A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2011, Part 2

Thank you for joining us as we continue our retrospective of cakes made in 2011. Yesterday, we began Part 1 of "A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2011", showcasing a selection of some of our favorite cakes, ending with the month of May. Throughout the history of our business, the month of May - "Mayhem" as I like to refer to it - is always one of the most hectic. It feels like the start of summer here, but while everyone else is playing, we work that much harder! In May 2011, our stars aligned and collided at the same time. We were busy fulfilling cake orders and quite suddenly, had an incredible book deal on our hands! We needed to quickly figure out how to balance our company's commitments and a deadline for our book.

The week we signed with our publisher for EXTREME CAKEOVERS was filled with cake orders and all very different from each other.  Rick made two Law school graduation cakes - a bright pink floral cake, and a "Legally Blonde" inspired cake - a Parisian cake (above), a Little Einstein's cake, and a 70's themed cake. I also had dental sugery scheduled that week!

 

By the end of the week we were exhausted but also had an enormous adrenaline rush because our book had found a home with Clarkson Potter. We couldn't be happier! We headed over to Barnes and Noble and took a photo of the book shelf showing a number of Clarkson Potter authors and imagined how one day our book would be on that shelf. It was truly exhilarating!

On May 31st, we announced our book deal for the first time with a post on our blog. Thank you so much to everyone that left encouraging words of support! We couldn't divulge what the book was about at the time, just that one was in the works. If you missed it, you can read the post here.

After we signed with our publisher we were walking on clouds but immediately had cakes to work on. Three of our most unusual cakes that year were made in the few weeks following. It was a time of intense excitement and inspired creativity and, at the same time, we were already in the design and development stages of the book.

A flamboyant peony cake made for Leslie and Arnold's wedding.

A "Seussian" inspired birthday cake.

A sculpted Ramen Bowl wedding cake with the bride and groom as Wii "Mii's". Our first (and only) time we were ever asked for a sculpted bowl of ramen with the bride and groom sitting on a pair of chopsticks.

The month of June is usually one of the busiest of the year for us because of wedding and graduation season. Then we added working on our book into the mix and the announcement of two new classes Rick would be teaching, one in the United States and one in the UK. With an invitation to return to Canada in 2012 to teach, Rick then had to design and have photographed 2 more cake projects. Meanwhile, we had a deadline for the book quickly approaching...

In late June, Rick made a 3 and a half foot tall damask and roses wedding cake in shades of royal and navy blues and white. It was absolutely gorgeous, and extremely heavy! One of the heaviest cakes I can remember lifting.

Rachel Robertson Photography

Also in late June, we met with photographer Rachel Robertson to shoot Rick's designs for "Discover Your Inner Artist 2" classes. I don't know how he found the time to design and make the class cakes while designing for the book and making wedding cakes, but it happened miraculously! We were both smitten with the new class designs! He went with an asian theme, making an airbrushed tattoo and lotus flowers wedding cake and a sushi platter.

By July 2011, we were both starting to feel the pressure of all our commitments, and they were all important so we couldn't necessarily make one a higher priority than the other. Making "To Do" lists became essential and we quickly learned the importance of living a healthy lifestyle because it kept our stamina up. We tried to find ways to stay creatively inspired and do non work-related activities as time permitted.

We all have times in our lives that test our strength and ability to balance everything. What are some of your favorite ways to keep your focus and stay inspired when life gets particularly hectic?