Happy Sugar Baking Land

Silly Cake News: From Paris With Love

That's right everyone, Husband Mic here with the all the news thats fit to post on a third tier cake blog from your favorite TV cakers at Merci Beaucoup.  Some weeks, it is kind of hard to find silly cake news, and I think "well, no post for this Friday!"  Then at the last second, some fool steals Paris Hilton's birthday cake!!

You heard me right, some dude made off with Paris Hilton's birthday cake!  She actually had two at her no doubt over the top 30th B-Day bash in Hollywood over the weekend (some good pics in the link) which according to the article had a laser light emitting robot break dancer.  How many times have we seen that huh?  So over done.  Anyhoo, some dude by the name of Paz (a musician or something) crashed the party, got "slizzerd" and decided it would be a great idea to make off with the cake.... and no one stopped him!!!  This was like a Mentos commerical in reverse, he just put on the confidence hat and strolled out!  I love it, which leads me to this important announcement, we are now offering anti theft protection on all Merci Beaucoup cakes starting at 10 cents a slice;)

Come to think of it, maybe a dime a slice is too cheap, seems cake theft is on the rise!  Our second slice comes from a group celebrating a one year old's birthday at a Michigan Chuck E. Cheee.  They did a little dine and dash and doggie bag, leaving the check, but snagging the cake!  When the bill came they told the waitress the person paying hadn't arrived yet and then snuck out the front, cake in tow.  I'm waiting for the first joker to slip Reva a note over the counter telling her to put the cakes in the bag and no one gets hurt.

Our third slice goes to a cake that has never been sliced!  The world's oldest wedding cake popped up recently and will soon be on display at the Willis Museum in Basingstoke in the UK.  Dating back to 1898, this is the oldest complete cake in the world that we know of and while a little brown and entirely inedible, reserchers have found through a syringe test that it is still moist inside!  Hmmm, must be Betty Crocker.  Although, I would argue the completeness of this cake, it kind of looks like the upper tiers to me, but who am I to argue with 113 year old pastry!

It also kind of looks like a pretzel... mmmmm.... pretzels.....

Our fourth and final slice for this week is old news (one of our first SCN topics), but I just wanted to post a picture of the "apple pie cake" you can have at your McDonald's wedding.  This is the first time I've actually seen it.

Well, that's it for another week of Silly Cake News!  We have a big meeting for a fun project this weekend that we can't wait to get started on!  More on that later, till then, Paris, we have a design idea for your 31st.  Have a great weekend everyone!!!

SIlly Cake News: Movie Posters The Sequel!

Smashing into your living rooms with the full force of the marketing of a major motion picture sequel, this is SILLY CAKE NEWS!!!

Hey everyone, Husband Mic here with more results from my research into cakes on movie posters, or "one sheets" as they're known in the biz.  I've always loved movie posters!  My brother was a projectionist up until the time I was like 14 and I inherited some great old one sheets but unfortunately, none of these 'cause they'd look great in the bakery!  Anyhoo, let's take a look at these "cake sheets."  (Get it, kind of like sheet cakes but I reversed it..... I'll stop talking now.)

Kirstie Alley, The Olsen Twins AND the Guttenberg!!  I smell movie night at our house!!

Now here is a great movie and surprisingly difficult to find a poster for it with a cake!  Thank God for the French.  Speaking of...

Kings of Pastry is a recent documentary that you should all be checking out.  A fascinating look at the highest level of pastry competition (the Meilleur Ouvrier de France) it reminds us why we love cake and not high end pastry.  Pastry chefs are insane!!

Speaking of insane... I have no clue what this is or what country it is from, but it has a cheesecake.  A cheesecake with the faces of that child's parents?  Let's move on.

Mickey Mouse!!  Reva's been bugging me for a theme for my brithday... I think I found it!

This has a small cake near the top and its from Iceland.  Gotta say, I'm a little behind on Icelandic cinema.  Maybe I start here?

I almost didn't use this one cause they're just holding cake slicers and the movie is awful, but it's in the spirit of the blog.

Three cakes!  Now we're talking!  I think I actually might have caught this on cable or something, seems familiar.

Hmmm... I thought I was up to date on Rachel Leigh Cook's career.....

I don't even know the English title for this movie.  I found a Korean poster (which is pretty awesome) and this German one and liked the look.

Our final poster for this week is actually DVD box art, but you gotta ssume this Robert Altman slapstick film from 1978 has a poorly maintained one sheet in storage somewhere with destructive fold lines.  Actually, the original poster is easily found but it just has some weird cherrubs on it.  Rent it though, it's one of those films that is trippy to screen 30 plus years after the fact.

Like Hollywood's approach to all good things, you better believe I'm gonna beat this franchise into the ground with another installment of Silly Cake News Movie Posters soon.  Gotta complete the trilogy right?  Have a great weekend and we'll see you, At The Movies!  Wait, can I get in trouble for writing that?

Worst in Show!!!

No, the title of this post is not a reference to any recent dubious awards coming our way!  Instead, Husband Mic and I went to the premiere of a documentary he worked on last summer at the San Francisco Indie Fest.  It was called Worst In Show and it is about the world famous Ugliest Dog competition held in Petaluma, CA, the town just north of where Mic grew up and one of our favorite places to hang out.

The movie was so good and I had a great time!  We had some dinner, some drinks, some chocolate dipped strawberries, and the show.  I call that a date night!  And the dogs in the film were so cute.  A few of them were there too and I got to meet them and pet them and they are so sweet it is hard to consider them ugly.  If you see the movie somewhere, you should check it out and Mic wrote up a review on his blog too if you're interested. 

Here's a couple photos from the night, me and the 2010 ugliest dog champion Princess Abby (and her owner Kathleen)!!

Tha dog was so cute and soft!!  And here's Mic with his friend Don who co-directed the movie!

Such a fun night!  Now back to the baking!!!

Silly Cake News: Reagan, Rednecks, & Practical Jokes

Okay, I gotta admit, finding content for Silly Cake News has been a tough grind in recent weeks.  Basically, it was all "Duff's moving to L.A." (opinions on that later) and "Next Great Baker."  Finding interesting, normal cake news was virtually impossible.  Thank God that has all changed!

Hey gang, Husband Mic here with the pleasure of actually having to edit down this week's edition of the "world famous" Silly Cake News.  So let's get going!!

First slice today goes to a celebration of a century, Ronald Reagan's 100th Birthday.  Well, what would have been his 100th.  Our former president's foundation has commissioned a five tier behemoth with a 50 lbs. chocolate eagle on top and of course, a generous serving of jelly beans.  Baked by the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, the cake will appear at a gala at Ron's library in Simi Valley on Sunday... Super Bowl Sunday.  Way to plan that one out gang!  Of course, none of us are invited, but there will be a live webcast you can have on in the background while you watch football.

Second Slice is, well.... you should just watch.

 

Somewhere my sister Laura is cackling with glee.  She loves this show, and you know what, despite how contrived and phony it is, so do I.  However, I would like to make it clear, Merci Beaucoup will never offer squirrel toppers of either the dead or living variety!!

Hope your stomach is ready for slice number three!  On January 23rd, Phil and Helen Arnold celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary!!  That's enough to warrant mention on any cake blog, but what was special this time around was they actually got to eat their cake!  See, Phil (now 95) is a prankster and just as they were about to cut their cake back in 1941, some "cops" came in to arrest Phil.  They were actually some buddies and the whole gag was set up to let the newlyweds get a head start on their wedding!!  So thankfully, a 70 years in the making ritual was realized and the two had their cake.  Helen's was chocolate, Phil's was of course, banana.  

For our fourth slice, I love, love this story about what has to be the world's first QR Code wedding cake!  Well, that's a debatable claim (look at the comments under the story), but you gotta love the next gen attitude of Cake Studio in Winnipeg.  If you're unfamiliar with QR, it is a two dimensional barcode that, while used in Japan since the mid 90s, has only recently become commonplace here with the advent of smart phones capable of reading the little boxes.  You can get all types of info from them, and this one apparently took you to the baker's website (it was part of a bridal show display).  But imagine what you could do with it, unlocking special wedding videos or a user contributed Tumblr to upload wedding pics?  Limitless potential with an unfortunately limited aesthetic.

"Are we having fun yet?!"  Any Party Down fans out there?  Watch it, both seasons.  But no, seriously, you better be ready for a fifth, yes, count it, FIFTH SLICE!!!  

Told you it was jam packed Silly Cake News and I've saved my favorite for last.  See, having survived reality TV, I have developed some, how should I say.... strong opinions about that particular industry.  I also have the same strong opinions about cable's worst offender when it comes to over the top, exploitation reality shows that are more often than not, practically unwatchable.  I'm of course talking about TLC, or as I like to call it, "The Lame Channel."  Seems I'm not the only one that finds their claim as "The Learning Channel" to be ridiculous.  Enjoy then this great spoof video of TLC's lineup

 

Cake Whores!!!!  The whore with a heart of pastry cream.  That's a cake show I can get behind!  And how about Hasty Home Surgery.... ew, that is never a good idea.  You should always carefully plan out your home surgery my friends... always.  Many thanks to the gang at Mostly Water Theater for making the video and The Huffington Post for the heads up.

Wowzers!!  That is finally it for this week of Silly Cake News my lovely readers.  Thanks for stopping, and remember, if something silly happens with a cake in your neck of the woods, don't be afraid to drop us a line so we can tell the world right here on Happy Sugar Baking Land.  Have a sweet weekend!