CertainLEE an Exciting Week!

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Last week I was honored to make a birthday cake for a special young boy Jaxon. Not only is Jaxon one of the coolest 10 year olds I've met, but he happens to be the son of  Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher Cliff Lee.

10 years old is a Big Birthday, so why not have the Coolest birthday cake to commemorate the occasion. Jaxon wanted non-other than our beloved Phanatic to celebrate in style. (Not to mention, the Phanatic was just name the #1 Mascot in all of Sports! )

Jaxon is a huge Phillies fan and who could blame him, his dad does a great job of keeping our beloved Phillies ontop! We delivered to the ballpark where Jaxon was surprised with his cake (he didn't know he was getting a Phanatic cake, but was very hopeful)  along with a few of his envious buddies. 

 I also did matching tye-dye cupcakes for the kids to eat because Jaxon didn't want to cut the "coolest cake ever" until everyone had a chance to see it.

The Lee's are a very down to earth and friendly family. It was a true pleasure to work with them and I was honored to help create a wonderful memory for Jaxon!

Happy 10th Birthday Jaxon

Go PHILLIES!

Tuesday Tips 4/26

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So I ordered a few new tools. Once they come in I'll update how they work.

Here's what I'm trying out this month:

This Baking rack insert will give me more room in my oven for cake/cookies.

For $20 I thought why not!

I also got this Cooling Rack, another $20 for more counter space.

I had also purchased this Oven Mitt a year after I burnt myself three times in one weekend. Lets just say that I won't be doing any hand modeling with all my baking scars.

I'm also trying out some New extracts and oils I just got. Including new Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste.

Sorry For the Lack of Posts the last two weeks. I was swamped with orders then went on vacation in the Wonderful town of Boston. 

While there, I did a little researching.....

We visited Sweet Cupcakery and their cupcakes were fabulous! (My favorite was Red Velvet, while Nick fell in love with the place, the cheesecake cupcake and the counter girl!)

Have a Great Rest of the week.....It's a very exciting one for me, check back soon to see why!

Spring Fever

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I've been so busy with Spring babies and wedding showers lately that I haven't had the time to update my latest cakes. After a much needed vacation, I'm refreshed and ready to get back to business.

Here are some of the cakes I have been up to this month....

Bridal Showers

Bridal Shower LOVE Cookies

"Cut out for each other" Bridal Shower Cookies.

Kitchen Themed Bridal Shower

 Kids Parties

Caleb and Wyatt's Cars themed Birthday

Toy Story Cupcakes for Justin and Morgan

Babies

Baby Bum Cake

"How Sweet it will Bee when Two become Three"

Celebration Cakes

Handy Mandy Retirement cake for a Maintenance Manager at Powell

Garnet Valley High School Cheerleading Team

Philadelphia Soul Logo Cake

Words to Live by!

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Check out this great article on The Daily Love. The 7 P's of Success:

• Persistence
• Passion
• Personality
• Positivity
• Partnership
• Plan
• Profit

 It's an awesome website that inspires and motivates!

"Put as much hard work as you can into doing 
what you love. Forget Plan B... If you want to
join the Great's,  focus on Plan A only!"

Tuesday Tips! 4/5/11

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Due to a 4 Hour Power outage, my Tuesday Tip is a little late.

Here's a few helpful tip for baking.

First, I use Flower Nails  upside down in my baking pans as a baking core. This will ensure that your cake comes out evenly baked and takes a little less longer to bake. Wilton sells a baking core for $8 and it's a piece of CRAP, not to mention it leaves about a 2" hole in the middle of your cake. Save your money!

These Nails are about $1-$1.50 depending on size, you can get them at any supply store (Michaels, Joann...etc). I recently picked up a four pack of Aetco Heating Nails for $5.

For Cakes 10" or larger nails should be used. I use them in all my cakes, especially in my deeper 3" pans. Here's a picture of what it looks like in the pan:

Don't forget to spray your pan and the nail  with quality baking spray before adding batter. I've experimented and quality counts, so I typically use either PAM Baking Spray or Baker's Joy. 

They are both great and definitely worth it. I used a few other brands and wound up with a pile of crumbled cake with half of it stuck inside the pan. It is VERY Frustrating! 

Thank goodness my co-workers and friends enjoy my cake scraps!

Happy Tuesday Wednesday!

Friends Birthdays!

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I've had a few friends with birthdays lately, the luxury of having me for a friend....Cake and/or Cupcakes on your Birthday!

Happy Birthday to one of my best friend's Kelly!

With some help from my girlfriends, we came up with all of the things we love about our dear Kelly. Most are inside jokes and it would take a long time to explain them all and some are a little too inappropriate for this site! haha

Happy Birthday Kelly Ann....We All love you very Much!

Happy Birthday to Alicia, who is obsessed with angry Birds, G-Shock watches, and her adorable pups "Remy" and "Macy".

Happy 30th Alicia!

And Finally a Replica of Eric's beloved Camera. Completely Edible!

We captured a shot with his actual camera on the right.

Visit Eric's site to fawn over his beautiful photography skills. http://solitairecollective.com/ 

He's been all over the place and always seems to capture the beauty in all we miss through-out our day to day lives. 

Happy Birthday Eric!

Tuesday Tips 3/29

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Another post for my Tuesday Tips Feature:

This week I want to focus on some of the unconventional tips I use for transporting my cakes.

For my Actual Cake Boards, I use a few different versions :

Wilton Decorative Silver Plates (Sold At Michaels in a 6 pack or Individually at PartyCity.)

Decorative Covered MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard.) I get a sheet of this at Home Depot and when I bat these baby blues, the guys working in the wood department will cut it for me to any size I specify!

One of the simplest things I have found, was using rubber shelf liner in the bottom of my boxes to make sure my cakes don't move during transit. You can even put a strip of this on the floor of your car to safely transport "Grandma's Casserole to Easter dinner." You can grab a roll of this rubber matting in any grocery or go-to store such as Walmart or Target. 

I typically use white bakery Boxes for my smaller one layer cakes.  After trying a few different brands, I found that Home Depot actually has the best deal for sturdy boxes in different sizes for my larger tiered cakes. Although I'm not impressed with the "Home Depot Logo" all over my boxes, I'd rather that than one of my cakes on the ground because of a crappy box. 

Stacking will be discussed in a future post. I'll have to take pictures of my Step by Step Process! 

Happy Tuesday!

Tuesday Tips! 3/22/11

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I am always getting asked random questions about baking tools, products, where I get supplies and how I make certain things. I'm in no way an expert but have found through the years that certain things are very useful and other things are complete crap!

I've decided  that in my spare time (haha yeah right, that doesn't exist!) I will start posting a feature on my blog each Tuesday that will discuss some of my tips, tricks, favorites, and maybe eventually when I have more time (SUMMER!!) I'll add some tutorials. I've decided to call it. "Tuesday Tips!" So Tune in each Tuesday and maybe you'll learn something, become inspired, or just have something to look at while you're procrastinating at your job! I've been told by many of you that you "stalk" my page during the workday....Hopefully this will help your urge.
(Sidenote: Have No Shame...Friendly stalkers are welcome, just as long as you're not collecting follicles of my hair or plotting my unfortunate death) hehe

This week I thought I'd start with a  few of my tried and true gadgets that help make my baking life easier.

• The Beater Blade beats the crap out of your batter/ buttercream so you don't have to stop the mixer to scrape down the sides! I give these babies a workout every week when they whip up about 8 batches of thick creamy buttercream.

Check to make sure you get the right size for your mixer. I posted a link to Amazon but you should find them anywhere between $20-$30 depending on your size mixer.

• The Cupcake Courrier It holds 36 Cupcakes and has enough room between each tray so your cakes won't get smooshed! I decided to buy this one when I had a class of 25 kids, I couldn't stand bringing two separate containers for 25 cupcakes! 

I'm the proud owner of Two Pretty Pink ones but they come in a few other pastel colors

A Cheaper Alternative is placing cupcakes inside a T-shirt or Sweater gift box and packing them in with marshmallows so they don't move around in transit. 

*Insider Trick: Place naked cupcakes in the box in rows, pour marshmallows over cupcakes to pack them in THEN ice cupcakes and decorate. This will prevent the marshmallows from sticking to your pretty icing and decorations.

The Non-Stick Muffin/Cupcake Pan Cleaner. I thought this was such a clever find. The sponge fits perfectly inside your cupcake tins to clean the rim and won't scratch the non-stick surface.
I found it at a random store but above is a link where you can get it online.

And Lastly I'll leave you with one of my favorite websites to browse for fancy and fabulous baking items:

Bake it Pretty has all your supplies for cutsie Cupcake and Cake Tools!

Enjoy!!!

Do you have a Question? Post it in the comment section and I'll try my best to answer for you! 

Follow me on twitter @Sweetsbyjen

Facebook SweetTreatsbyJen

Fabulous cakes for Fabulous Ladies!

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This weekend I had a few very FABULOUS cakes that I have been dying to do for quite some time now.

The first is a replica of the Louis Vuitton Monogram Brown Speedy handbag. This was made for Bride-to-be Megan's "Fashionista" Bridal Shower.
This was my first handbag purse and I'm sure it will not be my last. I originally was going to hand-cut each of the symbols on the bag out of fondant but decided that my painting skills were better fit for this project. This was a trial and error cake for me and I'm glad I stuck with my gut. It took about 2 hours to paint the monogram pattern on the cake but it really paid off. (my neck and wrist are another story....perfection is pain!)

All elements are completely edible, hand-sculpted, and painted. 

Congrats to Bride-to Be Megan!

Next was a Stunning black and white damask cake for Theresa's 40th birthday. She was fun to work with and right up my alley..... She told me, "All I want is my fancy cake!" So we went big....3 tiers of pure heaven. I just love damask and quilting, especially in black and white. We added a fondant sculpted
"T" and feathers for extra fancy flair!

Happy Birthday Theresa!

And rounding out my weekend of fun and fabulous  female cakes were these Girlie Rock and Roll Cupcakes!

So What...I'm still a RockStar!

Thanks for a Great Weekend!

The kid in all of us.....

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Children's Birthday Cakes are my favorite cakes to make. They always remind me of the excitement of childhood. Many times parents will suggest a few things they would like for their child's cake  and I will come up with a design. But then there are sometimes when I'll have a client who's child has exact specifications of what they would like their cake be. Often, their imaginations help inspire me to design such incredible cakes, it's fun to bring their little idea to life.

I've had an abundance of Kid's Birthday Cakes over the last few months so I wanted to compile together in one post. Along with client specifications, I get a lot of my inspiration from being around my students who are always sharing the latest trends for elementary aged students. This post is dedicated to the kids inside all of us as well as my students. They are the ones who inspire me everyday to continue to look at the world in the simplest form without taking anything too seriously! Enjoy!!

Harry's Mad Scientist theme, completely designed by a 6 year old! 

Harry was very specific as to what he wanted his Mad Scientist to look like....I think I nailed it!

All elements on the cakes are edible and hand sculpted!

Julia's 3rd Birthday "Princess Cake"

Victoria's 9th Birthday Disco Ball Cake for her "Dance Party".

Kailah's Winter Wonderland Birthday

Joey's Monster Jam Cake, this cake was massive and weighed a ton!

All edible except the cars and truck,

Welcome Lil Jaxon!

Girlie Monkey Cupcakes

Baby Animal Cupcakes for Baby Callahan!

A True Compliment!

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This past weekend I did a replica of the original "Ultimate Phillies Cake" that I had done over a year ago. The client found my work online and contacted me to help complete her boyfriend's surprise 30th birthday.

Today, I was reminded why I started my business in the first place.....

Jen,

My name is Alan and my son Brian recently celebrated his 30th birthday and his girlfriend Amber ordered the cake from you.  That cake was not only absolutely gorgeous, but it tasted INCREDIBLE!  I was on your website.......you are certainly talented.  I am a 1985 graduate of CIA in Hyde Park NY and have been an executive and corporate chef for many years.  I just felt compelled to write you as everyone was totally impressed with the look and taste and while I am positive you hear that all of the time, I hope you never tire of it.  Again, many sincere thanks for adding a component to the party that helped to elevate it to the next level.  I live in the SF bay area of northern Ca but if I ever have a need for a cake or know someone that does in the Philly area, you'll get the call.  

Take care,

Alan 

Corporate Chef

Boudin Bakery

Happy 30th Birthday Brian!