NYC Cake Girl

One of the most exciting things about my blog is my reader’s.  I love the comments and feedback you all share with me.  Even though I am not in the baking world anymore, I am still very much connected to this industry and still have a lot to say about it.  I am always looking to see what is new and exciting and I am still very concerned about the small business owners succeeding in this very difficult industry.  With that said, I was very excited to learn that one of my readers is long time baker Lisa Raffael of Delicious Desserts in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  Lisa a three time Food Network Medalist, she is recognized by Brides Magazine, The Knot, Best of Boston, Phantom Gourmet, TLC’s Fabulous Cakes and a reader of my blog! (That one made me very happy.)  I reached out to Lisa to answer my top 5 questions and she happily obliged during her busy schedule…

The lovely Lisa Raffael and one of her beautiful creations.

1. When did you start your business? What has been your greatest challenge?

I started Delicious Desserts in 1992 – 21 years ago!!! My biggest challenge was perfecting the basics: base frosting, leveling cakes, etc. It takes so much practice to do this well, and in the beginning, you don’t have that many cakes to practice with!

2. What is your favorite cake decorating technique?

Any technique involving a modern theme. I love making abstract flowers out of gumpaste or fondant (or a combo of both), I love painting on cakes, and textured finishes. (I’m sorry – that’s 3 techniques, but it could be all on one cake!).

3.  Who are your inspirations in the cake and pastry world?

Oh my gosh…..SO MANY! I don’t want to leave anyone out!!!  Ron Ben Israel (really – I have been a HUGE fan of his since BEFORE the cake world became what it is today!) Norman Love
, Maggie Austin
, Peggy Porschen, Marina Sousa and CakeFace.

4.  What are your favorite seasonal ingredients?

Living on Cape Cod, I’m surrounded by farms so I literally can pick my ingredients fresh from the garden! My favorite seasonal ingredients are cranberries, strawberries and blueberries.

5.  What tool do you use the most when cake decorating? Which one is your favorite?

My bench scraper and Exacto knife! I think I’d have to say my Exacto knife is the one I can’t live without…

Please visit Lisa and Delicious Desserts at the following:

Facebook

http://www.deliciousdesserts.net

(Thank you to the following photographers for providing pictures: Amy Dykens, Armour and Martell, Corinna Raznikov Photograpy, Tommy Colbert, Chris Cook Photograpghy.)

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Very rarely have I had a gluten-free cupcake or cake that has been delicious.  We all know that Ron Ben-Israel is the baker near and dear to my heart and he did finally make a gluten-free cake that was pretty tasty.  Up in New Hampshire, I had one better. (Sorry Ron, but it’s true…)

On Saturday night, my Mom and Dad had a little birthday celebration for me. For me having a birthday cake up in New Hampshire that is gluten-free has always been a bit of an issue, more like never. Until now!!! My mom’s best friend Sandy brought gluten-free cupcakes from Bite Me Kupcakez in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

Celebrating my 40th birthday up in New Hampshire with my family and delicious cupcakes!!!

Debbie Atamanchuk began baking gluten-free after her daughter Rebecca (funny that the both of us are named Rebecca an have gluten problems…) had been diagnosed with a gluten allergy. She didn’t want her daughter to miss out on having her favorites: bread, pasta and especially cupcakes. So she started Bite Me Kupcakesz in May of 2011. Let me tell you something, thank you Debbie. You did something right. Your cupcakes are YUMMY.

(Top left to right)
Vanilla Cupcake with Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Icing, Strawberry Cupcake with Strawberry Mouse and Cream Cheese Icing, Vanilla Cupcake with Orange Mouse Filling and Vanilla Icing, Chocolate Cupcake Cherry Filling and Cream Cheese Icing. Last but not least Chocolate Cupcake with Banana Filling and Peanut Butter Icing.

All right my gluten free friends, I know you want the details on how they taste. Lets start with the cake: the cake was moist and not crumbly and dry. Debbie fills her cupcakes in the center with tasty fillings: lemon curd, orange mouse, chocolate filling and other delightful things. The Icing on the top of the cupcake was not gritty and overly sweet. It was a nice compliment to the fillings inside the cupcake. And fun garnishes! Fresh lemon and orange peals, cherries and chocolate sauce.

Debbie, thank you for taking the time to figure out your recipes for your daughter.  Your gluten-free cupcakes are better than some of the best bakers I know in New York City.  My family and friends all ate your gluten-free cupcakes for my birthday “cake”.  We all agreed – you would never know they were gluten-free.  Congrats on such a wonderful product!  You can bet that we will be ordering from you in the future!!!

Debbie and her daughter Rebecca. Please visit her website: http://bitemekupcakez.com. You can buy her products in the following stores in New Hampshire: Lull Farms in Milford, A-Market in Manchester, Cozy Tea Cart in Brookline and Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua. (photo courtesy of Bite Me KupCakez)

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When I was working with Ron and he was doing his show Sweet Genius, my one request was that I wanted to see the out takes from all of the filming.  My prayers have been answered!  You can view “bloopers” from Sweet Genius, Season 3 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdSqZvEi02Y

Ron you still make me laugh! My favorite part is when he tries to say the word “focus”.  ENJOY!!!(photo courtesy of Jane Street Productions)

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Appointments have been kind of exciting lately.  Like with fashion color is coming back into the wedding cake.  Our clients are making wonderful, bold choices for the décor of their wedding cakes this season.  If you do decide to go with this bold choice, keep it relevant.  You don’t want to make the cake the color of a Smurf, nobody wants a picture of you chewing on that.   The additional sugar décor should compliment and enhance the color choice.

A small cake for 50 can make an elegant statement by using a light green fondant and all white flowers.

Here is a really fun play on color. The ombre look is very trendy this season. You see it in fashion, hair color and on cakes too.

Purple is a color we are seeing a lot of lately. It looks great in lighter as well as darker tones.

This particular cake is inspired by the brides shoes.

One of the most dramatic colors of course is black. This cake makes a statement and we love it when our clients take the leap and go bold.

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Someone once told me that perception is everything.  The one thing a lot of people don’t realize about our company is that even though we have a very large presence in the bakery and wedding worlds, we are a VERY small company.  It’s Ron and 5 paid staff members that turn out all of that work.

We get many requests from people to stop by and visit with us, they would like for us to donate to their charity, they want to have private classes taught by Ron – the requests for Ron, his time and his products are endless. We appreciate each and every fan that watches his television show and applaud all of the bakers out there that strive to be masters of sugar work.  But Ron is one man, and before he has a television show or is a teacher, he is a business owner.  He only has so much time during the day to be able to try and fit it all in.  And believe me, we do try and fit it all in.  We never want to disappoint anyone and if we can, and we do try and take last minute cakes if it fits in the production schedule.

Here are a few of the questions and answers we give on a daily basis:

We get a lot of fans and fellow bakers that would like to “pop on by” for a visit.  Why is that not possible? The way our bakery is set up is the first room you walk into is the client meeting area.  So by just stopping by you could be interrupting a client or production meeting.  The production room and bakery areas are fairly small as well and because we are paid for each project it’s hard to stop and give a “how to lesson” on a very expensive wedding cake.  It’s not that we don’t mind teaching, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to use our client’s cakes as an example for a teaching lesson.

We get many requests for Ron to teach private classes, how come he does not? A couple of reasons – he really enjoys teaching in a classroom environment, and when his schedule allows he does book various teaching dates throughout North America. (Ron’s teaching info can be found on our Facebook fan page.)  Also, if Ron were to teach private classes, he wouldn’t have time to work with his staff, meet with clients or film his television show.

Is it possible to donate to my charity?  We have two charities that we support here at the bakery: City Harvest and Lambda Kappa Legal Defense Fund.   We get so many requests for donations, that if we were to fulfill them all, our clients would have no wedding cakes.  We do have to pay the rent, and if we were to accommodate every charity request we receive we would not have anytime to make our specialty cakes that Ron has become known for.  I am not saying that your charity is not a worthy cause; I am saying that we are a very small business and as much as we would love to donate to every request, we simply can’t.

Like any business, we have guidelines and procedures in place.  We need to work within the structure that Ron has provided for us so that we can get our jobs done to meet every deadline put before us.   For us that work for this very little company, that is our number one priority, we were paid to do a job and that obligation must be met. For me it’s a delicate balance of trying to help Ron figure out client meetings, how filming a TV show will fit in the work schedule, arranging the client meeting schedule so he has time to make flowers, decorate cakes and work with his staff and that is only the surface of what this man does – besides making cakes.

So please understand that if you walk in from off the street and have every intention of meeting Ron, when you open our bakery door (without an appointment) it’s quite possible that you will be interrupting a client meeting with a bride and her fiancé or a production meeting where Ron is trying to talk to his staff about next months wedding cakes.  Or if we tell you politely in an email that we cannot accommodate your visit, we are not trying to be mean, but we really can’t fit you in an already very structured work schedule.

Ron and his staff are not ungrateful – we are just a small little company trying to get it all done…

***Please note that this article is not meant to be condescending or unthoughtful in any way.  It’s very hard to convey in words how much we appreciate all the support, love and adoration of our fans and fellow colleagues – but we just simply cannot accommodate each and every request that we receive, we only have one Ron and we need to let the poor man sleep sometime. ***

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