Christmas Desserts

Christmas is one of my favourite times of year. I love listening to (and singing) Christmas music, I love driving around and seeing homes lite up with beautiful lights and decorations and of course I LOVE all the Christmas baking I get to do. This year Sweet Occasions is offering some delicious Christmas desserts to help make your Christmas Season a little Sweet-er.

Gift Giving
If you are looking for a gift for a chocolate lover, we have just what you are looking for. Instead of giving an ordinary box of chocolates, give a box our Sweet Obsession Brownies. This is a one pound box of moist, fudgey brownies. Flavours include: Double chocolate fudge, Chocolate walnut, Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Cherry and Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Holiday Entertaining
Whether you are hosting a Christmas party or just want to be prepared for unexpected visits, Sweet Occasions has you covered with a platter of assorted Christmas cookies. All cookies are delivered fresh and can be put in the freezer, or right on your table. Each platter contains 2 1/2 dozen delicious Christmas Cookies. Cookies include: Peanut Butter Munchies, Cranberry Raspberry Pinwheels, Ginger Crinkles, Chocolate Cherry Blossoms, Maple Shortbread sandwich cookies, and Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark.

Christmas Morning
Wake up the house with the amazing scent of our Christmas Butterscotch Buns floating through your home. This is a true "You Bake" dessert. These wonderful sticky buns come in a disposable bundt pan. Simply place them in the freezer until the night before you want to serve them. Take them out of the freezer before you turn out the lights and let them sit on the counter overnight. In the morning they will be ready to bake. In 30 minutes you will have fresh, sweet and sticky Christmas Butterscotch buns to pull out of the oven and serve to your loved ones...and boy will they love you for it!

Pricing:
Box of Brownies - $12
Christmas Cookie Platter - $20 for 2 1/2 dozen
Christmas Buttersctoch Buns - $15

Please call Rachel at 905-261-7345 or email to place your order. Orders will be available Dec. 13th and Dec. 19th. Orders can be picked up in Newcastle or can be delivered to you for $5. Orders of $50 or more will recieve free delivery.

MaMi Shoppes Christmas shopping party

You're all invited to a unique Christmas shopping experience! Local mompreneurs are meeting under one roof to provide you with the best in selection for your holiday shopping. There is truly something for everyone on your list. This is one party you don't want to miss!

This party is being held on Nov. 25th, 2008 - 1 month to the big day! There are 2 shopping periods to accomodate everyone: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm. Participating businesses include:Balaboosta Baby - trendy baby accessories for the modern mommmyCreative Kids Klub - crafty workshops for childrenKosyKids - innovative sleepers for your babyMusiGo - original children's music and movement cds & toysOrnamentea Soaps - soaps in unique shapes and scentsPeridot Designs - sterling silver & semi-precious jewelrySenter Studios Photography & Designs - silver photo jewelry and professional photography servicesSweet Occasions - custom order designer Christmas cakes, goodies & unique edibles available onsite

Also featuring:LEGO at factory direct prices, baby bows, stained glass ornaments, craft & scrapbooking supplies, handmade chocolates, knitted cupcakes, etched glasses and more!

Visit http://mamishoppes.blogspot.com/ for directions to the location as well as links to the artisans websites!

~Refreshments courtesy of Sweet Occasions~~Children's activity table courtesy of Creative Kids Klub

Irish Castle

Here is a cake from a few weeks ago. The bride and groom were married in a Irish castle in August. They had a reception in Peterborough for friends and family who wern't able to attend the wedding. They really wanted to incorporate the Castle where they were married into the cake. We decided on a four tier cake with grey fondant stamped with a stone look and then brushed with black to get the castle look with draping. The brides colours were apple green with accents of fuschia pink. Bright and fun! I was really happy with how it turned out. You can't really tell in the picture that the fondant has the stone look, but it looked cool in real life.

Prego

I had a fun order for a baby shower cake yesterday. My daughter actually told one of her friends mom's that I did cakes...so she called me to do her sisters baby shower cake. She said that her sister is a little more funky and that the colours were brown and green. I found this cake that I loved on http://www.pinkcakebox.com/ and emailed it to her. I thought it how she described her sister. She loved it, but I wasn't sure if I could manage the "prego" figure on top...I love how she looks on the cake, but I tried modeling a belly dancer once, and it just didn't turn out right. I decided to give it one more try, but this time I thought I should enlist some help. I found some amazing online tutorials on modeling figurines from fondant and voila! I am pretty happy with how she turned out. There is always room for improvement, but this is a huge improvement over my first attempt...poor bellydancer :) I am eagar to hear how the shower went. The cake was chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream and chocolate buttercream on the bottom and vanilla cake with pralines n' cream buttercream on top....This picture was taken at night, so it isn't the greatest, but you get the idea.

Autumn Time

I had a cake tasting at King's Court Catering this week. I needed to make up some more sample cakes, so I decided to do a Autumn theme. I didn't want to do the typical leaf thing, so I decided to focus more on colours. I went with chocolate brown and green. I am really happy with how it turned out (even though my son Benjamin kept referring to the vines as "snakes"). I love the green roses. They just pop off the cake.

I also decided to redo the "Halie" cake. I loved that cake, but didn't have a great picture of it. I went with a round version this time, and it looks great!

Thanks once again to amazing photography by Heather from SenterStudios.com

Angelina

I had another small cake order for Parkwood manor on Friday night. Angelina and Chris wanted cupcakes with a ivory and chocolate theme. I love making these cupcakes with the little flowers...they are so cute.

Halie's pattern

This cake was for Halie and Paul (a very fun couple) who were married yesterday and had their reception at the Ajax Convention Centre (gorgeous). Halie really wanted the cake to incorporate part of the design from their wedding invitations. I am so happy with how the pattern turned out. I had to cut and paste it together, but you can hardly tell. This cake was really fun to bake. I love when couples are creative with their flavour choice. They chose a chocolate cake with a layer of dark chocolate ganache and two layers of raspberry buttercream...delicious!!! for the top and bottom tier and a vanilla cake with a layer of merangue and two layers of lemon cream....also delicious with a really nice texture combination. Paul is a trained pastry chef and loved both cakes at the cake tasting, but I am curious to hear what their guests thought.

Nesa's Orchids

What can I say about this cake. I never knew that there were so many varieties of Orchids, but I have to say I think these are my new fav's. I really enjoyed meeting with Nesa and Mahmoud. Their wedding was held at Parkwood Manor in Oshawa. This was my first time back there in about 10 years. I drive by it all the time, but havn't gone in. It was absolutely gorgeous. They had beautiful weather...one of the few saturdays that havn't had rain this summer. I love the look of this cake. I think 4 tiers are the way to go...they are just so much more dramatic. Nesa really wanted to have a large cake, but didn't need that many servings. I suggested adding a few "fake tiers" and voila....another lovely cake was born. I was really happy with the draping on this cake. I showed my parents a picture of it yesterday, and they both agree that this style of cake is their favourite.....maybe I will have to surprise them with one for their next big anniversary :)

Lovely Lillies

I love how this cake turned out. This cake was for a bride named Angela. Her friend was supposed to do make it for her, but she had to return to England for a family emergency. I delivered this cake to the new Ajax Convention Centre...wow...very nice inside. If you are judging by decore alone, then I would highly recommend them. I was able to say hi to Angela and her husband while I was setting up the cake. She looked beautiful and was just beaming. I love delivering the cake, especially when I can catch a glimpse of the bride :) I am really happy with how this pic came out. I guess my camera does work sometimes. Don't the Star Gazer Lillies look gorgeous.

Ever After

The theme for this wedding was "...And they lived Happily Ever After." The reception was held at Lakeride Golf Course. I had never been there before, but I was really impressed with the location. It was very nice. I have been wanting to do a cake like this for a long time. I love how it looks like the cake is floating on the roses :) I am really annoyed with my camera though. I must have taken over 20 pics of the cake and most of them turned out fuzzy, even though they looked fine when I checked them on the camera.

Surf N' Sand Cake

I had a really fun wedding cake last week. A friend of the bride (bride lives in B.C) contacted me about doing a wedding cake. The wedding was being held in Collingwood and the bride and groom had a beach theme. She was pretty specific with the look of the cake. She didn't want the traditional beach theme cake with white sea shells etc. As you can see, this cake was anything but typical. The colour of the cake was the colour of beautiful glass starfish that were being used as part of the decoration. The surf board on top of the cake was also a specific request. I was really happy with how the cake turned out. It was different not to deal with the bride and groom, and not to deliver the cake myself, but I was told that "that the cake was a great success! Everyone loved the look of it and absolutely loved the taste! The bride and groom were thrilled!"

Gerbera Daisies

I love Gerbera Daisies...so I was very excited when I had a wedding with pink Gerbera Daisies and pink and brown as the colour. Immediately this is the cake that I pictured in my head. The bride and groom were married in Cardston, AB earlier in April. The cake I made was for a recption held in Bowmanville for the friends and family of the bride that couldn't make the trip out west. I was really happy with how it turned out :)

The Stanley Cup

I made a 50th birthday cake for family friends a couple of weekends ago. I turned out okay...but there are a few things I would change about it. I decided to experiment and make my own fondant for the first time. The fondant turned out great....it was super easy to do, but when I was covering the cake with the fondant, I noticed that it cracked a lot more than the pre-made fondant I usually use. Next time I experiment with homemade fondant, it will be on a cake for my eyes only :) The next thing I would have changed is the size of the "cup" on top. I had made a larger version, but for some reason the gumpaste wasn't hardening. I didn't have time to make more gumpaste, so I had to use what was left over....thus the cup was a lot smaller than I would have liked it to be. I thought it turned out pretty good. Rusty (birthday boy) is a Toronto Maple Leaf's fan, so I couldn't resist putting some Leaf's logo's on it.

A great day

I finally got all my things together and called Kings Court Catering and made an appointment to see them this afternoon. They are the exclusive caterers of Parkwood Estate in Oshawa. The are the number 1 caterer's that I wanted to get "in" with. I met with their wedding coordinator Danielle. She was really impressed with my mini portfolio. So much so, that she called one of the owners and head chef Kathy over to take a look. Kathy was also really impressed....she said that if my cakes tasted as good as they looked, then they would fully support me and let me "piggyback" off them for bridal shows :) She also said that they have 3 tastings a year for their clients and potential brides and that I could set up a table at them with me cakes and samples. I was on cloud nine. They were so supportive and encouraging. When Kathy saw the poinsettia cake, she said she wanted a chocolate one for Christmas as a center piece:) I am so glad I had the nerve to go and see them. I also dropped by Val's Bridal and Bunnies Catering and left some of my large promo cards that the very talented Heather Senter designed for me. They really stand out amongst all the other business cards there. I finally went in to see Yvonne from the Apple Blossom (florist shop in Orono) to introduce myself. She was really great and encouraging. She loved the new cards and even asked if I wanted to bring a cake in to display in her shop. I am going to bring in the black and white one....definitely a looker :) What a great day.

Shannon's baby shower

I had a lot of fun making this cake for Shannon's baby shower. I asked her sister if there was a theme for the shower and was told no.....yeah....that meant I could do what ever I wanted. My brother Jordan is in construction, so I decided to pay tribute to him. I thought he would appreciate it :) I was thrilled with how it turned out. It looks exactly like the sketch I made. I love the nails sticking out of the cake :) Shannon loved it!

Busy Week

It has been a busy week. I have had a ton of fun making cakes. I made 3 wedding cakes this week for a photo shoot for advertising. I worked with chocolate fondant for the first time. My husband said he didn't think it tasted too different from regular fondant, but it sure did smell awesome to work with. I have been wanting to do a black and white cake for some time. I love any kind of black and white design. I love the look of this cake. I saw a few of the pictures and I think they turned out great. Here are some pics I took myself of two of the cakes. I will post better ones once I have them.

Princess Hannah

Princess Party dress made out of fondant.

Noah's Ark

I had wanted to do a cake like this for some time. As soon as I heard that a friend was having a "Noah's Ark" themes shower, I offered to do the cake immediately. She has waited a very long time for her precious baby. I thought she deserved an extra special cake.

Sarah

Can I say delicious. I call these "trufflicious". They are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate truffles inside toped with chocolate icing and a chocolate dipped strawberry....see what I mean. I made this for my sister Sarah's beautiful winter wedding.

Amanda

This is one of my favourite cakes. I love all the draping. It is elegant and dramatic at the same time.

Laura

Amber

Trina

Multicoloured roses handmade out of gumpaste.

Cassie and Drew

This is a cake I did for my husband's cousin Cassie. Cassie said I could decorate it however I wanted, the only request was separate tiers :) I really wanted to try out my new impression mat, so voila. I was really happy with how it turned out.

Getting Started

Well I have finally taken the plunge. I finally listened to the advice from Shawn, Chris and Heather and started a blog for my wonderful and amazing cakes :) I heard it was easy, but this is very cool. I will have to get used to talking when no one is listening...

Here is a picture for Jara's wedding cake. It was taken by a friend, just before the cake cutting. I will post a picture of the front when I have it. I have to say that it is my favourite of the cakes I have done so far. The Calla Lillies were easy to do and I even had someone tell me that they looked better than the real ones at the wedding :)