Valentine's Day

From February 9th - 14th, The Sugar Suite is offering these Valentine's Day gift ideas!

Rose Minis!
$1.00 Each, $21.50/2 dozen
Available in Pink, White or Red




Chocolate-Cherry Cupcakes (The February Cupcake of the Month)
Sugared Buttercream with Fondant Hearts
Regular-size Rose Cupcakes available as well!
$2.50 Each, $27.00/dozen

Free Delivery on orders over $50.00


To order email Jennyfer@thesugarsuite.com

Wedding Cake Design Process

I get a lot of questions about how to go about designing a wedding cake. The Sugar Suite's mission is to make this process super-fun and as creative as possible. A wedding cake is an expresion of the couple's (especially the bride's) style and the design process helps define that style. Most brides don't know where to even begin, so I thought a little info about the design process might be fun! Before I begin I would like to thank Dayna for allowing me to "tell the world" how her wedding cake was designed, she was a pleasure to work with!

The Inspiration
It all started with this cake! Its a gorgeous Wendy Kromer design from the Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes Book. Before I meet with a bride I talk with her about her personal style, the colors she is incorporating in her wedding, and any other design elements that the cake can tie together. Also, I ask the bride to look through wedding cake images online and in magazines for ideas and inspiration. That information helps me narrow down a couple of dozen cakes from various wedding cake books and my own personal portfolio. This is also a good place to get an idea of the sizes/dimensions (and shapes) of the tiers. Dayna and I looked through the book and although she was looking at different style cakes, everything went to the wayside when she saw this cake! It was love at first sight and with the blessing of the groom, we had a design direction!





The Draft
The colors that Dayna chose for her wedding reception were latte, chocolate and ivory, so my pencil went to work. The drawing to the left is the first draft of the cake.

I cam upon a challengewhen transferring this design to buttercream. The cake above is covered in fondant. Fondant is an almond paste that gives the cake a very smooth look. Some brides prefer the crisp clean look of fondant, but many prefer the taste and texture of buttercream. Overall, the buttercream cakes have more icing, so if that is your favorite part.. buttercream is for you. The solution was to make the damask design in fondant rather than softer royal icing pictured above. Its much more durable and less likely to break. I always provide a couple of alternative designs (not shown) and leave a couple of options to closer define the final design.





The Design
Then on to the final design. This draft includes the exact dimensions of the cake, the final damask design (in fondant, chosen because of the durability with buttercream) and the pattern of the damask on the cake. The exact color to be used was chosen from the bridesmaid's dress color, officially called latte. This is the draft I use when constructing the cake. Part of the cake design included a mahogany cake stand that I custom fashioned for this design. With so much thought and effort put into the cake, I believe that the stand it is presented on should be just as unique and beautiful.






And voila, The Cake!
This cake was 4 different flavors (marble, chocolate, butter rum and vanilla) all with white chocolate buttercream. We are always happy to accomodate a request for more than one flavor of cake (and buttercream) for a wedding cake. It seems so hard to chose just one!

If anyone has a question (bride or not), please feel free to post a comment to help us share even more information!

Mah Jong Fever!

Ever since the first Mah Jong cake, I have had so many people ask me "what is Mah Jong?" Well, its a Chinese domino-like multiplayer game, and those who play it are crazy about it! This birthday cake was made to look like the birthday girl's own Mah Jong set complete with a jade stand. Even though this is the second cake I've done with this game, I still haven't played, but it seems like its mostly ladies who adore it..... any guys out there that play Mah Jong?

Cindy Wrote:
Jennyfer,
OMG!!! The cake was a hit! My friends were wild over the Mah Jongg cake and it tasted even better than the design! Absolutely FABULOUS!!!! I know you will be a great success! We have to figure out how to ship a tile cake!
Thank you, Thank you!!! You are definitely our designated baker!!! I have your board all ready for you. Thank you again! It was a huge success!!!!

Thanks so much, I LOVE letters like this! :)

Ruby Cake

This cake was for a sweet little girl named Ava who loves Max and Ruby. "Who?" you might ask!..... Max and Ruby is a children's cartoon on the Disney Channel, made in Canada. For her second birthday, Ava wanted everything to be Ruby, but what her mother didn't know was how difficult it would be to find anyone who carried Ruby products. She ended up contacting us for the cake, and bought the invitations on Ebay from someone in Canada. One day I received a frantic phone call from the mom, distraught over the fact that the birthday venue had to move the birthday party to two weeks early. The invitations had just gone out days before, and there was not enough time to get another international shipment. In the end, she pulled off the perfect birthday party with so much grace and everything went smoothly. Its so sweet that the mother dedicated to making her daughters birthday extra special no matter what obstacles came her way!

Cupcake of the month: Tiramisu Cupcake

I would say if there is one thing The Sugar Suite is known for, its cupcake flavors for adults! We LOVE kids, and cupcakes remind many people of their childhood, but nowadays kids aren't the only ones who go crazy for cupcakes, adults do too! This Tiramisu cupcake is made with an espresso rum buttercream on a white cupcake, dusted with premium cocoa powder and garnished with chocolate curls. Yup, that's real rum.... but it can be substituted for a non-alcoholic rum extract. This little delight is sure to please any Italian at heart!

Keep your eyes out for the birthday cake version we are doing in a couple weeks.

Cupcake Packaging

UPDATE 6/11:
This is the most linked page on our blog, so I wanted to post the company name that I purchased these boxes from because I have had a great experience with them. There is no shipping, and my boxes always arrive withing days or ordering.
The company is Big River Box Shop and their site is:
http://www.brpboxshop.com


Original Post:
Although most people aren't as cupcake-crazy as myself, I will go ahead and post about my new packaging! These things are AWESOME! They hold cupcakes perfectly upright so they aren't nicked in the transport. :) Also, I love the little satin ribbon, and I have some labels being made to go in the center of the window. I have seen some beautiful cupcake packaging, but some don't have the window to see the cupcakes. An executive decision was made that you MUST see the cupcakes without opening the package. I think its nice how the cupcakes themselves take on the look of the packaging, they are supposed to be the center of attention, right?

Is Sugar-free still Suite?

Before the holidays, my theory on weight loss and cupcakes was "eat less cake." That was until I met a client that was diagnosed with diabetes and unable to eat any sweets during his annual holiday dessert party. I was on a mission to bake a yummy sugar-free cupcake, and what I found changed the way I look at cake. My experience researching and talking with cake bakers affirmed that the myth of simply subsituting SPLENDA for sugar in my favoirte recipe was in fact false (says so right on the SPLENDA box). I also learned that a completely sugar-free cupcake is hard to find, and that SPLENDA themselves publish a recipie with 75% less sugar, rather than sugar free. The result: suprisingly delicious! Below I have posted links to the two recipies I used, which I highly recommend if you are looking for a healthier cake.

Sugar-free, Fat-free Chocolate Cupcakes:
I give it a B- (it makes 12 cupcakes, not the 24 suggested)
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=198806

SLENDA Yellow Cupcakes:
I would give this recipe an A, suprigingly moist!
http://splenda.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Recipe.aspx?nprid=76275