We're Only Halfway Through...

The month of July kept us hopping... it seemed this month was the month for cupcake orders.   The cake business is strange... it's like a pendulum. You never know how it will swing and how far. Some times I will go weeks without cupcake orders and think, "Hmmm... maybe the cupcake craze is over, then WHAM!!! I am hit with a rash of cupcake orders". Yep.. the cake business is certainly unpredictable.

Here are some of the orders we completed this month...

30th Birthday Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting... YUMMM!!!

 Smash Cupcake for a little girl turning ONE. Love the contrast between the colors. We also made coordinating cupcakes to match the cake. Her mom later wrote me, `` Jasper loved her cake and the cupcakes were a real hit. Thank you!!!!``

Pansy Cupcakes. These for a client whom I have made her birthday treats for the past 3 years.  She later emailed me saying, ``Thank you very much fo rthe beautiful Pansy cupcakes you had made for my birthday. They made my day very special. Thank you.``

AND, lastly, this was the HUGEST wedding cake I have made to date. This wedding cake was created for a very sweet bride. This 5 tier wedding cake was airbrushed in pearl dust and then scroll work and lace applique was applied to the cake which was then painted in champagne dust.  Unfortunately, I didn`t get a great pic of the cake, however, the bride has promised she would get me one.  The bride emailed me, the day after her wedding saying that the cake, ``It was absolutely incredible!``

Taking a moment to breathe...

Well, the month of June is now behind us and we can now catch our breath! It was SUPER busy here at Just Like Gram's.  We were so busy that I didn't get a chance to take pics of every cake that went out our door, but here are just a few.

Clifford the Big Red Dog Smash Cake created for Lana Hamilton Photography. Love the paw prints going up the side of the cake!

We created this hockey theme cake for a young man graduating from high school. It featured the colors and logo of his favorite hockey team... the Edmonton Oilers. Sugarpaste accents included hockey sticks, hockey skates, puck and a grad cap.

Here is another high school graduation cake we created for a young lady.  This cake was centered around the theme of music. The bottom tier was designed to look like piano keys, with scroll work and musical notes on the second tier. Topping it off was the grad cap with a gold tassel.

 I absolutely love the simplicity of this wedding cake. This 4 tier square wedding cake featured white sugarpaste blossoms at the corners of each tier which were wrapped with a green and overlapping black ribbon. Later I received this message from the bride,  "Thank you again Tara! It was perfect, delicious, and exactly what we wanted."

Another wedding cake that went out our door was this 3 tier square wedding cake. It featured simple scroll work  with a yellow and orange ribbon wrapped around each tier.

Received a call from a lady out of town who wanted to order some cupcakes for some friends. She chose a variety of theme, such as these Golfing Cupcakes. She later sent me a message saying, "LOVE them!! Thanks soo much!!"

Beer Mug Cupcakes

"Don't send Flowers, Send Dessert!"

"Don't send flowers, send Dessert!" For years, flowers have been the traditional gift delivered for a special occasion, sympathy, thank you, or when you want to express a feeling.

Just Like Gram's is now offering an alternative. Instead of flowers, we bring dessert… always considered special, uplifting the spirits of the lucky recipient.

 Just Like Gram's offers freshly baked custom decorated cakes, cupcakes and cookies. We will even deliver them for you. Delivery is included in the price of all our baked goods within the Fort St John area.

Check out our Delivery Vehicle!

It's been a while...

I know I haven't posted in a while, so now that we are halfway through June, I sit back and look at the previous couple of months. After taking off most of April, my husband and I took our children to Disneyland and then after being home for a week, I headed back east to Kitchener, ON to attend a course taught by Karen Portaleo, of the Highland Bakery, hosted by Chrissie Boon of Icing Inspirations.  I was only there for one night and came down with the flu. Running a fever of 102, I wasn't about to quit. I gritted my teeth, filled up on meds,  and somehow got through the course. I spent lots of money just to attend with airfare, hotel costs, etc so I wanted to get my money's worth.  We learned a ton of stuff about modelling and working with chocolate. It was too bad being so sick with the flu that I didn't really have a the chance to thoroughly enjoy it. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to take another course by Karen. Unfortunately, I never finished my cake (I WONDER WHY???), so ONE day when I have some spare time, I will finish it.

After my course was done, I headed to my sister's in Alberta for some R&R, shopping and visiting family.

May brought a whirlwind of cake orders.  Here are just a few of those completed...

I work closely with the wonderful Lana Hamilton of Lana Hamilton Photography. She specializes in family and children photography. She also does Smash Cake photography too. Her work is AMAZING, plus she is fun to work with.

Set of two Smash Cupcakes  for a set of twin girls.

Smash Cupcake for a little boy who was into Dr. Seuss  (who isn't... "Big A, Little a. A, A, A", yes I read that book to my son a ZILLION times)

Smash Cupcake featuring purple polka dots and matching bow.

Sculpted Martini Glass Cake for a young woman's birthday.

In addition, to the sculpted Martini Glass cake, we also created this pink cake with black zebra stripes. Matching fondant martini glass applique was applied to the top.

I received a lovely phone call from Mary Anne on Vancouver Island who wanted to order some cupcakes for a young lady's birthday (she had just moved up here). Isn't that sweet?  I created some Red Velvet cupcakes with Italian Meringue Buttercream sprinkled with silver dragees and purple gumpaste blossoms.

Snoopy Revisited...

Last weekend I created this adorable Snoopy Doghouse cake complete with Snoopy and Woodstock molded from sugarpaste. I had created this cake design, complete with cupcakes, a couple of years ago for a baby shower.  When I first received the request a few weeks ago, I asked the client if she wanted the EXACT same cake or should we add something to the cake to make it more "individualized". The client requested the same design. Now, I really don't like replicating the same cake design.  I like making each cake customized and a little different for each client.  You know... make it "yours". So with this particular cake I made the roof have some texture by using a brick-like impression mat and we also put a large "5" on the back of the doghouse for the birthday boy. 

To complete the cake order, she requested additional cupcakes topped with little Snoopy's and Woodstock's. These toppers were created out of chocolate.

Sharin' Some Love!

Well, Valentine's Day has come and gone for yet another year! Personally, it was pretty quiet for both my husband and I. We don't make too much of a big deal of it. I do get a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates (which were completely devoured by both my kids and husband... I did manage to sneak a piece  in though). I got him some much-needed darts for his dart board. His were pretty mangled and sad looking. That was about it. No dinner out... he had to work late and I was busy fielding my kids around to taekwando practice and horse riding lessons. 

Both the days leading up to and on Valentine's Day morning was spent filling Valentine cupcake orders. Here are just a few pics of the cupcakes we handed out yesterday. 

Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes (we couldn't seem to keep enough of these in stock... they were extremely popular this year)

Share some love... with a cupcake!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching! Check out these Valentine's Day cupcake specials:

• Strawberry Passion - Strawberry Cupcake filled with strawberry preserves topped with Strawberry Buttercream
• Red Velvet - Red Velvet Cupcake filled and topped with creamy White Chocolate Cream Cheese
• Chocolate Truffle - Chocolate Cupcake filled and topped with decadent Chocolate Ganache
• Chocolate Raspberry - Chocolate Raspberry Cupcake filled with our homemade Raspberry Filling and then topped with Raspberry Buttercream
• Chocolate Brownie - Chocolate Cupcake filled with Chocolate Pudding and then finished with Pink Buttercream topped with a chocolate brownie heart

Cupcakes are $3.25/ea (minimum of 12). Cupcakes can be picked up between 9AM-2PM. Call today to book your Valentine Cupcake order!

Coffee Break Cupcakes

New from Just Like Gram's starting Oct 11, 2011

Craving something sweet to go with your coffee, but can't get out of the office? Let Just Like Gram's "come to you" providing your office with delicious homemade gourmet cupcakes.

Your Coffee Break Selection Box ($48) includes:

4 Cappuccino Express Cupcakes

4 Chocolate Fantasy Cupcakes

4 Just Like Gram's "Cupcake of the Week"

Deliveries will be made Mondays between 9:00AM -10:00AM. To order your cupcakes, orders must be received by Friday 5:00PM for the following Monday. Call 250-827-3023 or email sales@justlikegrams.ca to order

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here at Just Like Gram's we were busy creating all sorts of creations. This past weekend we received orders for 2 birthday cakes for 2 special people who happened to have their birthdays on Valentine's Day. The first cake was a created for a client who loved sail boating. So we created this nautical theme cake complete with anchor, sand and seashells.

Last week we received a phone call from a sweet gentleman who wanted to order a special birthday cake for his wife. He wanted to include her favorite color "purple" but coincide with Valentine's Day! He chose tuxedo cake filled with raspberry cheesecake filling iced in Italian Meringue buttercream and then covered in purple fondant.

Valentine Cupcake flavour this week: Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Buttercream topped with a heart shaped chocolate brownies drizzled in chocolate.

This peach pie was a special request of my husband. He LOVES peach struesel pie and when I asked him if he wanted anything special for Valentine's Day, this is what he ordered. The only difference was that he ordered 2 pies, not 1. You see at Christmas he wanted peach pie for his birthday, but our 9 year old son got into it and by the time he was through eating it, my poor husband ended up only getting 1 piece of his birthday pie. SO, this time, he wanted to be prepared and asked for 2 pies.

Valentine's Day Specials

Only available until February 14th - Order today and Reserve your sweet treats today!

Hand Decorated Custom Valentine Sugar Cookies - $2.75 each (min of 12)

Valentine Cupcakes: $2.50 each (min of 12)

• Strawberry Passion - Strawberry cupcake with strawberry buttercream
• Red Velvet - Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese buttercream
• Chocolate Truffle - Chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache
• Chocolate Raspberry - Chocolate raspberry cupcake with raspberry buttercream
• Chocolate Brownie - Chocolate cupcake with pink buttercream finished with a chocolate brownie heart.

He Shoots! He Scores!

Yes, I know there what you're thinking... "what's going on, you haven't posted anything in eons?" Yes, you are right, I haven't and I have no excuses. Life was so hectic this summer with wedding cakes, plus the normal business of birthdays. This summer was the busiest it has even been. We did more wedding cakes than ever before. So, now that wedding season has died down a bit, I have been just kinda playing a bit lazy and doing the mom/wife thing. Baking for my kids, taking them to their after school functions and spending time with my hubby doing our favorite pastime - "hunting". AND, yes, I am still doing cakes, but wedding season has slowed down so I have had a bit more time to breathe.

Here was recent order we did this past week. I love when I get calls from repeat customers wanting to order again and rave about our cakes. This customer ordered cupcakes and cake for her 3 year old son's birthday. The theme was tractors and hockey. Way to go, Canucks!

Tractor cupcakes were white with strawberry filling iced in traditional buttercream. Hockey stick cupcakes were decorated with fondant hockey sticks and pucks. These were vanilla filled with Boston cream pie filling and iced in traditional buttercream.

These cupcakes featured the hockey jersey of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team. One of my favorite flavours were vanilla with raspberry cheesecake filling iced in traditional buttercream.

For the birthday boy's cake, she chose a design featuring the Vancouver Canuck's logo complete with hockey puck, stick and skates. Cake flavour was red velvet (their favorite) with cream cheese filling, iced in traditional buttercream and covered in fondant.

Wedding Cake Season is in Full Swing

Well, it's that time of year again and wedding cake season is upon us in full swing. Can't you tell from the recent lack of post's lately? Sorry!!! Anyway, here is a quick run down of some of the few we have done recently here at Just Like Gram's.

3 Tier vanilla cake filled with raspberry buttercream and covered in fondant. We added sage green ribbon and artificial calla lilies and grass. Simple, yet beautiful.

This 4 tier wedding cake was delivered to a wedding in Tumbler Ridge last weekend. Cake was covered in pale ivory fondant wrapped in brown ribbon and filled with fresh pink roses.

Cupcakes are still in demand these days as an alternative to wedding cake. The bride chose vanilla and chocolate cupcakes iced in traditional buttercream and raspberry buttercream and then each one was topped with a fuchsia gumpaste flower. The top cake was iced in ivory fondant with a simple monogram topped with fresh flowers.

"I said you would make cookies for my class, MOM"

I hear this quite frequently, now that I am in the cake business. My kids have become experts in "volunteering" me to make stuff for their class parties. And, OF COURSE, it always happens when I am the busiest, RIGHT? Nevertheless, I can't turn them down, and spend late nights creating cool treats for their classes. This week was one of them. So, here they are....

My son asked for sports ball cookies and happy face cupcakes. I couldn't resist and make some flower cookies for the girls in his class too.

My daughter requested cupcakes with pink butterflies and stars with "shiny sprinkles" on them.

Sometimes All It Takes...

is a happy smile. I made these whimsical cupcakes swirled with vibrant shades of buttercream for a young girl's birthday. Each cupcake is topped with a fondant butterfly. When the young girl came with her dad to pick them up, her eyes lit up with joy. She was soooo happy! That's all it takes sometimes to make your day...a child's happy smile. Happy Birthday Victoria!

Valentine's Day Specials!

Celebrate Valentine's Day with these sweet treats!

Cookies:

• Brownie Bites $18.00/doz
• Hand Decorated Sugar Cookies $2.50/ea
• Monogrammed Heart Cookies $5.00/ea (Large) $3.00/ea (Small)
• Send a message with our Valentine's Day Letter Cookies $2.50/ea

Cupcakes:

• Rose Topped Cupcakes $2.75/ea
• Valentine's Day Heart Cupcakes $2.25/ea
• Monogrammed Red Velvet Cupcakes $2.50/ea
• Hugs & Kisses Cupcakes $2.25/ea
• Valentine's Day Cupcakes with either Chocolate Hearts or Chocolate Roses $2.50/ea

Call Just Like Gram's to book your order today at 250-827-3023 or email us at sales@justlikegrams.ca .

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to Roberta, winner of our Facebook Group contest. She won a dozen FREE cupcakes. Roberta chose lemon flavoured cupcakes with traditional buttercream.

And It Keeps Going, and Going and Going...

Right now, I feel like the Energizer Bunny. It's Christmas baking season right now, and I never seem to get a chance to sit down and take a breather. I just keep going, and going and going. Baking all those wonderful goodies means early mornings and late nights. I am usually up by 6 and don't crawl (literally) into bed until after 1AM. Yup, I'm exhausted. But, you know what, I love baking. There is something soothing and peaceful baking christmas cookies while listening to Burl Ives and Frank Sinatra singing those Christmas classics that we all grew up with. In addition with all the Christmas baking, there is the usual orders for cakes. People don't stop having a birthday just because it's Christmas. Here are a few of the orders we put out this week.

We designed this surprise birthday cake for a guy who loves hunting with his favorite dog and pack horses.

Lynette from Unforgettable Memories ordered these adorable mini-cupcakes for their Christmas party. Cupcakes were topped with white chocolate snowflakes. Yummy!

Here is one of MANY Christmas baking platters we have sent out this week.

Our First Official Newsletter

Just Like Gram's is excited to announce it's first official newsletter. This newsletter (which will run on a quarterly basis) will include lots of great ideas for new and fun cakes, helpful hints and tips, upcoming specials, recipes and most importantly, a chance to win FREE cupcakes.
Subscribe to Just Like Gram's newsletter and enter to win a dozen delicious homemade cupcakes (your choice of Chocolate or Old Fashioned Vanilla) valued at $27.00. All you have to do to enter the draw is to subscribe to our newsletter. Just email us at justlikegrams@xplornet.com and let us know that you would like to subscribe. Your name will be then entered into our draw. Cupcake offer is open to residents of Fort St. John BC only. Winner will be drawn June 30, 2009

Scissors Cake

Last week I was approached by Chelsey, the owner of our local bridal store, The Glass Slipper, to design a cake for her. She wanted to present a cake and cupcakes to the girls of the local high school hair dressing program. The girls had helped out at the bridal shows by doing all the hair styling for the fashion show.

Chelsey wanted the colors to be black and pink with a pair of scissors on top of the cake. I really enjoyed designing the cake and loved the colors she chose. It looks whimisical, yet trendy. The top cake is vanilla filled with Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream, iced in Italian Meringue Buttercream and covered in fondant. The cupcakes were both vanilla and chocolate iced in Italian Meringue Buttercream and then covered in fondant. Scissors were gumpaste and dusted with silver luster dust.