Graduation Time!

Welcome back and I hope you are all staying dry on this crazy wet day!  We have been making graduation cakes non-stop for the last two weeks.  I thought you would enjoy our latest cake we made for our regular customer, Jennifer.  She always has some fun ideas and cakes.  We have made her a margarita glass, Thomas the Train, bikini cake, and most recently, the Radford Highlander.

Her son just graduated from Radford University, and she was having a party down in Radford for him.  So she asked what could we make that would be fun and different.  We had her look at a few different graduation cakes for inspiration, and she decided that the Radford University mascot was in order.  She asked us to put the Highlander on top.  I hadn't seen him before, so she emailed a picture over.  Well, he looks like a rugged mountain man with a Scottish twist!  So we got to work.

We decided to use vanilla cake to sculpt the Highlander's face.  After some time, the face started to take shape and we covered it in fondant.  While the fondant was still soft, we added in the facial features and the high cheekbones.  The facial hair had us all.  On that Friday morning, the bakery was full of female decorators who have no facial hair.  One of our decorators started a 5:00 shadow look, so I had to explain that this was a mountain man, one who had not shaved for a few weeks, so make his beard a little fuller and his hair a little higher!  She then added his braid on the side.  We finished him off with a plaid headband and he looked fabulous!

We then started on the cake underneath.  Jennifer has a soft spot for our red velvet cake and chocolate devil's food, but her son leans towards the chocolate.  So we made the bottom cake devil's food with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream icing, which would travel well for the 4-5 hour drive down to Radford.  We finished off the design with some RU logos on the side and some plaid stripes.  We placed the Highlander on top and added some graduation hat sprinkles along with the plaque to say Congratulations Travis.  I must say, we had a really great time with this cake.

Come out and brave the forecasted rainy week.  When you mention our blog through Friday, May 20, which happens to be my 11th wedding anniversary, join me for a complimentary cupcake!  Until next Tuesday, you can always visit us on Facebook or at http://www.cakesbyhappyeatery.com/.

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/.

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!