Sunday, November 23, 2008

Wedding Cake




Hello, 

Last Sunday I was able to create a cake for a great couple who introduced me to a new flavor combination that I will now be featuring in my cakes for upcoming clients, Meyer Lemon Cake with Lavender Buttercream. 

The cake design took one of the colors of the bride's wedding, a lovely shade of purple, and signature orchids to cascade down the front of the cake. 

I really enjoyed the chance to work on the flavors with this couple!

Warm Regards, 

Jaycel Adkins
Founder

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Style Me Pretty


Hello Everybody, 

I wanted to announce that Etiquette of Chocolate, has been honored to be named one of the North Florida's 'Very Important Vendors' by Style Me Pretty's blog, Little Black Book. 

For those of you in the know, Style Me Pretty is one of the top wedding blogs in the country, if not the world, setting and chronicling all the cutting edge and innovative ideas in weddings for the discerning bride. 

Etiquette of Chocolate is the ONLY cake and favor company in Northern Florida, thus far to be given this honor. 

On top of that, Etiquette of Chocolate, was also named one of 'Abby Loves...' by Abby Larson, the founder of Style Me Pretty. 

Warmest Regards, 

Jaycel
Founder

I want to thank Abby and Michelle for their belief in Etiquette of Chocolate's point of view and philosophy when it comes to creating the best cakes and favors for our clients. 

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Christening Cake



Hello, 

Over the weekend I was able to create a Christening cake for the daughter of one of my mother's customers. My charge was to incorporate pink flowers, this is what I can came up with. 

The cake is a Yellow Butter Cake with Strawberry Buttercream. 

Dressing a Cake....




Hello, 

This weekend I created a wedding cake and groom's cake for a lovely couple, Angelique and Matthew. They were married at the Cummer Museum, one of the truly great venues in Jacksonville. 

The bride wanted the cake to recreate her wedding dress with the addition of flowers atop the cake, edged in gold luster dust. The flavor of the cake was: Yellow Butter cake with champagne and strawberry buttercream. 

The groom's cake was inspired by the groom's trumpet play. And of course, the greatest trumpet player of all time was Satcho, aka Louis  Armstrong. I searched for a design that I thought matched the style of the event, which I found in this amazing sketch, which I replicated. 

Monday, October 27, 2008

Review on Southern Weddings Blog


Here is a review about the Etiquette of Chocolate Experience by Peter and Arjola, a truly charming and beautiful couple whose wedding I had the great honor of creating the cake for, that was posted on Southern Weddings blog. This is the goal that I am always seeking all of my clients to have.

We were planning our wedding from Orlando, so Jaycel was willing to meet with us anytime.
We met him for the first time on an early Sunday morning because that is all the time we had in Jacksonville. I was just shocked that any business would be willing to be open for us at that odd time. He put on a great tasting for us and truly was constantly conscious about our availability. We were captivated by this young, hard-working, and creative entrepreneur. We wanted a very simple cake, that's just who we are, and Jaycel really listened to what we wanted and sent us to appropriate websites to look to get ideas. He explained every step of the process and truly guided and listened to us as we made our decisions. We had our dream cake for our wedding! Not only was it beautifully done with refined artistry, but it was the best cake we have tasted. We have had so many of our guests and family members say that to us. We had the raspberry and champagne filling. We were not even planning on doing favors, and had even decided against them, but we were so happy with how we were treated and how budget conscious he was that we ended up ordering chocolates as favors and, also, we had guests say they were awesome!! I can tell you too, they are AWESOME!

Partnering Up...


Hello,

A few weeks ago, I had the great chance to work with Agnes Lopez, one of Jacksonville's premier photographers, who recently was named an Editor's Pick by The Knot AND was included in Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book, both great honors and testament to her professionalism and talents.

In addition, I recently, have had the chance to work with Liza Chung, Editor of Jacksonville Luxury Living Wedding and Event Style Magazine. She is a terrific event designer.

All three of us (and many other amazing Northeast Florida Talents) collaborated on a special project of Agnes for a concept shoot she did, inspired by a stunning piece of cinema.

My humble contribution was the above cake, which was inspired by the film.

I saw many of the photos that Agnes took at her shoot and cannot wait for the time she posts everything on her blog! It will blow people away!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Launch Party Cake for Luxury Magazine



Hello,

I am excited to show a cake that was recently created for the launch party of Jacksonville Luxury Living's Wedding magazine at Ocean 60. I want to thank the amazingly talented Liza Chung.

But until then, here are my humble photos.

The flavors were Yellow Cake with Wild Strawberry and Champagne Buttercream.

The color of the cake was to match the logo of the magazine and the rose was sculpted completely out of hand, no special cutters! Nature doesn't do cookie cutters, neither do I!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Birthday Cake



Hello,

This cake was created for one of the best customers I have, who has gotten numerous cakes from us over the year we have been open.

A birthday cake that takes a bit of inspiration from the Jaguars with the teal rings and dots.

Wedding Cake




Hello,

One of my favorite cakes of the year was completed this weekend for a great couple, Debbie Gloria and Bob Smith.

The bride wanted a regal cake that took inspiration from her table centerpieces and flowers.

The flavors of the cake of yellow cake with blackberry buttercream and chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream.

The cake was delivered to River Club on top of the Modis Building.

Birthday Cake



Hello,

Last week, I had the pleasure to create the birthday cake for, Agnes Lopez, one of the best photographers in Northeast Florida and a good friend of mine. She has many exciting ventures on her plate and I am very happy to call her a friend!

The flavor was carrot cake with pecan cream cheese buttercream.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Wedding Cake




Hello,

Here is a cake that I take some pride in creating. It was designed for a bride that I went to high school with, actually, small world!

She brought in a photo of a cake that had swags and roses, which lead me to create this cake. The flavor of the cake is Yellow and Chocolate Butter Cake with Hazelnut, cookies and cream, and peanut butter butter creams.

The roses and swags were sculpted out of sugar paste! The venue was the Florida Yacht Club.

Simple and Chic


Hello,

Here is a petite cake that was ordered via one of our vendor partnerships with a local reception venue. The bride wanted a simple cake for her budget, that was still beautiful and able to feed her party of 40. So I created this cute little two tier cake with white fondant and lavender hearts.

The flavor of the cake was yellow butter cake with vanilla bean butter cream.

Birthday Cake


Hello,

Here is a cake that was done for one of my mother's customers, whose daughter was celebrating her 12th birthday. She wanted something different and elegant. After studying our blog and website, she wanted a white fondant cake with a butterfly and our signature bejeweled Poppy!

The flavors of the cake were chocolate cake with cookies and cream.

Wedding Cake



Hello!

I had four wedding cakes this week, which is about my limit! But all were fun to create.

The first cake was a short notice wedding, i.e. ordered a few weeks ago by a bride who was a fan of 'Lily' one of the cakes on our site. But she wanted cherry blossoms instead!

The flavors of the cake were: Chocolate Cake and Yellow Cake, with each layer having Pistachio, Hazelnut, and mocha layers of our amazing swiss meringue buttercream!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Even in hard times....

Hello,

Yesterday I got a call from a local tv station wanting to do a story about how the economy is effecting people's buying habits when it comes to chocolates!

Here is the video:

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Sea Horses, she loves sea horses!



Hello,

Earlier in the week, I dropped off a little cake in Amelia Island for a client from Scotland, whose family was renting a beach house to celebrate her sister's 60th birthday.

The cake was inspired by the sister's love of sea horses, which lead me to create a textured stencil plus some sea shells, etc.

The cake is a carrot cake with pecan cream cheese buttercream.

Duo of Birthday Cakes






Hello,

This week involved the creation of two birthday cakes that were actually inspired by wedding cakes that we have created!

The first cake was inspired by "Eve" our dogwood flower cake with jeweled centers that is in our cake gallery. The clients wanted everything to be chocolate, hence we created a chocolate cake with chocolate fondant. But we included three different buttercreams that compliment one another: Mocha, Hazelnut, and Cookies and Cream.

The second cake was created via email with another client we was inspired by our "Lola" cake. She wanted something elegant for her birthday but staying within a budget. So I created this 10 inch cake inspired by "Lola" with the lace effects, but without making the cake topsy turvy. The flavor of the cake was a chocolate butter cake with cream cheese and hazelnut buttercream with crushed Heath Bar bits mixed in!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Wedding Cake



Hello,

This was a short order wedding cake for a couple who saw my store while driving by. She wanted to have a fondant covered cake that was ivory with chocolate borders. The key decorative element were a series of orchids and calla lily groupings that would spiral up the cake. A key component was the addition of green leaves to each grouping in order to make the entire effect "POP!"

This is actually one of my favorite cakes because it was the first cake that was created using a new system I developed that allows me to create multiple cakes at the same time without losing quality in taste and design.

Cinderella Birthday Cake



Hello,

Today I had a client pick up a cake for her daughter's 5th Birthday. We talked and designed the cake over email mostly and came up with this design. We first wanted to do a Walt Disney World Castle theme, but after creating the stencil for the castle, I felt that it looked odd and decided to add a stencil of Cinderella as well. The medallions around the top edge of the cake express the princess theme and the borders are based on the ramparts of a castle.

The flavor of the cake was Yellow Butter Cake and Raspberry Buttercream.

Baby Shower Cake


Hello,

Here is a baby shower cake that was commissioned by my cousin for a friend. She wanted to create a cake based on the theme of Snoopy and Woodstock. The flavor of the cake is Yellow Butter Cake with Cookies and Cream Buttercream.

Everything on the cake is edible and decorated using gourmet/food safe ink. But I had to let the Snoopy/Woodstock and red dog house harden overnight, in order to ink the detail work, since it would be too soft otherwise.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Betty Crocker!?....taking it back to Old School



Hi,

This is actually the second such cake I have created for a client based on an old technique popularized by Betty Crocker. While I promise that I don't use mixes in my cakes, I can't help but take inspiration from my clients.

The occasion was a Birthday Party for a young girl, "Lily." The Hula Skirt is yellow cake with vanilla bean buttercream. The base is chocolate cake with cookies and cream. The skirt itself is formed from molding chocolate which I scored to create the plant effect.

The bikini top is made of modeling chocolate, as well.

Best

Duo of Cakes




Hello,

I recently was commissioned to create a pair of cakes for a double celebration, the 45th Anniversary of a good family friend and their birthday as well. I wanted to create something that would compliment each other and decided upon polka dots and rings, made of those dots.

The rings and polka dots were created out of modeling chocolate, which tastes like a tootsie rolls, and colored with food coloring. The notecards were created out of sugar.

Best,

Saturday, August 23, 2008

New week/New Technique



Hello,

One of my favorite customers, who always pushes for new ideas/designs, commissioned a baby shower cake this weekend. She supplied us with photos from another cake company, Pink Cake Box, out of NJ.

In addition, she ordered party favor goodie bags which contained assorted milk and dark chocolate almond clusters which were tied in yellow and green ribbons, the color theme of the party.

The couple atop the cake was formed out of modeling chocolate (which tastes like a tootsie roll!).

The extra tall tiers were carrot cake/cream cheese buttercream and chocolate cake/cookies and cream buttercream. There are actually two tiers of cake in each cake, doubling the servings and creating this effect.

I am excited to be bringing a new medium to the decoration of our cakes, offering something new to our clients.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Great Photographer




Hello,

I wanted to highlight one of the best photographers in Northeast Florida, Agnes Lopez. She is a Knot Pick and her style is truly unique and allows her clients events to shine. She is also the photographer of our cakes on our website and has photographed three of our cakes, thus far.

Here is to hoping that she will be photographing many more.

Best

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Wedding Cake





Hello,

I just completed a wedding cake and groom's cake for a wedding with a Mardi Gras Theme. The wedding cake design was supplied by the bride who wanted a gold beads, fleur de lys, and a quilted pattern on the even tiers.

The flavors of the wedding cake were almond cake and vanilla bean buttercream.

The groom's cake was a sculpted cake in the shape of a Miller Lite bottle with logo. The flavors of this cake were Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream.

Best