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

Ariana's Bunny Cake vs. Arianna the Cabbage Patch Kid

Sometimes you can just tell you have a cool kid on your hands, even if you never got to meet them in person... the moms can really say it all. Mom Sarah emailed me, requesting a bunny cake for her daughter Ariana's 4th birthday! I made it dark chocolate with vanilla buttercream and a raspberry jam filling. Ariana's fave colour is also light pink so I tried to pink it up as much as possible... Sarah was the nicest, and loved the cake. I can only hope Ariana loved it as well!

Making this bunny cake for Ariana caused this childhood memory to come flooding back to me:

Back in the 1980s, one Christmastime there was a mega massive craze for this ridiculous doll called the Cabbage Patch Kid. Whoever marketed this doll back in the day was a genius. Cabbage Patch Kids all had their own "personalities", including their own name and special official birth certificate, and, strangely, each butt of each doll was stamped with a scrawled signature of "Xavier", the creator of these dolls. Now it seems a bit Scientology to me, but back in the 1980s it was a must-have item. So anyhow I ended up with a redheaded doll named Arianna... (I originally unwrapped a brunette doll on Christmas day but my sister started crying saying she wanted the brunette... so I traded with her even though I also wanted the brunette! An early act of sisterly love...)

Arianna the Cabbage Patch Kid had dimples, close-set eyes and carrot-orange yarn braids, a little-house-on-the-prairie style dress on, and... a rock-hard plastic face. So one night I was trying to cuddle my newfound doll, bonding with it, if you will. I pulled Arianna close to me for a hug and her hard plastic head clocked me square in the nose, causing spontaneous shock and tears. Sadness! I really never bonded with my Cabbage Patch Kid after all. I think it's because the face was poorly designed ... I couldn't find it cute, and crikey it was like cuddling a rock! Shortly after though I moved on to my true love, Pound Puppies! Haha...

I wonder whatever happened to my Arianna doll? Oh well. Maybe my mom knows.

Back to the cake -- I never tire of this bunny design! I just think it's so cute and funny. I think a cute addition would be a moustache or a pair of nerd glasses... but we'll leave that for the next time someone orders a Coco Cake bunny cake! ^__^

Happy Birthday Ariana! And thanks Sarah for the fun order!

Dace 10th Anniversary Cupcakes!

Dace is one of my favourite Vancouver designers... her clothes are often described as "effortlessly chic", which I think is a pretty darn good description. Throw on anything Dace and suddenly your outfit is much cooler than it was before. Simple, but with beautiful "interest" accents such as a puff sleeve there, a drape here or a dart there, suddenly you're looking much more Euro/fashionable/minimalist edgy. Spring 2011 is looking very gorgeous with pale peach tones, light blues and lots of silk/cotton mixes.

Dace has been around for ten years too... I think this is an incredible milestone, especially in the fickle and scary fashion world! And the line continues to grow and mature, maintaining that nicely designed sophistication, that effortless chic, throw-on-and-go appeal.

Coco Cake did 200 mini cupcakes for the Dace 10th Anniversary/Spring 2011 preview party here in Vancouver. 200 mini boxes each packed with a cute little vanilla mini cupcake and a "10" flag. It was a fun party with so many lovely looking people swarming about. And wouldn't those adorable boxed cupcakes make the cutest little wedding favour ever? ;)

Congrats to Dace and all of her hardworking beauties! Here's to many more years of your lovely designs!

xo Lyndsay

Truman The French Bulldog Cake!

Scott secretly ordered this Truman dog faced cake for his wife Bobbi's bowling birthday party... a rated-G affair, pizza and bowling, as Bobbi is pregnant and due this summer! So cute! Bowling and pizza was my number one fave birthday activity when I was a kid... can't even remember the number of times I did that for my birthday party... Old Orchard Lanes 5-pin followed by Me n Ed's at Middlegate mall, crisp pizza served on giant tin pans, and a wide window into the kitchen so you could watch your pizza being finger-handled by a pimply teen in a tomato-sauce covered apron, while we sipped on plastic opaque glasses of orange fountain soda on ice!

The Truman cake was coconut cake made with pure vanilla extract, shredded coconut, a touch of almond extract, some vanilla almond syrup, vanilla almond buttercream and toasted coconut in the middle!

Bobbi loved the cake... and you know a woman is well-loved when her husband surprises her with such a sweet and thoughtful and hilarious gift!

Facts known about Truman the French bulldog:

Truman enjoys standing in the shower.
Truman lives with some very cute cats who beat on him senselessly if he sleeps near them.
Truman enjoys "swimming" across the carpet to Bobbi and Scott each morning.
Truman often rolls on his back barking at himself and pushes off the walls in the hallway.
Truman is ridiculously cute.

Happy Birthday Bobbi! Such an exciting year to come!

xo Lyndsay

Coco Cake Party Jams - Children's Cake Round-up!

Oh to Childrenland we go!

I would say Coco Cake's orders are a good 50% children's birthday parties... which I love. I teach kids art, I adore kids and find them hilarious... so I'm always super stoked to make something for a little cutie-pie maniac kid or that softspoken shy kid or that inquisitive, funny and always-holding-a-book kid... any kid, really.

So here are a few of Coco Cake's latest creations for kids! Enjoy!

Rosanna requested a special Sesame Street-ish birthday flag for her son's birthday cake...

Cookie Monster! Happy Birthday Daniel!

Dimithra ordered this 2 tiered cake for both her daughters' Fancy Nancy Valentines themed birthday party! Coco Cake's first tiered cake!

Super sweet and simple pink fondant heart topped cupcake to go with cake.

Happy Birthday Sapphira and Nyla! And thanks to my cake buddies April and Jennifer for their advice on making the two-tiered cake!

Last minute order from Christina for a monster-sized DRAGON CAKE for William's birthday!
I put the striped cupcake liners in the pic for size comparison. This guy was very heavy and time-consuming! But I thought he turned out pretty cute!!

Cute little stripey Happy Birthday William flag!

Scalloped fondant scales covered his whole body...
inside was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.

Hoot hoot! An owl, star, moon and clouds cake for Kaiden's birthday!
With mini cupcakes to match!

I love that little star with the face on it. Too cute! A special star cupcake for Kaiden.

Cake side view. Inside was chocolate cake, chocolate ganache and chocolate buttercream...
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Crazy fun times in Coco Cake Land. Thank you to Rosanna, Dimithra, Christina and Peggy for these fun children's cake orders!

More posts to come... stay tuned...

xo Lyndsay

xo Lyndsay