Steampunk, Baby!

What an adventure this last big cake has been!

Orange and lemon cake, raspberry, strawberry and vanilla buttercream...copper gears made from hand-piped royal icing, peacock feathers, flowers and ivy vines made out of sugar...and yes, even fondant work for a cereal treat false-tier, hand painted and carved.

Sound a little overwhelming?  Yeah...I thought I bit off more than I could chew this time...but it turned out just fine. 

Here's the big reveal...lots of pictures to save my hand from cramping up.  All that piping takes a toll after a while!

Isn't she maaaahhhvelous, Dahling?

Peacock Feathers!  All original gum paste work up top. 

The Corset:
Cereal Treat, Fondant, hand painted
Rose: gumpaste
WHEW!!!

 

 

 

One of my trademark lilies...all metallicized and steampunky

Royal Icing Gears!  Those were a labor of love fo'shizzle.

Arrrround behind...what did you call me??

When nerds party...

When nerds marry...
Check out my fascinator!  Love that thing:)

The Groom (aka the husband's super double plus good friend)

Cutting the Cake!

The Cake So Nice I Baked It Twice

Last weekend, I went through close to 20 pounds of sugar and 15 pounds of butter.  Perhaps gallons of vanilla extract and a million joules of electricity have passed through my kitchen. 

I have all but exhausted my capacity to bake, not to mention my poor oven, which sadly looked like this mid-morning on Saturday:

Oh yes, yes it did.  Whilst pulling the most perfectly, evenly baked cake in the world...I slipped, the cake flipped and onto the burning hot element it went.  Cry...cry a little.  I did.

Not only did I get to re-bake my Grandmother's birthday cake, I also got to give my oven a spa-day.  Thankfully, she approved of the treatment and the second cake turned out beautifully. 

Only wish I'd taken a picture before this happned:

It was really very pretty...white cake with vanilla butter cream.  I even went old school and got out my petal tip...piped out some roses...

Sorry you can't see them better.  They were much prettier in person...and you know, before they were smooshed around and nudged to make room for the knife. 

It was a pretty little thing.  Glad I could show you how pretty it was on the inside at least!

Time for a Cupcake or 60

Just finished topping five dozen cupcakes with icing rosettes.  They look a little something like this:

And three dozen of them are gonna be stylin with some toppers that look a little like this:

Should be a pretty beautiful display for a bridal shower!  Hopefully I'll have a picture or two of the final product, but it's not likely.  I'm not responsible for set up on this one, so I'll be at the mercy of the party planners.

Also - I have EXTRAS - so I'm running a special right now:

SPECIAL: LIMITED TIME ONLY! Try an assortment of Bake Lore cupcakes, 4 for just $6.00!!

Each box contains one Buttery Yellow, one Lightly Lemon, one Chocolate Delight, each with Bake Lore's trademark butter cream and one Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese butter cream.

First come, first served! Delivery is FREE in Greene County!  I'll also throw in a Terre Haute delivery if I can get at least four orders. 

And if you want a different assortment, just ask.  I can hook you up.  This is a great deal!  Don't miss out!!

Cake and Census-ability

I have been wading through census data all afternoon.  ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Yes, I'm getting to the nitty-gritty, facts and figures sections of my business plan, and despite the horrible needle-in-a-haystack work that it is - I am learning a ton about my market. 

I'm focusing on women - now, male readers, feel free to say "hey, what about me??!!!" - cuz if you're out there, I would love to know.  In the three or four years I've been doing this, my customers have been almost exclusively female.  Twice I was contacted by a man - and both times they seemed a bit dazed and confused by my questions.  Usually, if there's a party to plan and food to be eaten, the ladies are taking care of that.  Am I right??

Ok, so I'm narrowing my research down to women...in Indiana...in a nine-county region I think most likely to order from me on a regular basis.  I have the occasional call from the Indy region, sometimes from the hinterlands of Illinois, but mostly, I'm heading to Terre Haute and various other nearish-by destinations. 

I hit up census data for Greene, Vigo, Clay, Owen, Lawrence, Knox, Daviess, Martin and Monroe Counties, and I've learned a ton.  We all have a general idea of where the population centers are near us, but it's a bit more impactful to see it in government-font black and white. 

Not surprising anyone here, but my main market is focused on three cities: Terre Haute, Bloomington and Vincennes.  There are more pastry chefs than I can count in B-town, so I am not going to spend overmuch time there.  But Terre Haute and Vincennes, I can make some noise there. 

Looks like the future holds a few conversations with campus newspapers, taking out an ad or two, and maybe someday, if my cake-ship comes in, finally having the moolah to join the Wabash Valley Bridal Society.  Le sigh...

Make no mistake, I'm still a Greene County gal - and this is a Linton business.  But with only 2,598 women between the ages of 20 and 34 living in my little corner of the state, I have to think bigger or not bother. 

Now, back to those census reports...