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Brides Magazine Luxe vs. Less

Although I’d like to think it’s because I’m just spectacularly talented that I’ve been doing so much print work lately, I know the real reason is my proximity to New York (where many magazine publishers are located) combined with my willingness to deliver a cake for a shoot with very little notice. Most recently I did a shoot with BRIDES Magazine entitled Luxe for Less. The idea was to show two different yet similar cake designs, one of which was more expensive than the other, and provide visuals to explain what caused one cake to be more pricey than the other.

I pitched three concepts. The first was a berries and herbs design that I conceptualized for a different BRIDES shoot last year. They didn’t like it then and I guess they don’t like it now, because it didn’t get selected.

The second concept featured (very poorly drawn) hexagons, which I’m convinced are very trendy right now although I can find no evidence of this. Perhaps it was the ridiculously disproportionate top tier on the Luxe cake (the cake on the right in the sketch below), but they passed on this one too.

For my final design, I chose a gold quatrefoil pattern and paired it with pink sugar flowers. The BRIDES editors made a minor adjustments to the color palette (from gold to yellow), and this one was the keeper.

The cake was featured in the April/May 2013 issue.

I also asked Brooke Sforzato photogaph the cakes for me. Here you can vividly see the quatrefoil outline cutouts (made using two custom cutters, both the same shape but in different sizes) and pink sugar ranunculus and hydrangea in the Luxe version. 

Yellow and pink cake by Erica OBrien Cake Design | CT

Pink sugar ranunculus by Erica OBrien Cake Design

The quatrefoil in the Less version was made using a single custom cutter, creating a solid cutout, and was paired with pink sugar hydrangea.

pink hydrangeas and yellow quatrefoil cake by Erica OBrien Cake Design CT

pink hydrangeas and yellow quatrefoil cake by Erica OBrien Cake Design CT

These two cakes are among my favorite. Thank you Callan, my wonderful assistant, for all your hard work. And Brooke, you’re a fabulous photographer and friend.

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You Might Be a Cake Artist If…

It occurred to me only after I’d colored the fondant navy blue that perhaps, with one of my best friend’s weddings only days away, I should have worn gloves. How many people at the wedding–some of whom I hadn’t seen since high school–would assume I’d been furiously coloring fondant for a disco-themed birthday party? Or, the more likely scenario, how many would wonder if I’d contracted some pigment-changing contagious disease?

If this sound familiar, then this post is for you.

You Might Be a Cake Artist If…

~your two-year old calls Play-Doh “fondant”

~when people ask you whom, living or dead, you’d most like to invite to dinner, instead of Gandhi or Dr. Martin Luther King, you answer “Ron Ben-Israel”

~you thought 50 Shades of Grey was an ombré cake design

~you think nothing says “I love you” like a new flower cutter

~the staff at Jo-Ann fabrics knows you by name

~you get most of your news from The Food Network

~Cake Central is your Maxim Magazine

~your husband knows the difference between gumpaste, pastillage, Mexican paste, and modeling chocolate and can offer a thorough explanation of their uses, benefits, and pros and cons

And a few favorites from my facebook friends. To read the rest of their absolutely hilarious comments, go to my facebook post.

~manicure? What’s a manicure? {Nancy}

~you have suffered more cake related ailments than standard ones: ruffler’s fingers, ganacher’s shoulder, decorator’s ankle, stacker’s wrist and buttercreamer’s lung {Royal Bakery}

~you pipe shells on your toothbrush with toothpaste {Brigitta}

~you break a drawer pull and the first solution you think of is to make a new one out of gum paste {Tamatha}

And since no post would be complete without a few cake photos, here are just a few recent cakes that we’ve done.

Callan made over 300 hydrangeas for this buttercream cake. Photo by Darren Wagner.

I love working with chocolate fondant. It’s just dreamy.

And finally, sweet and classic.

Until next time, keep on caking, and wear that food coloring proudly!

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