Jenn & Jermaine : Nashville Wedding

Happy Tuesday!  I usually blog on Sundays, but I just got the pics for Jenn and Jermaine's wedding from Five by Five Photography and I couldn't wait to share their event!

Jenn and Jermaine are an amazing couple and I feel so blessed to have been part of their special day!  Their wedding was simple, rustic, and romantic.

The wedding and reception were set at Camp Marymount, about 45 minutes outside of Nashville.  The location was wooded but elegant, and the unusually warm December day made it even more perfect.

The bride created all of the decorations for the ceremony and reception.  Her attention to detail was incredible...

Instead of traditional tiered wedding cake, Jenn choose a family recipe for her cake.  I am always honored to make a family's special recipe, but it makes me a little nervous too!  Nothing like baking a cake for the bride's grandmother who created the recipe!

Photo courtesy of Five by Five Photography

 The recipe was a traditional Viennese torte.  It was layers of orange sponge cake filled with  a chocolate maple frosting.  The flavors melded together perfectly into a rich but delicate dessert.  I actually used the sponge cake (minus the orange) for my yule log cake last week.

Jenn and Jermaine both have a passion for music so they choose a fun musical-themed groom's cake.  I absolutely LOVED the green hard shell suitcase Jenn picked for the "cake stand."

Photo courtesy of Five by Five Photography

The cake was Dutch chocolate cake with milk chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream....mmmmm...chocolate....

The piano keys were also made out of a chocolate (imagaine that!).  I used semi-sweet modeling chocolate for the black keys and a combination of white modeling chocolate and semisweet modeling chocolate for the "white" keys.  The snoopy face is cut out of white modeling chocolate and painted with dark brown food coloring.

The catering was provided by Kitchen by House Blend.  I actually met Jeremy and Holly at a recent bridal show and got to taste a few of their dishes (two words: butternut squash bruschetta.  Okay so that was three words, but it was delish!)  Their food is flavorful, fresh, and unique...not your typical catered meal.

Photo courtesy of Five by Five Photography

Laura Stewert with Top Shelf Bartending and Staffing provided all the beverage service for the evening and she was awesome!

Flashtastic Photo Booth provided the ever-popular photo booth...it was hoppin' all night long. All of the guests (including me) had a great time!

All the rentals were provided by Southern Events Party Rentals.

Many blessings to Jenn and Jermaine on their new life together!

Bulldog Cake - Nashville Birthday Cake

Happy Sunday!  And happy holidays to all my readers!

I got to make my first yule log cake this week!  The kitchen looked so festive as I was decorating it.  I got a little crazy with the edible glitter, so it looked like it had snowed all over the floor too......oops. 

The yule log was made with a delicate vanilla sponge cake, filled with a fresh raspberry mousse, and frosted with dark chocolate ganache.  I had to...ahem..."taste test" one of the ends I cut off and it was delicious!  The berries, holly leaves, and pine boughs were handmade out of white modeling chocolate, and the white buttercream was dusted with edible glitter so it sparkled like real snow!

"What does all that have to do with a bulldog cake?" you are probably asking yourself...well nothing really.  I just love the Christmas holiday and wanted to share a little of my Christmas joy with you!!

So, now back to the regularly scheduled programming.  As the blog title would suggest, this week's actual featured cake is not the yule log, but a sports cake featuring an awesome bulldog!

One of my favorite parts of creating cakes is working with the client to design the cakes....and this cake was no different.  Debbie wanted a football themed cake that was a real guy's cake.....a growling bulldog, a football and helmet, and sports logos from all the teams for which "Mr. All-American" had played.  

The football, helmet, and bulldog started out as blobs (very technical terms here) of rice crispie treats which I carved into the basic shapes, and then covered with a thin layer of white modeling chocolate to make them smooth.  I covered them with a second layer of colored modeling chocolate and then added all the details.....so each piece is 100% edible!  

The football and helmet were fairly straightforward, but the bulldog took hours to get right.  I keep tweaking a little bit here and there, adding some here, carving away some there, but finally he looked just the way I wanted: mean and fierce.  The teeth and spiked collar were the finishing touches!

The field is the actual cake part, frosted with green buttercream to look like grass.  The "grass tip" is one of my favorite cake decorating tools.  It is very versatile and adds a great texture.

On the sides of the cake were logos from several local and professional teams.

Happy Birthday to "Mr. All-American"!  I hope it was great!

I also delivered my last wedding cake of the year yesterday.  Creative Crumbs has grown so much in the last year, I can't wait to see what more 2013 will hold!  I'll be putting the finishing touches on my new kitchen space over the next few weeks and then the grand opening will be in January!