A Boardwalk To Remember: May 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Can You Top This?

I have been searching for an awesome cake topper for our wedding cake. Since our wedding is beach themed, I looked around for some non-cheesy ones. I started out looking for beach-y toppers and then I stumbled upon a whole new world of unique cake toppers!

This starfish one is kinda cute.

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I saw this Precious Moments cake topper and thought it was the cutest. This would be fun for someone getting married in Disneyland.

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Here are some beautiful beaded cake toppers by Stacie Tamaki, seen on The Flirty Bride.

I found a ton on Etsy by typing in "custom cake topper" in the search bar.

From Etsy seller: Cornflakegirl

This one reminds me of Chinese Vintage Glam. Sooo cute!

How adorable are these chick toppers? The glasses on the groom just melt me.

I think it's because he has an uncanny resemblance to Chicken Little, who I so would've dated if I was also an animated girl chicken.

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From Etsy seller: Mud Cards

This monkey couple runs for $35.

How awesome are these Kokeshi dolls from Etsy seller Mikazuki81 ...

Want a cake topper to actually LOOK like you? Below are a couple of options.

You Top The Cake: Starts at $350 for a wedding couple
(Gah! Not at all affordable for this Bride)

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Nicole Wong: Starts at $119 for a Mini-Couple

Her eye for detail is amazing and I love how she can add accessories, like these below:

Indian couple

Hawaiian themed

Married in Vegas (love the cards and chips)

Paramedic and Cop

Our cake will look very similar to the one below. Our cake baker had told us that she could make our wedding topper. I don't know if it would look good with seashells on top of the cake or if we should put our own customized cake topper on it. I'm still going to order one though. And if we don't end up using it, we could always display it in front of our cake.

Guess which one we ended up ordering? I can't wait to show you all when it arrives!

Did you have a custom cake topper? What did it look like?

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My Alternative Dream Cakes

In an alternate universe, I would have a beautiful cake (or cake buffet) with these flavors:

The Guava cake by Aki's bakery

A cake drowned in Nutella.

BTW - I have an awesome nutella dessert recipe that I could share later!

A Cheese Cake (posted by Mrs. Lovebird and Ms. D'orsay)

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What is your fantasy cake (flavors)?

Friday, May 22, 2009

Ganaches and more

Baker: Allycakes

I had originally wanted to get a cake buffet for our wedding. But then I came across an awesome Cake Baker who I (actually another Bride friend) found on Craigslist. (I love Craigslist. I've gotten so many awesome deals from this place.) I emailed her for a price listing, not having any high expectations that it would be within our budget. She emailed me back with some pictures of previous cakes she had made and gave me a deal I couldn't refuse. And best of all, she suggested we have our cake tasting at Ikea! How could I not crush on her already?

Allyson is such a sweet lady. She lives out in the country (near Santa Rosa, Ca) but willing to drive everywhere in NorCal, literally. It must have taken her 1-2 hours to meet us at Ikea for our cake tasting. An interesting factoid we learned was her story on how she became a wedding cake baker. She loved baking and had been baking all her life because it ran in her family. She used to be a Master Sculptor before she joined the wedding biz. She went to some wedding event many years ago and saw all the beautiful wedding cakes and it was like a light bulb went off in her head. She knew what her destiny was and that was to be a delicious cake baker with some mad sculpting skillz.

For our cake tasting, she sent us a list of cake flavors and fillings. She asked us to pick 2 cake flavors and 3 fillings.

Cake flavor: Milk Chocolate, Yellow, Classic White, Red Velvet, Spice, Pound (Butter or Strawberry), Fruit Cake, Double Lemon, Lemon Lime, Devils Food, Orange Chiffon, Strawberry Chiffon, Fudge, Marble, Marble Mocha, Chocolate Mocha.

Flavor of Filling: Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Butter Cream, Mocha, Espresso, Carmel, Vanilla Butter Cream, Vanilla Mousse, Banana Cream, White Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Mousse, Passion Fruit Curd, Key Lime Curd, Lemon Curd, Orange Curd, Coconut, Strawberry, Raspberry, Pina Colada, Kahlua, Bailey’s, Grand Marnier, Frangelico, White Chocolate Butter Cream, Other

We chose to taste Red Velvet and Marble Mocha with Raspberry Mousse, Chocolate Ganache, and White Chocolate Butter Cream. At our cake tasting in Ikea, she came more than prepared! She made us 2 small cakes, one Red Velvet and one Marble Mocha. She told us the Marble Mocha was made with real espresso, yummm. She also brought us 5 fillings instead of 3 so that we could try different ways she made her fillings!

She told us that her Chocolate Ganache is made from the finest Belgian chocolate, with about 80% cacao. She made two kinds for us: one without alcohol and one with Cognac. Guess which one we chose. (FYI: you can choose other alcoholic beverages if you liked something else). Here's a quick lesson on Chocolate Ganache, which I promptly looked up after tasting it for the first time at Ikea. It's a mixture of equal parts of chocolate and cream. It can be used as a filling in cakes, a base for truffles, or to make chocolate mousse. And it is so freakin' delish. I wanted to lick everything that it had touched.

She also made 2 kind of raspberry fillings: one mousse and the other a curd. I was on a sugar high that day. It was all sooooo good.

Final cake flavors and fillings we decided on our 5 tier cake:
Marble Mocha with Chocolate Ganache and Cognac
Classic White with Organic Raspberry Curd
The outside will be smeared with White Chocolate Butter Cream before being covered with pretty fondant.

Because she is trying to expand her business, she's offered anyone referred by me to get 25% off of her cake pricing along with a free tasting and free cake cutting. That's a great deal in this economy. Message me if you want more details.

What was your cake flavor and filling? Anyone else Ganached their cake with alcohol?

Extreme Superstores and Weddings

I was watching the Travel Channel about Extreme Superstores and saw these three stores featured.

Unclaimed Baggage - Scottsboro, AL
Archie McPhee - Seattle, WA
The San Jose Flea Market - San Jose, Ca (right in my backyard, HOLLA!) - to be discussed in another post

Unclaimed Baggage

Ever wonder what happens to those unclaimed baggages found at the airport? Well, they are all sent to one central location and sold in the store. Many people pack their nice stuff when they fly, such as business suits, dresses, shoes, jewelry, designer handbags, etc. So imagine some of the cool discounted clothing you'd find here! Some amazing things that have been unpacked are: diamond rings, a 40 carat emerald, "dozens of wedding rings" (why they would put in it baggage claim and NOT wear their rings, this is the question), wedding dresses (why wouldn't you claim this? WHY?!?!), cameras, and a barbie doll stuffed with bills. I would so totally check this place out if it was feasibly within driving distance.

Some pretty jewelry for really cheap!

Might as well pick up some luggage for your Honeymoon!

Archie McPhee

How cool would it be to get gag gifts at Archie McPhee? They even have a wedding gift registry!

How funny would it be to toast with these huge ass champagne glasses?

Or, instead of a garter, to pull out a huge underwear? I mean, why half-ass it if you're going for the funny factor? Might as well get the largest underpants in the world.