Cake Talk

Our Hat Collection

What's the fascination with hats? 

Historically, the hat is a sign of achievement and authority. Hats are often worn to indicate a person's particular position or role in society. Think bishop's hat or sheriff's hat.  A symbol of power.

Freud identified the hat as a symbol of repressed desire, and there are lots of interpretations of the meaning of hats in dreams.

Whatever.  We get asked to make them often. But the symbolism and meanings are usually much simpler.

There is the magic hat, for a child's birthday party featuring a magician.

The witch's hat.  For a halloween birthday.

 And of course, the houndstooth hat. Here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the houndstooth hat is a symbol of championship football teams and the legendary coach who made them happen, the late Paul W. "Bear" Bryant. Our houndstooth hat cookies are one of our best sellers. Before, during and after football season.

You might think it is "cheating," but this particular houndstooth hat on a cake is real, placed as a "topper" on two large square stacked cakes, with a houndstooth design piped on the sides of the cakes. This is one instance where the cost of creating a hat from cake exceeded the willingness to pay.  Especially when a similar (and longer lasting) effect could be achieved with a real hat.

Then there is the straw hat.  A "regular" straw hat gives us a chance to practice our basketweave piping skills.  It looks best with a wide brim, but sometimes the number of servings needed dictates a smaller brim.

Then the straw hat worn by Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban, mainly during practice. We started making these last year when the team reached 5-0 for the season and rose in the AP ranking to #2 in the nation.

They are not yet as famous as the houndstooth hat, but in demand nonetheless.  And with every win, more so.

Alabama is now 12-0 going in to the SEC championship game against Florida Saturday in Atlanta.  Two more wins and these cookies will probably rise in popularity.

 And this time of year, the Santa hat.  We often add houndstooth trim, just because...

So whatever the symbolism of hats, and reasons for wanting hat cakes, if customers keep asking for them, we'll keep making them.

Red Mustang

This cake was pretty fun, for a 50th birthday, and entirely edible.

It's three layers of red velvet cake, covered in buttercream, with fondant accents for the canvas, fenders, lights and other "chrome." A few of the side details are piped in buttercream.

The mustang on the front grill is also made from fondant.

The windshield and side windows are sugar.

The wheels and seat tops (which you cannot see well from this angle) are formed from rice crispy treats and covered in fondant.

Not counting the miscellaneous parts, the cake, which used almost all of a full sheet cake, serves about 75.

Another Good Cake Week

What a great week for cakes.  A Daphne Blue Fender guitar for Debbie Bond (of the Alabama Blues Project), a Star Trek cake (invitation said "Costumes Encouraged"), and a pretty black and white stacked cake.  These were just the tip of the iceberg.

In case you cannot tell from my photo of the Star Trek cake, the top tier looks like the uniform, with a black collar, blue torso, and logo.  The bottom two tiers are covered in black ganache and decorated with galaxies.

We also  had four weddings -- two on Friday and two on Saturday (Alabama plays Mississippi State in Starkville today).  One of the groom's cakes had a tree stump theme.  The acorns are made from marzipan.

 Plus a four tier cake for a 21st birthday (with sparkle dust), three football and/or "Alabama" themed cakes.  Several other cakes either matched the deco on custom invitations or just can't be easily described.

We have five cake decorators in the shop now , which is pretty amazing.  Ben and Rain have joined Pat, Kristi and me.  We can almost always leave the shop at a decent hour, even on busy cake days.

Next week is the last home football game of the season.  The Iron Bowl, held Thanksgiving weekend, is in Auburn this year, and the SEC playoff game on December 5th will be in Atlanta.  After that, who knows...

We're gearing up for Thanksgiving pies and cakes.  We'll make pumpkin, sweet potato, pecan, sweet potato-pecan, fudge, and fudge-pecan pies.  We'll also make cakes (to order), mainly red velvet, caramel and carrot cake.

Dickens Downtown is Tuesday, December 1 from 5-8 pm, which starts the Christmas season of cookies and other sweets.  We'll be giving away bread pudding outside the shop and we'll have cider, hot cocoa, soup and other goodies for sale inside.  Debbie Bond and the Creme Brulees will perform from 6-8 pm.  Dress up and come early to have your picture made with Father Christmas or the Queen Mother.

How to Pick-up a Cake

You have ordered a cake and now you are coming to pick it up.  Without overstating the obvious, here are some basic DO''S and DON'TS:

• DO tell us if you like your cake when you see it for the first time.  We love our cakes, and you will really make our day if you are as excited about your cake as we are.  We encourage "oohs" and "ahs." "Wow" and "awesome" are also perfectly acceptable.
  
• DON'T wait until you get home (or later) to tell us if your cake is not what you expected.  The best time for us to add, remove, or change something on your cake is while it is still in our shop.
  
• DO clean the junk out of your car before you come.  You do not want shoes, umbrellas, books and other heavy or unappetizing "stuff" falling on your cake.  We often have to prop the lid of the cake box up to accommodate a tall cake, flowers or a bow.  The plastic wrap covering the opening of the box is no match for your your gym bag, soccer ball or magazine collection.
• DON'T come in a compact car if you have ordered a large cake.  A cake box fits best on a flat surface such as the front passenger floorboard or the back of an SUV.  Placing a cake box on a seat or holding a large cake on your lap, even as a passenger, is dangerous for you and the cake.
• DO let us carry the cake out to your car.  We will find the safest place for a cake in your vehicle.  And besides, if we carry the cake out, then you are not responsible for it until after we hand it over. If we cannot find a suitable place in your vehicle for your cake, we can usually deliver it for a nominal fee.  Think of it as insurance.
• DON'T drive like a maniac with a cake in your car.  Now is NOT the time to show off your racing skills.  No two wheel turns or slamming on the brakes.  That means you should drive slow enough when approaching a stop sign or light that you can stop smoothly.  Remember the basic laws of physics...a cake in motion tends to stay in motion...

How we do it...
When we have to deliver a cake, we always put it on a flat surface (such as the back of my PT Cruiser).  I keep a non-slip cover over the carpet, and we use spongy shelf liner for extra traction.  I drive slowly and carefully, repeating to myself "there is a cake in the car" after every stop.  The "Cake on Board" signs on the sides and back of my car remind me (and everyone else) to be mindful of the task at hand.

When you get home..
And remember, cakes with cream cheese icing should be refrigerated or the icing will spoil after several hours.  However, cake tend to dry out in the refrigerator.  Since we do not use any egg products in our buttercream icing, refrigeration is not necessary for a buttercream cake.  That said, if you plan to keep the cake more than a day or two, wrap the cake (or cake box) securely in plastic wrap and put the whole thing in the freezer.

Good Cake Day

We had several nice cakes today, but these two are our favorites.

It's Halloween on Saturday, so a witch's hat is entirely on point.  The brim is a 14-inch round cake.  The top of the hat is a two-layer 6-inch round cake, topped with several inches of formed rice crispy treats.

The entire cake is covered in buttercream and topped with black ganache.  Then we sprinkled on lots of edible glitter before stacking the two parts.  Several skewers will keep the parts stacked straight for travel.

The little mice are made from fondant, and the spiderwebs are spun sugar.  We got to play with lots of fun stuff for this cake!!

The soccer ball cake is for one of the ladies on the University of Alabama soccer team.

The base is a simple chocolate cake and the soccer ball is molded from rice crispy treats (our new "favorite" molding medium).  The ball is covered with white fondant and black fondant pentagons were placed to finish the decoration. The bow is fondant; the stars are gum paste.

I must admit a soccer ball is not nearly as easy to make as a football, basketball, volleyball, golf ball, or just about any other kind of sport ball.

But we had fun and we get to do it again tomorrow.

Antiques Roadshow

Happy Birthday Wendell Garrett.

The appraiser, of Antiques Roadshow fame, is celebrating his 80th birthday in Tuscaloosa today with cake from Mary's.

Three cakes -- strawberry, chocolate and white -- covered in marble fondant and luster dust, resemble old books.

We had the funnest time making them and hope he enjoys his birthday.  Wonder what kind of appraisal they will get...

Farm Cake

Who says you can't have your cake and veggies too?

We've done barns and boots and dirt bike trails and golf holes. Game day tents on icing "grass," logs, tree stumps, duck ponds, a volcano, a mountain, a lake and a construction site.

And now a field of fall veggies, all piped along neat rows of chocolate butter cream icing and chocolate cake crumb dirt.  On top of two layers of red velvet "red clay" soil.

There are beets and pumpkins, yellow squash, lettuce, red cabbage and sunflowers.

So if you are an organic farmer celebrating your birthday, what more could you possibly want?

Better Week

After last week's cake disasters, I needed a more positive experience.  We got that this week.  Adding to today's 53-7 win over North Texas, we had a good cake week.

I got my car back.

None of the cakes imploded.

The delivery to Birmingham not only went smoothly, but the folks at Gabriella Manor (where the wedding was being held) were utterly sweet, professional, and helpful.  The property is beautiful, and the staff thinks of every little detail.  They even offered that they were cutting the cake and asked if there was anything they should know about the way it was constructed.  Nobody EVER asks us that.  They had already set out boxes (out of sight) for any extra cake that might need to be packed and asked us what to do with the cake stands (give them to the bride's mother).  I could not have asked for a nicer or better prepared team to work with.

Melina's, the new restaurant on the corner of 5th and Main Avenue opened yesterday, with a soft opening (friends and family) on Thursday.  The food is fabulous.  I had to chuckle when the server told me about the wonderful red velvet cake and cappuccinn gelato they had for dessert. (I chose the creme brulee, which we did NOT make, but was perfection -- just the right combination of cold custard and warm just-torched sugar.  Yum. We wish them well.

All the cakes got picked-up, on time.

A man who had bounced a check a few weeks ago even came by to apologize and make it good.

We got two large orders for mid-week next week -- one for a sorority and one for a University of Alabama event.  Roll Tide!!

Oh yeah, and we got a call, out of the blue, from Cakes Across America.  They are a service much like Teleflora where you can order a cake to be delivered anywhere in the country (probably not ANYWHERE...).  They had an order for Tuscaloosa that they wanted us to fill.  And paid us our full price (wow! no discount necessary).

So, there you are.  A week sans-disaster.

Tomorrow I'm going to Leeds (just east of Birmingham) to hear Bobby Horton.

Monday I'll be a student again, taking the ServSafe course and exam.

And here is a photo of today's wedding cake as a finishing touch.  Have a nice weekend!

But what I really meant was...

People see our bakery and have all sorts of interesting expectations.  And, when you work in retail, you are taught that the customer is always right. So I try to be as agreeable as possible when dealing with customers. And I almost always mean what I say. Except when what I really meant was something entirely different.  Here are a few examples...

Customer:  Can you do this three tier cake to serve 50 people by this afternoon?
Me: No, I am so sorry but we are already totally booked for the next couple of days.
BWIRMW: You must be kidding...did you think we could just whip up and bake three cakes, let them cool, then ice, decorate and stack them in just two hours?

Customer: Will you bake my wedding cake the morning of the wedding?
Me: Your cake will be as fresh as possible.
BWIRMW: And your wedding is at 11am?  Do you have any idea how long it takes to bake, cool, ice, decorate and stack a wedding cake?

Customer: Where is your fresh bread? I really love your fresh bread.
Me: We're baking fresh bread on Thursdays now.
BWIRMW: We stopped baking bread daily almost two years ago, so I guess it's been a while since you bought any of that bread you really love.

Customer:  I am having an employee meeting tomorrow, could you donate some cookies?
Me: If you are having a fund raiser for charity, we would be happy to donate a gift card, but we do not donate our food products.
BWIRMW: Wow, I never even thought of asking a business to DONATE something to give to my employees.

Customer:  I have a recipe for my grandmother's pound cake, can you make me one for tomorrow?
Me: No, but could I recommend a personal chef or caterer?
BWIRMW: Hmmm, let me see... tie up our mixers, ovens and employees for one pound cake? Yeah, right.

Just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave.

Cake 911

If any bakery ever tells you nothing bad has ever happened to their cakes, DON'T BELIEVE THEM!!  We've had 24 hours worth of disasters and I am thankful we'll be closed the next two days.

It started when I sent Ben, one of my very good workers, over to the Bryant Museum, in my car, to pick up the cake stands from their birthday celebration for Coach Paul W. "Bear" Bryant.

"The car sputtered and died" reported Ben over the phone about ten minutes later.

OK, well the car has been acting weird lately, but not being very car-savvy, I guess I didn't realize the severity of its little hiccups, thinking they could be cured with gas additive.  (That approach HAS worked in the past.)

It's 4pm on Friday before the first home football game and Ben is holding up traffic. And, as just another guy with a car problem, nobody is stopping to help him move the darn thing off the road.  Did I mention it was raining?  Emily went over to help him out.  Not one, not two, but three guys immediately stopped to see if she needed any help with the car.

Fast forward...I called AAA, got the car towed back to the shop and rented a minivan.  A small fortune, but this is Tuscaloosa, which has no commercial airport, which means no big rental car agencies.  Just Enterprise.  Which happened to have just one car left.  I took it.

By Saturday morning I am almost over the car fiasco.  Sam's Club didn't have everything I needed, but I called ahead to the bakery and Emily agreed to run to the local store to pick up the rest of the stuff we needed before I got in.  I was expecting an uneventful day, with everything done well before the 6pm kick-off.

I am greeted with the news that a four tier birthday cake, which was just picked-up, was missing an important architectural support piece.  The hows and whys are a very long story, but the cake was now a disaster waiting to happen.  The bigger problem was that nobody was answering the phone number we had for the customer.  Luckily her husband is a doctor, and the answering service was able to contact him.  We iced a completely NEW four tier cake, decorated just like the original, but with all the proper supports, and delivered it to the customer's house about 15 minutes before the party started.

I figured that was it for the day, but I was wrong.  One of our wedding deliveries was in Reform, about 30 miles west of Northport.  A car stopped abruptly in front of me on the highway. I stepped on the brakes and the cake stand slid in the back of my rental minivan. I heard that soft "plop" that no baker making a delivery EVER wants to hear.  Emily, who was riding shotgun, glanced over shoulder and uttered "oh shit."  I pulled over and opened the back to see cake pieces and icing all over the floor of the van.

Thank God for cell phones.  And the fact that there were enough people working in the bakery today so that one could make the other wedding delivery.  One could speed over to Reform with more icing, spatulas, and other supplies.  Yes, we do bring an "emergency" bucket with tools and icing, but this cake was way past that and needed a major operation.

With three of us now working, we got the cake scraped and re-iced, stacked and decorated before the bridal party arrived.  It looks pretty good, doesn't it?  And that is caramel icing, not chocolate (except for the small dark ganache border).

Now I really need a drink.

And yes, that photo at the top of this post is the back of my rental van, after we removed the damaged cake.