Quail nesting in my backyard!

Gambel's Quail, a photo by Elegant Cake Creations AZ on Flickr.

It is not unusual to regularly see quail in my area. What is unusual is that I have discovered a pair nesting on my back patio!!
I had noticed a female a few times running straight to the patio and jumping in to a potted plant. I didn't really think anything of it until yesterday when I mistakenly frightened her out of the pot and spotted her clutch of eggs! This is her mate pacing around in the yard this morning.

We now have a full out red alert at our house to protect the mama and her nest as well as to prepare for the babies!  I have put a barrier around the pot so that inquiring noses of the canine variety can not frighten our mama away. We have purchased a quail block so that food is more readily available for mama and daddy.  I am searching for something to hold water for them.  

I have researched how to make life a little easier for the babies when they arrive.  One thing I must do is to add something to raise the soil level to the lip of the pot.  Apparently the wee ones can only hop about 1 inch to get out of their nursery. I need to add some soft materials around the outside of the pot to cushion the landing.  I also need to make sure that there is plenty of protection around the yard for the little guys to run under as they make their way out into the big world. So much work for the grandparent!!
My best guess is that hatching should occur sometime around the 20-25th of June. Stay tuned for updates!

IMI Design Open House Cake

Winning Auction Cake, a photo by Elegant Cake Creations AZ on Flickr.

Here is the cake for the winning bidder at the Southwest HIV/Aids fundraiser. IMI Design Studio of Scottsdale needed a cake for their new studio open house.

The inspiration was the Andy Warhol flower and A. Calder shapes. Each side of the cake is a different color - pink, lime green, yellow and orange. It's not too visible in this photo but the cake is not straight stacked, it's more geometric.

I completely LOVE the background which is their mascot/logo. Great photo by Luke, the IMI Office Manager.

HIV Awareness Cake

HIV Awareness Cake, a photo by Elegant Cake Creations AZ on Flickr.

A couple of months ago I was contacted by the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS. Their annual "Night for Life" is one of the largest fundraising events in the Phoenix area each year. They wondered if I would like to donate a cake to the silent auction, of course I said yes to such a worthy cause.

It's a little tricky to market a custom cake at an event like this. Like all art, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the event planner! What type of cake to provide to maximize interest and $$$? I struggled for weeks to decide...do I provide a wedding cake a baby shower cake, what to do?!?

I decided to start with the red awareness ribbon and design around it and this was the final result. My only objective was to grab attention.

The winning bidder was IMI Design of Scottsdale. They will have a fabulous cake at their upcoming open house! I don't know what the winning bid was but if the center received even a few dollars because of my donation then it was a success. It brings me great pleasure to do something for such a great organization!

marytempesta's photostream

marytempesta's photostream on Flickr.

I just came across the most AMAZING cake toppers and I had to share with you! I've never before found any company I was comfortable with referring to my customers, I'm so delighted to have FINALLY found one!

Mary is located in Italy but ships worldwide. She makes her custom toppers out of polymer clay to your specifications. Working with her seems to be very simple. Using the contact form on her website you give her a brief description of what you'd like the topper to look like. Attach a couple pictures of you and your fiance. She will then work with you on design ideas and give you a quote. Here's the link to the contact form on her website -mary made it
Simple right!?!

Her work is so detailed that I'm guessing you need to order as early as possible.

I can't wait to put one of these fabulous toppers on one of my cakes!!

Six Tier Wedding Cake

Six Tier Wedding Cake, a photo by Elegant Cake Creations AZ on Flickr.

Kerry's fabulous six tier cake! I started on the flowers in February for an April 28 wedding date. There are literally hundreds of sugar tulips, roses, peonies, sweet peas, lilacs, hydrangeas and ivy.

Via Flickr:
The ultimate wedding cake! 4/6/8/10/12/14 inch tiers covered with parchment colored white chocolate fondant. All hand-made gum paste flowers in shades of ivory and white lightly dusted with color. Green and peach fondant lovebirds with gold crowns finish it off!

My New Years Resolution

OK, so about 6 months ago I set up this blog space and then proceeded to completely ignore it...not even one single post. Now I have resolved to make it a priority!

I won't bore you with my thoughts on what I want from this blog, or even what I want to write about - since I'm not completely sure what that will be.  This will be a journey for me and I'll be chatting about whatever I think is interesting...most certainly there will be cakes!  Now on to my thoughts for today.

My first cake of the year was a birthday cake for a customer who's daughter is turning 18.  She asked for a colorful cake and her daughter loves cats.  Upon further investigation I discovered that our birthday girl received two grey kittens as a gift. That was the entirety of the instructions from the customer... of course, I also had to know how many guests it needed to serve as well as flavors but you know what I mean.

I love it when the customer gives me a short briefing about the recipient and a few ideas and lets me run with the design.  All of my most popular cakes have been cakes that I designed this way.  When working with a cake designer let us know what is important to you - what must be incorporated into the design and then let us do our job...design the cake!

One word of warning - there are many cake decorators out there who are not cake designers, so make sure you know who you're working with!  


Until the next time, be kind to each other and have the sweetest of days :)