Your Wedding Advice - StrictlyWeddings.com Blog

StrictlyWeddings.com NYC – Welcome Partners – Margaret Braun – Wedding Cakes

In the next weeks, we’ll showcase our new luxury wedding partners from New York City. Today, it’s New York City Cake designer, Margaret Braun.

Margaret Braun – Author of Cakewalk (Rizzoli), is a Sugar Artist who has redefined the art of cake decorating. Internationally renowned for her distinctive, boundary breaking style which fuses food and the fine arts, Margaret has influenced and inspired dessert and design enthusiast for years. At the same time, her emphasis on classical technique places her in the realm of genuine artisans from centuries past. Born in New York to a family of musicians and food lovers, Margaret spent the better part of her early life drawing on napkins, jeans, shoes, desks, and walls, until she found herself in a pastry kitchen where she began drawing on cakes. Then she discovered food coloring and from that moment on Margaret went on to create some of the most beautiful and delicious edible creations ever seen.

Sylvia Weinstock Cakes – a New York Destination

She considers herself a destination shop. One look at her cakes and you definitely “get” why she is the destination for wedding cakes, not just in New York City, but worldwide.

“She” is Sylvia Weinstock, and in peak wedding season, it’s not unusual for Weinstock and her small staff to work 15-hour days at her TriBeCa bakery (fortunately, she lives upstairs, when it’s time to go home!). At 80, Sylvia Weinstock’s philosophy for weddings and wedding cakes is straight forward and simple.

Weinstock offer cakes that are by no means ordinary: all icing is made from butter cream; all flowers are handmade of sugar; and no fondant (a creamy sugar paste used in icings) is used on any cakes – she doesn’t like the taste of it and won’t impose it on her clients. Her cakes start at $17 per person, but prices can go much higher.

She creates cakes as part of the overall wedding “statement” and each is designed to coordinate with the theme and mood of the wedding. Her unique creations have ranged from the whimsical to the magical and every part of Weinstock’s cakes is edible … one can only imagine.

To view just a few of her delectable creations, visit her blog.

Photos courtesy of John Labbe.

Wedding Cakes: Stunning Couture Cake Designs

StrictlyWeddings.com found these stunning custom designed cakes in our ongoing search for amazing wedding ideas. Created by The Caketress, Lori Hutchinson who creates beautiful one of kind cakes for her clients from Toronto, Muskoka, and to the Blue Mountain area and is dedicated to providing quality custom designed cakes that are entirely unique.

Might even be the reason to a different type of destination wedding!

The rich flavor of the three tier square cake below was an Opera Cake (top two) and the bottom was a Lemon Cake. Both favorites of the Bride and Groom. The delicate  piping was based on the lovely invitations the bride had choosen, and the falling pink blossoms and coral hydrangeas gave the right pop of colour for their elegant affair.

The bride loved the look of rustic rolled white chocolate for her golden wedding cake. This four tier oval golden cake needed to match the old world feel to her wedding decor. Filled with raspberries and white chocolate ganache, this cake screams decadence. Handed made sugar flowers, each uniquely painted in actual gold, finished this beautiful and delicious cake.

OMG … a Chocolate Lovers Dream

OMG … these photos are definitely over the top if you love chocolate! Today will have to be “break the diet day” and go for the chocolate! These luscious desserts are just a sampling of the creations you can find at Pure Chocolate Desserts by Zach, a unique and sophisticated brand of cakes and desserts in Dallas, Texas.

Zach Townsend’s relationship with superior chocolate began with his close friendship with Michel Jambon, founder of the European chocolate company, Jeff de Bruges. Through Monsieur Jambon, Zach cultivated his love of truly fine chocolate.  He complemented his self studies with courses in baking and chocolate at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, France and is a graduate of the Ecole Chocolat Professional School of Chocolate Arts.

Zach’s inspiration for his artisan creations come from a unique style of pastry design referred to as entremet, featuring multiple thin layers of flavors and textures. He loves to bring his experiences from France back to his clients through his creations.

For weddings, Zach does not do traditional wedding cakes or grooms cakes. Instead, as chocolatier, he creates a sophisticated presentation of unique dessert items, usually in small bites or individual slices, to replace or complement the traditional settings.

Zach was featured in 2009 by cookbook author and editor Tish Boyle in Dessert Professional Magazine and was the featured chocolatier at the 2009 10th annual Stephan Pyles Celebrity Chef Dinner administered by the Wine & Food Foundation of Texas. He is also a regular contributor to the New York Times microblog on the topic of Cake.

Wedding Dessert Tables …so much more!

As we research unique luxury wedding planners in New York City, we came across the phenomenal talents of Amy Atlas‘ and her oh so special wedding dessert tables. Yumm-o! Made us want to get married all over again.

We encourage you to visit her website to view the hundreds of photos that she has of all her sweet treats. Definitely worth the time to marvel at the creativity and (no doubt) flavors that can be experienced from her many goodies.

Photographs courtesy of Gemma Commas

Exquisite Touches – Wedding Cake Stands by Clara French Ceramique

Micaela Willis founded Clara French Ceramique to honor her great-great grandmother Clara French, who was a painter and the first female artist in her family. Her grandmother provided her with an abundance of art supplies and encouraged her to create (and she never stopped). Micaela started Clara French Ceramique after making her sister’s wedding cake stand.

The photos below are beautiful representations of just a few samples of what you can find from her delightful website – clarafrench.com. This site is well worth taking the time to browse (the lovely music makes you think your sitting in a French cafe sipping coffee and eating pastry). And the online “boutique” gives you many options to choose from.

Cakes that Inspire – For Weddings, Bridal Showers, Parties

Our founder, Kay, worked for Chanel for seven years, so when she saw this blog post on Merci New York recently, she wanted to make sure our readers outside New York got to see this precious cake by Pink Cake Box. Maybe you’re looking for a “cake that inspires” for a bridal shower, bachelorette party or even your wedding reception.

Anne Heap of Pink Cake Box created this carrot cake with meyer lemon buttercream for a competition called “Art of Cake Design” sponsored by the Smerset Art Association in Bedminister, NJ and won the “Show Stopper” award. You can’t deny, this cake is most definitely an incredible design!

Photos courtesy Pink Cake Box.

Wedding Cake Trends – The Cake Ball …Orgasmic

Okay, so maybe orgasmic is a bit extreme. But according to Kay, our StrictlyWeddings.com head guru, they are.

Ever since she had them a few weeks ago, she’s talked of nothing else. The Cake Ball Company, owned by Robin Ankeny, is a Dallas-based company. Like all great treats, it started out of her kitchen in Dallas and one thing led to another (including Neiman’s discovering them) and “bingo” they’re a great hit. The reason they’ve stayed a hit is all in the product itself. Your first bite is something to savor. Kay’s on a mission that everyone needs to try them (I’m almost afraid to …if she’s gaga, then me and my sweet tooth would be over the top!). They ship them all over the country and you can order online.

One of the flavors she tried – the Wedding Cake – is (she says) the most yummy (but we think she’s just fond of the name).

So instead of cupcakes, try cake balls at your wedding reception or bridal showers. It’s no surprise that they are getting so much attention all over the country.

Kay promises you, CakeBalls are delicious and they have a consistency that you will never forget, and with each bite, you are hoping it will last forever!

Hot Ideas for Wedding Cakes in 2010

Tall Wedding Cakes
2010 brings with itself the trend of towering wedding cakes. While last year the cakes for wedding usually consisted of maximum one to three layers, this year it has increased to five to seven tiers. If your budget doesn’t allow you a treat of seven layers, you could go for fake layers.

Fondant Over Butter Cream Cakes

Whether you want to go for fondant cakes or butter cream cakes depends on your preference and budget. However, many of 2010 bride and grooms are opting for butter creams, mainly because it is cost effective. In addition, butter cream is preferred by many, because it is tastier. Fondant was mainly used in the cake frostings as it can give the cake a very beautiful look as opposed to butter cream, which tends to melt fast and doesn’t give the desired smoothness to the cake.

“TipsyCake’s fondant, which is imported from Switzerland, has a neutral flavor, as opposed to the sickly-sweet traditional variation,” said Naomi Levine, Chef/Owner of TipsyCake Chicago. “It also provides a superbly smooth finish, which has become quite popular.”

Note: Poured fondant is a cream confection used as a filling or coating for cakes, pastries, and candies or sweets. In its simplest form, it is sugar and water cooked to the soft-ball stage, cooled slightly, and stirred or beaten until it is an opaque mass of creamy consistency. Sometimes lemon is added to the mixture, mainly for taste. Other flavourings are used as well, as are various colourings. The main filling of a Cadbury’s Creme Egg is poured fondant. Source: Wikipedia

Dramatic Color
As seen on the runways, the trend of dramatic colors can be seen in the wedding cakes too. The colors, which were considered a little too theatrical for the cakes until, last year, are now considered in vogue. You will get to see a lot of green, blues, and even orange colored wedding cakes in 2010. However, the customary white and the jewel themed black and white cake will also be in vogue this year.

Sophisticated Monograms
Monograms always give a stylish and a signatory style to the wedding. 2010 brings the trend of monogrammed wedding cakes. It not only gives your wedding a classic look but also ups your own signatory style. Read our post on cake toppers

Match It With Bridesmaid’s Dress
While the last year was all about matching the wedding cake color to the bride’s gown, this year it is all about matching the cake with the bridesmaid and even brides groom dresses.

Fresh Fruit Topped Cakes
This year you may find loads of wedding cakes filled with fresh fruits pieces. Strawberries, black berries, peaches, mangoes and other fruits would be used to embellish the wedding cake.

Fondant Ruffles
Ruffles were all over the runways this year and the trend of cute ruffles could be seen in the wedding cakes too. If you are a 2010 bride and are opting for a ruffled bridal dress, you could go for five or seven tiered cakes adorned with ruffles, laces, and rosettes.

Visit our partners found under Cakes for Chicago – Amy Beck Cake Design, TipsyCake, Take the Cake and Dallas – Frosted Art Bakery, La Duni, Le Gateau Cakery

It’s all about the cake

Well, at least for some of us who have a sweet tooth!

If you are still searching for your bakery, visit the husband and wife team of Jace and Carrie Crockett at Le Gateau Cakery, who have been an integral part of the best weddings in Texas for over 10 years. They have a unique talent of combining sumptuous flavors with expertly crafted classic and contemporary designs to offer the ultimate experience in wedding cake artistry and taste. If you can imagine it, Jace and Carrie can make it a reality. What truly sets them apart is their superior level of service that welcomes you to be a part of the family.