I Got These Troubles. I'm Makin' Plans...Know There's Really Nothing but You...

Ello Baykahs!
Happy ALMOST New YEAR!
2014 has definitely been a transitional year for Retro. We're still workin' out the kinks with our crew. We're still trying to figure out how to KEEP IT FRESH after seven years. So, I plan on changing some things in 2015...I just haven't figured out quite what I want to change.
The one thing we AREN'T changing is the CAKES. As redundant as making the same cupcakes over and over and over is...the CAKES are the one thing that actually change. And though I don't MAKE the cakes, I do get to design quite a few of them...and I just love to see the ART that is created out of sugar, flour, and STRESS.

It's usually the simplest cakes that I end up loving the most...and here is my favorite baby shower cake of the year. It was designed by my friend, Charlie, (who also added the flowers on top). I just loved the idea of words in the alphabet and red and pink are always great together:

Speaking of simple...THIS cake is LITERALLY the cake I would want for my birthday cake year after year. I love sprinkles. I love rainbow colors....I love CRUNCH:

Now, we get QUITE a few requests for Disney cakes, and since we follow the trademark law we don't recreate EXACT characters, but give a representation. Here are my favorites we created ...

Alice in Wonderland:

Frozen:

The Little Mermaid:

And my FAVORITE of all the Disney cakes...Monster's Inc.:

 We do TONS of cupcake towers for weddings and celebrations, and out of ALL of them this simple black and white stripe was my absolute, hands-down, favorite...what can I say? I'm a simple girl:

 This black and white beauty was my favorite of all the Monogram cakes of the year. I adore the bright, orange flower on top of the black and white cake:

Black and white was NOT the most popular wedding theme this year. 2014 was all about METALLIC. My top three cakes using a little SPARKLE to celebrate starts with the cake I call the WEDDING DRESS CAKE:

My second favorite uses metallic mesh on the top tier and the bottom tier for EXTRA sparkle. But, I love how we used rose petals in the middle tier to soften the look. It's almost the perfect HIS AND HERS cake:

 My FAVORITE metallic wedding cake of the year is a LITTLE busier than I thought I would like...but when you put a silver MAP OF THE WORLD on a cake I am IN. I called this the WORLD IS OURS wedding cake:

Speaking of metallics, this is my favorite cake where we created a charm bracelet that looked SO real in person that many people believed that it WAS metal:

This year we actually HAD to use real metal to create what turned out to be my FAVORITE cake for one of my friend's NEW businesses!! My friend, Matt, opened his salon a couple of blocks up from Retro, and he asked ME to design a cake!! I decided to use real scissors stabbing silk flowers into the fondant. I wanted an elegant, Sweeney Todd-inspired design. Kim did an INCREDIBLE job piping his logo.

As far as REALITY goes, these hibiscus flowers are my FAVORITE flowers created in 2014. They were delicate, lifelike, and added the perfect accent to this Hawaiian birthday cake:

My last favorite cakes of the year don't even look like CAKE at all...

The first cake is a dish that I probably ATE more than any other thing in 2014 (well, maybe besides PIZZA), it's the NACHOS CAKE:

What goes perfect after a salty plate of nachos? A SWEET plate of WAFFLES

(note that this cake DOES come with a side of REAL syrup to pour on top when you're ready to serve...NO JOKE):

Now the CAKE OF THE YEAR that beats ALL CAKES is one that we were told "we just want a desert tortoise," AND THIS IS WHAT THEY GOT:

This cake turned more heads when I was taking pictures of it than ANY cake I have EVER taken pictures of at Retro. People REALLY thought it was a tortoise we had brought into the bakery.

Bakery life is tough. It is arduous. It is HARD WORK day in and day out, but when you get to see your work as the centerpiece of someone's celebration it DOES make it worth it. Although I didn't CREATE and of these incredible cakes...I sure did try to make sure they were PERFECT for the occasion.

I wonder what 2015 has in store....

Laytah