Wedding Season is Here!

At Confectionery Cake Shop, wedding season is the most exciting time of year in the kitchen. The wedding industry is so much fun, from meeting with newly engaged couples, designing their wedding cake to completing their cake or cupcakes for their guests at their reception. With sites like Pinterest for inspiration, designing a theme for your wedding can be fun and exciting. Here are a couple of pictures from recent weddings, from birch trees to daisies and tropical orchids – sugar and fondant flowers are in!

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OH BABY! It’s a GIRL!

3 dozen cupcakes and a 6" cake

Okay, is there anything more fun than a baby shower? I mean there are little tiny dresses, books and toys to be gifted, lovely snacks and some total girl time with your friends and family! This shower was a special one for me because it was for a good friend who is expecting her first! The invitations came in the mail and were the inspiration for this cake and cupcake display. The rest of the inspiration came from the gals who were planning it. When I take a cake order, I don’t just ask what you want and write it down… I ask what overall look will be in the room, how you plan to have guests enjoy the cake (cutting it on plates with forks or just napkins for cupcakes?) and what flavors you’d like. For this cake, red velvet was a must have, cupcakes for the guests and a cute 6″ cake for the mom-to-be to take home and share with dad-to-be!  The cupcakes were decorated with a variety of pink fondant flowers to match the cake. The stand is something you can either rent for the afternoon or order-to-keep through us! With a cute cupcakes and cake display, your shower will be even more special and memorable!

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Inside A Creative Ad Agency

Carmichael Lynch Cake

If you haven’t seen the inside of an advertising agency, you are missing out. It’s one of the coolest work environments… I know this because I used to work at one, this one – Carmichael Lynch in downtown Minneapolis. It’s a creative atmosphere. That means, when you walk into the lobby, you can sit on the swing while you wait. When you head to the conference rooms, they’re not just numbered, they are given first names, like “Elton”. Energy runs high and the open work environment helps that. They’ve worked on big clients, like Jack Links Beef Jerky, Porche, American Standard, Harley Davidson Motorcycles and so much more. Their mission, as stated on their new website is this: Carmichael Lynch has a history of creating powerful emotional connections to brands. In creating these connections we do more than make our clients’ brands top of mind for their target. We create a lasting bond between brands and people.
When it came time for them to release a new logo this past Monday, they called Confectionery Cake Shop to bring them cake – at 9:30am. Yes, at an ad agency, you can eat cake for breakfast. The cake was a custom cutout of the new logo, the letters ‘CL’ in a funky new shape that just feels organic, full of movement, fun and forward thinking. It will easily live in print, online and of course, in cake.

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We won the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Award 2012!

Photography by Graddy Photography

{Faribault,MN} – January 23, 2012 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding Marketplace, is excited to announce Confectionery Cake Shop has been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for Wedding Cake!

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, Confectionery Cake Shop was selected based on its stellar reviews from past newlywed clients.

Confectionery Cake Shop is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Confectionery Cake Shop for their continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.”

We are happy to announce that Confectionery Cake Shop is one of the very best Wedding Cake professionals within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today.

To learn more about the Bride’s Choice Awards™, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire™, the nation’s leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.

Meet Minnesota’s Best Wedding Photographers!

You don’t always need an award to prove that you’re the very best, but if you ask Graddy Photography to show you a couple of awards, they will certainly be able to. Even though they were recently awarded the MN Bride Magazine‘s Best Photographer of 2011, Justin & Chrissy Graddy definitely don’t let it go to their head. They are personable and down to earth photographers whom I met at a friends wedding a few weeks ago. The photos from that wedding turned out so beautiful so when it came time for a few product cake shots for an upcoming ad that will run in the Faribault Daily News‘ Wedding Journal as well as Girlfriend Magazine‘s February issue, I knew who to call.

When I walked in, I was graciously greeted and given a tour. Their studio is converted from an old theater in the heart of New Prague. It has a small town feel, but was a wonderland modern equipment, hip and stylish backdrops, vintage furniture, and creative props. The entry area had a gallery with some of the finest photography in the Twin Cities and Minnesota, okay fine, the Universe.

I often joke that I treat my cakes as if they are people and Graddy’s also seemed to treat them in the same way, having them rest on stools, benches and couches. They were gentle with the cakes and knew how to handle them so they wouldn’t become damaged. The shoot went smoothly and the portraits turned out fantastic. It was a stress-free experience for me, which is what we all hope to feel when it comes to hiring a photographer.

Keep an eye out for Graddy Photography. If you’re planning on getting married in 2013, I suggest calling them now as they will book up fast. When you see their portfolio, it’s no wonder brides want them to capture their wedding on camera. You can find a link to their website to the right of this post in my preferred vendor links list. Enjoy!

* The best way you can support local wedding vendors like us is to please take a moment to vote for us for ‘MN Brides 2012 Best of“. You need to vote for at least six vendors for your vote to count, but you do not need to fill out the whole form. Cakes are listed in the #40s. Thanks!

A Winter Wedding!

Most Minnesotans would expect there to be two feet of snow by the turn of the new year, but this year has been a surprisingly brown winter. As Leah and Matt planned there winter wedding, I know somewhere deep down, they were hoping for snow… and the morning of their wedding, there was a beautiful snowfall that covered the ground in white! What a beautiful backdrop for their big day.

This was a fun wedding to create a cake for because the decorations and flowers were surrounding the woodland theme with golds, red berries, and lots of fresh evergreen scents in the air! Their cake was a chocolate cake with raspberry filing and fresh vanilla almond buttercream. The cupcakes that fed the guests were vanilla cake with bavarian cream filling, chocolate cake with bavarian cream filling and carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream. They were decorated with a handmade chocolate twig and fondant berry. The cupcakes were displayed in a custom cupcake stand that the couple got to keep. The Vintage Ballroom in Faribault was a beautiful venue that was the perfect place to celebrate their winter wedding. Congratulations to the lovely couple, Leah and Matt!

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2011 -This blog site in review

You may be interested in starting a blog on your own or for your small (or big) business! Well, one of the perks of having a wordpress blog is that they send you this nice annual report at the end of the year. I enjoyed reading it and you may too. Thanks everyone!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 26,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

It’s A Thomas The Tank Cake, in 3D!

Yum! A Thomas The Tank Cake!

Chugga, Chugga, Choo! Choo! Here comes Thomas the Tank! This cake was for a very special golden birthday for a very cute 3 year old who loves Thomas the Tank. This is a great example of a copyrighted character that CAN be created in cake because of the purchased rights and accessories (like his face). Thomas’s face came with a cute keepsake DVD for the birthday boy to watch after cake and presents of course! He was iced in blue buttercream with white and chocolate cake inside. This little train feeds around 24-30 folks, so if you’re having a larger party, don’t forget to add on a few cupcakes! Do you know a child who loves Thomas too? Make sure to pre-order your cake 1-2 weeks in advance. Or if you have another copyrighted character in mind, just call to see if we can make it into a cake for you. Thanks!

Oh, Sweet Holiday Cupcake Bouquet!

6 Cupcakes placed in a pot filled with candy

Everyone loves a little sweet treat during the holidays… after all, it’s the month before we start the get-fit workout plan, right? If you’re thinking of doing something special for someone, whether it be for a Secret Santa gift exchange, something fun for your employees or just a small way to bring some cheer into someone’s day, consider a cupcake bouquet! Six yummy cupcakes, decorated as buttercream poinsettias in a keepsake pot filled with candy, delivered to their workplace between 10am-2pm M-F. Don’t forget that deliveries are complimentary in Faribault. Not in Faribault? Please see details on delivery minimums and charges on the menu tab. These cute memorable and edible gifts are only $45.00, so make sure to order yours today! Would you rather feed a crowd? Check out the slideshow for other fun options, like boxed cupcakes and cake pops. Sheet cakes and tiered cakes are also beautiful options for the holidays! Call to order 507-384-9008.

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A Quick Note About Copyrighted Characters

Thanks to some wonderful customers, I’ve been receiving lots of requests for some of the coolest characters around! It’s not a surprise since children love to see their favorite character in cake! I thought this would be a good time to go over why a copyrighted character can not be replicated or sold for profit.  While the laws may restrict some of the options for cake decorating, Confectionery Cake Shop is still able to create a wonderful, original, creative cake for you, just check out some of the photos on Facebook.

Copyright Law regarding Cakes

Copyright law not only applies to software, books, pictures, and video; it also applies to a bakery selling decorated cakes and other cake items. At one time or another, most people have ordered a cake for a special occasion. Especially for birthdays, many people request that their cake be decorated with popular cartoon, television, movie, or comic book characters. Most people don’t realize is that it is a violation of federal copyright law for a Cake Decorator to decorate any product they make with an identical copy or close likeness of copyrighted movie, TV, cartoon, or comic book character without permission of the copyright owners. To do so can cost the Decorator and the customer a great deal of money for damages under the law. When only a specific character will do, there are plenty of officially licensed figures and images that a bakery can use.

So why do you see so many creative cakes with images of famous characters on google images? Well, many of those cakes were made by someone in the household who made it for a family member and did NOT profit from it. That is the key.

So why do you see character cakes at the grocery store? Those templates and toys added to the cake are purchased by the bakery and are not left up to the interpretation of the decorator. The templates are purchased from a specific source that covers the usage rights. Those same options are available through my shop. You do not see cutout cakes of characters at a grocery store, only the toys or edible images.

The use of officially licensed items ensures that neither the Cake Decorator nor the customer is in violation of copyright laws. I have had customers ask me to create 3D cakes or cutout cakes of popular characters such as Hello Kitty and I explain to them the law, and suggest they choose from a licensed cake top novelty (which I then email them options). A copyright protects an original work or creation and gives exclusive rights to that work or creation to its author.

Once again, the licensor cannot control the quality and is not earning a royalty on the product created around their character. Licensed pans cannot be rented to consumers by stores since the licensor is not earning a royalty from the transaction. Generally, creating any type of image that looks like a licensed character that is sold for commercial purposes is prohibited unless there is a specific licensing agreement with the licensor for that product and royalties are paid each time the product is sold.

I know this is a ton of information, but I do get this question more than once per week, so I would like to have a place to refer customers who are interested in knowing a little more information on this topic. The penalty for violating the law could be $150,000+ fine, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Thanks everyone!