well, you know my name is Simon

.......and the things I draw come true.Ah! one of my favorite segments on Captain Kangaroo.If I lost you at Captain Kangaroo, sorry, I'll now be speaking to the old folks here for a little while.
As a child who was so often carried away , metaphorically, by drawing, naturally I was entranced by a little Boy named Simon, who , in fact, did draw things that came to life. I am still enchanted by the power of art and creation.There truly is something magical about envisioning something and seeing it come to fruition. I had this thought when poring through some cake sketches. To see your concept, or even a germ of a concept actually materialize still has the power to amaze me.
I am often asked if I provide sketches, and generally I do not. Because much of what I do is replicating objects in cake, a drawing is both redundant and not a true portrayal of the finished cake. I'm not, in fact Simon and the things I draw don't exactly come true.However, when I am composing a tableau or "scene" if you will, a sketch is often very helpful in envisioning the final product. Many of my sketches are nothing more than speedy scrawl to flesh out placement, or to simply help me envision what my work week will look like.....like this one:
Some sketches are more involved concepts, where I will combine hand sketching with computer graphics to achieve a more professional proposal like this one:then there are the sketches that are never fully realized, but most have the decency to not be aired on national TV..........haha!

Parts is parts

I can't count how many times I hear someone say how much they love making cakes and how it would be so much "fun" to have a job "playing in sugar".What strikes me about this most is, at the end of a 14 hour day the word "playing" does not enter my lexicon.Working in the custom cake business, is something of a misnomer.Often, it might be days into my work week before I ever touch a cake. I work alone so I need a really big hat rack to store all the hats I have to wear on any given work week. I'm the administration staff, the supply clerk, the public relations person, the accountant , the baker , the delivery driver and finally the cake designer.After all that, sometimes actually getting to focus on actual production can feel like something of a break, at least I'm doing only ONE thing.
So many of my cakes are comprised of multiple components, components that might take me all week or more to craft.So given my already overflowing inbox,why in the world do I often actually introduce even more parts where they were not originally requested? You might call it divine inspiration or sugary masochism , but I'll just call it fun.Yes, fun.Now, don't think that all the "parts" crafting is a sushi picnic at the beach. Some jobs are just that: jobs, unavoidable tasks. However, sometimes I'll get an idea about some element I have positively convinced myself the cake absolutely needs! I'll admit, I usually put far more time into those bonus elements than I have to spare, but most often, it was that little extra that completed the presentation.
Here's a collection of "parts" that I spent waaaay too much time on and didn't care one bit. That leaning tower of dishes can wait just a little while longer.
this fully to scale Big Mac box took me two days alone
in the middle of the night I just "knew" that a Heineken bottle cake needed an oversized coaster and bottle opener!
Ok, I was actually commissioned to make a few figures for the launch of the new Death Jr. Video game, but I got carried away and made a whole slew.When my client ordered a cake replica of her boyfriend's PSP game system, she was perfectly content with just the system , but when all was said and done, it also had a controller, a game cartridge and a taco bell dinner because she mentioned he always has taco bell while gaming.
finally, I'm working on a Molar cake this week and inspiration plus my cursory graphic design skills led me to create the inscription in toothpaste and floss(but hopefully tastier)!

everyday is halloween

.......or so it might seem if you gauge your seasons by the subjects of your cakes. This past weekend, I had the pleasure of making a Left 4 Dead/ zombie themed cake for one of my very first DDC customers. I relish every opportunity I get to make cakes like that. Bloody body parts, decaying flesh...... I'm getting to live out my FANGORIA fueled dreams.
By now you all know about how a dog encouraged me to start DDC, but I haven't told you how a rat helped shape my business model. Back in 2005 I had first launched my website. Hoping to promote the site, I shopped around for link exchanges. One highly respected, sugar artist generously offered a section of her website as a directory for cake designers across the country. I knew that getting her approval would be equivalent to the Good Housekeeping Seal . I eagerly submitted my site, awaiting her OK.She replied that she loved my work , but she suggested that I remove the "dead rat cake". Now, she was not the first person to express a strong reaction to that cake. Some were disgusted , some intrigued , but all were interested. I realized that it was far more important to me to offer cakes that were above all else "interesting".Against the aforementioned artist's suggestion, I kept the rat. The rat was a symbol to let my potential clients know that nothing was too off beat, too strange.Over time the rat image was replaced by other , newer cakes, but I still get comments about it to this day. A cake that keeps people talking years later? Yep, I think I made the right decision.
Here's the Left 4 dead cake referenced and a nice little compilation of other Halloween/ horror themed cakes including the rat

does size matter?

..... probably not, still it's something I am fascinated with. Before you get all distracted, of course I'm taking about CAKE size! Like all cake professionals, I spend much of my free time looking at cake "porn" (I've got a theme going on here, huh? ). It's great to see all the wonderful work out there from my peers, but unless you are Cupcake Envy http://cupcakeenvy.com it's not always easy to ascertain a cake's scale. I know many times I have been surprised to find out a cake's true dimensions. Photos can be so deceptive. What I have learned is that Australian and English designers tend to make smaller cakes and, to assuage the American credo of "big is good but bigger is even better" American cake makers tend to craft larger cakes. Scarred by experiences at the old work place, I usually oversize an already outsized cake so servings are never an issue. Determining how many servings a cake will yield is an advanced art all in itself when you don't make round or square cakes.Alas, there is no chart at the ready to provide servings info for , say, a severed head cake.Experience is the only answer to this conundrum .
I thought it might be fun to see a few cakes in context. Thanks to all the people who lent their likenesses for this exercise. These are by no means the largest cakes I have made but are good representations of size
Plus..... it's a good way to show off some goofy photos!.

about that cupcake..........

When you make cakes that look like everything except cake, it's really hard to convey that in a symbol, or in this case a logo. When I first started DDC I struggled with this. At that time simply stating "sculpted cakes" was often met with quizzical looks and the inevitable "just WHAT is a sculpted cake anyway??" Should I select an image of a cake as my branding? Which one? Baked ham cake? No, I learned from having that image on one of my business cards that that just leads people to ask "Oh you do catering too?" What then? perhaps one of my animal cakes? Then I might get pigeonholed as only making animal cakes (see? "pigeon-holed:animal cakes? get it?)
That wouldn't do either. In fact no single image would accurately convey what I do . Hence the "cupcake" in my logo. Not entirely sold on it OR cupcakes in general (but more about that in a bit) but it'll do. Close but no cigar.Anyway, that cupcake logo has been used on my website, my business cards, my sign and on my first delivery vehicle.
Over time I grew to despise cupcakes. My mission in starting DDC was to offer things you could not get just anywhere. I need not point out that every town has a cupcake shop and every city has many multiples of them. I have been trying to phase out cupcakes for the longest time now because of this plus the fact that they are such a pain in the ass, at least the ones I make. I guess I could just make simple toppers that are cute and decorative but you know I'd never take the easy road.......nope, If there's a way to make something complicated and time consuming I'll find it. Despite finding the production quite tedious, I will (just this one time) admit that it's cool to see lots of little things in groupings. I do love miniature stuff =)
We recently got a second delivery vehicle and again the "cupcake" debate arose again. If I stuck with the logo then I'm stuck with cupcakes, right? Answer is a qualified "yes". As of now I still will take on the occasional cupcake order if , and only if, I think it's something that is unique enough to warrant my doing them vs. a cupcake specialty shop. So here are a few DDC cupcakes/ toppers that I can now admit are some of my faves, you know , now that the memory of the pain of making them has faded.

News of the World

.....not just a great song by The very awesome group "The Jam" but also an apt title for my life lately.OK, the word "news" might be stretching it a bit, but I have been experiencing a lot of world press the past few months. Those of you who know me , know that I spend much of my life online, so naturally I appreciate any online recognition that I am fortunate to get, but those who have known me for a long time know that I used to be obsessed with magazines and newspapers.
I think I have always been an information junkie.Growing up in a small town there wasn't much to entertain a precocious terror like myself.When I grew tired of watching the 3-5 channels of TV we got, I devoured everything in print.Now, my parents weren't exactly book collectors so my pickings were slim.I may be one of only a handful of people who actually read the World Book Encyclopedia and one of an even smaller group of people who read the dictionary. For. Fun. Yep! a popular kid was I!
Anyway, since the internet has exploded I'm afraid I've done more than my part hammering the final nail in print media's coffin. I just need my information faster these days, New, now, next!
It makes me kind of sad, though. There's nothing like having something of substance to hold on to, the tactile feeling of the glossy page.Here's where I finally get around to the topic.....
much of my latest press has been actually in print, real paper! So, from magazines and newspapers around the world here are a few:
The New york Daily News 1/2 page article!
A fun dutch kids magazine called "7 Days" =)


The Sun UK(Thanks to Christine for posting it to me!)



And I can now die happy..... Just thumbing through the mags at the counter today at wally world and lo and behold! I'm here too! I was asked to be in this mag months ago but I never saw it and actually the copy I found was one from last week. It was kismet, I tell you!Just what every mother dreams of for her child, tabloid trash!

return of the Baylist, this time it's personal!

So happy to announce that Debbie Does Cakes has been nominated again for Best specialty foods/Desserts In the Bay area on http://baylist.sfgate.com The competition is held every two years and DDC was the 2008 winner. Now we've got to protect the title, haha! If you are so inclined a vote would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!