These days

Yeah - I'll spare you the "I suck at blogging... so busy" card.  I'm not a stay at home mom. I don't work part time. I don't work full time. I work full time plus and have 2 small dependent children so yeah, blogging isn't something I keep up on and that is that.

At any rate, I don't know what the last cake was I wrote about is, but I am certain that I have made several since then.  However, due to some health issues the doctors' say I need to de-stress as much as possible.  I don't know how in the world to de-stress - there is not enough time in a day to slow down.  But, for now, the easiest thing to "cut" out of my schedule is taking on cake orders.  So, I don't plan on making any crazy cakes for a while and likely only for family/friends and their special occassions in moderation (I have a large family and tons of nieces/nephews so I don't want to leave that window wide open).  So, this blog will not be about how busy I am, how stressed I get, the recent orders I've done or caking at all.  This blog is dedicated to my 2 and 3 quarters year old (as he likes to say) - and his funny Noahisms that I never want to forget.  Two that are fresh on my mind from the last few weeks will be noted here although I could write for hours the funny things he says and does that crack us up each and every day.  It's his innocence, his intelligence and his surprizingly mature personality that never ceases to amaze and entertain us.  How I love my busy little guy.

On halloween, we let Noah pick a candy to eat after dinner time. Grandma, Boppa, Dan and myself were all sitting at the table finishing our dinners and Noah is dumping out a fun sized bag of skittles on the table.  He notices there are "S"s on the skittles and is quick to point this out to all of us.  Noah knows all of his letters and usually what sound each letter makes - but I try to re-inforce learning whenever I can with his spongy brain.  I reply "Noah what sound does the "S" make?" - Noah picks up a skittle and puts it to his ear to listen to the S.  Seriously.  We all burst out laughing...

Yesterday we made a quick stop at the grocery store after picking up the boys from daycare for some last minute ingredients for dinner.  Noah saw some wreaths (he doesn't have a well developed long term memory yet - as most kids under 3 don't - so to him, this just may have been the "first time" he ever saw wreaths).  He points and in true Noah exaggerated, excited form he exclaims "A GRASS DONUT!" Yep. That's my boy! Tears...

I'll leave you with those 2 short, cute, funny stories of my Noahisms for now... but I hope next time I have something relevant to share to include some more.  A peek into the life of Tami.

Until next time,

Tam

xoxox

cakeaholiccakery.com

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P.S. I finally have business cards if anyone would like some!

Update on Current State of Business

I currently write this as I shift into another chapter of life.  Sleep deprived and a little scatter brained… bear with my lack of wittiness and editing skills… I am the first to admit, I am not an author or a poet.

As many of you know - I have been taking a bit of a "cake break" (well not a total break… I did make a cake for my sister in law and another cake for my cousin)… First of all, I struggle to find the time to fulfill orders.  I have a pretty demanding full time job that doesn't always fit into the traditional 8AM - 5PM Monday through Friday schedule, and is often a 50 hour a week job.  I also have a 2 year old at home, and just had a baby in April this year.  On top of that, until recently, my husband frequently worked odd hours as well and I was often a pseudo single mom during my "non-working" hours.  To try and juggle my own side business in the midst of all of that was near impossible if I wanted to get even a blink of sleep in and keep my sanity. 

What most people don't realize is that the type of cakes I make are not just the traditional grocery store bakery cake - but are custom built works of art that take several, several hours - often times up to 36 hours of work.  Between a full time day job, a 2 year old and a new born baby, where am I suppose to find an additional 15-36 hours in a week to make a custom cake art piece?  And to also factor in shopping time for supplies and ingredients, baking time, clean up etc... - you get the point. 

Additionally, please also consider the sacrifices that taking on said orders means for me… Little to no family time, no weekends, no evenings to just "relax" (and I tell ya, after a long hard day at work and an evening filled with chasing around a rambunctious 2 year old and an overtired 3-4 month old - an hour to veg out in front of the tv with a glass of wine is all too often needed), no sleep, no social time with my girlfriends, extra-curricular work events are out of the question…

Yes, I want to build up my business.  No, I don't want to turn away work.  Yes, I want to build up my portfolio and keep striking at the iron while its hot so to speak… but at this time in my life, the sacrifice just wasn't worth it.  I was becoming a crabby, fat, depressed, introverted mom/wife/friend/daughter/sister/aunt/employee etc. 

Here is a little background on how Cakeaholic was born if you are not yet aware.  As soon as I saw the first custom created cake art I was obsessed.  Totally amazed that these finely crafted works of art were actually edible.  These cakes were often the center pieces or focal points of many people's celebrations to commiserate milestones of their lives.  Weddings, Anniversaries, Engagements, Births, Birthdays, Graduations, Baptisms, Retirements and so much more… When a little extra money fell into my lap - I thought I would play around with this craft a bit and see if it was something I could more than just admire from afar.  I caught on quick and before I could blink, the orders started rolling in.  What I was intending on just being a hobby I could have fun with for the time being, had become a business whether I was ready for it or not.  I quickly got my ducks in a row to keep it all legit, registered with the state, became kitchen certified/licensed, insured, put a website together and viola! Cakeaholic Cakery was officially born.  Word spread quick and only a few months after I ever touched fondant for the first time I had way more order inquiries than I could ever keep up on. 

I am not complaining here - this is a great "problem" to have, and I certainly recognize that.  And had I not yet been a mother when I started - or had I been a stay at home mom - or had I been a housewife - or had my kids been a little older… had the circumstances been different generally speaking, I would have taken the bull by the horns and fricken ran with it!  And, never once looked back.  I still dream and hope to one day have my own little boutique shop, with not only cakes and the like but also party planning supplies or packages - more to come on that at a later time.  My vision is still there… but I know that right now in life that is not where I am at, it's not where my family is at and we are just not ready for that yet.  Regardless, the business grew before I could catch my breath and I needed to catch my fricken breath.  The fun of it was being lost in the stress… I needed to not only take a break for my health and my family, but to re-evaluate to see if the passion was still there.

Guess what? It is.  And I am so happy to have a clear vision of where I want to take this… SOMEDAY.  Not today, and not tomorrow… but someday around the corner - when the stars align differently for our family. 

All of that being said, I am re-opening my doors for business but it will be a bit more restricted for the time being - and I say that very hesitantly because I don't want to hinder the possible growth of my business.  I simply want to ensure that I can give the orders I do take on, 110%, not a run-down, stressed out, insomniac version of myself who at their very best can give no more than say 60%… Just keep in mind the key words "For the Time Being".  As of August 1st, 2012 moving forward until further notice, I will only be taking on 1 wedding cake order per month (simply because wedding cake orders tend to be larger and require further delivery) and limited celebration orders outside of that per my schedule.  As of today, I am already booked until October [insert annoying smiley face here that I do still admittedly use quite often to convey tone] I have always and will always encourage early orders - this is especially true for wedding orders which are often placed 4-6 months in advance…

Thank you for those of you who have stood by with support, and a willingness to help as you saw me break down under the weight of life.  Thank you for those of you who didn't walk away when I hesitantly, apologetically turned down your orders.  And thank you for those of you who kept encouraging me even when I demanded a break.  Your support, encouragement and understanding is not and has never been lost on me.

That is it, just a little glance into my life in regards to the current state of Cakeaholic Cakery.  And to keep it fun, here are a couple of pictures of mi familia…

Peace and Love,

Tam a Lam

cakeaholiccakery.com

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What's a Break?

For about 2 months straight, I drove my self crazy keeping insanely busy from the moment I woke up until the moment I fell asleep (some nights I kept busy taking care of baby instead of sleeping).  All of the busyness was related to working in some capacity or another with nearly no time for fun, grooming, cleaning or relaxing.  As you know I was juggling being a pseudo-single mom, working full time, hosting celebrations and the cakeaholic business.  The last weekend in January was the tip of the ice berg.  From the previous 2 posts, you can see that between work, planning Noah’s birthday, my migraine, an unexpected meeting, and a large cake order my heart felt like it was going to pound right out of my chest all weekend, I couldn’t sleep, and I felt like I could vomit and/or faint at any given moment.

The majority of the orders I receive are placed “last minute” with less than a week’s notice.  So when I didn’t have any February orders lined up – I wasn’t surprised, and made the decision to decline any orders for the whole month of February.  Frankly, I needed a break, and at this time, caking is the only activity I am able to cut.  Well… my “cake break” lasted one whole week.  By the second week in February I was scheduling each of my nights, baking, decorating and running to the craft store for supplies.  HA!  There is no way I could last a whole month off, especially with Valentine’s day around the corner… So, I made a bunch of conversation heart cake pops for my coworkers.  

Using advice from the queen bee of cake pops – I purchased edible markers to write the notes on the conversation hearts.  Just to find out that the ink doesn’t like the hard shell coating texture of the pops.  So, I ended up using a toothpick and gel colorings mixed with Vodka (this dissolves keeping it safe for kids to consume and tasteless) to write each message out.  They were a big hit – most of my co-workers brought some home to share with their loved ones.

Bringing in the conversation heart cake pops also resulted in a small Valentine order.  I swore that I was going to decline any orders – but this was such a small cake, and the person who ordered it pretty much gave me full creative freedom to do whatever I wanted on this cake.  He told me the flavor he wanted, and to put a message like “happy valentines day” or “be mine” or “I love you” or whatever fit and a heart on it.  J I love making these kinds of cakes – where the client doesn’t have a specific design in mind.  So I was really excited to make this cake, no stress involved in it at all since it was so small, I had all weekend to do it, and I had could basically do whatever I wanted with this cake – just keeping Valentine’s day in mind.  This is what I came up with:

 I love the way this cake turned out.  It was not inspired by any other cake design I have seen and was truly my own design. 

When I gave him the cake, he thought I bought the bee and couldn’t believe that not only did I make the bee but that the bee was completely edible J I love to hear that kind of feedback!

Anyway, I really do plan on taking the rest of the month off from caking… whether I stick to that plan or not is to be debated.  I hope you all had a wonderful love day!  Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Tam a Lam

www.Cakeaholiccakery.com

To My Love Bug!

Meeska, Mooska, Mickeeeeeeeeey Mouse!  Somewhere along the way Noah has grown quite fond of Mickey Mouse, his Clubhouse and all of his friends.  Its been pretty interesting to watch a baby, recognize and get excited over a character he sees.  If we ask “Do you want to watch Mickey?” he squeals in delight.  He loves his Mickey toys or anything he sees with Mickey printed on it.  The hot dog dance makes him bop bop bop bop, and Tootles is always sure to make Noah smile!  So it wasn’t hard to come up with a theme for his first birthday party.

I made a “Happy Birthday Noah” banner complete with Disney font, and Mickey Mouse silhouette cutouts.  Bright colored tissue paper balls hanging from the ceiling, red/black/white gift bags, Mickey Mouse Brownie pops complete with a red and white polka dot ribbon and another Disney inspired banner “Birthday Boy” hanging on his high chair brought the theme together.  But the focal point (besides the birthday boy of course) was most definitely his over the top, entirely too large birthday cake.  

 

I intended on starting the decorating process on this cake on Friday - I took the day before off from work, but unexpectedly had to go in for a 3 hour meeting… right before the meeting , I started to feel a migraine coming on.  Needless to say, this all set me back on the actual cake decorating.   Frantically on Saturday morning I scrambled to get this cake decorated – and it definitely did not turn out as well as I had planned.  The bottom cake is chocolate with my home made ganache, the middle tier is a white cake with simple white frosting, and the top tier/giant cupcake/Noah’s smash cake was a chocolate cake with simple white frosting.
 

The giant cupcake is actually made in two separate pieces, and silly me – I forgot to level the bottom of the top part of the cupcake before I frosted it.  So, I had my husband get more frosting and try to cover the gap between the two parts of that cake… A project I probably should have taken the reigns on…

Oh well – the cake was still a hit.  The party was fun.  I stressed out waaaaaay too much over a party that was A) only 2 hours long and B) a party that Noah will never even remember …

Happy First Birthday to my little Love Bug.   You are the very best thing!

I love you,

Mommy
Tam a Lam

www.cakeaholiccakery.com

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael is Nicholas’ (Sweet Land of Liberty) older brother, and a drum student of my husband.  When his mom contacted me about his birthday, she noted he was a big sports fan – particularly of the Twins or Gophers and asked if I could incorporate one of those organizations into his cake. 

I decided on a baseball cap, accompanied by a large cake truffle to look like a baseball.  

 

There are a lot of small details on this cake that I’m really happy with from the stitching to the eyelets, to the rumples in the top (a perfectly round hat wouldn’t look realistic), to the adjustable back with his birthday age/number, to the “dirtied” baseball (brushed with cocoa powder).  I hope I get an opportunity to make more baseball cap cakes in the future.  This was a blast to make!

Enjoying the Cake

 More coming your way soon!

Thanks for reading,

Tam a Lam

www.cakeaholiccakery.com

First Time Carving

My little sister turned 21 at the end of December.  She has a raw eye and exceptional talent in photography.  We played with the idea of making either some sort of fancy drink cake (think martini) or a camera cake.  I tried to persuade her to go with the drink cake – as I could jazz that up with skills that I am comfortable with.  But her heart was set on a camera cake.

Carving a cake was a territory I had not ventured into yet, and through my research, found out it is a territory that a lot of cake decorators flat out avoid.  I figured that since it was my sister – she would be very forgiving if the cake was a total flop.

Man, that lens gave me trouble.  From the cutting of the cake, to the stacking and dirty icing, to the actual lens (which is made from poured sugar colored black – yay!) I struggled with that thing.  I made 2 cake lenses and 3 of the glass lenses until I was satisfied…

The camera itself came out a lot sloppier than I had hoped – but then again, I am my own biggest critic.  However, I was pleased with the color scheme, the bottom tier of the cake and the little balls I decided to add as a finishing touch.  

This cake seemed to have earned me more recognition than any of my previous cakes.  This makes me eager to give carving another try – I’m hoping my skills can only improve from here…

Happy Milestone Birthday to my Little Sister Tasha!  I’m glad you enjoyed your cake.

Watch out for my next cake – which will also be carved...

Cheers,

Tam a Lam

Cakeaholiccakery.com

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Swallowed by the Holidays

It has been awhile since I blogged.  Just like everyone else, my already insanely busy life gets all the more crazy around the holidays.  The past few weeks I’ve been juggling a full time job, opposite working hours as the hubby, a baby at home, baking, shopping, decorating, wrapping, get togethers and trying not to let the house fall apart.

Before Christmas, I made somewhere between 400 and 500 cake balls in either the form of pops or truffles.  These were for multiple orders, gifts and get togethers.  Surprisingly between all of the craziness and separate packaging of the treats – I did not manage to get any pictures.  One of my co-workers took a picture of one of those 400-500 treats from a batch I shared at work… Feast your eyes:

Not the best quality...

From the reading I’ve been doing, I’ve anticipated that January/February would be quieter as far as placing orders is concerned… but so far, I haven’t noticed with my January quickly filling up with various cake orders.

I’ve been doing a lot of cake pops and truffles lately, and while I enjoy putting them together and especially enjoying eating them, I’m really looking forward to decorating a cake again.  Some of the upcoming orders are really going to challenge me (camouflage, carving…)

Maybe when a slow season does roll around, I’ll be able to decorate a cake just per my design?

Anyway, just wanted to put a quick update out here.

Tam a Lam,

P.S. Don’t forget to get your Valentine order in soon:  www.cakeaholiccakery.com

Happy Birthday to You and You and You and You... and me... Gobble Gobble

On my mother’s side of the family alone, we have 9 November birthdays – 5 of which are in the same week as Thanksgiving.  

• Aunty Theresa
• Uncle Dave
• Uncle Chris
• Nephew Logan
• Aunty Ellen
• Cousin Crystal
• Cousin Lawrence
• Myself
• Nephew Aidan

My family asked me to make a November Birthday cake to bring to Thanksgiving so we could celebrate the birthdays as well as the day of giving thanks.  Since I’ve been busy filling cake orders for other people’s celebrations, I was psyched to make my own design this time around.  At the same time I needed to keep in mind that this cake was for kids, adults, males and females so I kept it fairly generic.  If I didn’t work full time, I would have loved to make individual components that captured each birthday person’s personality – but I just didn’t have the time to make it “that special” with a full time job, a new baby at home and opposite working hours of my husband

I made both cake pops and cake and I love the way it turned out in the end.  The cake pops were a hit – easy to grab as someone walked by, and super delicious.  Another bonus is that I was really able to get to know my new toy/birthday gift as well and used it for the entire cut outs on the cake.

Needless to say, after our Thanksgiving feast, pie, appetizers and cake pops no one had any room for cake so we cut it up and sent some home with every family.  I made ganache to cover the cake with (under the fondant), and made sure to put a thick layer of the ganache on the cake as most people are not fond of fondant (no pun intended).  YUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM!  I am a true chocolate lover and have a huge craving for dark, semi-sweet uber rich chocolate.   Let me tell you – this ganache was just that – heavenly!  I’m happy to have some left over in my freezer for either future cakes or ganache truffles or something.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it…

I’ve been really busy between cake orders, holidays, birthdays, full time job, baby and husband and I am really looking forward to a short “cake break” this week/weekend.  Although, I’m not entirely sure I will take the whole week off from caking…

Thanks for reading,

Tam a Lam

Simplicity

This cake was a simple design that you can modify however you wish.  Smaller tiers, larger tiers, more tiers, one tier, different colors, various blossom sizes... etc.  Because of it's simple design, and for no one in particular - I don't have a whole lot to say...

Of course, as always, if I were to do this again, I would have done this slightly differently.  Smaller top tier and taller bottom tier.  I would have also kept it all white (as was my original plan)... 

 

At any rate, I like this one.  I feel like the design is universal; could be used for a general get together, happy Spring cake, birthday, shower or even wedding...

Thanks for checking out my cake for the week!

Tam a lam

Taking a Short Break

Hey - o!

No cakes this weekend - my husband is itching to brew a batch of beer this weekend (he has been brewing for a few years now)... And the three cakes from last weekend kept me pretty dang busy between working and baby.

But... I already have my mind made up about my next few cakes and I'm psyched to start working on them soon! If I am able to do a cake next weekend, it will be trueley a "Tam" cake - simple yet somewhat feminine. I think I'm also gonna take a shot at making homemade red-velvet cake just to shake it up a bit... There will be plenty to share... you will just have to come and visit :)

Maybe in a few weeks we'll have a celebration with home brew and cake?


Cheers,

Tam a lam

Home Made Gift

After my first attempt, I was itching to get started on another cake.  I thought I would scale this one down a bit - and practice a few new techniques, focusing on creating a clean, fun cake.  This cake was only 1 tier (3 cakes of the same size stacked).  I think I actually had a harder time with this one than with my first 3 tiered cake.  

The original plan was a hat box present with the lid partially open and tissue paper peeping out - i.e. 4 cakes, but I ruined the last cake I baked when taking it out of the pan.  So, I had to edit my cake a bit and decided to ditch the open lid idea and instead place "tissue paper" around the base of the cake.

The fondant was testing me this time.  The texture was a bit off.  Seemed dry, yet was sticky - it didn't make a lick of sense... but I was hoping with everything I was putting on the cake, I could disguise that.  Also, covering a tall, skinny, round cake was much more difficult than I anticipated.  Oh well, I'm learning along the way.

 Everything on the cake is edible - but not sure I would be so brave (ha ha ha).  

If I were to do this all over again, of course there are a lot of things I would change.  At any rate, it is fun to practice and learn from my mistakes.  

It's a good thing there are several birthdays in September in my family... Many birthday cakes for practicing with ;)

xoxo,

Tam a Lam

Piece of Cake?

I have been so intrigued with cake decorating ever since the boob tube made it popular.  This whole new world of fondant and various shapes, designs and colors absolutely blew my mind.  Up until that point, all I "knew" about decorated cakes consisted of flowers, frilly foo foo grandma piping, and plastic figurines. Now, thanks to Duff Goldman, I'm hooked.

I know, I'm a total nerd - I mean, cake decorating?  and now blogging about cake decorating?  But I can't help it... something about the craft, or about taking something like - cake and making it look like something completely different... there is just an art to it that I'm totally addicted to.

So for the last couple of years, I've watched cake artists on the tele in complete aw (even sucking my hubby in to my weird obsession), when one day, I thought "maybe I could do this?..."  Needing an outlet, working full time with a new baby at home - it was not a bad idea.  With the help of google, and a local cake decorating store - I began my journey.

Having never used fondant before, and having never stacked a cake before - what did I decide to do for my first cake?  Well, use fondant on a giant 3 tiered cake, of course!  The cake didn't turn out spectacular by any means, but never the less I'm proud.  No tears in my fondant, and the tiers did not collapse...

I'm so excited to keep learning the art, and sharing this fun hobby with family and friends!  Feel free to tag along on my ride with me.

- Tam a Lam