Hot Chocolates

Outdoor Weddings, part 2

2011-09-28T11:39:00.002-05:00

Cute, isn't he? He was less than 10 yards away from that wedding cake. Between him and the wind gusts that threatened to blow the cake away, I was very worried about this cake! It was all ok, though. I called the next morning & spoke with the groom. He said the wind blew enough to make the cake lean slightly, but it was not a problem for them. Whew!

I've said it before (right here, in fact) and I'll say it again. Outdoor weddings are beautiful. And scary for the vendors! While we urge against it, we will set up a cake outdoors as long as the bride & groom go into it with their eyes wide open. It is their dream day, after all, and we are there to make their dreams come true. I just want them to be prepared for the heat, wind, rain, bugs, and animals that can impede on that outdoor dream. As long as they have the attitude that "at the end of the day, we'll be man & wife, no matter what," then that's good enough for us!

Fondant all the way, baby!

2011-09-23T17:36:00.000-05:00

This is one of only a handful of cakes we've been commissioned to do that is ALL fondant, all the time. Typically we do fondant designs on buttercream-frosted cakes, and the occasional fondant covering with buttercream piping. Most of our customers don't go for the price associated with fondant, especially when they don't like the taste or texture.

I know our preference is for the taste of buttercream (cream cheese frosting for myself) and we've truly mastered working with buttercream so that it has a fondant-like finish. It's a heck of a lot of fun, though, to get to stretch those creative muscles and do something unique!

"Next Blog"

2011-08-28T19:28:00.002-05:00

So I was cruising around on Blogger, just hitting the "next blog" button at the top of the page over & over, when I noticed something. More than half of the blogs I visited hadn't had posts in over 2 months and many not since 2010 or previous. Kind-a like my blog. I don't feel so bad now. I visited dozens of blogs from all over the world- Australia, France, Mexico, Spain, and realized I'm not the only one who has gotten behind on her blog! That being said, I am firing up the old blog machinery once again and hope to improve my record for time between posts. Wish me luck!

We're moving!

2009-12-09T15:23:00.002-06:00

It's official- at the end of January we will move one mile North from our current location to 668 Grapevine Hwy. We are really excited about the move to this dynamic shopping center. We will be in between our old neighbor Richard's Jewelers who moved there last year and Mardel Bookstore. Tom Thumb grocery store is in the center and Stein Mart is opening on the other side of Mardel's late this year or early next year.

We're excited about all of the opportunities this move gives us- not only to meet new customers, but a chance to streamline our production into a new kitchen set-up based on 5 years of learning what works best for us. We do have some items for sale that will not be making the move with us- check out the list. We have everything from holiday decorations to chocolate knick-knacks to restaurant equipment.

Long time, no blog

2009-10-24T11:47:00.005-05:00

Once again time has gotten away from me and I find myself WAY behind on updating our blog. I do have news for those of you familiar with our official store greeter, Miss Lily- she is blissfully unaware that her territory is about to be invaded. That's right, Becky is preggers again. Unexpected, but not unwelcome, this new addition will be a challenge. Keep us in your thoughts.

On the confection front, we're excited to see that the summer blahs are over. Our favorite holiday, Halloween, is right around the corner and we've got lots of ghoulish goodies to celebrate. Check out our Spooky Gingerbread and our newest additions, Monster Toes and Potato Bugs. Thanks to Neena for the Monster Toes idea- they are delicious and cute!

2009-08-05T13:54:00.016-05:00

Wow! Time gets away from you sometimes. I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. We've done lots of fun cakes recently & I wanted to share some photos.

Groom's & Bride's Cakes- congrats Erica & Taylor!

"Patron" Cake & coordinating Cupcakes

"Pirates of the Caribbean" themed birthday cake & a "Salmon & Avocado Sushi Roll" Cake

"Day of the Dead" themed cake & Newcastle beer bottle cake

Oh, THAT Recession!

2009-06-15T14:12:00.003-05:00

So, let's just hope it was a bad week, but with letters coming left and right saying that our credit limits are slashed and a VERY slow week for orders, we are feeling pinched, to say the least.

Themes

2009-06-08T14:31:00.008-05:00

You know that old line about how things always come in threes? Well, it's not always in threes, but we've noticed time and again how wedding cakes ten to have the same themes from one weekend to the next. 3 weekends ago we had two different groom's cakes both designed like XBox 360s.

2 weekends ago, it was Star Wars. We had the Rebel Alliance symbol on a groom's cake, Han Solo and Leia topping the bride's cake (the bride custom-made her own topper), and figurines on another groom's cake.

This past weekend, the theme was red and black color schemes. There was a red & black plaid/brocade combo for a bridal shower, a red-swirled bride's cake, and a matching red & black groom's cake.

The recurring themes happen over and over again, and we get a kick out of it every time and thought you might, too.

Fort Worth Zoo Beastro

2009-06-08T13:54:00.007-05:00

This past Friday was our 3rd time to participate in the Fort Worth Zoo Beastro. It is a fundraiser for the Zoo and is a one-of-a-kind tasting event in the Zoo after hours with food from great local restaurants, live music, open bars, and lots more. We took cupcakes again- 3 flavors this time- lime, pineapple, and strawberry. If you've never seen 800+ cupcakes all at once, it is quite impressive! The Zoo opened up their private events area this time and we had a blast since we were close enough to hear the bands- Better Than Ezra and Time Machine. We also got a lot more interaction with the crowd this time (thank you to the anonymous young lady who was giving out kisses!).

What Recession?

2009-05-29T12:09:00.003-05:00

My goodness! For this country being in a recession, this has been our busiest year yet! I keep thinking of ideas to blog about, but I have been SOO busy! I just wanted to take a minute and let you know we are still here, we're just CA-RAZY busy right now. If you need a cake, we are having to stick by our 72-hour (3 day) notice policy to be able to fulfill our orders, so order in advance!! Talk to you soon- have a suh-weet day!

Cake Demo at the Junior Woman's Club of Fort Worth

2009-05-04T12:48:00.008-05:00

We recently did a cake decorating demonstration for the lovely ladies of the Junior Woman's Club of Fort Worth. We showed them how to frost a cake like a professional and sprinkled in a fews stories about how we got started. After the demonstration, we gave each of them a cupcake and some icing so they could make their own buttercream roses. It was informative, fun, and sticky! Here are some more photos from the evening.

All the lovely ladies...

Hands-on buttercream rose help: A fabulous rose-topped cupcake!

Outdoor Weddings

2009-04-27T14:00:00.008-05:00

Outdoor weddings can be scary for the cake. Note the wind-blown drapings in the background of this photo- yikes! The caterer had to prop the chairs against the tables to keep the tablecloths in place and Lori had to strategically place the cake plates around the cake table to keep the tablecloth from taking out the cake.

Ultimately the cake turned out great (see the photo below) and we got this email from the bride: "We just wanted to send a note of thanks for the wonderful cake you made for our wedding last weekend. The cake tasted awesome...there were many compliments. We were very afraid we were going to end up with a lot of cake leftover since we ordered about 30 extra pieces and it was a morning wedding, but every piece was eaten! Also, the cake was just beautiful and we're extremely happy with how it turned out. You really nailed the design, and the chocolate mosaic held up really well outdoors. No melting at all! We'll definitely recommend you guys in the future. Thanks again! -Melissa and Jim"
Here's what our Wedding Cake contract says about outdoor weddings:

"WE STRONGLY URGE YOU TO HAVE THE CAKE INDOORS if at all possible; here is why: bugs and animals are attracted by sweets, heat and/or high humidity adversely affects icings, fresh flowers can wilt, chocolate decorations will melt, rain would ruin the cake, and wind can blow the cake over or take the tablecloth (and cake with it) right off the table. If absolutely set on having the cake outside, be prepared with a backup site just in case of unforeseen extreme weather conditions, and know that we cannot ensure the cake if it is outdoors."

Since we do our best to discourage it, we rarely end up setting up a wedding cake outdoors, but it does happen when the bride & groom have their hearts set on it, so we do our best and cross our fingers that all goes well. So far as we know, melted icings and a slight lean are the worst our cakes have gotten outdoors. We're not happy about that, but in Texas you NEVER know what the weather is going to be like, and hey, it's cake and icing- it tastes great no matter what!

Cutest. Things. Ever.

2009-04-21T16:42:00.004-05:00

Sarah, our decorator, saw the cake pops on Bakerella's blog and we decided to try them out on Saturday.

I crumbled up some Devil's Food cake and tried mixing a batch with Vanilla Buttercream and one with Fudge Icing to see which tasted better. Surprising to us, we liked the Vanilla better; the fudge gave the cake balls an odd mouth feel and tasted too chocolatey (if there IS such a thing). We didn't use Cream Cheese icing like Bakerella did because we didn't want to have to keep them refrigerated. Next I scooped different sizes of cake balls to see what would work better with the cupcake forms we have. After a stint in the freezer, Sarah and I formed the balls into various "cupcake" shapes. Then we dipped & sprinkled them into the cutest things we'd ever seen. So cute, we're going to add them to our menu.

The first batch is still in the shelf-life-testing phase, but once we've figured out all the logistics of flavor combos, packaging, selling price, & marketing, you'll be able to buy one of these bad boys all for yourself. They're so cute you may just want to gaze adoringly at it and not eat it. You'd better buy two just in case.

Chocolate is Healthy!

2009-04-21T11:43:00.002-05:00

I just watched this video touting the health benefits of chocolate. But of course, you knew all about this already, right? Well, just in case it's news to you, check out the video. Then come get some of our Superfood- 70% dark chocolate blended with dried blueberries and cacao nibs. It's delicious AND high in antioxidants (aka, good for you assuming you don't eat a pound in one sitting).

Candy Mountain

2009-04-19T11:12:00.006-05:00

Our friends over at The WickeDeli are obsessed with the Charlie the Unicorn videos. In their honor I created this Candy Mountain cake for our monthly dinner party last week. The cake itself is Peppermint with Peppermint Buttercream frosting and a WHOLE lot of candy. I didn't have any unicorns on hand, but I figured Marshmallow Bunnies were likely to be found in the woods surrounding a place called Candy Mountain.

The Goal- at least 1 post per week

2009-04-18T23:23:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I've been told by a very savvy friend that I should set a goal for how often I plan to post to the blog so that my readers won't get bored with checking in and finding zip, zero, zilch. So my goal is at least 1 post a week. I'm already up to 2 for the night, so I may surpass my goal, at least while this blog thing is fresh & shiny to me.

Blogging for Beginners

2009-04-18T22:52:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I'm learning to create a blog for Hot Chocolates so we can tell you about all things chocolatey, and, um, hot. So please bear with me as I figure all of this out. Thanks and have a sweet day!