This week I had the privilege of being interviewed for one of my favorite wedding blogs, www.DistrictWeddings.com. Take a moment to read about how a cake design comes together. If you’ve ever wondered about cake disasters, well, they do happen, and you can read more about it in the interview. Browse through the daily features, rich with beautiful photography and the latest in wedding trends and related topics. Many thanks to Devon and Danielle for such a wonderful presentation.

Read the entire interview here:  www.districtweddings.com

Those of you over 30 will remember dancing to MC Hammer’s ‘Can’t Touch This’ although you may not want to admit it! Like me, you’ll be able to relate to this first photo. I was delivering my last cake of the day yesterday and noticed that numerous stop signs had something spray painted on them. I assumed it was the standard graffiti. It wasn’t until I was returning from the delivery that I paid closer attention. I started laughing out loud. While I don’t support the defacing of public property, I couldn’t help but be amused by what had been spray-painted on several stop signs along Comus Road. There are two wedding venues on this road which leads to Sugarloaf Mountain, the Comus Inn and Stronghold Mansion. I couldn’t resist pulling over to take a photo.

The cake was made for one of my couples who held their reception at the Stronghold Mansion. Luckily, the early morning rain had cleared just in time for the reception. I couldn’t help but notice the custom labels on the small wine bottles that adorned each place setting, designed to match the couple’s brown and coral color scheme.

Just in case you’d like to reminisce, here’s a link to the video of MC Hammer’s famous hit. You probably owned a pair of similar pants. Admit it.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14up8_mc-hammer-u-cant-touch-this_ads

My favorite cake of the week was made for a little girl’s christening party.  I absolutely love the color combination.  It’s pink.  What’s not to love?  The cake was chocolate and filled with Oreo cookie buttercream. The pink shoes had little floral cutouts and pearl details, all made of sugar.

I was looking for a particular photo this evening and ran across the first fondant cake I ever made.  It was a birthday surprise for my husband, a huge Nine Inch Nails fan.  I had never seen fondant before other than on television.   I decided to buy some  and give it a try just for fun.  That was less than two and a half years ago.

This photo was taken on February 4th, 2007.  I didn’t have the sleek Nikon camera I have now which is obvious by the blinding glare.  I was very pleased with the results of my first fondant cake.  ‘Not a bad job’, I thought, for a first timer with zero fondant experience.  The covering was pretty darn smooth.  I did the best I could with the logo considering I had no clue what I was doing and I was making it up as I went along.  In the end, my husband was extremely surprised and loved his NIN cake.  The restaurant staff and many of the patrons came over to our table to see the cake and wanted to know where we had purchased it from.   Little did I know what awaited me.

Since then, I don’t have many free weekends anymore, but I have great memories of fun projects and many happy clients.  So, here’s to life’s little surprises, and not knowing what awaits us at the next turn.  Oh, and to Nine Inch Nails who started it all.

www.nin.com

This week’s favorite cake traveled 3.5 hours to its final destination near Ocean City. The couple, Kayna and Matthew, were such a pleasure to work with. Kayna came to her tasting appointment with a picture of her dream cake in hand, a page from a Better Homes and Garden Wedding Receptions issue. She asked me to replicate it.   The original design was made by Cecil Gady of Cakework in San Francisco.

I received this most delightful message from Kayna this morning. The subject line read ‘The Cake!’.

Clara,

Thank you so much for such a beautiful cake! I can’t begin to tell you how gorgeous everyone thought your cake was! The owner of the yacht club said that it was the most beautiful cake they had ever had there. Thank you again for such a superb job!

Sincerely,

Kayna

www.clarasdesignercakes.com

I have recently become obsessed with making French Macarons.  I was first introduced to macarons while visiting Paris as a teenager.  I thought they were exquisite.  Although the traditional macaron is made with almonds, the flavor combinations are endless.

I wanted to share my latest macaron craze to help inspire other devoted macaron lovers.  They are quite finicky and can be difficult to make.  My first batch looked great, but lacked the signature ‘feet’, the frilly crust at the bottom.  I was determined to get it right no matter what it took!  Lucky for me, I nailed it on my second attempt.  I was so excited!  Once I got started, though, I couldn’t stop.  I made them in a variety of colors (my favorite were the pink ones, of course) and filled them with chocolate ganache.  

Try one and you, too, will be macaron obsessed!

A special thanks to Melena and Veronica from Veronica’s Test Kitchen for their advice.