"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!

June...and We're only Half-Way Through....

One thing I have noticed over the years is that some years, June is quiet and some months June can be completely insane. You can never predict from year to year, what it's going to be like. In the past, I have had a ton of weddings in May with few in June, but this year.. the EXACT opposite. June seems to be THE month to get married. Let's also add in the fact that it is also graduation season and people don't stop having birthday's either. We are only half-way through June so I thought I would post some pics of the cakes we have completed so far.

Buttercream piped basket weave flower basket with all hand made sugar flowers.

The following three cakes were created for a client (and upcoming bride of mine) who planned a "ladybug" theme party for her little girl turning 1. We created a ladybug smash cake, ladybug birthday cake for the guests and additional ladybug cupcakes.

 














One week later, I created this wedding cake for the mom "the bride". She had a destination wedding and then came back to hold her reception. We chose a bold blue color her wedding cake with some simple white scroll work. Chocolate seashells and fresh orchids were added at the end to complete the overall look.

Another wedding cake created last weekend was the this ruffled cake complete with yellow ruffled gumpaste flowers. The bride requested a design by Maisie Fantaisie. The original design had pink flowers which we changed to lemon yellow. I also added additional ruffles than the original design.

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.

Let's talk about "DEPOSITS".

What do I have to pay a "DEPOSIT"?

An excellent question!

Yes, we require a 50% non-refundable deposit on all our orders payable at the time of ordering.

Why?

First, we are a custom design cake studio AND if the order is cancelled, we cannot sell the cake to someone else since it was made for a specific client. We are not a walk-in bakery or large scale grocery store where we have ready made cakes to sell. All our cakes are made-to-order to the customer's specifications.

Secondly, when we take a deposit, we book that day and commit ourselves to your order. Many times we turn down business because we are booked already. Should an order be cancelled, we have lost business since we have turned away clients in order to design a particular cake.The non-refundable deposit covers the lost opportunities and the costs incurred by the vendor based on your commitment. In the past, we have ordered specialty items or started production on specialty cakes, only to be called a few days prior to completion to have the order cancelled. For example, one time I had an order for an "adult oriented" cake, and after having the cake baked and started working on the decorations, I received a call needing to cancel. There is no way I could have resold the cake since 1) it was adult oriented 2) it had some very specific custom designs requested by the client. You know the saying, "...it only takes once".

So requesting a "deposit" does 2 things:

1) It protects the customer. When you place an order and pay the 50% non-refundable deposit,  you are guaranteed that your order is booked with us. The deposit  protects the client and assures the client that the vendor will be there. No worries! and
2) It protects us against cancelled orders and lost business.

Happy Mother's Day!

Looking for a treat for your mum on Mother's Day? Just Like Gram's is offering a box of either 6 or 12 Gourmet Filled Cupcakes decorated with handmade roses. Choose from these delicious cupcake flavours: Red Velvet, Cappaccino Express or Raspberry Mirage.
Cupcakes are specially priced just for Mother's Day. We will be taking orders until May 9th. Cupcakes must be picked up or delivered May 11th. For more information call us at 250-827-3023 or email us sales@justlikegrams.ca.

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.

An Early Start to Wedding Season...

About a month ago, I received a call from my good friend and wedding planner, Tammy of TLS Wedding Designs, about doing a wedding cake for a June wedding she was planning. Not a  problem... and a consultation was set up. Fast forward 2 days in which Tammy calls me and says the wedding was moved up by 5 months to the end of February. She now had 2 weeks to plan a wedding. Could I do the cake??? Fortunately, I had a light schedule that week so I was able to fit her in.

Over three-way conference calls, we managed to have a consultation over the phone and came up with a design that the bride was happy with. It was a small wedding, however she wanted a 3 tier red velvet cake utilizing different shapes. We went with 2 square cakes (one on the bottom and one on the top) with a round cake in the middle. Each square tier was quilted and turned so the point was facing to the front. The middle round tier was decorated with an edible sugarpaste ribbon in the shade of pewter silver with a monogram. To stay within budget we added silk red roses on top and few at the bottom to balance the design and complete the overall look.