Wedding Cake Prices - Wedding Cake Tips | Wedding Planning, Ideas & Etiquette | Bridal Guide Magazine

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Wedding Cake Prices - Wedding Cake Tips | Wedding Planning, Ideas & Etiquette | Bridal Guide Magazine

________________________________________________________Copyright by Jeanette Jackson of Blue Ivy, LLC. If you would like to post any of my photographs, please contact me. Thank you!

Merry Christmas! Happy Holiday! Just Be Creative

Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday, whatsoever you are celebrating remember it is the real season of Love. I won't apologize for my Christian faith and I won't knock you on yours but it is because of God's love for us we celebrate His gift of His only Son to us this month. The fine prints of which month Jesus was born is for another forum and another blog. Here I want to talk food and sweet stuff. Food that is delicious and sweet because it hits that sweet spot! Sweet stuff  you may not be able to eat but just do really sweet things. Holiday food and sweet stuff!!!.

Thanksgiving is gone and many of you I'm sure have finished your shopping, giftwrapping, tree trimming, home decorating, card sending and ready for the baking. Before you pull those recipe books, cards or piece of paper - my favorite thing. I often scribble on Post-It ingredients for recipes (without title) then later wonder what recipe is this...cookie?...cake:...stuffing?!?  Here is something I will call it my "sweet stuff" to share.

I came across this website called Creative Market with tons of fonts, graphic and all the really cool things to make cards, invitations, labels and the list goes on.

Creative Market is a site where creative people, like me in another sort of creative way, hangs out. Beautiful designs are shared and offered at ridiculous price to the public. Although I don't have a Word Press blog, I have found a template I will be using for this blog as well as some other cool stuff too. Go check them out.

Now on the food side of things. I got the call yesterday. Yes, my mom calling me regarding the baking of our traditional fruit cake, a.k.a., Jamaican Black Cake or Rum Cake. In our house it will be the cake for all our celebrations especially Christmas. The Southern Red Velvet cake is coming in at a close second but it won't replace our beloved fruit cake. I have had my fruits soaking from last year, likewise my mom. My family is from Jamaica and the plum pudding-like fruit cake, rib roast and ham are staples at our dinner table. Living here in South Florida for 20 years we have added a few additional items such as sweet potatoes, and green beans casserole. What are some of the traditional meals you have at your family dinner table?

CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY

Here's a chance to start your creativity at Creative Market one (1) fortunate winner will receive Creative Market credit for $25, delivered via email.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter to win, leave a comment on this post answering the question above:

"What is your favorite meal on the family dinner table this holiday?"

You can enter FOUR additional entries to win by doing the following:

1. Subscribe to Blue Ivy Cakery by either RSS or email. Return to this blog and let me know you have subscribed in an additional comment.
2. Become a fan of Blue Ivy Cakery on Facebook. Come back and let me know you became a fan in an additional comment.
3. Follow @blueivycakery on Twitter. Come back and let me know you are following in an additional comment.
4. Follow Blue Ivy Cakery on Pinterest. Come back and let me know you became a fan in an additional comment.

Deadline: Sunday, December 8, 2013 at 11:59PM EST.

Winner: The winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and announced at the top of this post. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, another winner will be selected.

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by Blue Ivy, LLC.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

________________________________________________________
Copyright by Jeanette Jackson of Blue Ivy, LLC., d.b.a. Blue Ivy Cakery.  If you would like to post any of my photographs, please contact me. Thank you!

Double-Rich Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I came across a recipe years ago in a Better Homes & Garden Magazine, when I was looking for a different type of pound cake. The pound cake was made using cream cheese. It is absolutely delicious! As usual I wanted to "kick it up a notch" so I made a simple flavor change and it got even better. He is my version:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 stick)
1-8 oz pack cream cheese
1 oz Almond Paste
6 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup Amaretto (optional)

Method:

1. Grease a 10-inch flute tube pan or 2 - 8x4x2 loaf pan. Set aside. Prehead oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Bring butter and cream cheese to room temperature.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt together, then set aside.
4. Cream butter, cream cheese and softened almond paste using an electric mixter on high for 20 minutes. Gradually add sugar and beat for another 6 minutes (should be light and fluffy). Beat in vanilla and almond extract.
5. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
6. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed till well combined.
7. Stir in Amaretto then pour in prepared tins.
8. Bake in oven for 60-65 minutes for tube pan or 70 minutes for loaf pans. Cakes are done when wooden pick comes out clean.
9. Leave in pan to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove and cool throughly on cooling rack.

Serves: 20

This cake is delicious with whipped cream and fresh fruits and a light sauce. My hubby loves it with frozen yogurt; me, one slice at a time.

Walk good and happy caking.

Jeannie


________________________________________________________
Copyright by Jeanette Jackson of Blue Ivy, LLC. If you would like to post any of my photographs, please contact me. Thank you!

“Thank You Teachers!” by The Cake Artist



Teacher's Appreciation "Apple Cake"

My sweet niece, Katherine, the other day asked if I could provide a cake for her school’s Teachers Appreciation Day Luncheon. I was delighted because I thought it would be a very good idea to do an apple cake. I told Katie to let her teacher know that I would be doing an apple shaped cake.

To the left is the cake I made, a vanilla cake filled with vanilla buttercream, covered with a paste made of carved cake and buttercream. I love to use this under my fondant especially for carved cakes. Toba Garrett calls it “spackle” and I believe it’s a wonderful idea. I got the recipe from her book The Well-Decorated Cake (Oct 1, 2004).I colored the fondant light red then airbrushed it red and leaf green for depth. The ‘bookworm’ I created using fondant. The apple stem is actually the dowel that goes through the cake to the cake board and I cover it with chocolate fondant.

The Process

Carving the cake was a task. I set the cake up in three stacked tiers with the middle tier being the tallest. I baked 2x12x2-inch round; 1x10x2-inch round and 1x9x2-inch round cakes. Each cake is splitted horizontally into two layers. I filled the ten-inch round and placed on cake board, insert dowels; then placed another ten-inch board on top where I began stacking the 12-inch cakes. Dowels are inserted for support, then a ten-inch cake board is placed on top where the nine-inch cakes are stacked. With buttercream sticking out I placed the stacked tiers in my freezer to firm up for about one hour. After taking the cake out I carved from the top to form the shape I was looking for, then carefully flipped it over to carve the bottom…this is when I said a quiet prayer. Things can happen and if it does you will have a very entertaining ‘cake story’ to tell your friends. So be very careful when you are doing the turn. I stick the cake in my freezer  while I used the carved pieces with buttercream to make the spackle paste. I add a little little coffee creamer to soften the cake to form a nice paste. I remove cake from freezer and apply paste filling in all the open pockets and try to get it completely covered. I apply a real heavy coat because it does taste delicious under the fondant. Place cake in refrigerator this time for about 20 minutes to firm up. Remove and apply a coat of buttercream, I apply a light coat or enough to give a smooth finish. The buttercream helps the fondant to stick and I get no air pockets. The size of the fondant to cover the cake I calculate using an un-scientific method…do you want to hear it? Well, I use a product which I purchased from Sweet Wise called The Mat, I love this product. I can roll out my fondant between the mats and move it around without getting stuff on the fondant before covering my cake. So this is how I carved and covered the cake.

I Am a Cake Artist!

Well, Katherine’s teacher was beside herself when she saw the cake. She actually was expecting a sheet cake with an apple on it. So, this is what you get when you ask Auntie Jeannie to bake you a cake, I try very had to do ‘ordinary’ or simple,  believe me I really try. But every time I get the chance to push the envelope, I some times put it a little to far. Nevertheless, that’s the example I was to teach Katie that you can do whatsoever you set your mind to do. Katie said her teacher said, “Your aunt is an artist.” I  smiled when she told me because I am more and more seeing myself in that fashion: I am a Cake Artist!
Hope this information was helpful to someone. Drop me an email if you have any question or leave a comment on this post.
Walk good and happy caking…
Jeannie

Bridal Shower For A Traveller

 

In December 2011, I delivered this cake for a bridal shower at The Bridge Hotel, in Boca Raton. The bride to be loves to travel and of course her Canon EOS 70 camera, which I tried to recreate using fondant and rice crispy treat. The yellow orchids were made using gumpaste and airbrushed.

Winter Red Roses Wedding Theme

 

Wedding cake for Marisa and Joey who are members of our armed forces. Cake was delivered December 2011 to a private home in Davie, Florida for wedding of a bride I did not get the chance to meet, but coordinated the cake through phone calls and emails. The wonder of technology!

Cake tiers were buttermilk vanilla cake filled with chocolate fudge buttercream and covered with white buttercream. The little droplets were covered with Disco Dust to reflect icicles running down the sides of the cake. Red roses and leaves were made of sugar paste and airbrushed in the specific color.

Daria & Travis Wedding Cake

Daria n Travis Wedding Cake, a photo by Baking Jeannie on Flickr.

This cake was delivered to The Ancient Spanish Monastery, North Miami Beach, FL for the wedding of Daria & Travis.

Lemon cake filled with lemon curd and Swiss meringue buttercream then covered with fondant. Gumpaste orchids and flowers along with fondant drapes decorated the cake.

Andrea & Christopher

Andrea, a photo by Baking Jeannie on Flickr.

This buttercream covered wedding cake was delivered to the Pembroke Falls Country Club, Pembroke Pines, FL for the wedding of Andrea and Christopher. The display was made of champagne and amaretto cakes filled with Swiss Meringue buttercream and covered with American buttercream.

New Kitchen Tools: Email & Smartphone

 

Imagine this: getting a wedding cake order; decorating and delivering the wedding cake without ever seeing the bride or groom!  Impossible? Well, in this day of  instant messages, text and email it can be done…and in style too.

Each week my mailbox is bombarded with request for wedding or specialty cakes and a few of them are like this “…I need a wedding cake this weekend…!!!” Being a custom cake shop where our cakes are made to order and having a shared kitchen where customers can’t just ‘drop in’ without an appointment, I have learned to find ways to meet my clients needs using the best technology on hand: my Blackberry Torch 9800, QuickBooks and a Dell Inspiron 17R. They are tied to me just like my apron.

So when a client emailed me from the Middle East and asked if I could do her wedding, I was a little hesitant but felt better when I realize it would be in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. However, the wedding was in three weeks and she was going to New York, then California before coming to Florida the Wednesday before the wedding! I was like, “yikes!” We shoot emails, to each other with description of cake, the flavor, the buttercream and where to deliver; send invoice and get paid via QuickBooks within clicks and taps on a keyboard. How easy can that be?

Here the bride and I exercise blind faith and trust in each other. She is trusting that I will do a good job on her cake; where I am hoping I will be paid and the cake is worth what she paid. Anyway, I would not recommend this for all cakes.

Walk good and happy caking.

Lavender Bows & Roses Wedding Cakes

 

The cakes to the left weighed over 70 pounds each! It was a fruit cake covered with almond paste and fondant. Usually I would make the cake myself, but this time the two brides had their mother bake the cakes and had me decorated them. It was a challenge to how much I could lift.

Wedding Cakes–Summer of 2011

May and June were our busiest months this summer and we had more than enough cakes for our small operation. Can you believe that July and now August we purposefully took less orders in order to get a break? Well, July I took time to spend with hubby celebrating our anniversary as well as taking the time to focus our energies.

Here are a few of the cake we made:

Ariael & Brodrick’s Wedding - Fort Lauderdale, FL	Kathy & Marwan’s  Wedding - Fort Lauderdale, FL
LaToya & Markis Wedding - Sunrise, FL	Nancy & Joey’s Wedding - Pembroke Pines, FL
Fireproofing Your Marriage - Calvary Chapel Sawgrass Church, Davie, FL	Kendra & Steven’s Wedding - Boca Raton, FL

Fireproof Your Marriage

Another of my all-time favorite cake for our Fireproof Your Marriage class at my church, Calvary Chapel Sawgrass in Davie, Florida. It’s usually a black and white theme and Bonnie gives me creative freedom with the cake design.

The cake was for a small group of eight couples, hence the small cake. Flowers are white roses and hydrangeas made using the Wilton Gumpaste which I love to use for making sugar flowers. I found it dries quickly and can roll very thin. I made the cake four alternate layers of white chocolate and chocolate (to reflect the black and white theme) cake filled with French Vanilla buttercream and chocolate fudge.

Apryl’s Baby Bump Cake

 

This is another first for myself and Chef Deloraine, a baby bump cake. Deloraine carved the cake and I decorated it to resemble the dress Apryl wore to her Baby Shower.

When Apryl asked me to do her baby bump shower cake I was excited as usual because it would be my second baby shower cake for Aprly. We first met about four years ago when she and Aubrey were having their first child, Austin, who’s cake I made. Ever since she has always celebrated their family’s events with one of Blue Ivy Cakery cakes.

The bump was carved using a 10-inch round, eight-inch round and the boobs from two halves of the Wilton Ball pan. The cake flavor was coconut with Swiss Meringue buttercream. By the way, Apryl had two cakes for her baby shower: the baby bump (above) and a tiered lady bug theme cake (below) to welcome Baby Alyssa Rose to the Davis family.

Graduation Cake

 

A cake for Krystal’s graduation party in Cutler Bay. Red velvet and vanilla bean cakes covered with Swiss Meringue buttercream  fondant with frosting sheet animal prints. The pompom bow made with sugar paste. Another fun cake for a very happy client.

Answering The Tasting Question

It's difficult turning your beloved hobby into a business. Since it is not easy separating doing the things that feels good from the more practical thing which makes a business operates profitable and become prosperous. For me one of the challenge is answering the tasting question when potential clients call. There is a big difference between a custom cake shop and a bakery...I bake cakes to order, therefore I consider my business a custom cake shop. Cakes are not bake daily and placed in a glass case awaiting customers. My service is customized and personalized for my clients.
 
Being the owner of a very small custom cake shop I receive call and emails daily requesting quotes for cake and cake tasting. It's exciting getting calls and emails with the potential of getting new business, but the cost of cake tasting, when I was doing it FREE was killing my bottom line. I found I was baking more tasting cakes than I was baking cake for serious business. I was offering a delicious cake at a price reflecting the work that goes into my product, however, those requesting tasting would rather pay less for good work. When I have done that I found I was working twice as hard for far less doing more work which was not appreciated, not even with a "thank you" email later. For a while it was a turnoff because there was no way I could justify to my husband that I could make my business profitable if I ran it the way I was doing it. After getting tips from other decorators and planners I changed my operations.

First I realize I was not competing with the local supermarkets for cake business because my cakes are made from scratch. Next, I am offering my services to those wanting a special type of cake at their event because they have certain preferences, relishes the fine taste of a cake baked from scratch with their own personalized decorations. Plus they are willing to pay the cost for this type of service. In the process of marketing my business, it became clear to me last December that I was really under valuing my work. I took my album with pictures of some of my cakes to an event planner and he was very impress with my work (especially the sculptured cakes) and asked what my prices were. He was shocked when compared with cakes other baker created for some of his events how I was giving mine away!

Now I'm charging for tasting appointments and offering the purchase of tasting cakes if they want a specific flavor. The result, serious clients who are not wasting my time wanting five different flavors, sketches and loads of other stuff then later gives the business to someone else. I am getting more clients who book their weddings and parties after the tasting and consultation because they love what they tasted and would love to have more. That's how I see it.

In essence it is looking at the value I place on my work and less about the cost of tasting. What are your thoughts?

Inserted from: Dreamers Into Doers--Martha Stewart.com

Copyright by Jeanette Jackson of Blue Ivy, LLC. If you would like to post any of my photographs, please contact me. Thank you!

Jordan Is Two!

 

Happy Birthday Jordan! This was a cake made for a very sweet young man called Jordan who celebrated his 2nd birthday on Saturday. He celebrated it at Chucky Cheese in Pembroke Pines, FL with his family and friends. White chocolate cake with American buttercream and fondant decorations.

Until next time, happy caking and baking. Walk good.

Baking Jeannie

A Big Heart for Baby Christian

This weekend I had this greatest pleasure of doing a baby shower cake for a baby who has a remarkable story. The short story is, he has been adopted into a family far larger than is mommy and daddy. It’s into the heart of all those who hears the miraculous way God placed him into the arm of a loving couple and into our hearts.

After I had setup the cake and took two other pictures that I noticed this huge heart over the cake table. Celia said she had it from a wedding and thought how appropriate it would be to have it hanging over the cake table. It was like one of those ‘aaawwwe’ moments (seeing the Big W in the movie, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963).)

Hope your weekend was filled with the grace and love of God in the same way we embraced baby Christian in our lives.

Happy caking and baking. Walk good ‘till next time…

Baking Jeannie

Bumpy Delivery–Red Roses Wedding Cake

For those days delivering cake when you don’t feel like a Cake Boss!

No matter how you try to deliver a cake in the best condition possible, some times the ride can get really bumpy for delicate cakes.

Last month I worked hard on over two dozen red roses and buds for a wedding cake which was delivered to the quaint Redlands Golf and Country Club down in Homestead, Florida. If you are familiar with South Florida and South Miami-Dade the Redlands is considered “rural” since the area has a number of farms and livestock. Travelling from Broward County we took the turnpike, then west on Kendall Drive and south on Krome Avenue. During our drive I believe I counted us going over three set of railroad tracks! That can’t be good for a stacked three tiered buttercream cake even if I was driving a Cadillac.

About three blocks from the club, the unthinkable happened…one of the dowel skidded on the greaseproof cake board that the bottom cake was on causing the two top tiers to collapse onto the bottom tier. When I asked Rena, my able assistant with this cake delivery, to check on the cake in the back, I went into shock when she shouted: “Oh my! Jeanette…the cake!!!!!” That was enough to cause me to take my eyes off the road and look behind to see the nightmare any cake decorator dreaded happening to them. The smell of sweet buttercream and the aroma of fresh cake mingled with my panicking “Ooohh nnnooooo!!!!” was enough to make me pull the vehicle over, yes on very rough swale, that was . You maybe wondering if I took pictures of the catastrophe…no, I didn’t that was the furthest thing from my mind. All I was thinking about was, how am I going to fix it in time for the wedding. Thank God I usually plug a bit of extra time in the event something like this happens. However, I do have pictures of the cake before the collapse and what I actually displayed. The chef at the club humored me when I was busy patching the two damaged tiers by saying that he felt like he was watching Cake Boss. At that time I did not feel like Buddy but I asked he for two aspirins for the headache (LOL).

This is the cake before we started the drive (below). Notice there are four tiers…

This is the cake we displayed (below). Ooops! We only have three tiers where did the other go? Left in the kitchen to be cut and server. Yes, I know it’s an expensive bad habit I have, but I always make more than enough cake, for this very same reason (LOL).

Since this delivery I am no longer takes cakes stacked before setup unless I am travelling in a hovercraft or we are in the real space age.

Happy caking and baking ‘till next time so walk good…

Jeanette “Baking Jeannie” Jackson

Easter & Passover Traditions

Do you celebrate Easter or Passover? What are some of your family food tradition for these celebrations?

In Jamaica, where I was born, around this time eating Easter Bun with cheese is the tradition with almost every household. From Holy Thursday through Easter Monday some people with avoid eating meat substitute it with eating fish or just good old bun and cheese. Although bun and cheese is a regular staple in our diet throughout the year, during Easter it is the food combination many savor for snacking or as a light meal.


Some time in 1987 my grandfather lived in San Jose, California and sent me in a letter he wrote the recipe for a bus he tasted. The bun and recipe was given to him by a Mexican woman he met. When he returned to Jamaica, I made that bun for him several times until I found a recipe which was more moist and not as dry as my grandfather's recipe. He was like that - always looking for recipes of food he would love for me to cook or bake for him...everything I made him was GOOD! To this day, I still have the original copy of the letter he sent me in by recipe journal which is a collection of recipes I got from family and friends. Most are handwritten by the sender, which I pasted on the pages of my book.*

Now I bake Easter bun around this time of the year for family and friends. Last year I made only four buns. Why? I was so busy baking cakes, also I wanted to put to rest what my Mom and one sister said, "Jeannie, you are not a real Jamaican because you do not have any Easter Bun."

What is your food tradition? Share your thought and I'll post it here. Send to: cakes@blueivycakery.com

Happy baking & caking,
Jeannie
*I am considering publishing my recipe journal because I have so many stories to share around the family, friends and food in my life.

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