First Paid Cake

First off, I guess I should describe who we are. My husband, Andrew, and I, Lee, are recent college graduates and are still newly weds. I graduated from UAH in May of 2007 with a degree in Communications (the technical track) and minored in music. We got married May 3, 2008, then the next weekend Andrew graduated with a degree in Communications (rhetorical track) and Philosophy and *sort of* minored in Theatre. I've been making cakes for several years now, but just for roommates, family, and Andrew. Andrew is just starting out, but he is very talented for a beginner. Still, we are both pretty green and have a lot to learn. I wanted to do cakes for most of my life because I grew up watching my mom bake and decorate cakes for years. She would make cakes all the time while word of mouth spread like wild fire about her talent. Then, she got a full time job and had to slow down, and eventually the calls dwindled and quit. Sadly, not too much longer after that her hands developed arthritis and she was no longer able to hold and squeeze an icing bag as well as she used to. She still made some cakes with as soft of icing that would hold up on a cake, but it still wasn't the same before the arthritis settled in. That's where I come in. Granted, at this time I was living two hours away in Huntsville going to UAH. So, I didn't quite take her place at home, but I've been making a name for myself up here.

Fast forwarding to today:
Today was the day that Andrew and I delivered our first paid cake. It sure was exciting. The cake was pretty awesome if I can say so myself. This is what it looked like with all the parts. (Yes, I said parts.)

We were commissioned to make a construction cake for little boy's 4th birthday party tonight. The boy's parents asked us to make a sheet cake and possibly put some small construction toys on there. But, they wanted us to go with any other ideas we had. The only specification they wanted was to put "Happy 4th Birthday Brandon" somewhere on there. And, since I am a fan of the "Cake Wrecks" blog, I made absolutely sure that I had everything spelled and worded right. ("Cake Wrecks" is an awesome blog!) The parents were so gracious as to give us about a 3 week heads up on this event. I hope that we have a lot of customers to do that. So, when we left our meeting with the parents, Andrew and I started brain storming immediately. He had the idea to use the crane to hoist "the last piece of the cake." We got the construction set from Toys R' Us about a week ago. Let me say, that was a steal. It was on sale for $19.99 and was the last one in the store. We got it home and played with it like we were little kids. The crane has an infrared remote control, the boom moves 360 degrees, and the hook lowers and raises. Oh, and it makes noise. Isn't that so nice of us to give a 4-year-old a toy that moves, makes engine noises, horn noises, and lights up?? Here's a video of it.



However, getting to the cool and exciting part of delivering the finished cake takes a lot of planning, thinking, sculpting, arguing, etc. Working with my husband is fun. It's one of the ultimate experiences of working as a team. You know, besides having kids. Oh, did I mention we're newly weds? That is making a big difference in our team work. We're still trying to figure each other out and how to work with each other. We argued a little yesterday trying to figure out how the cake was going to look. I then made the executive decision that I needed food before I could make any decisions. (It was around 7, I got off of work at 5, and had not eaten since 12'ish.) So, we went to Arby's. Food is such a wonderful thing. After we were nourished, we were laughing and cutting up as we normally do. We went to Lowe's to get a piece of ply wood for the cake and some other stuff. We then, came across some construction tape. Anyway, that's all the stuff we needed. As soon as we got home, we started on the cake and didn't go to bed until after 1:00 A.M. I was made to go to bed because my writing was looking kind of wobbly, but we got it finished the next morning.

The real feat was to deliver the cake. Andrew has an Isuzu Rodeo, but no air conditioning and I have a small Toyota Tacoma with air conditioning. Obviously we had to take the Rodeo because there was enough room with the seats folded up and everything. So, guess who had to look after the cake? Yep, me. I rode in the back, held all the trucks, and made sure nothing catastrophic happened to the cake. With all the arguing and decorating stress, the delivery was worse. I found out that is the most nerve wracking out of everything else. You've got a wonderful masterpiece that is completely in the will of the temperature of the car, the mercy of the driver and other drivers on the road, and not to mention the mercy of the road with all the bumps and turns.

We got to their house safe and sound. The mother of the boy loved the cake. I can't wait to hear about the boy's reaction. She told us that if she had gone to Wal-mart or anywhere else to get a cake, she would just get a "cake." But, we gave her an "interactive cake." So, there begins our business.
"Rocket City Cakes. We don't just make cakes, we make interactive cakes."

Ok, it's cheesy and not very cleaver in the word department. But we're going to keep the "interactive cakes" part. Wow, that's pretty bad for a communications major to say.

I hope you've enjoyed my first entry and first blog, ever. I promise my other blogs won't be as long.

Here's some more pictures of the cake.

**Update: Tuesday, Sept. 2

The little boy loved the cake, and so did the rest of the family. The mother was going to bring the rest of it to a bon fire she and her husband were hosting for the youth at our church the next night, but her kids wouldn't let her. They said it was too good and had half of it eaten already! I'm glad they liked it.