with Abby Cadabby (which is the birthday girl's favorite character right now). I also made goodie bags and personalized cupcake toppers. I used foam crowns and butterflies to add to the overall scheme of the table. This is my second candy buffet I have done so far and I learn from each one. This one took me longer to set up because of all the jars and candy involved. I can't wait till I get another order. I have a wedding with dessert buffet coming up so that is going to be so excited. Other than that nothing much is going on. Peace & Blessings.