The Weddings by The Ritz Carlton Magazine photo shoot!

We finally received an issue of Weddings By The Ritz Carlton Magazine and here's their photo shoot that featured 3 cakes we created. These pics definitely look better than the ones we took!

As you will read... each page implies that each creation is that of a different pastry chef at various Ritz Carlton's worldwide... well except for the tiny line on the bottom of first page that says we made them all... Classic! :)

Everyone have a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Halloween!

We at Piece of Cake just wanted to wish you all a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Kevin & Amy Kossman, owners of Piece of Cake Desserts, at the Boojum Tree Hidden Gardens annual Halloween party in 2008. And no... Batman never smiles. :)

Piece of Cake is finally on Facebook!

It took long enough but we have finally created a Facebook fan page for Piece of Cake. Become a fan to see some new pictures, ask questions or just say Hello!

Piece Of Cake Desserts (Mesa, AZ) on Facebook

Look for our cakes in Ritz Carlton Magazine, Winter 2009!

We received a wonderful compliment this summer when we got a call from Ritz Carlton Worldwide ordering 3 specific wedding cakes from us for a photo shoot that will be appearing in Ritz Carlton Magazine later this year.

As you probably know, Ritz Carlton Worldwide employs hundreds of pastry chefs, most of them fantastic cake makers themselves, so for them to hire an outside company to create the cakes for their photo shoot is a ginormous honor and we were really excited to have been chosen!

These pics were taken in our shop but once the magazine comes out we will post better shots!

All of the seashells, coral, etc are edible

This one has fabric ribbon and edible flowers

They used different flowers for the photo shoot, I can't wait to see how that one turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all had as much fun as we did this summer!

Piece of Cake Desserts makes the Channel 5 Dean's List!

If you watch Channel 5 news, you are probably familiar with the "Dirty Dining" segment where they tell you all of the places that you should stay the heck away from. They also list a few companies that received perfect health department inspections as part of the Dean's List. We were mentioned on the June 18th segment as a member of the Dean's List. While it's not our first perfect inspection, it's always nice to be recognized for running a clean shop.

You can see the video and read about it here.

Everybody Hates Fondant !?!

(This entry is from my weekly blog over at http://www.WeddingAces.com)

By now you’ve probably had more advice on wedding planning from friends and family than you can stand… and to make it worse it seems everybody has differing opinions. Fortunately there is one exception that your friends and family probably agree on 100% … “Fondant is disgusting”. From many accounts it would seem that fondant is responsible for global warming, the country’s economic issues, and the deaths of countless baby seals. However, fondant is also responsible for creating some of the most beautiful and intricate wedding cakes. So what do you do?

Well, I’m here to tell you. . . . .It is absolutely not true.

Yes, I am actually saying fondant can taste good. I know, you’re thinking “if fondant is so good, why does everybody hate it”? It is actually the fault of a single brand of fondant that truly does taste horrible and as an added bonus, it leaves you with an aftertaste that will linger well into your honeymoon.Unfortunately this brand of fondant is available nationwide at places like craft stores, Wal-Mart, etc. and it is actually intended for beginning cake decorators to practice with. And, because it is so readily available, it has become the most widely used fondant amongst cake decorators in this country.

There are some truly delicious homemade and commercially available brands of fondant out there (A good fondant tastes almost exactly like a marshmallow), so if you love a design that will look better in fondant (and most do), don’t be afraid to taste test your baker’s fondant so you can decide for yourself. Also, most bakeries put a healthy layer of buttercream frosting under the fondant giving you all of the flavors you want and that super smooth fondant look.

Happy Planning!

Email Basics: Get more out of your first vendor contact!

(This entry is from my weekly blog over at http://www.WeddingAces.com)

You’ve scoured the web looking at thousands of wedding cake pictures, you’ve read hundreds of reviews on WeddingWire.com, and you have finally narrowed your search to a handful of bakeries that you would like to learn more about.

Generally you have 3 options for contacting your potential bakeries. 1) the phone call 2) email 3) stopping by their bakery. More often than not, bakeries aren’t prepared for walk-in wedding cake consultations so usually this will only result in an appointment being scheduled.

The phone call is nice because it provides immediate interactivity and allows your questions to get answered on the spot. Email is usually more convenient since it can be composed at any time of the day or night and it gives you documentation of what each baker has to say . When contacting a bakery by email, there are a few items that you should include to make certain that you get the answers you need with the least amount of headache on your part.

Each email should include the following:

1. Your wedding date. Even the most popular and well staffed shops have a limit on the number of wedding cakes they can create in a particular week. Including your date on your very first email could save you a ton of time by keeping you from communicating with a bakery that doesn’t have your date available. After all, planning your wedding can almost be a full time job, you want to make certain that you waste as little time as possible.

2. The location of your wedding reception. This is extremely important for delivery purposes, it is highly likely that some bakeries won’t be able to deliver to certain locations that are a long distance from their shop based on the delivery schedule of wedding cakes already booked on your date.Excluding this information could lead to your attending a cake consultation at a bakery that won’t be able to deliver your cake.

3. The number of guests you are expecting to attend your wedding. Some bakeries have minimum orders so it’s a good idea to give them this information up front, just in case.

4. Budget. If you have a strict budget that you cannot exceed, include that information as well. If you want to feed 200 people and have a strict budget of $500, let them know. They may tell you that their pricing starts at $5.00 per serving and that they have no option that would allow 200 guests worth of cake for $500. Including this information can save you massive amounts of time and frustration.

5. Pictures of wedding cakes you might be considering. Cake artists have different styles, some are really comfortable with certain types of designs, some not so much. It’s important that the style of cake you have chosen match the style of the baker you are considering. A mismatching of styles is often how a great idea turns into an ugly wedding cake.

I promise that the inclusion of this information will get you faster and more relevant responses from prospective bakeries than you would get by leaving it out. Items 1-4 are actually useful in your email communication to all potential wedding vendors, not just bakeries. I recommend just typing the info up and saving it for an easy cut and paste into the body of each email in addition to any specific questions that you have for the vendor you are emailing.

Happy planning!

Kevin Kossman selected as a Wedding Ace!

If you are wondering who Kevin Kossman is, well... that's me! If you are wondering what a Wedding Ace is, here it is in their own words:

WeddingAces is a new online community designed to provide brides with firsthand knowledge and experiences of planning a wedding from none other than the experts themselves! A diverse group of expert wedding vendors guide you {the bride} through this exciting, but often stressful, wedding planning experience.

So what does it mean (aside from me being really really cool)? ;) It means that I will be contributing blog posts to the Wedding Aces site every single week helping brides worldwide choose their perfect wedding cake and answering any wedding questions thrown my way. Some of the finest wedding vendors in the country are Wedding Aces, so stop by regularly and check out all of the great wedding advice that we have to offer!

You can find us at WeddingAces.com

We've been blogged at over at The Wedding Hub

Our friends over at The Wedding Hub have been busy!  Not only are they organizing the Brides Give Back event coming up in a couple of weeks, but they even make time to blog regularly.  One of their most recent entries is about one of the best wedding vendors in the state, and down the page a little bit is an even entry about us. ;) 

The Wedding Hub Blog

Something you don't want to miss: Brides Give Back

As a reader of this blog, there's a pretty good chance that you are getting married in the near future, and if you are... I have an event for you! It's called Brides Give Back and it is being planned by our friends over at The Wedding Hub.

Here's what they did... they grabbed a bunch amazing vendors and brought them to one of the best reception sites around, for good measure even mixed in a little food and drink. There will be beauticians doing mini makeovers and even a photo booth for you to play with.   That's not even the best part.   Not only will you be able to meet some of the best vendors in the state, but you may actually win their services at a huge discount for your wedding through the silent auction! (As you've probably guessed, we donated a wedding cake).  

As if that weren't enough motivation to attend, all of the proceeds will directly benefit Faith House, an amazing valley domestic violence shelter that helps over 300 women and children each year.

Here are the details:

Date: February 19, 2009 

Time: Doors open at 6:00PM 

Location: Villa Siena in Gilbert, AZ

Cost: $15.00

For more info or to get your tickets, vist http://www.bridesgiveback.com/

We hope to see you there!

It's that time again!

It's bridal show weekend again and due to our crazy schedule we regret that we are unable to attend, but you really must stop by and meet some of the wonderful facilities that we partner with:

Regency Garden
Villa Siena
Stonebridge Manor
The Castle at Ashley Manor
The Boojum Tree Hidden Gardens

And don't forget the food:

Heidi's Events and Catering

You will see hundreds of companies during your visit to the show (it's overwhelming, I know) and when you get home, many of them will start to blend together in your head... so how do you choose? I will offer a few pieces of advice:


1. Check reviews on everyone at WeddingWire.com. Companies that have been in their respective business for a while will usually have reviews from past brides. Review sites can be an excellent resource! Be aware, these types of sites can be manipulated, so look for reviews from brides that have reviewed a number of other vendors as well as the vendor you are looking at. If a vendor has a handful of reviews that were all posted within a couple of days of each other and their brides haven't reviewed any other vendors... be wary.

2. If the company is a caterer or a cake company, also visit Maricopa County Food Establishments site and type in their name. If they are legal and licensed, they will appear and you can find out a little bit about them. If they don't appear, be careful. It is illegal in this state to operate a foodservice business out of an unlicensed kitchen and each company requires their own permit. Due to liability issues, some reception sites will turn away a delivery of a cake or catering food delivered by a company that has no permit. That could be really bad news on your wedding day.

3. If you already have a vendor or 2 selected that you feel really comfortable with, ask them. You can ask about companies they would recommend or ask about specific companies that you saw at the show. The AZ wedding vendor community knows each other pretty well and people that are really good at what they do tend to work with others that are good at what they do.

4. You've heard this before, but I will say it again. You're probably a nice person (I said probably) so if a vendor that you don't particulary care for hands you a brochure, you probably aren't going to set it ablaze and toss it back in their face while chanting "burn baby burn".
In all likelihood you will politely put it into the big plastic bag you have been carrying all day... along with the brochures of the vendors you loved! This is what helps cause "vendor confusion", so I suggest you do something different to the brochure of the vendors that you really liked. Fold a corner, mark on it with a pen, leave a lipstick mark on it, whatever will help signify to you "these guys rock".


The Phoenix Metro area is blessed with some of the most amazing wedding vendors in the country, all here to help make your day perfect, and the Bridal Fashion Debut puts a lot of them in the same place at the same time so while you want to take advantage of it... don't stress if you can't talk to everyone (trust me... you can't).

For more tips on getting the most out of the bridal show click here

Have fun and happy planning!