Delicately Delicious

Valentine's Day Menu

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:10:00 +0000

Place your Valentine’s Day Order Today!
(scroll down for special menu)

Surprise your Valentine with

a variety of cupcakes that you can share

or a special 6 inch cake (serves 8-10)!

We can specially wrap 1, 2, 4, 6, or 12 cupcakes with holiday ribbon.

For best availability, order online (above) at or call us at
262/377-7268
Orders can be picked up on Saturday, February 11 or
during special hours on the 14th from 1-5.

Valentine’s Menu
Red Velvet Cake ♥ White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake ♥ Strawberries & Cream Cake
Dark Chocolate Cake ♥ White Poppy Seed Strawberry Cake

Champagne Cupcakes ♥ Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
Vanilla Ganache Message Cupcakes ♥ Red Velvet Cupcakes
Chocolate or Yellow Rose Cupcakes ♥ Tiramisu Cupcakes

Plus Our Regular Menu!

Holiday Menu

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:52:00 +0000

Delicately Delicious Holiday Dessert Menu

Specialty Holiday Cakes

Hot Chocolate Cake Rich chocolate cake layers filled with our hot chocolate whipped ganache, garnished with mini marshmallows, white chocolate shavings and cocoa powder.
Candy Cane Cake Rich chocolate cake filled with mint buttercream, covered in chocolate ganache, and garnished with candy cane chocolate bark.
Red Velvet Cake Layers of red velvet filled and iced with vanilla bean cream cheese buttercream.
Chocolate Mousse Cake Chocolate cake layers filled with chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, and raspberry jam, then covered in chocolate ganache
Candy Bar Cake Chocolate cake layers filled with caramel and crunchy chocolate pearls, then covered in ganache
Crème Brulee Cake Yellow Cake layers filled with vanilla bean pastry cream covered in vanilla buttercream and garnished with shards of bruleed sugar
Chocolate Pomegranate Cake Chocolate cake with pomegranate buttercream filling, iced with pomegranate ganache
White Russian Cake Chocolate or white cake filled and iced with white Russian buttercream (Kahlua, vodka, and cream)
Hot Buttered Rum Cake Brown sugar cinnamon cake layers filled with buttered rum buttercream.

Bars and Cookies

Almond Bars Heavenly caramel almond cherry filling on top of a buttery shortbread crust
Florentine Bars Cherries, orange zest, and chocolate Florentine on top of a short bread crust
Candy Cane Brownies Rich chocolate brownie topped with mint buttercream and ganache, garnished with candy cane bark
Candy Cane Crunch Cookies
Fruit Cake Cookies After you finally taste one you will realize how much you have been missing out on what fruit cake should taste like!

Thanksgiving Menu/Hours Update

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Need some fun, fresh desserts at your Thanksgiving table? Here are a few ideas!

Pumpkin Chocolate Marble Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Chocolate Stout Cake with Irish Cream Buttercream

Or, have a fun dessert tray with pecan pie bars, pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing, and caramel apple cheesecake bars. We can also put together a fun cupcake assortment, with something to make everyone happy.

Call and order your Thanksgiving desserts today for pick up on Wednesday, November 23. The bakery number is 262/377-7268.

Also, please note that starting November 16, our winter hours will be:

Wednesday 10-5

Thursday 10-5

Friday 10-5 (Friday after Thanksgiving we will be open from 10-3)

Saturday 10-3

WE MOVED!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Mon, 09 May 2011 05:02:00 +0000

We have moved to a new location on Washington Avenue in Cedarburg. We continue to offer our made to order cakes and cupcakes, but also now have retail as well! Stop in for a cupcake, slice of cake, brownie, muffin, or lots of other fresh baked goods. Our new address is:

W62N608 Washington Avenue

Cedarburg, WI 53012

Our phone number is the same, you can reach us at 262/377-7268

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:55:00 +0000

We have a lot planned for you in 2011! Please see the link below!

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Happy-New-Year-from-Delicately-Delicious.html?soid=1104210398830&aid=E1_6sXU2ink

Welcome to Delicately Delicious!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 01:11:00 +0000

Delicately Delicious is a "made to order" bakery located in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. We bake your cakes, cupcakes, and desserts in a commercial kitchen and you pick them up at a scheduled time. At this time we do not offer retail items, but we are diligently working on a full retail bakery.

Delicately Delicious offers a wide variety of cake and cupcake flavors and fillings as well as individual desserts for all occassions! Please see our pictures by clicking on the slide shows in the margins, or by clicking on the "Photos" tab in the header above to view all our pictures. Print a brochure by clicking in the header above. Be sure to peruse our website and blog for ideas and trends!

Below are a couple of our favorite decorated cakes and flavors ----

Make your next birthday or special occassion cake double as the gift with our gift box cakes!

Getting married or know someone who is? We love designing wedding cakes that taste as good as they look. For more information on weddings check out the wedding tab above!

This is one of our favorite recent wedding cakes, particularly since it looks like something you want to EAT!...more on this to come

We love coming up with seasonal flavors. Beat the winter blues with our candy cane, winter white chocolate, and hot chocolate cupcakes.

Baby shower cakes can take inspiration from invitations, paper products, or room themes.

Decorated cakes are fun, but we also have an extensive list of delicious dessert themed cakes, such as The Turtle - a chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and caramel, covered in ganache, topped with more caramel and covered in chopped pecans.

Place an order online under the "order" tab, or feel free to call us at 262/377-7268. We are open by appointment, but most days can be found at the bakery during the following hours:

Sunday-Tuesday Closed
Wednesday 9:00 am-2:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am-3:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am-4:00 pm
Saturday Open for pick-ups from 12-12:30 or by appointment

Wedding consultations are scheduled by appointment on Thursday evenings or Saturdays.

We look forward to your order!!

VOTE FOR US!!! HELP MAKE OUR RETAIL BAKERY DREAMS COME TRUE!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:14:00 +0000

It is increasingly becoming clear to us that three things need to happen:

WE NEED MORE ROOM!
We would love to have a retail bakery! We would continue to provide cakes, wedding cakes, cupcakes, and desserts, but would have the space and the resources to also have a retail space for walk-ins and daily treats. This would allow us to showcase and expand our repretoire of greats treats, sweets, and desserts.
We need money to make the above a reality sooner than later.

Intuit is having a contest called "Love a Local Business." They will provide $5000 to $30,000 to local business's whose customers show them the love! Basically, customers cast votes for nominated businesses. You can vote for us online by linkning to the contest website or click on the link to the left of this post. Or you can text "DDCAKES VOTE" plus a testimonial to 244326. We appreciate your support!!!!

Wedding Trend: Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:49:00 +0000

Cupcakes are a big trend for weddings, birthdays and other special events. Some of the main pros to this choice are:

Allows you to offer your guest a variety of flavors.

One of the great advantages to cupcakes is being able to serve a complete tiny dessert, such as creme brulee, carrot cake with cream cheese icing, or tiramisu. They are also easily tailored to the season, such as pumpkin with cream cheese icing in the fall, red velvet for Valentine's Day or chocolate with peppermint buttercream and candy cane garnish in the winter.

Cupcakes are self-serve, so no need for utensils, plates, or waitstaff.

This can sometimes be a cost savings if your venue charges to cut and serve cake.

Can easily be color coordinated or decorated to match a wide variety of themes.

The sky is the limit when decorating cupcakes, They can range from simple, elegant, and monochromatic, to colorful, load, and customized with flowers or figures to match the theme of an event. Think summer flower garden (cupcakes decorated with hydrangeas and rose), fall harvest (pumpkins, mums, and sunflowers), or a baby jungle theme for a baby shower or birthday party.

Cupcakes are nostalgic and fun!

Cupcakes bring back sweet memories of your favorite bakery, cooking with your family, and after school treats.

Cupcakes can be displayed in many ways and used as a part of the decoration of the event.

Cupcakes can be set out at each place setting, clustered on a pedestal or plate in the center of each table, displayed on a cupcake stand or tower, or included as part of a dessert buffet. You can even have a cupcake themed dessert table complete with different flavors. Another fun idea would be a cupcake "bar." Guests could choose from a variety of cakes flavors, fillings, icings, and decorations to create their own custom cupcake.

Cupcakes make a great serving size, and provide your guests with a small but sweet treat.

Wedding Trend: Groom's Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:41:00 +0000

Groom's cakes are becoming increasingly popular. They are a nice nod to the groom from the bride:

The flavor of the groom's cake can be customized to meet the groom's tastes. We get requests for everything from chocolate decadence, to peanut butter buttercream, to carrot and cheesecake.
The design of the cake can be tailored to the groom's unique and masculine interests (I see the bride in tasting after tasting wanting the groom to contribute his design ideas...while many a groom gladly participates in choosing the cake, it is unlikely they have been dreaming of it since kindergarten!). We have done hunting themes, sports themes/logos, Star Wars, and fireman's hats to name a few. Anything that is near and dear to the groom.

Groom's cakes are traditionally served at the reception, but we think it is a nice touch to serve it at the rehearsal dinner. The day of the wedding is full of so much, while the rehearsal is usually a smaller more intimate affair. The bride will have time to present the cake to her groom, and they can enjoy the moment. Further, since the groom's cake is usually much smaller it can provide a nicely sized dessert at the rehearsal.
For more information on Groom's Cakes, see this link to the WeddingChannel.com.

Wedding Trend: Dessert Buffets

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:45:00 +0000

In a trend away from the traditional tiered wedding cake, many brides and grooms are opting for dessert buffets. This choice has many advantages and is a nice alternative to traditional cake.

Cater to a wide variety of tastes and preferences. We suggest including some traditional "cake," whether in the form of an actual cake slice or a mini cupcake, something for chocolate lovers (a rich brownie or a chocolate mousse cup), something light (such as a miniature fruit tart), something rich (like a cheesecake bite), and something for those who do not like chocolate (such as a pecan pie bar or lemon bar).
Personalize your dessert menu by including favorites of the bride and groom, or favorites of family members.
Allow your guests to enjoy dessert at their own pace throughout the event.

When considering a dessert buffet, you can forgo traditional cake all together, or incorporate a smaller presentation cake into the buffet. This way you can preserve tradition and offer variety.

When planning your buffet, consider the type of reception you are having. For instance, if you are having heavy hor d'oeuvres and then a dessert buffet, we would suggest allowing 2-3 pieces per person. Similarly, if you are having a heavier dinner, but then a long reception, you may also want to plan on 2-3 pieces per person, as people may graze after dinner and on throughout the night. Alternatively, if you are having a luncheon or a heavy dinner, then you may plan for fewer servings, such as 1.5-2 pieces per person.

Iron Cupcake Milwaukee -- Bacon

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 14:10:00 +0000

On Monday I participated in Iron Cupcake Milwaukee, a monthly local cupcake contest. Each month a theme is chosen and bakers, both professional and amateur (I use the term amateur here lightly, as you will see!), compete to create the best tasting cupcake using that theme. For a bargain price of $7 attendees can sample all of these offerings and then vote for the cupcake they think has the best flavor and also the entrant with the best presentation.

This month's theme was bacon....that's right, bacon! I was completely amazed and blown away at the creativity, thoughtfulness, and incredibly detail and labor that people put into their entries. The winning cupcake was painstakingly created by taking tiny circles of cake and layering them on a toothpick with bananas, peanut butter, and bacon, and was inspired by Elvis's favorite sandwich. Genius! And delicious! Another great idea was a play off of rumaki (bacon covered chicken livers). This "cupcake" was wrapped in bacon and although I didn't get a chance to taste it I heard buzz about it all night. Yet another favorite was a BLT cupcake that would make a great appetizer. It was a slightly sweet tomato cake topped with a mayonnaise butter cream and sprinkled with bacon and lettuce (and was created by a trio of cute young men dressed in coordinating black tuxes with pink satin bows, who ended up winning for best presentation)

I chose to participate to challenge myself to step outside the box of what I normally would make for the bakery. After several failed attempts (a bacon corn muffin with fig preserves and fig goat cheese butter cream, an apple cupcake with caramel butter cream and bacon toffee) I settled on a bacon cupcake with a blackberry jam schmear, vanilla butter cream and bacon toffee.

Second to the creativity and inspiration of the other bakers, the highlight of the evening for me was being able to see a cake from Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago that was presented to Iron Cupcake creator and founder Sandy Ploy in honor of her birthday. The owners of the bakery have competed on Food Network cake challenges and it was amazing to see there work up close and have a taste!

I am so intrigued by the custom people figures and definitely have that on my list of things to learn this year. What a fun and inspiring night! Who knew that bacon and cupcakes could bring so many people together? Next month's challenge is "Curry".......

Cupcake Segment on Fox 6 Wakeup!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:32:00 +0000

We were invited to present a segment on cupcakes on the Fox 6 Wakeup Morning Show. What fun! But how does one condense all of one's enthusiasm and vast knowledge of cupcakes into 3 minutes?? I bet I could do a different 3 minute segment on cupcakes every week for a year!

Here is the first one:

Much thanks to Nicole Koglin and the rest of the Wake Up team. They were fun, witty, and put me at ease. Plus they kept saying the cupcakes smelled so good and started calling dibs on which ones they wanted. That makes a baker's day!

Keep an eye out for our new cupcake menu...coming soon!

Wedding Cake Trends 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:45:00 +0000

If June and October are the most popular wedding months, then January is by far the biggest wedding planning month. So far this month we have logged in about 7-10 tastings per week. It is a dizzy-ing flurry of wedding cake planning overload! Fun though!

These are the trends we are seeing for 2010:

Traditional tiered wedding cakes are still the favorite of the majority of our customers. The trends within this category are simple and elegant designs, fresh flowers, square tiers, and color.
Unique Wedding Cake Flavors that go beyond the traditional. We are seeing an increase in requests for flavors such as tiramisu, strawberry shortcake, pumpkin and red velvet. For example, using flavor combinations such as yellow cake, vanilla buttercream, and fresh strawberries recreates the flavors of strawberry shortcake and provides guests with a classy flavorful cake and dessert.
Sheet cake! In this economic climate everyone is concerned with keeping costs down but maintaining a high level of quality and service. Almost 100% of weddings with greater that 150 people are opting for smaller presentation cakes with sheet cake to make up the balance of the servings.
Cupcakes are hot! Not only are they incredibly trendy right now, they are also economical and provide a lot of options for set-up, display, and serving.
Individual cakes at each table are also a popular choice. They can serve double duty as both center piece and dessert.
Dessert buffets with individual bite size desserts.
Groom's cakes are gaining in popularity, whether as a dessert at the rehearsal dinner or as an additional cake at the reception.

Stay tuned for future posts detailing each of these trends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:03:00 +0000

'Tis the season to think about being grateful. I can truly say that I am so grateful for the bakery. One thing that continues to amaze me is the kindness and thoughtfulness of my customers. I am lucky enough to have the kind of customers that take the time to send me thank you's via lovely hand written cards, e-mails, and phone messages. These "thank you's" mean the world to me and are so appreciated. No matter how old you get or how confident you may become it NEVER gets old to hear that you have met someone's expectations and that they were happy with your work. These comments make my day and I am thankful that people take the time to pass these kind words on to me.

A few months ago (will time ever slow down?) I posted a blog about the frustrations of being a business owner. I have had so many great things happen lately; so many random, great things and I wanted to be sure to give even coverage to the good! One is that some of our cake pictures will be featured on the Better Homes and Gardens website. More details on this to come once the pictures are up and running. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also contacted us about displaying some of our wedding cake pictures on one of their websites and we are excited to see how that turns out. In addition, we were recently contacted by Wisconsin Bride Magazine and told that we will be mentioned in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue since we were the cake vendor for an wedding they are featuring. Lots of positive fun stuff to be thankful and grateful for! Stay tuned for more details as all of these things develop. Wishing you a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Make it Your Own!!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:36:00 +0000

We made a cake this weekend that struck me as really special for two reasons. The first is that the couple took a picture I had and completely made it there own. This is a good reminder that when looking at pictures and trying to define your style, you can break down the basic elements of a cake and then add details to make it fit your style. Here is a picture of the original cake.

This was for an early summer wedding and was a beautiful and striking cake. The cake this weekend was for fall. Amazing to me how the same base cake can have such a different presentation with just a few tweaks.

The second thing that really stood out to me was the personalization that the couple put into the presentation of this cake. The bride's father made a tree stump cake stand and the bride and groom made an adorable fall tree topper and canoe, complete with little oars. The rich chocolate brown fabric and leaves added the perfect fall touch. Even if this would not be your personal style it is a great example of how to make something your own!

Bakery JOY!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:47:00 +0000

This is actually a reflection of a "Watch Your Step" sign that is painted on our door to the bakery. (Those of you that have been to the bakery know we are militant about reminding you of the step!) The "J" in JOY is half of the "U" in "your" and the "-OY" are the "YO" in "your". This must have been visible for only a few moments, but I was getting something out of the cooler and there it was! Maybe a sign???

All Work, No Reward.....

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:57:00 +0000

Or this could be entitled "when being the owner, working 80 hours in a week, and feeling like you are getting no where SUCKS!" Probably not PC to include "sucks" on your blog, but having a hard time coming up with something better.

I had been planning to write a glowing, happy post about our success at Harvest Fest in Cedarburg, WI this weekend. We participate in two major festivals in our town each year. It is an incredibly busy week for us, but it is also a lot of fun. The first festival, Strawberry Festival, is in late June and attracts A LOT of people to our town of about 12,000. I had been worried this year about how we would do at the festivals because of the economy. It turned out that Strawberry Fest this year was our best festival ever as far as the amount of bakery we sold. Harvest Fest was our worst by far.

Each year we take notes so we can improve for the next year. This includes not only the items we make, but the amounts, how to display things, acting on feedback we get (like, "Do you have to go boxes and bags?"), and simplifying and streamlining the processes we use. It is so satisfying to succeed with these improvements. Examples of success are making the right amount of each item, i.e. selling out of each item, or making sure that we have what customers want (bags, extra forks, cards, to go containers, etc.) Another example of success is being prepared and having the week go smoothly. It is always so frustrating to me when I feel I have done everything "right" and end up not getting the pay-off I was hoping for. In this case, we worked our butts off all week, planned like crazy, listened to feedback, made adjustments, and yet we did not perform nearly as well as I had hoped or even as well as we had in the past when we were not nearly as experienced.

To add insult to injury one of my customers was dissatisfied with our services because in the midst of the festival chaos, getting our regular orders out, and delivering six wedding cakes this weekend I inadvertently forgot to deliver a handmade cake server and topper. I absolutely HATE making mistakes or disappointing our customers. And then, right after I finished profusely apologizing (thankfully my customer was very understanding) I got stung by a wasp.

It seemed to me that the festival attendance overall was down, so maybe there is no correlation between anything that we could have done differently and how we ended up for the weekend. Still so stinks to work so hard and not achieve your goals, at least not immediately. And why is it that 100 things can go right and one thing goes wrong and it overshadows EVERYTHING (at least for me!). No matter what successes I had, forgetting a cake knife and having poor sales dominated my thoughts and made me feel like I had failed.

I realize this whole post is a big downer, but I wanted to include my thoughts here, because no matter how hard you work, how great of intentions you have, or how well you plan, sometimes being the owner of your own business is so frustrating! I think that people see our booth and our products, or walk in the bakery and think it is all perfect and fun. A lot of the time it is, but there is definitely the other side of working 80 hours, staying at work until 10 or 11 at night and taking a risk with your time, monetary investment and effort and having it not pay off as you had planned.

On the positive side of things, we received so many nice compliments from people and distributed many business cards. Both festivals are a wonderful opportunity for us to have people sample our cakes and hopefully turn them into customers the next time they need a dessert. I also felt extremely lucky for all of the help that I received from my Mom, Dad and friends Kelly and Jen. They gladly pitched in and made it seem like working with me was fun! Other friends sent texts or called to wish me good luck and tell me they were thinking of me.

So, I guess, onward and forward!

Cool Wedding Ideas!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:28:00 +0000

As I previously mentioned, Amy and I have the privilege to go to weddings and parties every week. Every week I am amazed at the interesting and varied ideas that we see. Here are a couple of the great ideas I have seen lately!!!

Going along with the theme of last week's post, here is an amazing excellent unique idea for displaying a wedding cake.

The bride's colors were black, hot pink, and white. The use of this hat box with a damasky black and white pattern was a super idea! And really thrifty as well. One thing I note A LOT is that you can do a lot of really cool, very impressive things on a budget. I have dropped cakes off at more than one event where it is obvious that MUCH money was spent, but the feeling and ambiance are not there. Sometimes, actually most times, the simple ideas are the most elegant and memorable, like this decoration for cocktail tables. Simple white clothes, tied with hot pink ribbon and topped with black and white polka dot planters. These could be given out to guests as party favors, or recycled and used again at another event.

The theme continued in the dining area, with a simple piece of square fabric in a black and white pattern in the middle of the table. These may have been rented, but easily could be inexpensively made.

Lastly, a shot of the whole room. Genius to use the pink ties on the chairs of the head table in the center of the room. An ingenious way to add color and save money! Also, a great idea to have the head table in the center of the room, so that you are immersed in your guests. Love the use of white chairs too, it helps them to blend in so that they are not a focal point.

This centerpiece at a different event was stunning. I love the use of the lime slices. For this outdoor party, it was all the tables needed for color, with the green grass and white table cloths. Again, note how the white chairs just blend in.

The last idea for today's post was taken from a wedding reception that was at a wine and champagne bar. Corks were used to display the place cards. A wonderful way to personalize the event and carry the theme into the details. And again, not expensive!

A similar idea I recently saw used buttons (the kind you pin on your shirt!) for place cards. The intention was for each guest to then wear the button. A super way to get your guests to mingle (and for the bride and groom to recognize guests!).

The overall feel that I get from event after event is that a little thought and planning go a long way. Picking a simple color theme, weaving it into all the details of the event, and finding creative ways to incorporate your theme and colors all make for a memorable day for all!

Now.....off to organize the bakery and work like a fool for Harvest Festival (and 7 weddings!). More on that to come!

Maximize Your Wedding Cake Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:46:00 +0000

We have the opportunity to see and help to display many wedding cakes. Trends are always changing, and gladly for us, we are in a phase where the wedding cake is meant to be on display, contributing to the overall theme and ambiance of your event. Gone (we hope!) are the days where a "cookie cutter" cake was parked in a dark corner and hauled to the back to be cut up before many guests even arrived. Today, cakes are a centerpiece of the event, with coordinating colors and designs. They are set on dance floors or at the entrance to the event, so that people cane enjoy how they look, as well as how good they taste.

One thing that we notice consistently that detracts from any wedding cake is the size of the presentation table. Very often the cake table is a large banquet table. Even a large cake with a 16 inch base cake looks dwarfed on a 60 inch table. We recommend to all our couples to request a smaller table for presenting the wedding cake. It puts the focus on the cake, and not all the empty space around it. Here is an example of a beautiful and fairly large cake that is dwarfed by a big table. Also note that this cake is not on a stand (more to come on that next!)

Next is an improved presentation on a smaller table. This cake is not only on a smaller table, but is presented on a cake stand, and has the contrast of the rose petals underneath it. This contrast of color further enhances the look of the cake.

This leads to my next two points for maximizing the impact of your cake. A stand adds width and height to your cake without the cost of a large bottom tier. It also defines the area of your cake, drawing your eye to the cake and not the surrounding tablecloth. Below is an example of a similar cake to the first example, still on a large table, but with a cake stand.

A third way to improve the visual impact of your cake is to use a colored or patterned table cloth, runner, piece of fabric, or flowers/petals. This helps to tie your color themes together (even if you prefer to go with a simple white cake) and to enhance the overall look of the cake table. This is an example of how a lovely cake looks without employing this concept.

The next picture shows how to incorporate a piece of fabric under the cake. Even though this cake was on a large table without a stand, it still had a lot of presence.

The next example demonstrates the use of a colored table cloth. The colors at the wedding were jade green and black, and this cake coordinated wonderfully with the rest of the tables and decor, even though it was on a large table.

The last example demonstrates the use of flowers to achieve a similar effect as the table cloth or runner idea.

Nothing it worse than when we deliver a beautiful cake that is displayed poorly. These tiny, and also inexpensive, tweaks will exponentially improve the look of your cake!

NYC Cupcake Tasting Extravaganza!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:56:00 +0000

I have learned, the very hard way, that taste testing cupcakes is NOT as glamorous as it may sound. On my 5 night trip I scoured NYC for cupcakes and bakery items, and believe it or not tasting sweet upon sweet gets old...fast!!! It got to the point where one bite was enough, then onto the next.

Let me preface my comments by saying that I give HUGE credit to anyone who takes the risk to open a business in NYC, and even more reverence to those that actually manage to stay open or even expand. That said, I was incredibly disappointed at the quality and flavor of the bakery I sampled. I had visions of going to NYC, soaking up the amazing flavors, and coming home full of ideas and inspiration. Instead, this is what I learned and observed:

Cupcakes I sampled in NYC were generally dense and dry, possibly due to over baking?

The balance of flavor between the cake and the frosting was, well, unbalanced. The cake was often just a base for sugary frosting.

Decorations are mainly simple, but very pretty.

The basics dominated - chocolate, vanilla, carrot, and red velvet. The most outlandish flavor I saw offered was a lime chiffon cupcake with mango buttercream frosting. For some reason I expected a vast variety with innovative flavor combinations.

Places that get a lot of hype and press can be VERY disappointing.

There is not a lot of variety in the types of cake and frosting. I thought that each bakery would have more distinctive recipes. Instead, it seemed like everyone was using the same recipe, especially for the cake.

Maybe I put too many expectations on going, and no place could live up to my idea of what I was going to experience. Since NYC is trend setting culinary melting pot, I was prepared to be extremely impressed. I wanted to walk away feeling like I had something to live up to or to work towards, to be inspired by the epicenter of the industry. The bakeries themselves were quaint, and I actually took away a lot more ideas about presentation, packaging, displays, use of tight space, signage, and ambiance. I made a big point to ask around, hoping to get directed to a hidden gem. I went to bakeries both famous and not, large and small, in all areas of the city. Two places that I would go to again are Two Little Red Hens (offered at their own shop on the upper east side and also at Dean and Deluca) and Magnolia Bakery. Two Little Red Hens had beautiful, artfully decorated cupcakes that tasted as good as they looked.

(Expect to see this idea of piping two side by side flavors showing up a lot at the bakery!)

Beautiful piping and use of color and detail

Magnolia Bakery, which added a second store (the first is in Greenwich Village) in Midtown did the basics well. The chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing and the pumpkin with maple buttercream were my favorites.

In contrast to my NYC bakery experiences, the restaurants I went to in NYC had amazing, wonderful, delicious food and desserts. My favorite place was Palma (http://www.palmanyc.com/) ...cannot wait to go again....soon!!!!

Use Patterned Table Cloths to Maximize Your Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:30:00 +0000

I have been seeing A LOT of colored linens and chair covers this summer, but today was the first time I saw a patterned table cloth. Wow it looked cool. Added a unique and personal touch. Many banquet hall type receptions are so impersonal and stiff. This simple element added such a personal touch to the event. The colors were fantastic too. Black, white, fuchsia and a light teal blue. Even smarter was the fact that the patterned table cloths were only on half the tables. A great way to get the effect for half the cost!

Another great trend utilized at this event was using a variety of floral arrangements with a constant color scheme. Meaning, the flowers were always fuchsia orchids and another fuchsia flower I wasn't familiar with, but the design of the center piece varied from table to table. Added interest and more personality.

And here is the cake. It brought all the colors together. And WOW, those flowers. Totally fit with the rest of the event. Adding a large topper (on an appropriately proportioned top cake, i.e., this topper would look ridiculous on a 6 inch cake. The top tier here is 10 inches) gives the illusion of more height without adding another tier of actual cake.

What this Blog is About

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:33:00 +0000

Now that it is 10:30 on Saturday night and I have all my cakes delivered, kids tucked in, e-mail box cleaned up, pictures from the week uploaded, and dishwasher emptied, I finally have a minute to compose what I had planned for my first post.

What This Blog is About

Dream Job So many people come into the bakery and say one of two things: (1) "Owning a bakery must be a lot of fun!" or (2) "This is my dream job...". Both are usually said during pick ups on Saturday when the weekly deadlines are culminating into a satisfying but frenzied head. It IS fun and I do love my job, but I thought it might be interesting to share all of the behind the scenes things that go into it, the things that go beyond the moment where you see the cute cake. I guess people can live vicariously through this or think "cripes, that is not what I thought it would be!!!"

Cakes Ideas Since we spend all day everyday talking about cakes, we come up with a lot of ideas on all things cake. Blogging is a perfect way to catalog and share those ideas.

Favorite Cake of the Week We have an album of pictures on flickr, but we are always adding more cakes. This feature will let us share new cakes with those who follow our album without them having to view all the previous pictures.

Party Ideas We have the privilege of being a part of so many special occasions and parties. It is amazing how many fabulous ideas we see when delivering cakes. We thought it would be great to share all of them.

Retail expansion, kind of... We would love to expand into a full time retail bakery. At this stage of life though, it is hard to trade the flexibility of "made to order" for the challenge of growing and expanding. We have come up with a wonderful compromise, thanks to blogging and twitter. More on this to come!

How I Learned the Definition of "Professional"

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:45:00 +0000

Or, how my worst cake nightmare occurred!!! I think the blogging gods must have thought I would not have enough interesting things to share, so they decided to have a little fun with my day. As Amy and I often say to one another, "you can't make this stuff up!" It was blazing hot today and I had 3 wedding cakes to deliver. Two of them were going in the same direction, so I loaded up and headed out, confidently. I mean, I am of course a competent professional who has delivered hundreds of cakes. I delivered the first cake without a hitch, but it took about 30 minutes to unload all the cakes and to put flowers on the presentation cake. It was an outdoor wedding and everything looked beautiful. (See lovely picture!)

Just as I was getting on the expressway to deliver the second cake I took a quick look back to check on the remaining cake. To my complete HORROR (!!!!!!!) the cake was completely disassembled in a blob. I had to look again to make sure I was really seeing it. This has NEVER happened before. People ask me all the time how many disasters I have had and I always dismiss them with a friendly laugh, as I am a professional!!! After a moment of complete paralysis I turned around and headed back to the bakery. I wish I had taken a picture of the disaster and the miracle recovery that followed, but I was in a complete panic. I managed to completely recover the whole cake, get it chilled, back in the car, and successfully delivered as planned.

I had previously thought that what makes one a professional is a lack of errors due to mastery of your skills. What I learned today (or how I amended that belief to jive with my experience!) is that a true professional can take whatever comes down the pipe, put it together (pardon my pun), and pull off the job!!! (I also learned that when you are delivering cakes on a hot day, keep your car running and your air conditioner on!)

If you say what's on your mind, sometimes people hear it!

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:55:00 +0000

I plan on blogging about some features we are going to use on here, but something happened today that I thought was worth sharing. I think it can be applied to business, but also to life in general. First, a little back story....

Cedarburg is a small town, and this summer a caterer moved in down the street from me. I have heard great things about her and her business and was looking forward to establishing a positive working relationship with her. She also knew Amy (my right hand at the bakery, sometimes right AND left hand and then some!! More on her to come!). Awhile ago she and Amy had casually discussed a possible collaboration. She was in the process of relocating her business and I was bogged down with other business endeavors and we never discussed it formally.

I was eagerly watching the new location take shape (I drive past it daily on my way to work), when one day I noticed some beautiful wedding cakes in the window. I know it may not be the most rational or productive reaction, but my heart immediately sank. Adding insult to injury was the fact that one of the cakes, a very elaborate and structurally challenging cake, was one that a bride had showed me last year. Much to my dismay, I had told the bride I was unable to commit to her vision since I was not sure that my skill level was up to snuff. I have NEVER said no to a new challenge, but I figured that experimenting with my skills and potentially not coming through at some one's wedding would not be good for me or my business. At first I was disappointed that the owner must have found someone who she felt was more qualified than us. It always smarts when someone you respect appears to do that.

Then, after driving by day after day I started to get more upset about it. Who did this lady think she was, moving in a block away and honing in on my business? My thinking was that a wedding cake is just a small piece of her business, but a huge chunk of mine. Fear of losing business, and to someone who was obviously skilled and qualified, was also fanning the flames. I tried to rationalize to myself that there is plenty of business for all of us. The bakery has had a great summer so far and there was no need to be petty or waste time thinking about other people's businesses and what they may or may not be doing.

So I was sticking to that mind frame, or was at least trying to, when the owner walked into my shop today and asked if she could buy a few cake decorating supplies from me. All I could think was, "Really? She's gonna move in and now has the gall to walk in and ask me to provide supplies so she can take business from me???" All while trying to smile and be neighborly. I started to look for what she needed, when she said, "I hope you don't mind."

Much to my own shock I replied, "Actually, I kind of do!" She, possessing better communication skills than me, said "Oh...let's try to clear the air if there is a problem." I relayed the fact that, although she is obviously entitled to take her business in whatever direction she chooses, that it hurt me that she had chosen someone else to work with. Especially considering the proximity to our business and the fact that wedding cakes are our bread and butter. I further said that I was looking forward to working together and had felt this situation had set us up as adversaries. Our community is very small, and I was also disheartened that she chose someone outside the local business arena. Or at least hadn't started there first. To my complete surprise she was very willing to listen to my point of view. We had a very pleasant conversation. When she left I felt very relieved. I assumed she would continue with her plans, but none the less I felt that we had indeed, "cleared the air!"

Later in the afternoon she called and said that after thinking about it she was planning to move the cakes out of the front window. She said she understood where I was coming from, and that although she would still present her current cake contact as an option, she wanted to establish a friendly and productive relationship.

I am sure I am not alone in this fault, but I definitely avoid confrontation, especially when I am struggling with the rationality of my thinking process. Do I want to be the queen bee of cakes in my town? Do I want to be people's first choice and have an amazing reputation? Do Amy and I work our butts off to meet people's expectations? OF COURSE! But....on the other hand, we do live in the USA, where everyone has the opportunity to open businesses and pursue dreams. I cannot really regulate or police that. And I would never want to have been limited in following my dreams because someone else in town was already living it. So, I felt very conflicted about expressing my point of view.

The very long point I am trying to make (especially to myself!) is that there is nothing wrong with constructively expressing your feelings. Don't avoid it! That's not the part that is hard anyway, for me. The hard part is giving the other person the chance to hear you, and actually being able to feel like they REALLY hear you! One small step for Jenn!

Meanwhile....the above is a picture of my favorite cake of the day!

How It All Began....

noreply@blogger.com (Delicately Delicious) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:22:00 +0000

I get asked this question almost everyday... "How did you end up opening the bakery?" I have told this story many, many times, in long and short versions, but no matter how many times I am asked to share it I never tire of telling it. Here is the long version!

I had been a physical therapist and Pilates instructor for about ten years. I owned my own Pilates business with 3 studios and was also doing a little outpatient physical therapy. This business suited me very well when I had really young kids since I could be with them most of the day and then teach at night. They were about to start school and I was getting a little bored. After doing the same thing for almost a decade I was ready for a new challenge, and I wanted it to be something that could fit around my family.

I was already turning over these thoughts in my mind when I had an opportunity to go to NYC (my favorite place) for a week to take an amateur week long baking class at the French Culinary Institute (FCI). It was a fantastic week that was supposed to be a vacation and a way to recharge. I attended class during the day and wandered the city at night. The FCI offers career culinary classes, and even though my class was for amateurs it was nestled in among the classrooms containing the REAL culinary students. Everyday I felt like it was where I belonged. Part of that was baking and learning about something I loved, and part was related to the fact I was in NYC. I'll have to start a blog on the NYC part of the story another time! Instead of recharging and returning to work, all I could think of as I returned home was how I could keep working, keep pretending I was a stay at home mom, and somehow go to culinary school.

I investigated many culinary schools and tried to find a way to attend them while working and being a mom. Each time I thought I had it worked out, or found a way, I would hedge on taking the next step. Nothing felt like the right thing. I could so clearly see the end result; details of how the bakery would look, how it would feel to be there, what music I would play. But I couldn't see the path to get there. Not to get too out there, but I really think that going to NYC opened the door in my mind, and after that things just started coming through.

Although I love to cook and bake, I was a patron of a local made to order cake bakery by the name of Delicately Delicious. It was a one woman show with no retail space. Customers would call the owner, place an order and she would tell you when to come and get your cake. One of my best friends, Kathy, had a wedding cake made by this bakery, and was just celebrating her first anniversary while I was trying to work out my new career. I had thought of this place many times, primarily because they had amazing cakes that were impossible to recreate at home, but also because it was run by one person. No employees, everything made to order (so no waste), and no retail hours. It seemed like the kind of business that was the perfect compromise.

That fall I was visiting with Kathy and expressing my angst over trying to find a way to make my idea work. I explained to her that I thought Delicately Delicious had the perfect business structure. She blurted out, "Well you know she's selling her business, right?" I called the owner, left a message, and the rest is history.