Winter Roses Wedding Cupcakes

There's something so sweet, cozy and romantic about a winter wedding. Quietly lit candles, boughs of fresh green cedar and gorgeously dark, berry hued florals. I made a small but beautiful collection of early grey tea rosette buttercream topped cupcakes and a simple cutting cake topped with fresh peonies, ranunculus and dark velvety red roses for Holly and Ben's December wedding. Pretty, simple and perfect, with a beautiful bride, handsome groom and memories of a heartfelt day to last a lifetime. Happy wedding, Holly and Ben! Thank you for having me as a part of your very special day!

xo Lyndsay 

Coco Cake's Favourite Cakes Of 2011!

2011 was a pretty whirlwind year of cake-mania in good old Coco Cake Land of Crazy Times and Cool Moments. It kind of blows my mind when I scroll through my zillions of photos of cakes - I think to myself, "I made all of those!? I'm an insane person." Yes, I think it's true! As the year draws to an end, I thought I'd do a little round-up of my fave cakes of 2011! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year, everyone! I also want to give a major heartfelt THANK YOU to my wonderful readers, clients, blog buddies and fellow cake-makers for all of your support of Coco Cake in 2011!

See you all in 2012 - fun times ahead! Have a healthy and happy New Year, everyone!

Love,

Lyndsay

Autumn Love - Cake Romance!

It's been a busy beaver Fall for Coco Cake indeed. Here is a round-up of some Fall-in-love cakes and cupcakes... !

Lindsay and Greg's lovely, simple dark chocolate vegan and gluten free wedding cupcakes at the Brock House in Vancouver! I adore the uniformity, red color blast and cuteness a single berry topper can give to a grouping of lovely cupcakes.

An anniversary cake for one of my favourite wedding couples from last year, Jeanie and Ian!

And the sweetest card they gave me to thank me.
Yes, J uses a typewriter to write letters and cards... love it!

Denalda's 50th birthday bash at the Granville Island Hotel - loving how all of those lovely minis looked nestled closely on their stand - dark chocolate with vanilla buttercream, raspberry topped vanilla cupcakes with ruffle-puff frosting, and lemon cupcakes with lemon creamcheese frosting!

A green tea buttercream frosted, anko red bean filling cake for Pax's birthday!

Julie and David's foresty Fall wedding day at SFU's Diamond Alumni Center.
David made the cool stand!

Sweet little mini cupcakes for Natalie's 30th birthday at Canvas Lounge in Vancouver... a place where you can party and paint at the same time!

Thank you lovely Coco Cake customers!

See you all soon, blog world! Lots more to come! xo Lyndsay

Happy (Stylish) Matrimony: Jenny & Alex!

Are you dying of cuteness? Those bird toppers? Yep. Insane cuteness alert... unfortunately I can't take credit for those birds - they were made by the very talented bride, Jenny!

I just loved working with Jenny - she was a super cool and friendly bride with the cutest vision for her wedding: a gorgeous palette of grey and purple, mixed with that dang adorable little birdie theme. Her groom was a really cool dude too.

Jenny requested Earl Grey cupcakes, lemon cupcakes and dark chocolate cupcakes with a lavender colored vanilla buttercream rosette design - I did it all up in silver and purple cupcake liners, along with an Earl Grey flavoured cutting cake with the birdies perched (heehee) on top.

The wedding reception was held outdoors under a giant tent on the lawn at Hart House in Burnaby, BC - a gorgeous venue overlooking Deer Lake. Love that Ikea frosty/artful snowball globe light and the purple lanterns, and the lush, colorful flowers!

Thanks so much Jenny and Alex - I really enjoyed working with you - here's to a lifetime of fun and love!

xo Lyndsay

Stella & Jonathan: Vibrant Fuchsia & Purple Wedding Cupcakes!

I love it when brides (and grooms!) come to me with a strong sense of colour and design for their wedding! Stella was intent on three gorgeous shades of fuchsia pink, a rich purple and a pale lavender, three colours I think look lovely together... !

Stella and Jonathan's wedding took place on a freakishly sunny day in cold February here in Vancouver. The day before their wedding, the weather was crazy -- hail, wind, rain, wet snow, grey skies... but the weather gods were looking down at them, beaming sunshine! The reception was at Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver, a place that has fond memories for me as well... my sister Leanne had her super fun wedding reception there, and Sutton Place is also where I stayed during my own wedding weekend.

But this is a side of Sutton Place I didn't get to see before... we got to load in the cakes through the alley to the service entrance and take the service elevator up! Amazing the difference between the swinging doors to a buzzing-with-staff, stressed and fluorescent lit-kitchen and the magnificent mirrored ballroom with glittery chandeliers, soft lighting and an air of fanciness. The members of the Sutton Place Hotel team were super friendly and helpful, jovial with each other and seemingly enjoyed their work - willingly committed to the cause: good service. This is a good sign at any establishment, don't you think? I've seen enough Top Chef and read enough Anthony Bourdain at this point to understand the horror stories of a kitchen... but this group seemed pretty happy. Nice to see.

For Stella and Jonathan, I made a simple pale lavender coloured fondant lemon cake with three pieces of satin ribbon and custom flag, as well as Lemon Frill cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream tinted a rich vibrant fuchsia pink... ! Stella and Jonathan, so happy the cupcakes were a hit... many many congratulations... and enjoy the many fun years together ahead!

xo Lyndsay

photo of bride/groom and cupcake stand by Roger Ting

Coco Cake at Indie I Do!

Make a statement without saying a word! Did anyone out there love Sassy magazine like I did as a teen? I remember my older sister buying them when she started high school, and me getting to take a peak at them, along with poring through her high school annuals and dreaming about my own high school experience that was yet to come...

Sassy magazine was like an early teen bible for my friends and I... it was feminist without being outrightly so, it taught young women about self-esteem and being strong and following their dreams. It had amazing fashion and true life stories (It Happened To Me) and real advice for real problems that young women faced. It didn't candycoat readers with a typified tween existence of boys and prom and weight loss. It gave young women confidence and the power to think for themselves. Of course as a teenaged girl you still want to feel pretty and be liked and have crushes and dream about boys (or girls) and so on. Sassy was a perfect balance for that - allowing girls to be teens but empowering them at the same time.

So yes, I was a proud reader of Sassy!! And within the pages of Sassy there were always ads for Exclamation! perfume... with the tagline "Make a statement without saying a word!" The colour scheme was always black and white stripes or polkadots, with a splash of pink! Very late 1980s/early 1990s... so this was my visual inspiration for this year's Indie I Do wedding fair!

I've been wanting to make one of these adorable cupcake wrapper garlands ever since I saw it online here! So with the colour inspiration in mind, I sat at my table with This American Life playing in the background and strung together a lovely, fluffy, crinkly garland of black, white and pink. I also made a super cute new Coco Cake sign in pink and grey (two colours that are so pretty together, and, let's face it, 1980s!) and then made oodles of flags to go with it all. My favourite thing is to make things matchy and designy - I had lots of fun doing this!

For the cupcakes, I made light pink rosette buttercream topped vanilla cupcakes in silver wrappers, dark chocolate cupcakes in pink gingham wrappers and dark chocolate cupcakes with white vanilla creamcheese frosting blobettes. Pink carnations rounded out the late 1980s vibe for my Coco Cake wedding display table!!

I had a blast and a half at the wedding fair, partying it up with my amazing friend Sharon. We met lots of great brides and grooms, chuckled it up with some fellow wedding vendors and met lots of new friends too. All in all a great event!

(last photograph of my table by the amazing Jeanie Ow!)