Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Making Spirits Bright!

The Frosted Cake Shop
Holiday Menu 2011

It really is, the most wonderful time of the year. The holiday season always gives great inspiration for new festive flavors and twists on the old traditional treats.

Featured Cake Flavors:
creamy, vanilla EGGNOG CAKE: pair it with espresso buttercream for an Eggnog Latte. Oh, Holy Night!

not-so-traditional, sour cream RED VELVET CAKE: layer this with coconut cream cheese or top a cupcake with shredded coconut for a Red Velvet Snowball!

refreshingly fudge-y CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE CAKE: our classic chocolate cake paired with peppermint ganache or peppermint buttercream. Best eaten in front of a cozy fireplace.

spiced GINGERBREAD CAKE: we're bringing molasses back!

super moist PUMPKIN CAKE: orange is the new Christmas red, right? Top it with cinnamon cream cheese or caramel buttercream and you'll know why we are keeping this "fall" flavor around for another month.

celebratory ORANGE/CRANBERRY/CLOVE SPICE CAKE: perfectly paired with our fizzy, festive CHAMPAGNE BUTTERCREAM. Move over figgy pudding- we won't go until we get some of this!

flavors can be ordered in 6", 8", and 10" round cakes
try 'em as a cupcake, cakepop, or cake truffle, too!

accepting orders NOW!
last order pick-ups: Dec. 24 before noon


Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Fall Menu


Now that we are knee-deep into fall, I wanted to remind everyone of our seasonal menu items. We are currently offering our fall selection, in addition to our basic menu. Throughout the remained of this month, please enjoy your favorite combination of our favorite fall flavors:

Apple Spice Cake
Pumpkin Cake
Mocha Spice Cake

Caramel Buttercream
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

In addition, be on the look out for our December treats! This menu will include:

Gingerbread Cake with Cinnamon Spice Frosting
Eggnog Cake with Latte Frosting
Red Velvet Cake with Classic Cream Cheese Frosting
and many more specialty treats!



Sunday, September 4, 2011

Quick Pic!


Yellow Ombre 3-tiered cake with sugar peony

Just taking a quick minute to share one of my new favorite cakes!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

On top of the world!

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to make the most exciting cake of the summer!

When I first meet my client, Linda, back in the spring, I just knew we would have a ball designing this cake. And a ball is what we created!! To top off all of her favorite activities and hobbies, we made a complete sphere cake to represent a globe.

This lavish, glamorous 50th birthday party was going to be over-the-top. I knew our cake needed to come up to the level of elegance this extravagant party was to have. First of all, the venue was a gorgeous private estate. Don't believe me? The home was even featured in Sacramento Magazine back in February!

My client has a real love for life. After just meeting with her, I could feel her energy and excitement for world travel, fun, and friends. With much thought, and trying to narrow down all of her favorite hobbies, we decided on the following design:

bottom tier: vintage luggage cake with stamps of her favorite travel spots
middle tier: movie reel cake- to coordinate with the Old Hollywood theme of the party
top tier: globe cake- marked with her favorite and most significant countries
decorations: mini popcorn bag cakes, ticket stubs, sugar flowers, etc
cake topper: a hand-painted Eiffel Tower, of course!!!



In hindsight, I wish had taken more detailed pictures of the cake and venue. The decor was exquisite!
(In fact, my delivery partner, aka mom, took some extra photos that I will need to snag and share soon)


"My Hollywood cake was the most talked about item at the party. Truly, truly amazing! You have Ace of Cakes beat anytime. Thank you" - Linda


Monday, August 1, 2011

Recipe Box: Guinness Chocolate Cake


With it's thick, creamy head and bold, tangy flavor, Guinness is an ever-popular dry Irish stout.



To be honest, Guinness is not my go-t0 for celebratory beverages. If it's not St. Patrick's Day or mixed with some Irish Cream, I'm not particularly interested. Unless, you bake it in a delicious chocolate cake, of course.

It is not unique to The Frosted Cake Shop to utilize beer in the kitchen. Due to its distinguished flavor, the culinary uses span from beef stew to french toast to even chocolate cake. The concept may not be original, but take a look at our take on the Guinness Chocolate Cake.


Ingredients:
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) and set aside.

Combine Guinness and butter in a medium sauce pan. Heat until butter is melted.

Over medium heat, whisk in the cocoa and sugar until combined.

Remove pan from heat.
Combine sour cream, eggs, and extract. Mix into butter/cocoa/sugar.
Whisk in dry ingredients until smooth.


Pour into prepared pans or cupcake liners. Bake until done!



Layers of Guinness Chocolate Cake with Fluffy Irish Cream Buttercream

and swirled on our cupcakes

Complete and ready to eat!


Thursday, July 28, 2011

Gender Reveal

When my client first approached me with this idea, I was so excited! What a creative, ingenious concept!!

A sweet gal I went to high school with contacted me about making a custom cake for her and her husband's house warming party. She wanted a cake to resemble the facade of their new home. Per her request, we would include a similar landscape, stone walkways, and their cute little red shutters.

Now here's the kicker: she wanted to use the party to announce the gender of their new baby! At this point, she did not know the sex of her lil' bun-in-the-oven either. We arranged for her nurse to contact me directly to let me know if they were expecting a baby boy or girl, so it would be a surprise for mom-to-be, too. After receiving confirmation from her baby nurse, we made our Vanilla Butter cake BLUE!!!



It's a BOY!
Layers of our Vanilla Butter cake, tinted blue, stack with Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream.


Now that the nurse fulfilled her job, it was time for mine. The beginnings of our House Cake.

And, complete!
Not only was I thrilled with the outcome of the decor, I could not wait for my client to slice right in! Congrats Jamie and Erik!


Sunday, July 3, 2011

June Brides


As June has now officially come to an end, I wanted to take a closer look at my top 3 personal favorite and most interesting cakes of the season, thus far.

First up, the lovely Gunton/Miller wedding at the Loomis Flower Farm Inn. On occasion, I happen to be honored with the task of creating a beautiful cake for a wedding that I am in attendance. A pair of my husband's great friends were wed late spring. They covered their venue with gorgeous wild flowers and hand-made accents. I even got to play "florist" by arranging the fresh freesias, hydrangeas, peonies, and ranunculus on the cake.

The 4-tier cake had alternating layers of Mocha Spice Cake with Fudge Filling and Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Almond Buttercream Filling. The entire cake was iced in a "home-made" style with our Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream.


My husband was a groomsman, in a crisp gray suit and clover tie. Here is a snapshot of us enjoying the reception.



Along with custom design decor, we occasionally are able to create custom cakes and recipes as well. When a client comes to us with a special request, I see it as a new challenge. My second most interesting June Bride came to us for a 100% eggless cake. This was our first request of the sorts, and ultimately ended in a success! I now can say, YES- we do offer eggless alternatives!

The completely eggless menu only required minor adjustments. At first I was a little hesitant when I soon discovered this meant: NO fondant, NO gumpaste, and NO Italian Meringue Buttercream. My helpful bride guided me to a solution. We used Ener-G Egg Replacer in our standard cake recipes, and they turned out great!



I love, LOVE a great reception venue. In fact, I think that was the very first thing we picked when planning our own wedding. We picked the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria to hold our never-ending guest list for its extra-tall windows, multiple levels, and unconventional wedding location.

Our third cake was delivered to an equally unique venue. The Jay Jay Art Gallery is uber modern, and industrial chic. I love it! What a great idea! Even their current exhibit matched the wedding colors and decor.



Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Creating a Custom Cake


I am so grateful for how well-received The Frosted Cake Shop has been over the last few years. Although the idea of an all custom cake shop is not entirely original, or limited to TFCS, I have strived to create the opportunity for my west-coast friends to have a one-of-a-kind, specialty cake of their own. When creating The Frosted Cake Shop, I envisioned meeting with clients, comparing color palettes, sketching designs, and pairing their favorite flavors to create their dream cake. Each cake would be tailored to the specific wants and needs of each client. No cake would be the same.

I'd like to take this opportunity to take you all on a behind-the-scenes tour of how a custom cake is created at The Frosted Cake Shop.


We are still a fairly small, boutique shop in our comfortable midtown location. With our unconventional business hours, we still operate by appointment only. When an appointment is scheduled, the client will be able to have a one-on-one consultation with me- cake baker, designer, decorating extraordinaire! At this point, we can discuss celebration theme, colors, patterns, style, etc. Tiered, round, square, 3D? Buttercream, ganache, fondant icing? A cake sketch, by yours truly, may be provided upon request to help visualize your creation.



Not only do we strive to create stunning, awe-worthy decorations, cake flavor is equally important. All of our cakes are made-to-order with only the freshest ingredients. For weddings and large celebration cakes, we offer an extensive combination of premium cakes, fillings, and frostings. We are always experimenting to try to find new seasonal flavors and unique combinations, that are just as exclusive as the cake design and decoration. Our basic menu can be found on our website, but please inquire about your own custom cake tasting.




Once our cakes are baked, designs are sketched, and details finalized, the real art of creating begins. In the following pictures, I will take you oo the journey of one of my favorite sculpted cakes. Our dear Elephant Cake:


Varying sized layers of our Classic Chocolate Cake are stacked with our Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream to create the body of our elephant. Our elephant will be sitting upright on a luscious cake pillow. With careful calculation, a steady hand, and my favorite serrated knife, I get to work....



As my round cakes are transformed, I continue to visualize the final shape and consult our original design.


Gravity-defying and irregular shapes and sizes need support for stability. Notice the dowel that will help support the elephant's head. Supports are carefully calculated. We would not want to learn the hard way that our cakes are not structurally sound with a cake wreck.


The irregular shape of the elephant will require a rolled fondant covering. This process will be done in a few different steps; piecing together sections of fondant and creating a seamless finish.


At this point, the body has been completely covered. I apologize for the jump in "progress pics," I was too concentrated on the elephant head to snap pics =)

The elephant head and trunk were made from fondant-covered rice cereal. The rice cereal is much lighter than cake and can be shaped much easier. Before the fondant was set, a veining tool was used to create the natural wrinkles of the elephant skin. A couple dimples gave emotion to the face. Petal dust "blush" was used to help bring the face to life.

With some toe nails, pillow tufts, and a couple gumpaste daisies, the design is complete!





Creating a custom cake is quite a process, but the long hours and late nights are always worth it to see the happiness on a client's face.

Any questions?? Easy enough, right?! Contact us today to begin creating your custom cake!!