Baseball and Cake - always a fun combination!

Whew, what a relief from the extreme heat we have been getting these last few weeks!  I hope everyone has been hiding away in some air conditioning and coming up for some bubble tea!  Our ice makers were working overtime last week.

Now on to our special cake of the week - a groomscake we made for a Phillie Phanatic!  Bridget, our lovely bride, wanted to surprise her groom with a fun cake on their wedding - which was held at the very gorgeous 2941 in Falls Church.  The views are breathtaking.  Well, the groom is a chocolate fan, so we made a rich devil's food cake filled and iced with our dark chocolate buttercream.  Bridget wanted to make sure we incorporated the Liberty Bell tower, Phillies logo and World Series from 1980 and 2008.  So from there, the sketch entailed a custom made Phillies jersey, a baseball with a baseball bat on top, and the Liberty Bell picture.

The first item we made for the cake was the jersey.  We went with a red jersey with white piping for the name and number.  We even remembered the small Phillies logo that is found on the left sleeve!  Once that was put onto the cake, we started on the baseball.  For the baseball, we rolled white fondant, then our tiny fingers rolled out red fondant very thin and cut it into strips for the signature stitching.  We then marbled different shades of brown to make the wood grain look for the baseball bats.  For the Liberty Bell tower, we used a sugar image to capture the light of the tower.  After we put together the cake with these elemtns, we decided it needed a few more touches.  So we put the World Series Campion logos on the sides of the cake, then added some more baseball game must haves.  We made some hot dogs with mustard, peanuts, baseball caps, and miniature baseballs to go around the bottom of the cake.  When we were done, we were ready to play ball!

When you come in, make sure to sample our fantastic granola!  We are creating a new line of healthy treats, and they are delicious.  Today, we have a great blend of nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflowers seeds in a honey maple granola fortified with wheat germ and flax seed.  We are also working on our breakfast oatmeal, which is a great way to start the day.  If you have some flavor combinations you would like to see or recommend, let us know.

Office Retirement

I am ready for winter to come!  It has been so hot and sticky outside these last few days, and I hear it is only to get worse.  Well, come on in and cool off with an ice cold smoothie - strawberry mango is my favorite!  We will make sure to have our ice makers working overtime to help keep you cool.

For this week's highlight, I thought you would enjoy our office retirement cake we did a few weeks ago.  Catherine worked at Carfax for 7 years, and one of her coworkers wanted to have a fun cake for her retirement party.  She choose to cover the cake with little sticky notes and other desk supplies.  So two days before the cake was due, we rolled out little squares of fondant in those famous sticky note shades of yellow, pink and blue.  We left them to dry so that on the day the cake was due, we could use our food markers to write all sorts of to-do items - lunch with the girls, ask for a bonus, etc.

The morning of the delivery, we made a vanilla sponge cake with fresh fruit and whipped cream filling, then iced it with a thin layer of buttercream icing.  Once that was done, we rolled out white fondant to cover the entire cake.  Once the fondant was on, we were ready to attach the prepared sticky notes and embellish with a few other items.  There was a pen, pencil, tacks, paperclips, pencil sharpener and more.  We thought the cake turned out great.

Well, until next week, stay inside where the air is cool.  But if you do decide to venture out, come stop by either Manassas or Centreville for a cupcake on us, which goes well with those smoothies!

Fun and Whimsical Weddings

It's hard to believe another week has passed us by.  We have been in wedding central in the kitchens for the last month.  So we thought you would enjoy this recent cake for a very fun couple who wanted to reflect their style at their wedding.

The setting for the cake was at the beautiful Hotel Palomar in Rosslyn, VA.  The room was beautifully decorated and the floral centerpieces was of different shapes, colors and styles.  The bride and groom chose a 3-tiered cake with buttercream icing.  They tiered round cakes with a square in the center.  The main color they wanted to have on the cake was royal blue.  The round cakes had fondant polka dots of different sizes all around, the the square cake had bold vertical stripes.  When we arrived at the Hotel Palomar, the florist had fresh flowers waiting for us to complete the design.  The flowers was all different bold colors and different.  The cake looked fabulous!  This wedding cake had both traditional elements and some very modern accents to make it unique.

Come visit us at either Manassas or Centreville through Friday, July 15 for a complimentary bubble tea to help cool you down for the summer.  Don't forget to try one of our butterbeer cupcakes from Harry Potter - the movie is coming out this week!  Until next week, you can find us at www.CakesbyHappyEatery.com.

Party with the Wu Family!

Welcome to a very late weekly blog.  Victoria and I have been taking some time off to send time with our other sister Charlotte (yes, there are three of us!).  She lives overseas, so we don't often have the whole clan together.  She came into town with her family and we have been having a load of fun.  If you can't tell from our personalities, the Wu family loves good food and desserts.  So what better way to celebrate than a big Welcome Home Party?!?!?!  We decided to take things a little easier and have all the catering (food, beverages and pastries) done by one of the best places we know - Cakes by Happy Eatery!

We came up with a nice summer menu that had items to suit food lovers of all types.  Our starters included our fabulous cheese puffs (gougeres), crab stuffed mushrooms, coconut shrimp, paper wrapped shrimp, chicken cordon blue, our brand new hot dogs baked in a bun, and some fruit.  For the main course we had roasted rib eye with a beautiful mushroom gravy, BBQ ribs (really tender and flavorful), potato salad, broccoli salad, green beans, mac & cheese, asparagus in a citrus sauce, wild rice pilaf, herbed chicken in a cream sauce, and more. 

Once we had the menu set, we had to make a gorgeous display.  Victoria wanted something with vivid colors, and as we were sitting at the dinner table at our mother's house, it came to us.  Our father planted a hydrangea bush in the backyard that was in full bloom.  It was absolutely breath-taking with blooms of different hues of purple, ranging from a lavender to a regal purple to a deep blue.  We set out our purple pintuck tablecloth with a lavender overlay.  We then asked Sher (Flowers by Sher) to borrow a tall vase to showcase the beautiful flowers from the garden.  We layered clear and purple crystals in the vase and topped it off with the dark purple hydrangea.  The table looked fantastic.

Now a party wouldn't be the same without desserts from our favorite bakery!  We chose to keep the dessert menu simple this time and highlight some of the popular trends right now - cupcakes and cake pops.  Our kitchens were busy making dozens of miniature cupcakes in assorted flavors, which included classic chocolate, dulce de leche, red velvet, lemon raspberry, mango mousse, simply strawberry and more.  We have also added cake pops to our dessert line.  We made red velvet, birthday cake (vanilla chocolate marble cake), death by chocolate, vanilla and more.  And we couldn't forget our popular fruit tarts - a true summer treat!  They were a fun addition to the party and many of our guests were walking around popping the mini desserts as they visited with everyone.

So don't forget about us the next time you have to plan a party.  Our catering menu is fantastic and our food is all made to order.  Come visit us in either Centreville of Manassas for a cake pop on us through Sunday, July 10 when you mention our blog.  Until next week!