I got a call from a client today asking about wedding cake prices. I immediately started asking her questions about date, location, etc. She seemed slightly hesitant and finally said that the cake was for a quinceanera. For a second, I had a moment of “oh no!” because I honestly did not know much about them. I know the basics of a quinceanera, but have not done extensive research. I finished asking her the questions I had about the cake and told her I would send her a quote shortly.
Once I had time during the day, I sat down at my computer and googled “Quinceanera.” Wow!! There is a huge market for this! I promptly spent the next 30 mins looking at website after website full of information and products. I learned how wonderful, beautiful, & important this tradition is. It is basically a rite of passage for a 15 year old girl. A quinceanera is really like a wedding without getting married. It can be planned for up to a year in advance and all the family is involved. And the cake that is usually ordered is a wedding cake! At this point, I was extra excited about the customer and got right to her email.
She loved all the info I gave her and were are meeting this weekend to work out all the little details! I am really glad I did my research and learned about quinceanera’s. It is really awesome when people want you to make a cake for their special day – whether it be a wedding, birthday, quinceanera, anniversary, or whatever! They are all special occasions and deserve to be celebrated so that person/persons feel special and loved.
I know there are a lot of vegans and vegetarians here in Austin, and more people are choosing that way of life everyday. So I started wondering what kinds of baked goods and cakes were available to that group. I would love to have several vegan options for birthday and wedding cakes. And I think that it would be possible to do vegan Bozilla Bites too!!
The most important thing I needed to figure out was what items a vegan or vegetarian do not consume and it seems that a vegan is just on a more strict diet than a vegetarian. Vegans remove all animal products from their diet, including dairy. That information basically means that cakes, in general, are vegetarian friendly, but not vegan friendly. I need to eliminate butter, milk, eggs, cream cheese and sour cream. Then, if we use a better flour like rice flour, alternative wet ingredients, and stick with vegetable based oils (which we use anyway) it would be a vegan cake! I am thinking the first one to try is a carrot cake because, for me, carrot cakes are very forgiving when it comes to doing substitutions.
Something else that makes me very excited about providing vegan options is that it will also be a lower fat option for people! So those that are watching their cholesterol can have a cake option that does not contain egg yolks or butter, which I think is incredible!
I also have to do some shopping for vegan ingredients. I am hoping there are vegan alternatives to butter, eggs, and cream cheese products. I think a trip to Central Market is in order….maybe the hubby and I can go this weekend and scope it out (we also really love the beer selection at Central Market).
Check back soon to see how those recipes are coming along…..
Usually it makes people feel a little uneasy to try baked goods that are reduced sugar or sugar free. You get a weird, bitter aftertaste and the texture can be sacrificed. But not anymore!
I have a soft spot for people with diabetes, especially Type 1. They were born with a bad pancreas that is attacked by their own cells destroying the islet cells that produce insulin. Insulin helps glucose enter our cells so it can be converted to energy that is used by our muscles and tissues. Therefore, these diabetics can’t handle large amounts of sugar as there is no insulin to facilitate its travel. Without the ability to regulate the amount of sugar in the bloodstream, it just builds up in the bloodstream causing life threatening complications.
With that said, cake is pretty much out of the question for most diabetics unless they have insulin on hand and ready to use! So I decided I wanted to make reduced sugar cakes. And after many attempts…success! I have a chocolate and red velvet cake that has no where near the sugar as a regular cake.
There isn’t a whole lot of good info (at least that I have found yet) on the Glycemic Loads of certain foods. I did find one site that had a pretty comprehensive list of foods, but I don’t know if it is really reliable. So I will go do some more research and hopefully get a book that I can refer too. But based on the site I used….
A regular chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting has a GL of about 29. The new chocolate cupcake with a whipped cream cheese type frosting has a GL of about 8. Yes, that includes frosting! And it’s good frosting. I am actually going to offer it as a regular frosting flavor. The cake is moist and chocolaty without any texture sacrificed. Now I am going to try and expand to other cakes – especially vanilla. I knew chocolate would be the easiest. So now that I know how to substitute the sugar, I want to make as many flavors as I can.
I hope this will not only allow children and adults with diabetes to have a birthday cake or a cupcake, but also give an option to diabetic brides and grooms to have a wedding cake they can actually enjoy. That way they can have their cake and eat it too.
I decided to do a blog post on fondant because I can not count the number of times I have said the word “fondant” to someone and gotten a response of “UGH! I do not like fondant!” followed by a grimace, head shake, and sometimes an additional “UGH!”
Most of the fondant people have had is the kind that is bought from a restaurant supply store, baking supply store, or online. It comes in all kinds of colors and flavors but typically doesn’t taste very good. The way I see it, that fondant is not made to eat necessarily..unless you really, really, REALLY need a sugar fix. That fondant is usually used to achieve a specific look – a smooth, clean look to the outside of a cake. And it isn’t just used on wedding cakes! Regular birthday cakes can be covered in it and intricate 3D sculpted cake use fondant regularly. It is just unfortunate that it does such a great job for decorating but doesn’t taste that good.
That is where Bozilla Cakes differs from the rest! We make our fondant at the bakery for each order. It works just as well as the fondant from the store, but it is so good to eat. I heard that people sometimes prefer it over icing (my fiance being one of those). It compliments all of our cakes and doesn’t require you to peel it off before you eat the cake. We make three different flavors of fondant – vanilla, almond, and chocolate an can be colored any shade of the rainbow!
So, before you discount fondant because you don’t like the taste, give ours a try and you may be pleasantly surprised!
This was for a 5 year old’s birthday party. His mom said he loves Josh Hamilton and we decided a jersey and hat would be perfect for him! I gave her our frosting and cake flavor list and he picked out chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting (Delicious!!). I liked the combo so much I made the extras into Bozilla Bites. The hat is also cake with a gum paste brim. She was very happy with it and I’m sure he was super excited!!
I made this pumpkin shaped cake for a customer who needed a cake for her child’s school Halloween party. It was chocolate chip cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.
I was trying to decide how I wanted to do the face and I had about ten ideas!!! And I couldn’t decide and googled pumpkin images to see what I could find and ended up with ten more ideas. So I decided to stick with something simple. It turned out great and the customer was very excited. She said all the kids loved it.
This cake was donated to the Spicewood Community Center for their annual Halloween Festival. They have a cake walk every year and asked if we would be willing to provide a cake for it and of course I said yes! It was Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting – which I thought was appropriate for Halloween.
More cupcakes! You can never have too many, right? These are a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla, chocolate or peanut butter buttercream. I made these when we had our free cupcake day at Bozilla Cakes.
Remember, you can order a dozen cupcakes for $20! Just shoot us an email or phone call at least 24 hours in advance and they will be ready for pickup the next day!
Bozilla Bites are a new addition to Bozilla Cakes products. They are balls of fabulous Bozilla cake mixed with frosting and dipped in various coatings – chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter, and any other flavors we find appealing! The cake and frosting of the Bozilla Bites can be any flavor cake/frosting combo that we offer at Bozilla Cakes. We will always be testing with new ones, so when you come to the drive-thru to pick some up, make sure to ask what flavors we have!
We are also going to offer Bozilla Bites as wedding favors for your guests. Two per person, neatly packaged in a little box. You will be able to choose any flavors you want for the favors!
I really think these are going to be great, so far everyone that has tried Bozilla Bites really love them…that is always a good start. I guess it couldn’t be too bad – balls of cake and frosting dipped in a sweet coating…yeah, thats not so bad….
I was testing an adjusted yellow cake recipe (which I loved!!) and decided to make it into a dart board. I was out in the shed the other day and saw our dart board sitting very lonely on the ground. I want to put it in the house so we can play, since it is too hot and mosquito filled outside right now, but occasionally I miss the board all together so I was a little concerned. We do have a very long hallway with a door at the end, so with the right back board protecting the door from my random mishaps, it could work!
I also got to use my airbrush a whole lot for this cake. It worked like a charm, I’m still getting use to it though! I sprayed the cake in a protected area this time, since last time we had a thin layer of green and blue paint all over the dining room (walls, floor, everything). Out feet were stained blue green for a week! Ridiculous!
Flickr Photos