New York City Cake

Yeah!!! It's done and the client was thrilled! Lot's of things I would do differently on the next one and it needed alot more details on it. Next time I'll allow time (and budget) for streets, sidewalks, lamp post and more billboards. I would order icing images so the billboards could be made quicker and more realistic looking. Overall, I'm happy with it...just glad to have my first "structure" cake behind me.

Will it be an "Ace of Cake Disaster"?

Okay, I'm almost in panic mode.....I've known I had this cake to do for the last 6 weeks, but now I'm in crunch time. It's a 3D New York City Skyline with a Margarita Glass in the center. The client wants the buildings and the Margarita Glass made from cake. The clients budget doesn't allow for me to go "all out", but I'm going to try to make it as detailed as possible with the time and money that I have allowed. This will be my first sculpted cake of this kind....so I'm excited, but a bit nervous too. Regardless, when I complete it, I'll post a picture of the cake. Hopefully, it won't be a total disaster. I am going to sculpt the cake tonight and work on a few more of the detail pieces. Tomorrow night I will begin applying the fondant to the buildings and setting the cake on the board. On Wednesday I'll put the details on the cake (the billboards, windows, awnings) and complete the Margarita Glass. The cake needs to be delivered Wednesday night to the client. So, will it be an "ace of cake masterpiece" or an "ace of disasters?". Check back in a few days and you can decide.....

How the heck did we get started?

In May 2006, what was a way of dealing with my grief turned into a business. It all started when I lost my son in a car accident. During my grief counseling, it was suggested that I pick up a hobby. The "theory" was a hobby would give me a way of redirecting some of my energy, even if for only a couple hours at a time. After giving it some thought, I decided to give it a try....doubting the whole time it would provide any help.

I had always wanted to try cake decorating. I bought some books and some starter supplies and was on my way. I liked the look of fondant and Mother's Day was right around the corner so I decided to make a cake for a family get together....after all, family would be very forgiving if it turned out a mess. So there I was, on my way to cake decorating. I've posted the picture so you can see my first cake.

I continued to practice and play with cake decorating for several months. Making cakes just for fun and for family and friends. I actually found that it was soothing and did help me redirect some of my energy into something other than my grief. I guess my counselor knew what she was talking about. I can't really explain it to this day, but something as simple as a hobby and of course the love and support from family and friends, and my faith was able to help start my healing process. While the wound of loosing my son is still there, I've learned to cope with it being part of my life.

So the story doesn't end there.....I was sitting at my computer one Sunday night in late September of 2007 trying to find some cake decorating supplies. I found that I was going to all these different sites to get what I needed and shipping was outrageous on some of the sites. Then it hit me! I know how to run an ecommerce business, I know some things about cake decorating, I love to decorate! I had the know how, the passion and all I was missing was the website! I started a conversation with some family members and within the next two weeks we had a business plan together. We started contacting suppliers, researching website designs, warehouse space, setting of our corporation, filing for all the tax info and before we knew it, our business was ready to launch.

In April 2008, just a few short months later, Confectioner's Wares, Inc. "opened the cyber doors" for business. We just celebrated our one year anniversary and I must say, we are quite pleased with our first year. We continually add to our inventory, find ways to improve our site and we are loving every minute of it!

So, that's the first few chapters of our story. In reflecting on the last 4 years, I see so many things that have fallen into place to put us where we are now. I look forward to what the next chapters bring....the story will continue.