Happy Sugar Baking Land

Silly Cake News: Christmas Cakes 2010

It's Friday.  It's December 24th.  Holy Smokes it's Christmas Eve!!  Happy Holidays everyone!  We've been knee deep in Christmas for a while now here at the bakery and it is the best!  Don't you just love all the traditional sweets and baking that goes on this time of year?  Whether you're dirtying up your own kitchen, a relatives, or picking up a special treat form your favorite bakery, sugar never seems to taste sweeter than during the holiday season.

To celebrate, I thought I'd comb the internet for some awesome Christmas themed cakes (much like we did for Thanksgiving) and post them here on the blog.  Enjoy the inspiration and from all of us here at Merci Beaucoup, have a very Merry Christmas!!

I started with this adorable candy covered cake from Stacey's Cakes in Delaware.  It just screams Christmas with its gingerbread accents and gumdrops, you can just imagine how good this tastes just by looking at it!  Just goes to show you how you can capture a theme perfectly even on the smallest cakes.  Excellent work.

Next up is Freed's Bakery in Las Vegas.  Reknowned for their quality and design, Freed's put together this three tiered Christmas beauty complete with Elves, reindeer, snowmen, and a waterfall!!  A waterfall!!  And Mr. & Mrs. Claus oversee the whole delectable scene from the top. 

Whoa!  Lookout for the missle toe when The London Cake Company sets their sites on Christmas!!  They have a lot of great Christmas cakes on their site (seriously go look, the Brits are crazy with cake!), but I just had to show this special order for the Guild of Erotic Artists.  Don't they just look so jolly?

Now, I Googled quite a few Santa Cakes in researching this post and the theme of Santa plummeting down the chimney was a popular one, but the winner for me was the sculpted version from Doodle Cakes in Canada.  The deciding factor? The lights!  They used C-9's all around the chimney and in case you were unaware, C-9's are the big bulbs a.k.a. the best bulbs!  Mini lights and LEDs are great as accents, but if you are serious about lights, you go big!  Same goes double for lights on cakes!

I scrolled through page after page of Yule Logs, mostly bland, some with funny/cheesy plastic Santas on them, but then I saw this baby.  Posted by Natacha81 on Cake Central, this half scary, half happy tree face Buche de Noel is truly one of the more unique logs I've seen.  Oh yeah, in my family we just call it "log."  Every year my mom pretends she's not gonna make it 'cause it's "so hard," and tries to hide it in the back of the fridge.  We're on to you Janet.

There's nothing remarkable about this traditional English Christmas Pudding, I just wanted to show one cause they're awesome!!  I mean, you get to light it on fire!!  God save the Queen!!

Now, a post like this would hardly be complete without an awesome gingerbread house, but I'd be a fool to sit here all day and try and figure out how to rate them and see which one was the best because there are literally millions of photos of amazing gingerbread homes online.  Millions!  And you know what, I love them all!!  So many great ones out there, so many great ideas, so many ideas it just makes me want to get in the kitchen and start making more gingerbread houses.  

So, instead I just grabbed a photo from the first one that caught my eye and will wish all of you out there a very very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year from all of us in the Merci Beaucoup family.  So many things planned for 2011 we can hardly wait, but we want to thank all of you for all of your love and support and we will be thinking of each and every one of you during the holidays.  

Merry Christmas!!!!

 

 

 

Silly Cake News: Christmas Shopping Edition!

Don't look now cakers, but December the 25th is only a couple weeks away!!  With Christmas songs blasting on the bakery radio and Reva's gifts safely wrapped under the tree, Husband Mic here with a few gift ideas for the sweet treat fan in your life.

With our first slice comes a "special" way to top your favorite treat this season.  Alcoholic whipper cream!  Turns out, this idea has turned into a miner craze as a quick search found not one, but two companies hocking this stuff!  The more tame "Whipped Lightening" and the over the top sexually explicit marketing of "Cream."  Adhering to the idea of "keeping it simple," the double entendre implications of Cream's website is borderline porn, but more importantly, who was sitting around wondering why their Redi-Whip wasn't getting them smashed?  I mean, I've heard of some stoner ideas in the past, but this one is about as absurd as it gets.  Well, for around $10, could be a good gag in the stocking at least.

 

Of course, the very meaning of second slice comes from our favorite holiday treat, the Kringle!!  Just writing the word makes me hungry!  O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, WI is the best around.  Although a little pricey (as most mail order food can be), they are beyond worth it!  They even have ornaments and children's books featuring their Viking mascot, Ohlaf.  And if you think you can handle it, order the massive Kransekager!  But the best bet is two or three or six tasty kringles!  

Slice number three is straight from Reva's wishlist.  This oversized set of pans is designed to let you create a giant creme filled "Oreo" cookie cake and is a great pick up at only $19.99!

Who's up for fourths?  Well, here is our suggestion for the big gift under the tree this year; Prove Crafts Cricut Cake Machine.  Reva picked one of these up off HSN when it launched earlier this year and she has a blast with it.  Certainly not a replacement for training and practice, it has become a useful little tool in our business and something that even someone like me can put to good use.  With seemingly endless design applications, do spend some time poking around the internet for tips and tricks to help you create the best cutouts, but most of all just have!  We have the red one, but it is also available in a Martha Stewart Edition in white and there is a "Mini" version as well!  Great gift for the caker in your life.

Finally, some self promotion.  Pick up our Merci Beaucoup button sets for only $5 each (shipping included).  Or knock off a whole slew of present toppers by grabbing 5 sets for only $20!!  I've got less than a hundred left, so order today and I will have them under your tree in no time.

I know people want the buttercream and fondant shirts, but the simple reality is it costs a lot of money to do quality shirts and right now the urgency of getting them made keeps sliding down the list when compared to other projects.  Hopefully very soon, I promise.  One option might be to "pre sale" the shirts.  If anyone is interested in that, leave a comment and we'll explore the idea right away.

Well, Happy Holidays everyone!!!  Wherever you are, whatever your plans, we hope you have a great and festive season.  Take care!

Silly Cake News: The Royal Edition

Greetings everyone!  Husband Mic here with a well bred edition of Merci Beaucoup's Silly Cake News.  With all the hubbub over the impending royal wedding between Prince William and long time sweetie Kate Middleton, I thought I'd dedicate this week to some royal cake tidbits past and present.  Especially since Reva is kind of committed to the idea of flying over for the big day as it falls on the day after our own 10th anniversary.  If you'd like to start the rumor we're flying over to do their cake and I'm just making up the story about our anniversary.... well, I won't stop you;)

First slice today might also serve as an addition to Reva's Amazon Wish List!  Our friends over at This Is Somerset in the U.K. posted an interesting story about Kay Sparkes and her connection to the wedding cake of one future Queen and King of England.  Kay's parents owned Real & Horton Bakery when then Princess Elizabeth and her Lieutenant Phillip annoounced their engagement.  With one quick letter off to old Buckingham Palace, Real & Horton offered to bake up the royal couples cake.  Now Kay has a book, "Royal Icing on the Cake," which tells of those days and all the excitement of the wedding.  Sounds like a fun read for all us cakers out there!

Second slice goes to the happy couple William and Kate.  Almost immediately Reva thought of The Cake Store and the famed Ken Slatter.  If you don't know Ken, he has been making cakes for the Royal Family for decades and is an absolute master.  He's also earned a rest at 72, but Ken's offered to come out of retirement to help!  The Cake Store isn't waiting around though, the store's master confectioner Steve Howard has already done up a sample cake now on display at their showroom in South East London!

Our third slice today bridges the gap between British cake couture and our time on Amazing Wedding Cakes.  From the Manchester Confidential comes this story about using real wheels of cheese for one's wedding cake.  This isn't a cake that looks like cheese or are infamous "cheesecake cheese cake," this is an actual stacked "cake" of cheese!  Hmmm... sounds interesting, but might be better as a buffet table piece than an actual replacement for cake.  I mean come on, who in their right mind would want to not have a cake?!

One more slice for what will probably be the first of a couple "Royal Editions" of Silly Cake News and it gets served up by the First Post in the U.K. concerning Royal Wedding collectibles.  While all the photo emblazoned mugs and plates are fun, if you want to make money and you get into the wedding, box up a slice of that cake.  20 years ago some crazy fool did just that at Charles and Diana's nuptials and it sold for 17,000 pounds in 1998!  Yikes, and I thought Sylvia Weinstock had expensive cakes!  

That's it for this week cakers!  Thanks for checking in and we'll keep an eye out for more Royal Cake news as it happens right here on Happy Sugar Baking Land!

Farewell to Amazing Wedding Cakes!

It's with a heavy heart that we announce today that we will no longer be a part of Amazing Wedding Cakes.  After two successful seasons, 20 cakes, and countless costume changes, Merci Beaucoup is separating from the show.

There is no tension, nor controversy.  Both sides agree the timing is right to move in our different directions.  While it is always sad to close a chapter in your life, we are extremely proud of our time on the show.  It was a great learning experience and a lot of fun, but it was also stressful and time consuming.  Our goal is to run a successful business, not be television stars.  Both Reva and myself, as well as Marc are focused on moving forward with what is best for us in securing our futures and our happiness.  

Marc actually posted on his Facebook wall a couple weeks ago about leaving the show, but we wanted to wait until after the season ended before officially announcing anything here on the blog.  So, it is with great delight I can finally say to everyone who has asked, Marc was not fired from Merci Beaucoup!  

I know his post was confusing for some, but Marc is our dear friend and colleague and our relationship is as strong as ever.  Marc is not a traditional "full time" employee of Merci Beaucoup, despite what the show leads you to believe.  He is a freelance cake decorator that works for a number of quality shops in the Los Angeles area as well as doing his own things.  He will always be a part of our family and Reva and Marc will be creating cakes together when the opportunity strikes and cracking corny jokes till we are all in the old cakers home! 

Many many thanks go out to all the brides and grooms who let us into their world with cameras.  What's the point in making cake if no one eats it!  We're excited your special days we're made that much more special by being captured for television.  

To our family and friends, many of whom have much better things to do than tune in to a wedding cake show, we thank you for all the love and support.  People I would have never suspected became dedicated fans of the show, commenting on our cakes and bragging to their friends that they knew us!  Maybe our friends need better things to brag about, but it made us feel very special.

But everything we worked so hard on would mean nothing without all the viewers and fans out there.  We got a chance to meet many of you from run-ins in line at Disneyland, to the aisles of Target, and of course our wonderful time at the ICES Convention in San Diego this summer.  Thank you so much for watching and for all your kind words.  The saddest part of all of this is knowing we won't be able to come into your living rooms every week and make you smile with our cakes and our shenanigans.  We are forever grateful for your warm welcome.  

I look forward to a time in the future when we can have an open discussion of everything that went into making this show happen for us.  I've given you a peek every week with this blog, but the reality of reality TV is a truly fascinating world and I would love for you to know more about it.  It is not easy to try and conduct your profession under such scrutiny.  I have tremendous respect for every caker who has stepped into a Food Network Challenge or invited cameras into their shops.  It is really hard and it is unforgiving and absolutely not normal and I hope you all remember that when you watch people expose themselves for your entertainment, because in the end, it is television and not everything you see can be filed under "reality."

Most of all, we are beyond proud that through the whole experience we made cakes, real cakes, not giant contraptions of wood and plastic and metal armitures.  I'm not knocking anyone, but sculpting endless amounts of rice krispies onto a frame is not making a cake. it's making television.  I like to see those creations as much as the next cake fan, but as a business owner, I prefer to see real designs come to life out of actual cake.  We took some hits for this approach at times, but we made cakes, and whether or not you like our product, what we did is what really happens in a working bakery.

Merci Beaucoup has big plans for 2011!!  There will be instructional opportunities, merchandise, lots more blog posts and Silly Cake News, tons of cake, and a few more surprises we're working on.  Reva and Marc are first and foremost cake people, and they will be making cakes and helping others make cake far into the future.  Stay tuned here and follow us on Facebook for all the latest on the goings on and for announcements from the Merci crew!  We might be done with one show, but that doesn't mean we're done!!

Sincerely, Michael, Reva, and Marc

P.S. Since we've been asked a lot by those we've informed of the decision, no we do not know if or when Amazing Wedding Cakes will return with new episodes.  If we hear of anything, we will certainly let you know right here on the blog.

P.P.S. I would like to second the farewell letter from Charm City Cakes by saying, yes, we do wash our hands all the time!!