Last week I was invited by Diana, the local Mary Kay lady, to attend her fundraiser event for Haiti.  100% of the proceeds went to American Red Cross to help those in need in Haiti.  She even had a speaker/author who had been to Haiti talk about his experience there.  I donated this cake, inspired by the name of her event, “Helping Hands for Haiti” I of course included many hands along with a couple tropical flowers.

Recently, we finished up our second round of “Icing on the Cake”, the cake designing/decorating course at the Winthrop youth center (Kathy’s Place).  This theme for this class was Winter Olympics. For the whole month of February the youth center held there own version of the olympics with competitions and games complete with a closing ceremony.

The kids in the class were asked to design a cake to be on display, and of course enjoyed by everyone at the closing ceremony.  Their design included the Olympic rings with all sorts of different athlete figurines and flags from as many countries as we could fit.  The class met twice a week for 5 weeks learning the process of designing, baking, and decorating custom cakes.  They made all their own frosting and fondant, and frosted and fondanted the cake themselves. The cake was a big hit at the closing ceremony and the kids were pretty proud of their work.

Here is a view from the top of the cake.  A couple figure skaters, a skeleton guy, bobsled, curler and a ski jumper.

Here is a corner shot with a good view of the silver medal, and bouquet of flowers and teddy bear.

And one more view of the torch and the bobsled team who really seem to be enjoying themselves : ).

Want to see more cake by the Winthrop middle schoolers? Check out this blog post!

It’s official! Amanda Oakleaf Cakes is moving into a new retail location, with doors opening early next month (April).  It’s a beautiful space with a ton of extra room to make even awsome-er cakes.  The new shop will also feature gourmet cakes and cupcakes that will be simpler (and cheaper) then our custom cakes and available for in store pickup grab-and-go-style.

We are planning a grand opening celebration with free cupcakes for all visitors to take place either the first or second weekend in April.  So stay tuned for more information.

Our new, open to the public, address (As of April):

Amanda Oakleaf Cakes
1 Pauline ST.
Winthrop, MA 02152
(617) 299-1504

For all the Winthropians out there, you might better know this location as the “old Nick’s Place” which is on the corner of Pauline ST, next to the police station.

February has been purse month around here.  Love designer handbags but can’t afford the real thing?  Our handbags look just as good, but unlike Gucci and Louis Vuitton these fashionable accessories don’t taste like leather.  Take a look at our tasty creations and happy shopping!

This cake was for a 13-year-old having her birthday party at the mall.  A Juicy purse filled with all her favorite things.

Air Date: TBA

Good news! Amanda Oakleaf Cakes is going to be on the Food Network Challenge!  We are filming on March 22nd so we will not be taking any additional orders from March 20th-24th.  We’ll be posting more information as it rolls in, but as of right now the air date is unknown, though our best guess is that it might air sometime around August this year.  The theme for the challenge is Dora the Explorer.  Should be really freakin’ awesome.  Very excited.

If you’re really chomping at the bit to watch something, here is my audition tape for the show.

We’re going to be featured tonight on Boston’s Fox 25 News at 10pm along with Princess Sharon Events.  So tune in!

If anyone gets a chance to pick up today’s copy of the Boston Metro (Thursday, February 4th 2009) we have a lovely little ad in there!  Very exciting!

-Amanda

Amanda Oakleaf Cakes has recently teamed up with Princess Sharon Events to offer the most amazing parties.  To quote her site, “Princess Sharon provides musical, magical, upscale themed birthday parties and special events for children, tweens, teens and adults in and around Boston…”  She brings the party decorations, costumes, games and even music to you.  You can also contact her about getting a custom Amanda Oakleaf Cake as a delicious centerpiece at your party.

We design these cakes to specifically match the theme of your party.  For example, the cake below was for a Poodle in Paris/Fashion Diva party.

Check out Princess Sharon’s website to find out how fun and easy (for you) your special party can be!  Princesssharon.com

*Also, on Wed. Feb. 2 at 10pm FOX 25 in Boston is airing a special feature on Princess Sharon.  They recently attended one of her fabulous events to capture the magic of her themed children’s parties and of course they got great shots of our awesome poodle cake.  So excited to see our cake on TV!*

Below is a close up of the sugar poodle figurine.

Frosting the Dog is one of our favorite sculpted cakes.  After completion he was so real to us that we named him Frosting.  It was such a joy to have him sitting around the kitchen watching us with his puppy dog eyes.  We also enjoyed taking him for a ride in the car, aka delivery.  It was a little sad to return home without him.

Frosting was made for a birthday girl who was both a Red Sox fan and a lover of Golden Retrievers.  Because we know many of you are curious, we’ve decided to reveal a few of our secrets behind a 3D sculpted cake.

Here is the finished Frosting in all his glory.

The original sketch which was sent to the client before anything was baked.

This is a shot taken just after we had assembled and carved the cake layers and were just beginning the crumb coat.  For the sake of keeping it lightweight we used styrofoam for the head which we sculpted and molded with modeling chocolate to reveal facial features.  Every other part of the cake is edible including the rice krispie treat limbs.

Here the body of the cake has been covered in fondant.  We wrapped it in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out before we’re able to add the fur texture.  As you can see from my huge elbow, I’m covering the sculpted head in fondant, intentionally leaving folds in the fondant (which is usually a ‘no-no’ when covering a wedding cake for example) as to make the ears look more realistic.

Below sits frosting after his first round of air brushing.  It took many rounds of air brushing and mixing many colors to give the affect of real fur, which dose have subtle changes in color.

This is the point where we gave Frosting his name.  It is also the moment when he became so very real to us.  I just wanted to pick him up and hold him.  After this stage we added the Red Sox jersey and final details.  And voila!  Frosting the Dog cake  : )

Hello, my name is Red Velvet Cake.

I am an unexplainably delectable cake.  The buttermilk added to my batter gives a unexpected tang to my flavor as does the hint of cocoa.  I am neither a chocolate or vanilla cake but an in between flavor that has a super velvety texture.  You see me here layered with vanilla Italian meringue buttercream.  This is usually my most complimentary filling as my cake flavor packs enough punch on its own.

If you really have a sweet tooth you may request I be paired up with cream cheese buttercream filling.  Or, if you remember December’s flavor of the month, I am quite irresistible when layered with white chocolate cream cheese filling.

Good day, I am the scrumptious cake most widely known as White Vanilla Raspberry cake.

I am made up of four fabulous layers of a white butter vanilla cake.  The middle layer is laced with raspberry jam topped with raspberry Italian meringue buttercream.  The two surrounding layers are filled with vanilla Italian meringue buttercream to complete the smooth raspberries and cream flavor.

I am a perfect centerpiece for your afternoon tea party or any birthday celebration.  If you love the combination of chocolate and raspberry, I am also delicious when paired with chocolate buttercream.