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Sugar Flower Cake Shop has been given many challenges by our clients over the past year.  Storm Trooper?  Batgirl's Motorcycle?  No problem!  So, when the Barbarian Group asked us to replicate their logo on a cake, we thought "no problem"!  Could we do it without using fondant?  YES!  How's modeling chocolate?  They were psyched, so sent over a photograph.  It would be a lot of detailed work, but definitely no cause to put it into the "challenge" column...until they asked if we could made the cake 30" in diameter!?!?!?!?  

OK, just for reference, 30 inches is roughly the size of a doorway.  How in the world are we even going to get this cake out of our shop??  The tape measure confirmed we had just enough clearance.

Then the real challenges begin:  we definitely don't have a 30" wide pan; the inside of the oven is only about 20" wide.  What is a baker to do??

Well, this baker happens to have a math background (if you don't know, I'm a former high school math teacher), so the geometry was pretty easy.  A round cake can be cut from a few rectangular sheet cakes placed side by side.  There would be some waste (which I hate), but extra cake around here rarely goes to waste (the neighboring offices are super happy to have our leftovers!).  I could even compute the surface area of this giant cake and figure out how much buttercream we would need to make.  Done!  What's next?    

Baking problem solved, but wait, will it even fit inside the refrigerator??  Nope.  Fridge is 54" wide, but only 27" deep.  We definitely need a little bit of chill time for the buttercream to set up before putting on the decorations.  Hmm...  Health code says that food needs to be kept at a temperature below 40 degrees.  Weather report?  Low 30's - yes!  Can we fit it on the balcony??  Dimensions?  Much bigger than 30" - yessss!   (I think I am the luckiest baker in all of New York City !)  With a little bit of draping to create an enclosure, we found ourselves a makeshift refrigerator.  Monitoring the outside temperature, we would be fine.

So, now, what in the world are we going to put this cake on?  Fortunately, I know a good contractor!  One call to Eddie and I had a masonite board to my specifications.  Love it!

OK, I think we are ready to take this challenge on.  Then, we got the call:  delivery is to the Bowery Hotel - we are using their upstairs space.  Ugh!  There's no freigth elevator to get to this space.  The cake would have to be carried upstairs!  Well, it's a good thing Lea and I are relatively strong (possibly more strong willed).  Having solved every other challenge, there was no way we weren't making this cake.  On arrival, we wheeled the cake to the bottom of the steps, took a deep breath and climbed, extremely heavy cake in hand, up two flights.

We had a ton of fun doing so, completely embraced all of the logistics and definitely ended up with happy clients.  The moral of this story?  PLEASE bring us your crazy cake ideas!  We love having fun stories to blog about....  "It's gonna be awesome!"

If you've come to one of our cake tasting parties, you know how much fun it is to mix-and-match different flavors to come up with the perfect combination that works for your cake.  Hopefully you've left with a clear sense of who we are and what our local and seasonal ingredients are all about. The next step? Schedule a consultation with our designer.

During a cake consultation at Sugar Flower Cake Shop, we discuss cake architecture, placement of flowers and decor, plus special details for your big day.  We will ask you a ton of questions, but don't worry, we can help you figure out the answers.

Some things to consider:

• How do you describe your style?  Funky.  Simple.  Elegant.  Decadent.  Classic.  Modern.  Bold.  Formal.  Contemporary.  Whimsical.  Traditional.  Over-the-top.  We bet you can check a few of these off the list, so we'll want to know which suit you best.
• How many tiers do you want?  Remember, we can always do some layers faux to not be wasteful or provide sheet cake for extra servings.  We've done five-tier cakes for 50 people and three tier cakes for 200.  So, don't feel restricted, but we do need your guest count.
• Do you like round, square or hexagonal cakes?  Perhaps a combination.  The majority of our clients prefer round, but we are totally open to the possibilities.
• For tiered cakes, what proportion suits your eye?  Do you like cakes that seem taller or wider?  We can even play with the heights of individual tiers or space in between to add additional interest.
• What kind of color scheme do you have?  Subtle.  Bold.  Pastel.  Monochromatic.  Bright.  You name it, we've done it, but we'll need to know what you like.  If you have color swatches or Pantone chips, we'd love to see them.
• For the cake decor, should we include our detailed sugar flowers to coordinate with your floral arrangements?  We love working from pictures to match flowers exactly, so please bring them!
• What additional details can we include?  Monograms or other inspiration from the invitation, bridal gown, linens, china, the venue itself or even family heirlooms are all welcome additions.

Finally, what inspires you??? Is it art or architecture, fashion and design, travel with a sense of the unknown, the wisdom of words, nature or cuisine?

So, email or bring us any inspirational photos. They can come from magazines, blogs, your iPhoto library or Flickr stream.  We want to see what event details you've chosen so far (invitation, flowers, linen, china, venue, etc.).  Though not necessary, you can bring pictures of cakes you like. In order to create your custom cake, we will get to know you by looking for similarities in all of the pictures to find your exact style. 

Our favorite part of designing is trying to reflect the individuality of our clients.  We look forward to meeting with you!

So, I LOVE being able to provide learning opportunities for the people I work with.  Many are culinary students who are brand new to the world of cake design, maybe having designed cakes for friends and family.  In the interest of learning, I gave Anyolett the responsibility of designing a birthday cake for a very important client (me!), plus I only gave her three days to get it done (in the busy season, we are often up against tight timeframes in order to get all the work done).

An initially overwhelming project became much clearer once we talked through the cake design process.  What questions should you ask a client during a design consultation?  How do you get create an original design for a client who either has super specific ideas or doesn't know what she wants?  We focused on the details.  How many tiers?  Is my style simple, elegant, whimsical, modern, traditional or over-the-top?  What kinds of flowers do I like?  What colors?  etc.

We came up with a few ideas and an initial production list.  The design was refined the next day and finishing touches started.  Anyolett came in with great ideas and sketches, always helpful in communicating with a client.  We picked our collective favorite and got to work!  

At every step in the process, we had another learning opportunity to discuss design options, cake stacking, assembly, etc.

I am just simply in love with this cake.  Anyolett did a wonderful job understanding my style and coming up with the perfect birthday cake - ombre piping in ganache and a GIANT sugar flower...what could be better?!?! 

Tell us what you think...

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We are super excited to be launching our new website!  The team at e9digital did an amazing job with the details and design, taking the simple, yet functional site I had previously created myself to an entirely different level that is truly reflective of our products.  It's hard to even explain all of the behind-the-scenes "stuff" that is going on to keep me on top of this web site.  Loading content is incredibly easy and the tagging feature is just too cool.  Go ahead, create yourself a custom slideshow by clicking any of the tags above!  Want to see all of our red cakes?  Chocolate?  Those done in Central Park?  Lots of fun..

Please take a look around.  Leave us comments here in the blog.  Truly, we want to know what you think!