Thursday, January 31, 2013

Meeting a legend.

First off, what a beautiful day!  Seriously.  Weather like this makes me fall in love with New York even more.  Last week when it was 9 degrees and not a ounce of snow on the ground, I hated New York.  But today... today makes me fall in love all over again.

Heaven on earth.

Instagram via my cab ride this morning.  gor. geous. 

So after I got over what a beautiful day it was shaping up to be,  I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon at Kellari Taverna hosted by the Wedding Salon.

(Did I mention that Katherine Sprules Cake Designs will be a vendor at the April 22nd wedding expo, The Wedding Salon?  Big time!)

Katherine and Tatiana Byron, Founder of the Wedding Salon

Anywho, I knew that it would be a great opportunity to meet some other people/vendors in the wedding biz and there was a rumor that Sylvia Weinstock might make an appearance.

A little about Sylvia.  First off, she's got style.

evidence: her business card


Sylvia Weinstock is known for (besides making amazing cakes) her glasses.  It is her trademark.  I love it.  Plus she ain't no spring chicken so she can do whatever the heck she wants.  Which I also love.


photo credit: Melanie Dunea
photo credit: Laurentiu Garofeanu/ Barcroft USA
I mean look at those flowers.  Hello, can I be Sylvia Weinstock when I grow up?  I wonder where she gets her glasses... i digress...

photo credit: brides.com
photo credit: preparetowed.com
Okay, so know you know why I love her... because she's amazingly talented and sassy and she has the coolest eyewear around.  My stomach was doing flips all morning in anticipation of meeting the legend.  It was past noon and the luncheon had started.  No Sylvia.  We ate some delicious food.  No Sylvia.  We ate some more delicious food.  No Sylvia.  We mingled with the other vendors.  Exchanged business cards.  No Sylvia.  I was losing hope.  Then all of the sudden I saw her!  Making her way through the crowded dining room was the sassy little lady with the most amazing glasses around!

We all continued to mingle and trade stories and experiences (and I tried to contain my excitement about the famous lady with the fabulous black glasses sitting across from me).  I happened to sit by Madison Lee of Madison Lee Cakes who was a doll (and becoming a celebrity in her own right).  I love meeting other cake artists :)  Especially ones that are talented and nice and share the same vibe.  totes.
Katherine Sprules and Madison Lee 
And finally, just as everyone was getting ready to leave, I stole my moment and introduced myself to the famous Sylvia Weinstock... and asked someone nearby to snap our photo with my iPhone...

Katherine and Sylvia Weinstock (two four-eyes cake artists)
I told her (probably in a panicked fashion because she was literally ready to walk out the door) that I admired her work and owned her books and asked her to take one of my business cards.  As I handed her my card, I told her that I am new business owner but someday I hope to be as famous and well known as her... She took my card and "Crazier things have happened".

Yes Sylvia.  Crazier things have happened.

Today was a good day.


Let's all believe in the crazy, shall we?  :)


Thursday, January 24, 2013

How much do you love Lady Gaga?

Ummm...let's just say, being an Arizona native I'm not sure if I should be proud or... well... not.

photo credit: kgw.com
photo credit: kgw.com

Not sure if you all have heard but Phoenix, Arizona cake decorator, Jay Murphy (owner of Kick Ass Kakes) apparently loved Lady Gaga enough to create a life-size cake of her likeness.  

If I were Jay I probably would have found a different way to create the armature to prop up the cake.  Nobody (especially a lady!) likes a stick up their a$#!

photo credit: kgw.com

Whether or not Lady Gaga actually saw the cake, I don't know, but Jay Murphy sure did get a lot of media attention... I wonder if this is going to spark another trend of celebrities having cakes made of themselves.  Personally it seems a little strange to want to slice and eat a cake of yourself... but to each their own :)

Happy Thursday.

 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Your cake, Mr.President.


Did you all see the cake honoring President Obama at the Inauguration Monday?

Congrats to Duff Goldman’s Charm City Cakes for having the amazing honor to make that special cake!

photo credit: eater.com
I, for one, am glad Duff decided to forgo the pyrotechnics for the occasion :)

Duff, maybe you should think about getting some new photos to use for press releases!  Eek!

Through my research I was able to find the original sketch for the cake.  I love comparing sketches to the final cake.  I think the true credit should go to, Katie... notice it is her name on the sketch.  You go girl!
photo credit: latimes.com

Betty Hallock of the Daily Dish featured in the Los Angeles Times writes: 

"The cake -- layers of red velvet, lemon poppy seed, pineapple coconut and pumpkin chocolate chip with Swiss buttercream -- is decorated with the presidential seal, emblems of each U.S. militarybranch, hand-painted red, white and blue stars and stripes, and patriotic fondant bunting."


YUM! YUM!  That cake pretty much had every flavor a gal (or guy) could want!  I'm not saying I would enjoy a bite of all flavors together, but separately, with a swig of water (or wine!) in between bites... totally! 

I love looking at sketches of cakes and then looking at the final product.  Isn't it amazing how a sketch is just an idea... it takes an artist to make it a reality. 

the sketch is the: BEFORE

DURING:
photo credit: laist.com                            photo credit: nor.com 

AFTER:
photo credit: obamafoodorama.blogspot.com

ABC NEWS interviewed the Charm City Cakes staff on the process of making a cake for such a high profile occasion. 



We hope everyone enjoyed the cake, including you, Mr.President!







Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Long time, no blog!


Pardon my absence during the Holiday season.  I had the pleasure of venturing home to Arizona for just shy of two weeks to spend time with my gigantic, amazing, hilarious family.  It has only been in recent years that I’ve realized how amazingly unique my family is.  It is huge…. Like HUGE, HUGE!  Growing up, we had 20+ people at every Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Birthday, Superbowl party, Fourth of July, Flag day, etc., etc.  Basically my family rocks.  It is big and inclusive and has lots of honorary members.  My “Aunt” Cindy's favorite thing to do is explain how everyone is related.  It usually sounds something like, “Bill is my husband’s brother’s wife’s brother’s wife’s brother.”

(Note: That is a true description of how they are related.  I think it could be less complicated my saying Bill is her sister-in-law’s, brother’s brother-in-law, but I’m not sure that is any easier to understand).

The awesome thing is Cindy isn’t “technically” even my Aunt.  She’s my dad’s sister’s husband’s brother’s wife… so we are related through marriage.  Maybe she’s my Aunt once removed or something… whatever.  She’s still my Aunt.  In my family, when explaining how we are all related gets too complicated, we just say we are all “cousins”.  In conclusion, having a HUGE family makes things amazing, and exciting, and always interesting.

To most people spending almost two weeks with one's family would be super overwhelming and more than enough "family time.  I honestly couldn't get enough and it truly didn’t feel like a long enough trip.  I think that is a testament to how much I love my family.  I don’t want to bore you all (since everyone seems to think their family is the most awesome family under the sun) with all of the details and festivities during my trip but I did want to share a few pictures of the only thing I had time to bake.

I didn’t have a whole lot of extra time to bake (hence all of the quality family time) so when I finally got around to it, my mom requested I make cake pops because who doesn’t love eating delicious cake with the convenience of it being on a stick!?  Deliciousness with no plates or fork required, count us in!

Channeling my inner Vanna White with the cake pops.


Unfortunately, the kids found the cake pops first.



Sharing is caring… right?!

…that is until the momma found out that baby Trevin had already had two sugar-filled cake pops and took it away.  

Screaming ensued.

Don't you just love the chocolate all over his face!?

I’m taking his reaction as a compliment to the deliciousness of my cake pops.

(Note: The adults enjoyed my cake pops as well.  The difference was no one asked the adults how many they ate :P  ) 





I hope you all had a very happy holiday season with the ones you hold near and dear to your hearts.