Mountain Lakes Wedding Association Wedding Tour 2011!

I'm going to plug the Mountain Lakes Wedding Association here for a second!


This coming Sunday, September 18, 2011 they are hosting their annual Wedding Tour! This year it's an exciting event, you travel from location to location, meet with different vendors, and best of all, see the GORGEOUS Mountain Lakes area! It's fall, the mountains are GORGEOUS!


Unfortunatly due to a huge scheduling conflict, Adair Weddings is unable to be a vendor at the tour this year. (hopefully next year!) However, we are offering couples who are registered or who walk-in on September 18, 2011 a special deal!


Free Tasting Box (no matter the size of your potential cake!)
10% off your order
20% off your order if you use Adair Weddings for Cake & Flowers for your Mountain Lakes Wedding (or special event)

AND

A special surprise gift from Adair Weddings on your wedding day.



Wow, you can't beat that. So, hop on over to www.lakearrowheadweddings.com and check it out! And if you see LouEllen Whitton of A Guiding Light Affaire, tell her Julia @ Adair Weddings sent you! She's fabulous for putting together amazing wedding packages.


Stay Sweet!

Julia

Tasting Box!

Just to give you an idea of what our "Tasting Box" looks like!

It includes 2-3 types of cake for you to try, covered in our delicious White Chocolate Fondant, and possibly a treat tucked in, cake balls or cake pops, depending on what we have going on that week.

Our Tasting Box is FREE if you are booking through the Mountain Lakes Wedding Association, or if your potential cake order is over $300. Otherwise, we offer it for purchase for $20 (cash only please), and that $20 goes towards any cake order over $150 if you choose to use Adair Weddings for your special occasion cake!

This is not something we deliver "just because", it is intended to existing or potential clients who want to taste & see some of our work.

Remember, we do more than weddings! Birthday Cakes, Quincenera Cakes, Anniversary Cakes, the crazier the design/idea, the more excited we get about it!

Stay Sweet!

Julia

We also do a traditional tasting, without all the special bells and whistles, please inquire.

Cupcakes!!

Recently, I have been receiving many calls about cupcakes. Regular cupcakes, miniature cupcakes, FILLED cupcakes! It's been fun to experiment with some new things, baking candy into the cupcakes, icing flavours, and the best part? It's so easy, NO cutting required (great for venues with cake-cutting charges), and you can have so many different flavours!

My current cupcakes prices range anywhere from $15-$25/dozen, and can go higher depending on the design. You get a discount on a sliding scale when the amount of cupcakes you order increase. I can even box them individually and put stickers with your company logo on them! (great for corporate parties, party favors, etc)

So, enjoy the eye candy, and let me share MY favorite cupcake with you.

My scrumptious Double Chocolate Cake, with a Peanut Butter Cup baked INTO the cupcake. THEN, I top it with my to-die-for Peanut Butter Icing.

Let me just say, those of you who have met me in person, I don't eat alot of cake. Yes, I taste everything that leaves my kitchen, I'm the ultimate quality control, because I am SO SO SO picky.

But my Peanut Butter Cupcake? I ate a whole one. And considered a second and possibly a 3rd. They were THAT yummy. And yes, I can SO do a cake!

And yes, I can do them in regular size, OR miniature cupcakes! So, call me (or email!) and let's get you an order of some FABULOUS cupcakes! And if you want my Peanut Butter Cupcakes, well, I'll give you a super special discount, just mention you saw it here on my blog, and you want to order Julia's Favorite Cupcake of 2011 (so far!)

With fall coming, I have so many ideas for new flavour combinations! Stay tuned!! I'm excited for the upcoming season!!! Can you say, Christmas?! Yes!

Stay Sweet!

Julia

Adair Weddings

760.812.0574

AdairWeddings@gmail.com

Pine Rose Cabins Wedding

Back on April 15th, 2011, I had the honor of crafting not only 180 yummy cupcakes, but also a lovely 2-tier gluten-free cake, AND all the flowers for a lovely couple who choose to get married in a simply gorgeous spot, the Pine Rose cabins up in Twin Peaks, CA.

A mountain wedding is SO much fun. You have gorgeous scenery, the weather is amazing from about March-October, and it's a destination wedding that doesn't involve sea, salt, and sunburn!

The Mountain Lakes Wedding Association (www.lakearrowheadweddings.com) is a fantastic resource for those wanting to whisk their friends and family away to the beautiful, and cool, mountain lakes area!

Pine Rose Cabins is simply a lovely place to have a wedding, they have this gorgeous area for your ceremony & outdoor reception. It's very rustic and elegant all at once. Sarai is there to help you through the whole process!

Pine Rose Cabins 909.337.2347 or www.pineroseweddings.com

Cupcakes, Gluten-Free & Sugar Free Cake, this wedding truely tested our skills and gave our kitchen quite a run! But everything turned out lovely, and if I do say so myself, my Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake is just as moist and yummy as my full-of-gluten Double Chocolate Cake.

Mmmmmm.

And now, I want cake.

Stay Sweet!

Julia

Adair Weddings

760.812.0574

AdairWeddings@gmail.com

Cake Balls vs Cake "Flops"

Good Morning!!

I have an order pickup today, so I decided to dip the cake balls first thing this morning (7am!) so they would be super fresh and extra yummy!!

Of course, we are having the strangest weather, it's chilly for summer, which means, open up the house, let all the lovely air in!!

But it doesn't bode well for happy cake balls. I had a few more "flops" that usual (for summertime anyway)

So, I had a grand idea! Cake Flops!! I did a candy bar for a birthday party recently, and instead of regular Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, I found Belly Flops, and just thought they were adorable. (it looked cuter on the hand-made sign)

So now, I present to you, Cake Flops!

You can see the difference between the two pictures. The ones displayed prettily on the plate are smooth, round,

and decorated to the max. Shimmer & glitter.

The "flops", well, they are still smooth, the chocolate, but they cracked right down the center!

I still applied shimmer to them, as it helps ME to identify which is which without putting my hands all over them, but I omitted the glitter on top.

I got to thinking then. When I do huge Cake Ball orders, I tend to have a dozen or so of these cracked ones. My family loves it, they get to eat them. Or, if I have a cake tasting scheduled within the week, I use them for that. (it's quite easy to slice the flops in half to serve on a tasting plate!)

But why not offer them for sale? Facebook and Twitter are such instant communication places...I can offer them, and first come first serve. They aren't PRETTY, per se, but if you are crazing a cake ball, they WILL fulfill it!

So, cake flops. Coming soon to Facebook & Twitter. Half price of current special cake ball pricing. PICKUP only on these, unless I am already delivering a full-price order. Buy one, two, or whatever I have available!

Off to post these ones on Facebook now...although I'm sorely tempted to KEEP them...they really are soo yummy when they are fresh. Mmmmmm.

Happy Cake Balling!

Julia

Random Musings

So, in an effort to try and "blog" more, I am trying to catch up on recent work (I'm fairly far behind!), and, well, just post some random thoughts.

So, first, what is a cake ball?

It's cake & icing mixed together, rolled into a ball, dipped in melted chocolate.

Mmmmmmm. And it's much harder to make them perfectly round AND smooth than it looks.

The key is to use the right chocolate, AND to temper Milk, Dark & Semi-Sweet properly. Otherwise, you'll get a wierd melty-type chocolate coating that tends to clump, never dry, and do strange things outside of the cooler!

For white chocolate, it's different, mainly because it doesn't need to be tempered as perfectly as chocolate chocolate. It just needs to be the right consistency where it doesn't clump on you. Hence, add a touch of crisco to the melted chocolate. How much crisco? I think it really depends on the type of chocolate you are using, and your skill level.

Overall, anyone can make cake balls & cake pops. With some time, effort, and attention to detail, you too can make beautiful treats that everyone will love. And even if they aren't perfect, everyone will love them anyways.

I mean, who doesn't like chocolate, cake, & icing???

Of course if you'd like some treats without all the work, please call or email me, and I'll hand-deliver a dozen or more for no cost here in the High Desert. Keep an eye on my facebook for what I have "in stock" this week.

And for those of you NOT in Southern California, YES, we do ship!!! Even in the summer months!

760.812.0574.
or
adairweddings@gmail.com

I do not ship cakes or cupcakes, but cake balls & cake pops ship nicely. I do charge you the shipping & packaging, but it is my exact cost, not a penny more.

Cheers!

Julia

Phantom of the Opera Cake

This cake was SO fun to put together! I have a blast working with the different elements, all the detail work, those special little touches to make it "Wow"


A close friend of mine has a son who is HUGE into Phantom of the Opera. And well, I ADORE Phantom of the Opera. So, when she asked me to do a birthday cake, I jumped at it, and well, I took the design a little to the extreme, but hey, why not, right?


Everything you see on the cake is made of some form of sugar, from fondant to gumpaste, to modeling chocolate & modeling paste. Most of the details were hand-painted, and all the scrollwork & gold details were done with piped royal icing pieces, then attached to the cake with "glue" (AKA more royal icing!)


I did take some liberty with the music box, merely because I wanted to personalize it. My overal design inspiration was from another baker, who did a cake for a closing night of the show.



I really REALLY enjoyed making this particular cake....it was a very personal "labor of love".

Yes, I am willing to re-create it for you, with YOUR special personalization!

Honestly? I would LOVE to be asked to do a larger version for a closing night of the play, perhaps at a local high school here in the High Desert, or the local community college. I'd even be thrilled to do it for peanuts. *hint* *hint*





Soooo, yes, if any of my followers out there, if you are aware of a local High School doing Phantom of the Opera next year (since it was recently approved for High School Drama use!!), tell them to contact me!!!!



And my dream? To also see the sequel. The music is haunting, Andrew Lloyd Webber really out did himself with "Love Never Dies", I don't care WHAT the critics say!!! Hello?! Will you PLEASE bring it to Broadway?? London or Melbourne is just too far away!!



I will continue to update on a more regular basis....I have quite a store of things I've done over the past year, that I haven't yet shared on here!



Cheers!


Julia