I like cake

Saturday morning tasting at Crumbs means cake for breakfast!! We arrived at the quaint little bakery on Hollister Road. It's unassuming on the outside, but very charming with smells of deliciousness inside. We met Elke, owner and head of Crumbs, at 11am and she had 8 slices of their popular cakes waiting for us. Everything looked delicious so we dove right in.



There was white cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberries. I loved that one. It was light and airy, perfect for a summer day, and quite reminiscent of a strawberry shortcake. Next up was raspberry cake. Followed by almond cake, another one on the top of our list. Coconut was great as well, very tropical and good for a summer night. Orange cake had a nice hint of orange flavor, banana cake was a lighter version of banana nut bread, carrot cake reminded us of birthdays, and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting was divine. Elke told us that whatever we thought about the flavors was fine, and she wouldn't be offended if we had favorites and non-favorites. Little did she know that we like most every cake imaginable so every flavor we tasted got a thumbs up. Of course we had to narrow the choices down to our favorite 3 or 4 flavors.

Since my love is a lover of all things chocolate, we chose the chocolate flavor hands down. And we ate the entire slice ;) We also really liked the white cake because of it's lighter taste and fresh strawberries. Then we chose almond cake for our love of nuts and to have another light cake option. We also found out there is a brownie flavor that goes well with espresso, kahlua, or chocolate ganache so we said yes to the possibility of the flavor since we love brownies.

After the flavors came the decision cake vs cupcakes. A cake could be decorated with a clearer uniformity, would have our choice of filing, and wedding colors could be better integrated through the use of fondant. Cupcakes would be dainty, guests would be able to choose the flavor they liked most, and cute little sugar pieces could decorate them. We browsed through their album full of decorated cakes and cupcakes, but the decision was always clear and cupcakes were the victor. They would be stacked on tier, lightly decorated, and oh so yummy.

Since we are still many months away from our final decision deadline, we signed our contract, paid the deposit, and kept the ideas are in our head. We have plenty of time to gather more and more ideas, work out the details and I'm confident we'll design something beautiful.

Above is the cake aftermath.

Blog title is from lyrics by Hank Williams

Tell me boy now wouldn't that be sweet

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A few weeks ago TLC premiered the J&K+8 wedding episode. The couple renewed their vows during a beautiful outdoor wedding in Hawaii. They stood in a circle of love of local flowers, had traditional Hawaiian music, and such a beautiful cake. It was a 3 tier cake lined with the most beautiful orchids. Each tier represented the members of the family (parents, twins, sextuplets) and had corresponding flowers and Bible verses on them. I love the unique and very personal idea of their cake.

Our first cake tasting is this Saturday at a local bakery. We have tasted chocolate cupcakes from them before (at a wedding show) and really enjoyed them. Chocolate is definitely a favorite flavor, but spiced cake and brownie are also contenders. Maybe even a white cake or lemon cake. We also enjoy hazelnut and macadamia nuts, blue berries and strawberries. Mmm I can sit here all day imagining all the sweet options.

We may be veering towards tiers of cupcakes versus a wedding cake, and possibly a groom's/birthday cake. But after looking at these lovelies I may be swayed towards a traditional wedding cake with flower embellishments.

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Gotta love gardenia cake :). Gardenias are my absolute favorite flower, of all time, above everything. This cake is sooo gorgeous. I love that it's a solid white color that brings simplicity to a very ornate cake.

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Also enjoy the simplicity of the design of the above cake. Little icing details and fresh flowers are lovely.

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I like the band that runs along the bottom of each tier. A good way to incorporate wedding colors.

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The square tiers remind me of modern design. Fresh flowers are sweet and I love the cake topper.

I'm really excited to meet the baker, taste cakes, and exchange ideas :)

Blog title is from lyrics by Gwen Stefani

Your love's put me at the top of the world

And on the top of the cake :)

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During a wedding conversation with my mother last week her tone turned a bit serious as she said, "You should have a non-traditional cake topper, something fun and cute." My first thoughts were, "Has she been reading bridal and photography blogs without me knowing or has she just read my mind?" I told her of course the cake topper would be cute and fun. A traditional bride and groom cake topper would be too traditional and may not warrant keepsake status, but something more unique I could see displayed in our house since we like toys/all things cute.

Requirements of the cake topper are for something that is lighthearted, fun, and symbolic of our personalities. This does not mean that we say no to the bride and groom on top of the cake, just add a little twist to that idea. If we go the bride and groom topper route I would like it to reflect our ethnicity (Filipino and Caucasian).

Here are a few toppers that made the final list. I will reveal our final choice after my love orders them and they arrive.

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My love is a game freak. Hello Kitty to me is what video games are to him. So it seems only natural to have Mii characters as cake toppers. They're cute, customizable, and can be displayed next to our Wii after the wedding.

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These toppers by Goose Grease look so classic. I really like the simplicity.

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Bunny. Honey. So cute and fluffy.

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I love these birdies. They're just so cheery. Perfect for a spring wedding.

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Flirty. I really like the one where the bride is grabbing her groom's behind. Too cute.

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More cute birdies. Created by Cotton Bird.

I am a sometimes collector of cutesy vinyl toys. Hello Kitty, Kidrobot, Pucca, TokiDoki. I also love wasting money on said toys. There is an assortment of figures in various places of our apartment, all purchased from UO in a blind box or from downtown LA. Since the money has already been spent, any of these would be a no cost cake topper :)


Hello Kitty and Badtz Maru. Hearts and diamonds.

Marge and Homer by Kid Robot. They are a great couple. Marge is holding blue hair dye and Homer is holding a donut.

TokiDoki Moofia. Nice for the soy milk lovers.

TokiDoki Cactus Pups. They're real mini and would look cute on cupcakes.

Happy Breakfast by Heidi Kenney of My Paper Crane. Love these. They would also look cute on cupcakes.

How did you choose your cake toppers? What style, color, type did you choose?

Blog title is from lyrics by the Carpenters

DIY Wedding Cards

Last week, in anticipation for our friend's wedding, I put together a few wedding cake, doily, and flower cards. I kept the design and colors similar so that each option I made would fit their wedding aesthetic.


Soft pink and flowery cake.


Shades of pink and purple are my favorite colors.


A little something blue.


Between two doily textures and the pearls on the cake, I think the blue circle brings the cake's silhouette out, tying it all together.


Pink and brown.


Their invite had a pink and brown ribbon on top so i thought a card with those colors would be perfect. Added a pink pearl on to of the cake for extra flair.


A little bit muted.


Besides the gold doily, I like how this card has an almost neutral look.


A couple of flowers.


A bit too girly.


Pink flower and brown card.


Another one inspired by their invitation colors, this is the card I chose to give the couple :)

And to keep the inside note special, I collected a few of my favorite wedding salutations to choose from:

To a lifetime full of happiness and love!

Wishing you a sweet and charming life together.

May your love keep growing, and may you enjoy many more years of happiness together.

A hope that each day brings abundant happiness and love.

May your love continue to blossom each day. <-- what we chose for their card

What are your favorite greetings for wedding cards?


PS I will be listing the other wedding cards in my fourth coming etsy shop :)

Sweet, sweet lovin: Cupcake Flags

Cupcakes are so yummy and cute. We will have cupcakes in lieu of wedding cake and love the look of a cupcake tower. Tiers and tiers of delicate cake and frosting rise up, presenting a buffet ready for guests.

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Our cupcakes will be simply frosted so we discussed arranging some flowers on the cupcake tower and the cake table for some added detail.

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We also considered cupcake flags.

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Cupcake flags are such a pretty detail and add a very fun, personal touch to the dessert, like icing on a cake ;)

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After preparing my belly bands, I had a bunch of extra monograms. I thought they could act as 'confetti' around our guest table and escort card table. Then I remembered cupcake flags! It seemed like one of the easier DIY projects, so I bought toothpicks and was ready to go!


Back of monogram.

Taped a toothpick about halfway up the back.

Added some glue dots to adhere another monogram to the back of it.

The finished product. I love how it looks like a lollipop :)

Testing the cupcake flag on a mini Reese's pb cup. If only I had a cupcake to test the flag on (and eat).

A few of the flags arranged together.

I like the look of all the cupcakes having a flag and I like the look of cupcakes sparsely decorated, so I am leaving the arrangement of flags up to our baker and/or DOC. Really looking forward to how it turns out :)

Are you adding anything to your cake or cupcakes? Did you use the same pieces in your different wedding diy projects?


Blog title is from song by Mandy Moore

The Sweet Escape: Wedding Cupcakes

We love to eat cupcakes. We indulge in them almost weekly. We think they are cute and yummy and perfect in size. We knew cupcakes were a must instead of a wedding cake.

Our cupcakes, by the now defunct Crumbs of Santa Barbara, were so delicious. We had our tasting and decided on our frosting & flavor combo in Dec 2008, so by the wedding in September 2009 we were excited to eat them up!

Our flavors were:
White cake with strawberry butter cream
Almond cake with blueberry butter cream
Chocolate with hazelnut butter cream
Brownie with dark chocolate ganache

Because the cupcakes would be sitting out for hours, we opted for butter cream as the choice topping. It would not get hard like icing and was some serious yummyness for the week to follow.





Is it bad that I can still remember the taste and texture and how much I love all of these?


This cupcake menu was my favorite of all the menus I made. The colors, which represent all 3 bridesmaids' dresses, were my favorite purple and yellow combination.


Some time after dinner and during dancing everyone was called to the cupcake table for the cutting and serving. Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape" played as we cut, took bites of, and let our guests enjoy the cupcakes.




Kids curiously approaching.


Trying to feed each other quickly so everyone (kids) could enjoy these delicious things.


Nothing is holding the kids back now!

I probably ate 3 cupcakes that night and 10 more in the week that followed, they were just so good! We are bummed that SB Crumbs is no longer around (no anniversary cake for us) but were very happy to have worked with them.

Now I think we have to head to a local cupcake place this weekend. Enjoy Cupcakes might just be the place :) Happy Friday!


All photos are by the sweet Sarah K Chen