Hurricanes and so much more!

What a week we had - an earthquake, aftershocks and Hurricane Irene.  We barely felt anything in Centreville and Manassas.  I happened to be in Centreville rolling a few of our flour bins around and was surprised by my strength.  Then the settling noise made me think twice about someone jackhammering away!  Victoria called to check in since her chair was shaking in Manassas.  We realized it was an earthquake when the light fixtures were slightly swinging.  But no harm was done and everyone was safe and sound.  In honor of all that happened last week, I thought you would enjoy a fun story about my brush with Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

Zachary is my firstborn, so as you can imagine, I was a very nervous first-time mother.  He was born on Monday, September 15.  While waiting upon his arrival at the hospital, the news coverage was about a Tropical Storm Isabel that was turning into Hurricane Isabel.  We thought it was funny since we considered the name Isabel if the baby was a girl.  It wasn't meant to be, we had a beautiful and healthy baby boy, Zachary, who passed all the tests, so we got sent home after a few days of recovery.  Just in time for a Thursday night Virginia Tech football game and a hot dinner cooked by my father.  I remember sitting on the couch resting, my father cooking away in my kitchen, and my husband, Ray, anxiously setting the television for his beloved football game.  Then our electricity went out.  Hurricane Isabel was knocking on our door and she was not going away easily.  We quickly got some flashlights and ate the parts of dinner that were cooked and put away the rest.  My father and Victoria went home for the evening, but my mother stayed to help us through our first night home with an infant.  That's when the fun began.

We suddenly heard a huge crash on the back side of the house.  Ray and I went to check it out and we discovered a neighbor's very large tree had fallen into our yard, breaking the fence and clearing the house by about 10 feet.  We were very lucky and thankful.  That was the scene all over the region.  We didn't sleep in any bedrooms at the rear of the house since there were a few more large trees.  Yes, we slept on couches and pullout beds while Zachary got the changing table pad on the floor next to us.  What a sight we must have been.  The hurricane had us down for about 10 days - we had no electricty due to some trees hitting the poles, no phone service due to the amount of water, and no safe water in Fairfax County due to the power outage.  What an unforgettable time in our lives!

The bakery was more fortunate than us.  The electricity only flickered, but remained on.  Since we also use Fairfax County water there, we had a slight problem - safe water for our baking and cooking.  Well, we raided all the stores for bottled water.  We brought it in by the casefuls!  So for Zachary's first birthday party, we had to put this history onto a cake.  We had a serene blue sky with the sun shining through, an upright tree with birds in it and some flowers underneath.  If you look at the bottom corner, you can see the wind currents of the soon-to-be Hurricane Isabel!

Come join us for another fun-filled week.  I am ready for the school year to start.  But until then, come try our special chicken salad of the week.  We decided to take our already fantastic chicken salad to another level this week - we added some champagne grapes and pecans!  The combination is delicious.

Yes, just keep on reading!

I am back from vacation and running around like mad to catch up.  I think this next cake was too funny and that you would surely enjoy the story.

Katie called a few months ago about a cake for her aunt's 65th birthday.  In her family, they do things a little differently on milestone birthdays.  They throw a theme party with something the guest of honor dislikes immensely.  Her aunt believed she was having a Hawaiian themed party, but she didn't know it was going to be overrun with cockroaches!  So Katie thought it would be funny to make the cake as a large dead cockroach and even provided a picture for reference.  We were happy to help.

We were all getting the creeps in the kitchen looking at the photo and designing the cake.  One team started work on the wooden floor boards for the delightful creature to have its final rest.  They started out with a lemon cake and vanilla buttercream.  Once they had the cake iced, they started adding some layers of various shades of brown to give it a stained wood look with a few dark swirls for the grain to stand out.  They then used chocolate ganache to pipe the seams and they were ready for the second team to do their part.

During all this, the second team made a lemon cake roll for the body of the cockroach.  They used a reddish brown fondant in different shades to cover the belly portion and back.  Once that was done, the real fun began.  We had to attach all the legs and cover them with little hairs.  Those big ugly eyes got us all laughing and feeling sorry for Katie's aunt at the same time.  Then the two big long black antennae and we were done.

We apologize for those of you who were visiting us in Centreville last weekend and thought bugs of unusual sizes were running loose.  We promise we run a tight ship!  And to Katie, I hope you watch out on your next milestone birthday, you never know what could be in store for you!  So join us for a good laugh and thank goodness that cockroaches DO NOT live to get that big!  Celebrate the last little bit of summer we have left with a cupcake on us through Sunday, August 21 when you mention our blog.  Until next week.

Wedding at the beach

What happened to the week??  Before I knew it, Victoria announced that it is Thursday.  So I am sorry for such a late blog, but I promise I was eating well those extra two days!  Victoria and I attended the Women's Wedding Network luncheon yesterday and the Farm at Broad Run.  Their outdoor pavilion is just gorgeous.  I am afraid to bring my husband out there, because once he sees their outdoor kitchen, I can just see the wheels turning around in his head as to how to make our backyard just like it!  Lunch was fabulous, we ate local foods catered by A La Carte Catering.  I really enjoyed their corn relish and their bruscetta was outstanding.  Go visit a farmer's market this weekend and pick up some fresh veggies.

I am dreaming of my vacation at the beach next week, so I think this next cake is just what I need to get me through the rest of the week.  This cake was for a bridal shower a few months ago.  They were having a beach themed shower, so the maid of honor brought in the invitation for inspiration.  The blue was so warm and inviting and the white designs just sparkled.  The maid of honor wanted to incorporate some tropical orchids, and left the rest up to us.  We decided to ice the cake in that lovely blue so that the white orchids would stand out.  After putting on the orchids, we decided they needed a little sparkle.  So we brushed them with an edible white glitter.  We added a few fondant seashells around the bottom of the cake to tie in the theme, but we thought it was missing a little something.  Eureka!  Two starfish, to represent the bride and groom, would be the perfect compliment to the cake.  Once those were on, the cake looked beautiful.  We finished it off with Congratulations Kelly and her special date, 9/18/11.

Come cool off with us in Manassas or Centreville.  We just made some death by chocolate cake pops, and they are good!  Come in through Sunday, August 7 and mention the blog for a complimentary cake pop.  I will try to get online at the beach next Tuesday, but if the waves keep beckoning me, I'll be back the week after with a new tale.  I also welcome any photos of cakes we have done in the past that you would like for me to highlight.

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!