March 2011 Newsletter

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Strawberry Shortcake

Wow, who can believe how quickly time flies by???  We can't believe Easter just passed and another Tuesday almost slipped by!  So, we went into our photo gallery to find one of the most fun cakes we have made recently - Strawberry Shortcake's house!  This cake was for a very special first birthday girl, and her mother really loved the details.  We had everyone in the kitchen making little flowers, strawberries, and gift boxes.

Now, we pride ourselves in making all of our designs from cake.  We do not venture into the plastic pipes, metal or wood-working shops.  So we often have gravity challenges.  In this case, it was all about the strawberry house.  We decided this time, due to weight, we would try to make it out of rice cereal treats.  Now, all of us love eating these treats, so we made them just like always, nice and gooey.  Well, on our trial run, the house only lasted two hours before the treats started sagging - and Strawberry Shortcake can not live in a less than perfect house!  Our other option was to make less gooey treats, but who wants to eat those bricks?  So the kitchen munched on a house full of delicious rice cereal treats and decided to go back to what we do best - CAKES!

The cake was made in two parts the morning of the party.  One part of the staff took care of the base of the cake, making it the most beautiful pink cake abundant with flowers, strawberries and presents!  They also had to hand cut all the letters for the the name - they were quite busy.  The other part of the staff took charge of the house.  We learned that we can work with cakes in any shapes or forms, so we took out with some round cakes and started carving.  After a little while, the house started to come together with some icing, red fondant, green leaves and a stem.  All the windows, doors and flowers were hand made.  If you look closely at the photo, the windows even have curtains!

Come be a part of our next adventure.  We started our monthly newsletter back up, so don't forget to sign up.  And keep up to date when you become a fan on Facebook!  In the mean time, come visit either location for a free spring cookie through Friday, April 29 when you mention this blog.  And look out for our delicious Nutty Napoleans, the chocolate-peanut butter lovers must have dessert!  Come read all about us and our desserts at http://www.cakesbyhappyeatery.com/.

Monster Truck!

Our good friend, Cindie Reinhold, the editor and publisher of Brides & Weddings of Northern Virginia, asked us to make a very special cake for her son Artie a few years back.  Artie’s birthday present from her was tickets to a Monster Truck Jam.  Cindie wanted to combine his newfound love of monster trucks and cake, so she came to us.

We all know that Artie loves our chocolate vegan cake (which tastes phenomenal) and mocha truffle, so those two flavors were a must.  We decided to make the cake in the shape of a monster truck, complete with big wheels and Artie driving at 13!  We started off with the chocolate vegan cake as the truck and added big mocha tires.  The truck was iced in green buttercream, one of his favorite colors.  We then rolled fondant with tire tread impressions to wrap around the mocha rolls.  We added in a few more finishing touches, like the custom license plates with his name and Brides & Weddings of Northern Virginia, then added writing around the truck.

We always have a fun time, and are looking for new projects and cakes to add to our portfolio.  So please let us know if we can help custom create a cake for your next party or event.  In the mean time, come visit us at either location and mention this blog for a free cupcake through Friday, April 22.  More photos can be viewed on our website, www.CakesbyHappyEatery.com.

Our Run on Broadway!

Welcome back and we hope you are staying dry on this very wet day.  We have a fun story for you about one of our most beloved groomscakes – the Bleeding Armadillo.  Yes, you read that right, we made a Bleeding Armadillo for two Broadway fans.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this famous Bleeding Armadillo groomscake, you must rent Steel Magnolias with Julia Roberts, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine and Dolly Parton.  The interaction between them is hilarious, but look out for the wedding scene and you will understand the Bleeding Armadillo.

So when we met with Kevin and Joey, they were getting married when Steel Magnolias was opening on Broadway, and they had many friends that were going to be in attendance who shared their love of theatre.  Well, Emily had seen this movie many times, so how could she resist recreating one of the best lines??  After quite a few laughs and a very shocked Victoria (she hadn’t seen the movie yet), we wanted to make it authentic, and Joey wanted to make sure the cake bled red.

On the morning of the wedding, we started with a blood red velvet cake, some very red cream cheese, and a dark layer of gray to cover the entire cake.  Well, Victoria had seen the movie at this point so that she could understand the cake, but our other sister Charlotte was in town and had no idea.  As we were layering each color, Charlotte looked in amazement and asked if we were in our right minds.  We told her to wait, because there was more.  We finished off the cake with the feet, head, long ears and scaled look, and we had to admire this strange, and now adorable, animal.

Kevin and Joey held their wedding at a church in Old Town Manassas.  When we delivered it, Kevin was the first to take a peek and was delighted.  They had a table ready for us with funny quotes from the movie to keep everyone laughing.  This is always a fond memory for us and a great story.

Well, until next Tuesday and another great story.  In the mean time, you can always find us at either location or visit us at www.CakesbyHappyEatery.com for more information.  Mention this blog through Friday, April 15 to receive a free cupcake and don’t forget your tax returns.

Victoria and Emily

A Very Thrilling Ride

Everyone always has their ups and downs, and the bakery is no different, especially when you come along on our roller coaster ride!  One of our customers was having a very special birthday party for her son, who happened to love roller coasters.  She wanted something colorful, fun and different.

We came up with the idea of roller coaster cars going around the top of the cake along a track.  But the best part of riding one is the ups and downs!  So how were we going to achieve that???  After some thought and consultations with the decorators, we decided that Cathy should take all of our input and be in charge of the cake.  She did us proud.  She created all the cars and the people.  We changed the design so that the tracks went down the side of the cake, over the first hill, up the side and over a pond.  Now we know that everyone has some hair-raising moments, so she made sure to include those.  She did not even forget the ever-present bald man with lots of chest hair in a tank top or the floating flip flop someone lost along the ride!

As you can see, it takes our village of sales associates, decorators and bakers to manage all the details that go onto a cake.  We welcome any challenge you come to us with, so feel free to bring us your desires for your next party.  In the mean time, come visit us at www.CakesbyHappyEatery.com or stop by either location and mention this blog for a free bubble tea through Friday, April 8!  If you don’t know what a bubble tea is, then you must come in for this tea lover’s version of an iced latte served over tapioca pearls!