I always seem do things on a grand scale, so this would be no different. A dozen lame cupcakes just didn’t seem fit for the occasion although I really had no idea what I was going to do. I had seen a picture of Charlie playing his guitar taken during a radio interview at Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB). I knew instantly that his cake would have to be a replica of his guitar! With a little help from Lisa Michie, Executive Director of MPB, I was able to get my hands on some high resolution images she’d taken of that interview. I needed to identify the specific model of the guitar Charlie owned. All I knew was that it was a Martin Guitar for sure.

Having recently ordered a new Martin guitar of my own (still on the assembly line at the time), I contacted the company to see if they could help me identify the specific model in the photograph. Many thanks to a special someone at Martin Guitar (you know who you are!) who helped me out.

Photo courtesy of Lisa Michie, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi Division

I wanted this to be the best guitar cake ever! It took about two days to complete, including one VERY late night (or should I say wee morning). I wanted the board to not only hold the cake, but to represent Charlie’s accomplishments and his journey as an artist.

Everything is edible, with the exception of the strings and the internal neck structure.

A few hours before the show, I saw Charlie walking through to the front of the cafe. I introduced myself and presented him with the cake. Not only was he surprised, but he was really taken aback by the gift. He was genuinely touched and very appreciative. He took a pic of the cake with his phone and emailed it to his girlfriend (the beautiful Mary Louise Parker, star of the HBO hit, ‘Weeds’). He wanted me to take a photo of him posing with the cake. Of course, I was happy to oblige!

Charlie sat down and looked at each photo, sharing little tidbits about each one. Needless to say, I was absolutely delighted!

I love Charlie’s smooth vocals, soulful music and poetic lyrics. And that southern drawl…oh, so charming!

A fun afternoon progressed into an even greater evening. Charlie’s performance was really wonderful! He performed alone, singing with his guitar or the piano, my two favorite instruments! He made everyone feel at home, easy and relaxed as if you were hanging out with a close friend. What I didn’t expect, was his great sense of humor. Charlie Mars is not only charismatic and charming , he is also very, very funny! I laughed like I haven’t laughed in a long time. At one point during the show, he mentioned the cake and invited the audience to share it with him after the show. At the end of the concert, he did just that.

Charlie took the knife and started cutting and serving the cake to his fans.

After a few slices, I offered to relieve him so he could mingle with his many fans.

My autographed copy of Charlie’s new CD, ‘Like A Bird, Like A Plane‘

All in all, it was a great evening for me as I was able to listen to one of my favorite recording artists perform live, I laughed and enjoyed myself, and was able to give the best gift I could possibly give to someone I admire. I did go a little ‘groupie’ and asked him if he’d be willing to part with his guitar pick. Without hesitation, he reached into his right pocket and handed it over. I couldn’t have been any happier! I will use it often as I enjoy my own new Martin guitar. I can only hope to play as well as he does someday!

I know…I know…so cheesy of me!

A few days ago, I received a lovely email from Charlie thanking me for the cake. It brought a huge smile to my face and made all those hours of work seem like seconds – and so very worthwhile.

If you haven’t yet heard of Charlie Mars, check out www.charliemars.com, his official website, tune in to XM’s The Spectrum (channel 45) or watch some of the videos we shot of him during last week’s performance:

Meet Me By The Backdoor (this clip is SOOOOOO funny!)

Listen To The Darkside

Opening for Charlie Mars, was the beautiful and talented Danni Rosner.

I must admit that I am a huge fan of the Twilight Saga. Yes, I know. I’m a tween several times over, but the angst of those younger years is never forgotten. I can’t get enough of it. Twilighters from around the globe can’t get enough either. I’d offer Stephanie Meyer and her entire bloodline free cakes for life if she’d just write another chapter to this great love story. I’d give up eating chocolate for the rest of my life if I could just read a little more…

While summer promises to bring the next book, ‘Eclipse’, to the big screen, fans are becoming more and more creative in getting their much needed Twilight ‘fix’ in the meantime. One way to do that is to host Twilight themed parties for all sorts of occasions, even weddings! Where there is a party, there is usually cake. Of course, my curiosity was peaked and I did a little research. I found quite a number of Twilight inspired cakes; some good, some bad, and some downright scary. I am posting the most original and interesting I could find at the moment.

I am considering making a Twilight cake myself – for charity, of course. I’m putting it out there to all of you fellow Twilight fans…email me your ideas. I will give credit to each person whose idea gets incorporated into the final design and I’ll showcase the finished product here on my blog. The deadline for submissions will be midnight, March 31, 2010. I won’t mention the event at this moment, but lets just say, it’s going to be a huge, Twilight obsessed crowd.

Here are some of the Twilight inspired cakes I found online:

A little Edward does the body good. Who wouldn’t want to take a bite out of this?
Cake by Letizia

Where would we be without a Wilton inspired version of Edward?
Cake by Chantilly38

The buttercream details on this cake are very well done. Cake by Cake And Art

Cake by Cakes by Miranda

If not for my husband opposing, I might have a Twilight poster hanging on my bedroom wall, just like in this edible bedroom cake. Cake by Sassy Cakes by Nina

This cake won third place in a Twilight-themed cake contest. Cake by Tantalizing Treats

I love the Cullen Crest on the top of this fondant cake. It’s beautifully executed! Cake by Leigh Torres of Say It Cake

Team Jacob fans need their cake fix, too. Cake by Isabella’s Sweets

I really like this cake. Very nice job! Cake by Chocolate Moose Cakes in El Paso Texas.

I like the elegant look of this cake. The marble look of the fondant reminds me of the scenes in the Volturri chambers. Cake by Cake Diosa

Francesca is one of my favorite cake designers from the Land Down Under. No icing image here. It’s hand painted. As with all her cakes, it’s beautifully executed! Cake by Franmjc

I am not sure who made this cake, but I call it ‘Confused Edward’. Is that Twilight Lava under his feet? Still looks appetizing to me.

For me, New Moon, the movie, was hard to sit through without Edward’s presence. I was so happy when he reappeared during this scene, under the clock tower in Volterra, Italy. Cake by Min_Wilson

Cake by Bellatheball9

This cake is one of my favorites. This cake won first place on Cake Central’s Twilight cake contest. It is very well done and thought out, neat and clean work. I love the design. Cake by 17Tangerine

Everything from soup to nuts. Cake by eldawstem

Who can forget this ill fated scene? Is that an apple on the ground? I must have missed that part. Cake by Trisha Joy

Edible Edward and Bella in their Prom outfits. Made by madbaker.net

I have to give it to the multitude of Twilight fans. They do not lack for creativity, that’s for certain. I will keep a close eye out for new cakes and ‘keep you posted’. If you haven’t yet ventured out to get your Twilight fix, give it a try. Prepare to be hooked. It’s inevitable. The books are far better than the movies since there is so much more to the stories that the film adaptations are not able to cover. If you are inpatient like me try the audiobooks. It’s easy, convenient and you’ll get your fix much faster!

Life is too short not to have fun

Bride & Groom Magazine’s ‘Unveiled’, Washington’s Ultimate Wedding Showcase, will be held at the Mandarin Oriental on Sunday, January 24, 2010 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM. Tickets available online.

How lucky am I to have been invited to assist on two back to back episodes of TLC’s ‘Ultimate Cake Off’ show? VERY! While I cannot reveal any of the details, I do have some photos that are safe to share with all of you. I can also say that it was a wonderful, albeit stressful experience. Creating such large cakes is no easy feat. It looks relatively easy on television. Competitors build cakes as tall as 7 feet all in an hour’s time! That’s the magic of television. In reality, it takes four people 9 hours that fly by in the blink of an eye.

One of the best things about being on this show was meeting and interacting with the crew that makes it all happen. From the producers to the production assistants, everyone was friendly, outgoing and fun. I really enjoyed meeting Margaret Braun, one of my cake idols, and Leigh Grode from Cake Divas. There is so much more to these two women than what we see on television. They were so warm and caring, always smiling and encouraging us at every turn, and very down to earth. The new host of the show, George Duran, was funny and endearing as well. He brings with him a fresh and positive vibe to the show. There is great camaraderie among the judges and host, a true pleasure to experience firsthand.

I’ve added a section at the bottom of this post affectionately titled ‘The Men of UCO’. It’s a little nod to the guys behind the scenes who make it all happen. There are many more, but these are a few who we interacted with the most for one reason or another.

I am not sure when the episodes will air, but I will definitely post it here as soon as I know. My sincerest gratitude to the lead competitors who invited me to participate and to the Ultimate Cake Off staff for making us feel so welcome.

Me, Wayne Steinkopf of Swank Cake Design, Jacinda Putnum of Cinda’s Creative Cakes and Chuck Hamilton of Swank Cake Design.

Cinda and I in the Blue Team kitchen.

Hanging out outside the studio.

Inside view of those fabulous windows.

In the evening, the windows are lit from the outside to maintain the ‘daytime look’ of the windows inside the studio.

Ester Siswadi, Jocelyn Jung, Beryl Ann Byrd of Just Fabulous Pastries and me.

We couldn’t help the photo op next to the UCO sign.

Leigh and I. She had me in stiches! I have to say Leigh has great karma. We were graciously treated to trays of goodies from her well known ‘Cake Divas’ bakery. Best chocolate dipped macaroon I have ever eaten in my life. And they ship!

Margaret Braun and I. What a delightful and talented woman. She exudes great warmth.

George and I. He definitely has that Latin charm thing going for him.

Ever wonder what the cameraman really sees?

‘The Men of UCO‘ is dedicated to a few of the guys we interacted with the most, who made us laugh and who stood out for one reason or another. These photos were taken with their permission, of course.

We probably drove this guy crazy running under his big ‘rig’ all the time. He is quite camera shy, hence the rear view.

This is ‘McDreamy Hair’. What a nice guy. I hope I didn’t embarass him too much by telling him about his new nickname.

The photog. He set my D200 to the correct light settings inside the studio. So good natured. Photogenic, too.

Ah….the ‘front/back’ audio guy. We all enjoyed his sense of humor as he placed our mics in the front and our battery packs in the back. I wonder how many granny panties he sees in his line of work.

This was our team producer on both episodes. He was hilarious, kept us laughing, clapping and he smelled really, really good. I had to remind myself that I am old enough to be his mother. LOL. (Photo courtesy of Beryl Ann Byrd).

This was our coordinator galore. He is a master multi-tasker and a very sweet young man. He has the patience of a saint and then some.

What an extraordinary and unique experience! I am very grateful to Wayne Steinkopf and Beryl Ann Byrd for the opportunity to be a lead assistant on their respective teams. Much love to my fellow assistants, Chuck, Cinda, Jocelyn (my new BFF) and Ester who were a pleasure both to meet and work with. And last but not least, kudos to the amazing cake decorators that make it to the UCO stage. I felt honored to be in their company.

The end result? A birthday cake that barely fit through the doorway! Of course, I affectionately named him ‘Maxosaurus’ after my son. The cake was complete with dinosaur sounds, too! Needless to say, my son loved it and it was a huge hit at the party. I’m not really sure how I’m going to top this one next year!

Here’s a home movie clip:

By the time the doors opened to the public on Sunday at 11am, the building process had been completed. The cakes were stacked,  iced and asstembled with an internal support structure and the entire car had been draped with fondant. In reality, all it needed at that point were the decorative details. I was pretty disappointed that the attendees were not able to see the car in the making. In my opinion, that would have been the best part. The car was complete with an engine made of edible components that was placed under the hood on the front of the car.

This was the first view of the car as RBA members and attendees entered into the convention hall floor.  As you can see the car was pretty much fully constructed at that point.  Many of us would have liked to have seen more of the initial construction phase.

Sometime during the day on Sunday, the front passenger side of the car felt apart.  Buddy was gone for most of the day and had left word to all of this assistants NOT to touch the car or do any further work on it until he returned.  That didn’t happen until an hour before the convention day was over.  In true Buddy fashion, he promptly repaired the the car when he arrived, and he saved the day.

Here you can see the chunks of the cake that had fallen over.  There was no support in place for the cakes on the sides of the car.  They were pretty much just stacked and held together with icing.  On the right of the photo you can see the motor, which was then placed into the large front cavity of the car. 

Here is a view of the rear of the car.

Here Buddy goes right to work to fix the side of the car that had taken a turn for the worse while he was away.  Of course, everywhere that Buddy goes there was a film crew in tow, so watch for this on an upcoming ‘Cake Boss’ episode.

Here’s what’s REALLY going on!  There are camera crews all around Buddy while he is trying to repair the damage on the side of the car.  Buddy and his crew are definitely immune to all the camera people constantly surrounding them.

This is the view from under the hood with the edible engine in place.

And Viola! It’s finished!

In true ‘Cake Boss’ fashion, Buddy and his team get the job done!

The team would not be complete without the famous Carlos Bakery Truck! It was parked right outside the entrance to our hotel. As we sipped cocktails after a long day, we watched Carlo’s two main guys ask for directions to the highway that headed north to New York. I couldn’t resist taking a photo, which permission, of course. I asked the guys if they minded all the intrusions from the clamoring public and they responded, ‘Nah, it don’t bother us’ (cue in heavy De Niro accent).  Love that!

OH MY!  While most people drooled over the life-sized car, I must admit that the highlight of the event FOR ME, was a demo presented by the trendsetting and forever talented,  Ron Ben-Israel.  Imagine my surprise when I learned that the Cake Magnate himself would be demonstrating his ‘Sexy Lace’ technique.  I had been admiring this particular design for some time (along with countless others, of course).  Much to my delight, I’d be seeing it made first hand.  Not only was the demo informative,  but Ron always provides as much entertainment as he does education.  That combination of talent and humor wins Ron Ben-Israel big points in my book.  Oh, and those fabulous frames he’s always sporting are as fashionable as his edible creations.  Assisting Ron was my friend Minette Rushing from Savannah Custom Cakes.

Executive Pastry Chef Richard Cusick from Barry Callebaut’s Chcolate Academy in Chicago demonstrated how easy it is to make beautiful and delicious chocolate masterpieces.  I really enjoyed this demo, especially tasting the samples!

While the lighting in this photo is rather unflattering, I couldn’t help but include a photo of my two favorite people, Julie Bashore and Norm Davis.  Both are quite talented and respected cake decorators who are great fun to chat and hang out with.  Norm is a hoot!  He definitely kept me laughing for two days straight.

On Monday evening, we were all invited to Ashley Vicos’ Ultimate Cake Off viewing party.  Here are a few of the attendees from left to right”  Eileen Calder from Ashley Bakery in Charleston, Lily and Melissa from Once in a Blue Moon Bakery in Carey, NC, Kathy and Terry Tuttle from Maryland, and my buddies Lucia and Rob Byers from Cakes in Style in Rockville. Kudos to Chuck Hamilton for doing such a great job with all the party planning.

All eyes were fixed on one of a dozen large flat screens, watching every single moment of the competition.  The competitors on this particular challenge were Ashley Vicos, Mary, Mary Moi-Hochstetler and Roland Winbeckler.   As you probably already know, Ashley Vicos and her amazing team took home the $10,000 grand prize!

Ashley Vicos and her team of assistants in the Ultimate Cake Off competition (from left to right):  Debbie Barronton from Cakes by Debbie, Ashley Vicos from Sweet Ashley’s, my friend Wayne Steinkopf from Swank Cake Design (not pictured,  Alexis Sturgeon from Rosebud Cakes).

I want to give a huge, warm-hearted THANK YOU to my friends Wayne and Chuck from Swank Cake Design for their gracious hospitality and friendship. I would also like to thank Ashley Vicos for a fun and entertaining evening (the girl definitely knows how to work a crowd!), and to all my cake peers (you know how you are) who make every gathering delightfully unforgettable.

Daily Candy 2009 Fall Wedding Guide

www.dailycandy.com

This whimsical topsy turvy cake was created for a 30th birthday celebration. I made a topper for the cake, not shown in this photo. It was a glittery number ‘30′. Happy Birthday Margo! Original design by Sharon’s Cake Art.

Red roses and gems adorn this elegant wedding cake. The center tier has a beautiful stenciled design hand painted in silver.

Here’s the perfect groom’s cake for a major Redskins fan.  This huge cake fed 150 guests. The cake sat on a board that was 30″ wide. Not visible in the photo is the texture on the cake which resembles the textured pattern on a real jersey.

This was the perfect wedding cake for Carolyn and Jason, a couple who are major fans of the Super Mario Brothers game.  The characters are all made of sugar.

These 175 colorful cupcakes were the perfect treat for a beautiful outdoor wedding.  Each cupcake was adorned with handmade sugar flowers.  The fresh flowers on the cupcake stand were the perfect touch!

Along with the cupcakes, I made some custom designed cookies sporting the new cover of the upcoming issue of Bride and Groom.  Each cookie was hand painted with gold accents.   I hope the staff enjoyed the goodies.   I may have just found a great group of future taste testers!  Thank you Jill and Vanessa!

http://www.washingtonian.com/weddings

I also enjoyed numerous recipes from ‘Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes’ by Alisa Huntsman, Peter Wynne, and Tina Rupp. There are a variety of interesting recipes that call for mainstream ingredients, with a few exceptions. I tried a chocolate cake made with dark honey. While this isn’t a cake that would appeal to the masses, it was particularly interesting to me.  This afternoon I baked a total of five cakes from this book.   Yes, folks, this is how I spent my only day off, baking 15 layers of cake for no reason whatsoever.  I must say I was delighted with the results.  This is one of my new favorites!

‘The Art of the Cake: Modern French Baking and Decorating’ by Bruce Healy was recommended to me by my friend Beryl of Just Fabulous Pastries. I haven’t had much time to read through this title yet, but I can tell you that it’s definitely chock full of recipes for traditional French desserts. The book is quite extensive and goes into great detail. I can’t wait to dive into this book and give some of these recipes a try.

‘Desserts by Pierre Herme’ by Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan is a book I’ve been waiting to get my hands on for some time. While these desserts are not your typical cakes, learning to master these recipes is quite a feat. Yet another ‘to do’ on my list of countless recipes I must try out!

These books are available from www.amazon.com.