Rifle Wedding Cake

I am a huge fan of Rifle Paper Company, the stationery brand and design studio created by illustrator Anna Bond and her husband Nathan. Anna’s drawings manage to be extraordinarily lovely, while still maintaining a feeling a fun and whimsy. I’ve admired her work for years now, so when I saw this Rifle-inspired wedding cake by pastry chef Melody Brandon, I couldn’t resist sharing it!

Inspired by a popular Rifle floral print, Melody painted the cake by hand and then added tiny sugar flowers to the cake to create a 3D effect. Frankly, I did a little happy dance inside when I saw it. How could I not? It combines two of my favorite things:  Rifle and cake! It’s so sweet and charming, I don’t know if I could bear to cut into it, but I would…because it’s cake! For more info on the Custom Floral Portrait Print that inspired the cake, visit Rifle's website, right here. You can find more info on Melody Brandon’s dessert studio, My Sweet & Saucy Shop, on her website. ~Erin

M. Robin Cakes

Where wedding cakes are concerned, the old saying "if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all" generally holds true. There isn't much variety in the wedding cake industry. It's a traditional sweet and most bakeries don't veer too far off course in their wedding cake offerings. It is definitely a business that needs a good kick in the pants and M. Robin Cakes in Portland, Oregon, is just the bakery to do it! Instead of making run-of-the-mill wedding cakes, owner, baker, and designer Marcella Robin makes these amazing and beautiful entrement cakes, which is a European style cake also known as a torte. It is made with sponge cake and layered with a variety of creams, custards, and mousses. The cake designs are created using a jaconde, which is a decorative sponge cake. The design in not applied to the cake like frosting, but actually baked into the sponge, creating a smooth finish. It is a completely fresh approach to wedding cake design and it makes perfect sense that Marcella is not only a graduate of the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, but that she also has a bachelors degree in sculpture. She treats her cake design in much the same way as any traditional artist.

From Marcella:  I can’t always predict how a design will “read” on a cake, so a big part of what I do is testing to see whether a design is truly spongeworthy. The tests are never eaten. They get wrapped, labeled, and frozen for inspiration and archiving. Instead of a sketchbook, I have a sketch pile — of spongecake.

Needless to say, I am a huge fan. When I first saw their website, I immediately jotted down the link and wrote the words "so awesome" next to it. You can check it out for yourself, right here.

Inspiration Board: Icingless cakes

Momofuku Milk Bar

I’ve been noticing a trend developing lately. Perhaps, you have too. What is this trend, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. Icingless Cakes. Yep, that’s right, cakes without an exterior layer of icing. Frankly, I’m not sure how I feel about this trend. The part of me that loves innovation is loving it, but the other part of me, the part of me that licks excess icing off my plate, isn’t completely sold on the idea. I know that there are plenty of delicious icingless cakes in the world (bundt cake, crumb cake, etc), but a wedding cake without icing? Will it be dry? Boring? Tasteless? I just don’t know! But, really, the flavor issue aside, there is something else that worries me about these cakes, a purely aesthetic problem that arises when you remove the protective outer layer of a cake. Take away the icing and what you’re now dealing with is, essentially, a nude cake and every flaw is exposed for the world to see. Icingless cakes just look messy. Even when created by professionals, they still look messy. Yes, there is something charming about their rustic appearance, but do you want to spend hundreds of dollars on a wedding cake and have it look sloppy or undone? Don’t get me wrong. I’m anxious to try one of these cakes and part of me thinks they’re awesome, but I’m just not sure if I would shell out a lot of money for one. What do you guys think?

Image by Natalie Bell

Ace of Cakes: Who Knew??

I’ve never been a huge Ace of Cakes fan. I’ve watched the show before and, although I’ve enjoyed it, there’s part of me that gets a little overwhelmed by all those giant sculptural cakes. There’s always this little voice in the back of my head wondering, What do those cakes taste like?? I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole Ace of Cakes phenomenon, but then I came across this picture on Vince Lupo’s Flickr page and everything changed. The moment I saw this adorable cuckoo clock cake I was head over heels in love! (Check out the fox in the bottom left-hand corner!) And it didn’t stop there! I continued to scroll through Lupo’s images and discovered photo upon photo of some of the most darling cakes that I have ever seen! What wonderful person made these cakes??? And where can I see more of their work?? You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that they were not made by a Scandinavian baking goddess or a hip do it yourselfer, but by Ace of Cakes!! No way! So, I guess I am now, an official Ace of Cakes fan. I’ve actually heard that there cakes are pretty tasty, once you remove the rubbery fondant layer. To check out more pics from Vince Lupo's Ace of Cakes photostream, click here. For more on Ace of Cakes, the show, click here, and here for their bakery's website.

Inspiration Board: Silhouettes (Part II)

A couple of years ago (almost to the day!), I posted a piece about using silhouettes as a decorating device. Over the past two years, I've seen a lot of great silhouette-inspired desserts, but, just recently, I've come across some amazing cakes that take the whole silhouette idea to a whole new level. Normally, I wouldn't repeat an Inspiration Board idea, but I loved these cakes so much that I thought it was about time for a follow up! I especially love Melody Brandon's graffiti-inspired cake pictured above. Check out more of my favorites below.

By Berliosca Cake Boutique

By Cakes 4 Fun

Maggie Austin Cake

I am totally smitten with Maggie Austin Cake (Washington DC). In fact, I’ve been collecting photographs of Maggie’s cakes for a while now and only recently realized that the gorgeous cakes that I had been ogling over all these months had all been created by the same person! She definitely has some of the most beautiful and creative cakes around. I’m especially fond of her stained glass series of cakes and cookies, but her cakes with the delicate paperlike detailing run a close second! They actually remind me a bit of filo pastry. I’ve chosen some of my favorites above and below, but you can check out more of her wonderful designs on her Web site,  right here.

Inspiration Board: Candy

Oh, wow! Do I love this cake or what?? When I first came across this Rock Candy Cake on Style Me Pretty, I thought, that is the greatest wedding cake I have ever seen. Okay, I admit it, I probably have said that about other cakes in the past, and I think I said it again when I saw the Dots Cake featured below, but it's definitely one of my favorites. It's beautiful and fun and simple all at the same time. Who knew that rock candy could look so sophisticated! If I attended a wedding and there was a Rock Candy Cake, I'd be a happy girl. Seeing this cake actually inspired me to do a little research to find other ways in which candy can be used as a design element in food and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy it! {Rock Candy Cake by Cocoa + Fig, photo by Red Ribbon Studio}


Candy Dots Cake, by Lochel’s Bakery, courtesy of Philadelphia Wedding


Gumball Cake by A Sweet Design


Heston Blumenthal’s Popping-Candy Chocolate Cake by Chubby Hubby {This cake is amazing, but if you'd like a simpler approach to incorporating Pop Rocks in your desserts, try sprinkling it on top of a cake or cupcake.}

A Wedding Carnival

I don't know why, but every time I post something wedding related, I feel like I need to preface it by saying that I don't like weddings! I don't know why. Maybe because women and weddings are such a stereotype. So many people assume that all women are obsessed with weddings and I'm so not, never have been. For that reason, I feel like I have constantly justify wedding posts. It's if I want to say, I'm not posting this because I have a wedding fetish, but because it's totally awesome!!! :-) And as you can see it is . . . totally awesome! For a person that is not into the whole wedding thing, I went completely googly-eyed when I saw these pictures of Eunice and Daniel's wedding! Actually, my giddiness over these pictures made perfect sense to me once I discovered that Eunice, who is the co-founder and creative director of the fabulous design studio Hello! Lucky, drew inspiration for her wedding from one of my favorite photographers, the super-talented Tim Walker. Hello! Lucky + Tim Walker = me, swooning.

What do I love most about this wedding? The pie bar, of course. I love, love, love the trend in weddings to include a dessert table instead of or in addition to a traditional wedding cake. It's such a fun and homey idea! The wedding cake itself is quite cute as well, especially that silhouetted cake topper on top!

On the nondessert front, I can't get enough of the wedding platform that they used during the ceremony. Is that not the greatest wedding stage you've ever seen. Awww . . . this is definitely my dream wedding and for someone who doesn't even have a dream wedding, that's saying something!

I've only touched the tip of the party sweetness here, for more photos, see the Spring 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings or just click here. You can also find more photos on the Hello! Lucky Web site, right here. [All images by Emily Nathan.]

Wear Your Dress and Eat It, Too

Yes, your eyes to not deceive you that is a wedding dress made out of cake (and some pretty cool looking cake, at that)! Artist Lukka Sigurdardottir is the fabulous lady responsible for creating this extraordinary wedding cake dress and, personally, I was blown away when I saw it this afternoon. Such a playful take on tradition, like something out of children's story or a surrealistic painting, which are often not all that different! Oh, wait, I just remembered what this reminds me of! The Tom Petty video for Don't Come Around Here No More! Similar idea, but not as scary. :-) For more info, check out the Web site Gather and Nest.

Inspiration Board: Wood Grain

I’m noticing a bit of a mini trend starting to emerge in the baking world: wood grain! Maybe it's an extension of the design world's renewed love of wood's simplicity, but a growing number of pastry chefs (and home bakers) seem to be using wood for inspiration! Personally, I love the look of wood, so I really enjoyed researching this one. There are so many cool ways to incorporate this trend and I can't wait to try one! Check out the images below if you too would like to add a little carpentry to your dessert menu. [Above: Martha Stewart's Chocolate Faux Bois Cupcakes]

Baumkuchen or Tree Cake. The particular cake was created by Falko Konditormeister for Katherine's wedding. If you want to create your own version of Baumkuchen, a recipe can be found here.


Woodgrain Heart Cookies from Whipped Bakeshop


Woodgrain Monogrammed Cookie from Whipped Bakeshop


Wedding Cake from Martha Stewart's Making Chocolate Woodgrain


Bird House by I Dream of Cake


Christophe Mazeaud's Wood Slice


Martha Stewart's Chocolate Wood Grain


Wood Grain Mat ($7.70) from Country Kitchen

Tree Pedestal Cake Stand (DIY)

For those of you looking for a more environmentally friendly choice in your cake stand options, the Tree Pedestal Cake Stand from Laurie at Once Wed is the stand for you! It's a really creative way to take found material and turn it into something useful and lovely. I was wondering, though, can you just use any old piece of tree that you find in the woods? How do you know when the wood it too rotted to use? Okay, maybe those are naive questions, but, really, I don't know the answers! Anyway, I was really impressed with how well these turned out, given that not much has changed from the original pieces. I even love the cake topper! Click here for full instructions on how to make the stand at Once Wed and here to visit Laurie's personal site for more crafty ideas!

Tord Boontje Cake

I am so loving this cake by designer Kate Sullivan. When I first saw it I thought, that's what a Tord Boontje cake would look like if, you know, Tord Boontje quite his day job and opened a bakery! I later discovered that this cake is indeed called the Boontje Nature Cake, so the inspiration is fully acknowledged by Ms. Sullivan. I know some people are getting rather tired of the whole animal trend, and I've been desperately trying to wean myself off it, but I just can't seem to stop! I'm a sucker for animal designs and I don't know if I'll ever get over it! Anyway, Kate Sullivan has a lot of other great, nonanimal-related cakes over at her Web site, many of which are inspired by artists like Robert Indiana, Andy Warhol, and filmmaker Preston Sturges (see below). There's also the Guggenheim Museum cake, complete with miniature people waiting outside.

Kate's cakes are especially impressive once you discover that she didn't train at some fancy wancy culinary skill, but learned her trade by studying books and by engaging in the art of good old-fashioned practice. See, there is still hope for the rest of us! Click here for more great photos on Kate's Web site.

Chocolate with Bacon?

Being a vegetarian, I won't be sampling any chocolate bar with the word bacon on its packaging, but I had to post it because it's just so odd! I will admit, that after I thought about it for a minute, I decided that it probably does have a really great flavor, but maybe that's because I'm a sucker for all things sweet and salty. At the very least, it would be interesting! If you prefer a little less meat with your chocolate, Vosges offers a slew of interesting bars. There is chocolate with mushrooms, chocolate with wasabi, and chocolate with curry, among others.

For truffle lovers, the Aztec Collection offers up chilies and cinnamon, while the Zion Collection includes allspice, pumpkin seed, and ginger. Don't even get me started on the ice cream and brownies, both of which include equally unusual items in their ingredient lists. If you're tired of boring old chocolate, then definitely check out Vosges Haut-Chocolat. You can find their stores in Chicago, New York, and Las Vegas or you can click here to order items online.