I went to a wedding industry conference in October, and one of the seminars I attended was about the importance of Pinterest. I had avoided getting sucked into Pinterest up until that point, but after the seminar I dipped my toes in the pinboard waters.

I still haven’t cannonballed into the deep end, though. I have posted a few dozen of my cake photos, and I’ve communicated with several brides using their Pinterest boards. There are many, many beautiful cakes on Pinterest, and I enjoy looking at them as much as the next person.

Of course, there are no prices listed with the cake photos, so couples can get an unrealistic idea of how much work goes into a certain design. Still, I’m happy to look at and Pinterest photos that can give me a feel for what a bride is looking for.

It really is a great tool, I have to admit!

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I love cakes that have a touch of the natural. Leaves, sticks (edible, of course) and yes, even grass! This green buttercream and fondant cake was for the only wedding cake I’ve ever delivered to the Rose Garden in Portland. It was crazy time consuming to create each of the blades of grass, but I LOVED the way it turned out!

Green cake iwth multicolored blades of grass.

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I’ve been getting a lot of orders for Minnie Mouse birthday cakes lately. There are a couple takes on it, but they always include pink and a lot of polka dots. I’ve done so many I’ve stopped taking photos of them all! But here are a few.

This one has a smash cake for the birthday girl

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By far the most common look I’ve been seeing at weddings during cake deliveries is a sort of shabby chic/rustic/country angle with a lot of burlap. It’s often paired with yellow, antique white or a touch of other color.

Using that as my guide, I created a dessert bar for the recent bridal show that featured these sorts of country touches. The accent color was aqua. There were log “cookies” to place some desserts on. In all, the bar contained cake, cupcakes, cake pops, white-chocolate pretzels and peanuts, chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks and monogrammed sugar cookies. A burlap runner and little bit of sparkle tie the whole thing together.

The great thing about the dessert bar is that it can be altered and tweaked to fit any theme and any array of desserts. I also did a HUGE spread of desserts for Willaby’s Catering and the event they were doing for Stayton’s Santiam Memorial Hospital annual Christmas party. There were 1,100 total treats all together, including cake pops, chocolate-dipped macaroons, cupcakes, cake truffles, sugar cookies, crystal candies and more.

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A huge trend right now is ruffles — going up, going down, going sideways. Sometimes they are a single color, and sometimes they have a color variation called “ombre.”

There are a few ways to achieve the look, mostly done in fondant. The ruffles facing up are made with thin strips of fondant with tooled edges. The ruffles facing down are made with small fondant circles tooled like rose petals and then placed one at a time in rows. There even are sideways and diagonal ruffles, too, though I’ve never had call to try those!

The bottom tier features lime green down-facing ruffles

This three-tier cake is covered in ombre upward-facing ruffles

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Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but I have had so many couples calling, emailing and booking, I can bearly keep up. I can’t figure out if everyone is just planning early this year (which is GREAT) or if there are just TONS of weddings going to happen this year. I’ve talked to other cake designers in the area, and they say they are seeing the same thing.

Anyway, I’m already at 45 wedding cakes booked, which is completely unprecedented for this early in the year. Usually it’s March before I have that many on the schedule. And they almost all are during the summer months, not a lot of May or October this year. Last year we did about 60 cakes all together, a bit on the low end. This year I may have to cap it at 90 or so.

So, if you are thinking ordering a cake can wait until later, DON’T DO IT! You may get stuck going to a grocery store!

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Well, the 2013 Oregon Wedding Showcase is behind us. It was quite a whirlwind with lots of chances for me to meet brides and couples. There were a surprising number of couples with 2014 weddings at the show (the organizers give attendees name stickers with their wedding date on it), but I think it’s the trend right now to plan early. I’m looking at you, Pinterest!

My booth this year, with help from Sue Hamilton from SHE Designs, looked better than ever. I struggled with a theme, and settled on a melange of bountiful bling, classy rustic and classic black and white with a touch of aqua. I was lucky to have a double booth, too!

Gigantor cake and sample minicupcakes

Yep, it’s me!

Rustic burlap with touches of aqua. Shabby chic approach

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Christmas provides basically a built-in color scheme and theme for a winter wedding. New Year’s is great in that regard, too, but that’s a post for another day.

Couples often go with a Christmas-gift look or something similar, usually with red tones and silver.

Light blue and red is another great color combo for winter in general, in my opinion.

Here’s a wedding cake we did a few weeks ago. The tree makes a lovely backdrop to the cake in general, and the deep red roses and silver/gold sprigs on the cake corner provide understated elegance to the display.

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Questions relating to cake to ask other vendors

Caterer: Will your company cut the wedding cake?

Florist: Will you work with my cake designer to plan the cake flowers? Who puts them on?

Gown shop: If a color match is needed, can you provide one to my cake designer?

Rentals: What type/color of linens will be on the cake table? If a color match is needed, can you provide one to my cake designer? Do you have cake stands for rent?

DJ: When do you like to time the cake cutting? Do you have it on your schedule for the night?

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Here is a list of questions I presented at a workshop a bit ago. It might be helpful.

10 questions to ask your cake designer

Can I taste your cakes before booking you? Are your tastings free? When do you do them? How many people can come to the tasting?

 Are you a licensed bakery? At home or at a commercial kitchen?

Do I have to choose one of your designs, or can I bring my own? Can you mix and match elements of different designs? Can you achieve the look I want in a smaller/bigger version of the cake in the photos?

Can I see photos of cakes you actually have designed?

I’m on a budget, what options are there for cost savings? Can I get sheet cakes from a different store, or do you provide them? Do you bake cupcakes, other desserts?

Can I have a buttercream-frosted cake for a summertime, outdoor wedding? Can the cake be set up inside and moved outside when the reception starts? What is fondant, and what does it taste like?

Does the total number of servings and price include the top tier?

 When should I book a designer?

How far in advance do you bake the cakes? Do you freeze them? How long does the decorating take?

Do you deliver and set up the cake, and what is that fee? Also, do you deliver the cake in one piece or separated?

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