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Fondanista Files Blog

Julie

Now that's how you do "Inclement Weather"!

When brides tell me that they are planning on holding their receptions at an outdoor venue, I think that I worry as much as they do that the weather may not cooperate.  In fact, I had to move my own wedding indoors when a rogue wind storm came through 18 years ago!  All of the careful planning and everything you envision for your wedding comes to a screeching halt when you hear that fateful weather report and you see the first rain clouds.

However, I had the pleasure of doing two weddings this weekend where the bride put her foot down and worked around the rain to thwart the unexpected weather (I mean really, is it too much to ask for nice weather in June?).

This is Emily and Wes.  They had a cool wedding...both literally and figuratively!  But as you can see, they are both happy and smiling:

The reception turned out extremely lovely.  They set up tents, moved things around and it was all very romantic!  The reception was poolside and the steam coming off the pool in the rain was so beautiful.

We decided to use the couple's monogram on cupcakes which made them elegant and casual at the same time.

Shawn is the name of the other brave bride I mentioned above.  Coincidentally, her new husband's name is Shawn as well (perhaps that's fate, not coincidence!) We decided to borrow the fantastic monogram from the couple's invitations and use it on the cake as well: "S squared."

So, to all of those brides who fear that their beautiful receptions will be ruined by crazy weather, remember that inclement weather can be beautiful too.

The Well-Groomed Cake

Well, it's wedding season and along with beautiful wedding cakes comes the wacky, outrageous, sometimes weird, but always interesting groom's cakes.  I recently did another spot on Studio 5 dedicated to groom's cakes...If you've ever had a question about groom's cakes, take a look!

Studio 5 spot

Doesn't that just make you want to run out and get some Armadillo soup? :)

I have a couple of other favorite cakes I wanted to show you since I've been on my "blog hiatus":

This cake was so much fun... a graduation cake for guy who loves Mac n' Cheese almost as much as I love cake:

Of course diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I would definitely say shoes and accessories come in a close second.  This cake was a combination graduation/birthday cake.  My favorite part is the Chanel sunglasses!

May the 4th Be With You...

Okay, I have no idea how I'm going to cohesively tie these cakes together.  So, I'm not going to even try!  The fun part of my job is that I get to do a variety of different cakes in a week's time...keeps me from getting bored.  So although I'd like to come up with a clever theme, I'm afraid it's impossible.  My good friend and awesome assistant, Suzie, is responsible for the blog title!  Here you go:

This was a birthday cake for a groom in an upcoming wedding.  His fiance wanted to surprise him with it prior to the wedding.  This one was a blast, but also a challenge.  When all was said and done, it was well over 15" high and weighed a ton!  The best part is that it had a sound component (Darth Vader breathing).

This next cake was for a beautiful wedding at Sundance.  What a beautiful setting for a wedding.  I must say that although the cake is not typical of my style, it turned out perfectly.  All of the nuts and berries are sugar.

Fashion Trends

One of my favorite places to find design inspiration is the fashion world. Whatever is hot in accessories, clothing or home decor is hot in cake design! Here are a couple recent examples that I had a blast doing...

This cake was for a bridal shower for one of my favorite clients. I had some help with the jewelry on this one and I think it turned out fantastic. Notice the Tiffany bracelet on the board...awesome!

Another trend that I am loving right now is the chandelier motif. Here is an ultra modern yet romantic design. I used swarovski crystals to highlight the design.

In fact, one of the coolest weddings I did this month utilized the chandelier motif. Chantel and TJ used the motif on their cake and throughout the decor:

Notice the chandelier crystals that hung from all of the flowers arrangements (flowers by Willow Specialty Florist):

One more trend that I'm loving is the animal prints...I love these cupcake wrappers. Who knew that fashion could taste as good as it looks.

Good Day, Sports Fans!

This week was full of orders for beautiful and elegant wedding cakes. So, what should I post on the blog? The cakes for the rock climbing enthusiast and the BYU Super-fan of course! Don't get me wrong, I love creating beautiful cakes, but I have a soft spot for the unique.

This cake was for a great guy that is into rock climbing. The cake was a Hazelnut-Chocolate with a salted caramel buttercream. The rope and the carabiner are sugar too.

This groom's cake was for the ultimate BYU fan. The cake was modeled after the groom's own BYU helmet. The cake itself was vanilla, but the bride and I decided that it would be fun to dye it a light blue on the inside. I love surprises!

Studio 5

Hi y'all! After recovering from an extended spring break (translation: recovering from kids being out of school!), I am finally posting the link for my Studio 5 segment. It was a lot of fun and the hosts couldn't be cooler. In the spot, I show Darin Adams and Tonya Papanikolos how I use a silicone mold to make jewelry for cake. Thanks for watching!

Studio 5 Spot

National Capital Area Cake Show

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the National Capital Area Cake Show (NCACS) in Fairfax, VA. This show is Norm Davis' (of Food Network and TLC fame) pet project and I have to say that I'm so glad I went! There were cake celebrities galore...Norm Davis (of course), Marina Sousa, Courtney Clark, Anne Heap, Mike McCarey, Lauren Kitchens, Susan Carberry, and many more.

One of my favorite parts of the show was the "Cake Challenge". It was a competition patterned after the Food Network and Ultimate Cake challenges that you see on TV. This year, Courtney Clark, Anne Heap, Pat Jacoby and Wayne Steinkopf were the competitors. Can you say AWESOME? I took a couple of photos of these incredible creations. The theme was "Circus Cakes."

There are a couple photos of each cake because they were so tall and detailed that it is impossible to show everything in one picture. The first cake was by Pink Cake Box's Anne Heap. The giraffe is standing on the circus ball with the mice below. She was this year's winner and I loved her design concept:

The next cake is Courtney Clark's. It was an Alice in Wonderland/Circus theme. Her work is exceptional and this one was my personal favorite:

This is Wayne's cake. He went with a darker interpretation of the theme...no wonder clowns freak me out...

Lastly, but not least, is Pat Jacoby's cake. This lady is on fire! She has won two competitions on TLC's Ultimate Cake Off:

There was also a "Dream Wedding Cake" competition. The winner of the competition is a personal friend of mine, Irene Maston from Vermont. She entered two cakes in the competition and her cakes took 1st and 4th place. Now, that is INCREDIBLE talent. Here's a pic of the winning cake:

Okay, now for my contribution...While I was at the show, I took a class with Lauren Kitchens based on her recent Sesame Street Food Network Challenge cake where she "muppetized" the judges. I muppetized my mother-in-law (and yes, I do love her!):

Wear your boots and eat them too!

Okay, I love it when cakes look good enough to eat...or wear. This was a birthday cake for a really nice gentleman who turned 75 years old this week. Apparently, his wardrobe includes some cool cowboy boots. The picture doesn't include the other items that went with this cake: A Colnago water bottle (to match his Colnago bike), a BMW keyring and an Alta Ski Pass. This is one very interesting 75-year-old!




I tried to imagine what interests my 75th birthday cake would include....oh, I guess it would be cake! :)

The story about how a teddy bear became a groundhog...

Once upon a time, there was an adorable teddy bear. He was made of luscious chocolate cake and filled with cherry/almond buttercream. He was a special teddy bear because he was going to travel to a very distant kingdom (central Utah) to surprise a beautiful baby princess named Lexee (the sweetest niece ever!). However, the trip was extremely treacherous. Despite everyone's best efforts (an air-conditioned car and a well-doweled internal structure), the adorable teddy bear did not arrive in great condition.

Although no one knows for sure, it is rumored that a wicked witch cursed the teddy bear and both of his ears fell off before he reached his destination! There was a great deal of lamenting (and a generous amount of cursing), but it was decided that the teddy bear would hereafter be known as the adorable groundhog. Alas, the baby princess didn't know the difference and everyone enjoyed the adorable teddy bear even though he now resembled a groundhog. The End.

Just in case you're wondering, the moral of the story is not to travel with a sculpted cake any further than you absolutely have to!

I Feel Like a Criminal!

Well, it's been awhile since I've updated the blog...too busy making cakes I guess! However, I have had fun this month. Here are a few of the really interesting ones. The first one is for my family's favorite banker:

The $100 bills are edible images, but I must say that I felt like the Feds were going to come and get me while I was printing them! This cake was so much fun...I just wish I could print my own money all of the time.


The following cakes are "themed" wedding cakes. Animal prints on EVERYTHING is so popular now. The "jewel" on the top tier is poured sugar.


This cake was for a wedding at The Canterbury Place. Very elegant with a peacock theme.

I want a Ferrari for the New Year!

Another fun car cake! This Ferrari was a surprise for both the bride and groom from the bride's mother...She told me that she hoped it would endear her new son-in-law. I hope it worked! Notice that the back of the car said "Just Married" accompanied by tin cans in tow.


This wedding cake was one of my favorites for the year. Very simple, yet very modern and elegant. The cake was for Brittany and Jake...such a gorgeous couple. I also loved the fact that they were so adventurous with their cake flavors: Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for the top tier, pumpkin chocolate chip with cream cheese frosting for the middle tier and coconut cream cake with coconut buttercream on the bottom. The flower is sugar and the pearls are white chocolate.