The Wedding Tweetup planned for this evening at The Daily Grill at the Domain has been canceled due to the weather and road conditions. It will be rescheduled soon!

If you are a wedding vendor, want to meet different wedding vendors, or are interested in marketing to the wedding industry, then you should attend Austin’s first wedding tweetup.

A tweetup is an event where you meet people that you regularly interact with on Twitter, however it is not exclusive t Twitter. Anyone can attend.

So, if you want to mix and mingle for a couple of hours then please attend!

Date: Tuesday, February 23

Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Location: The Daily Grill at the Domain – Austin, 11506 Century Oaks # 100

Austin, TX 78758-7759

Restaurant Phone: (512) 836-4200

The past few weeks I have been testing out a new strawberry cake recipe to add to the menu of flavors.  It’s been hard trying to find a strawberry cake that I love, but I think this new recipe might be the winner!  It’s made with a fresh strawberry puree, as well as the other ingredients that make my cakes awesome, but I can’t tell you what those are. =)

Here’s the photo from my “test kitchen”.

Visit the cool baking blog Bakerella for a tutorial on how to make this yummy jumbo cookie!

Image copyright – Bakerella

The Saints and the Colts are about to play in the Superbowl in just a little while; it should be exciting considering that this is the first Superbowl for the Saints.

Anyway, Superbowl is synonymous for snacks…and LOTS of them at that. Chips and dip, buffalo wings, queso, soda, and you can’t forget the popcorn!!

Oh yes. That’s a cake with real popcorn. The best snack ever!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so here is a photo of something I love; Cupcakes!! I made these last week for one of my group meetings. They were a special chocolate with cream cheese buttercream.  I say “special” because it’s not my usual recipe. I added in extra chocolate and cocoa because I was trying to use up the last little bit left in the containers. I added some sour cream because I read in book that sour cream makes it even yummier.

So my point is that I didn’t write the recipe down this time, so who knows if I’ll be able to duplicate it again. Oh well…another excuse to make some practice cupcakes. Maybe YOU will be the lucky taste tester.

Happy Valentines Day!

Photo courtesy of Bill Bastas Photography

Last week I was approached by Austin wedding photographer, Jessica Monnich, to make a retro wedding cake for a photo shoot at The Highball bowling alley.

If you haven’t been there yet, you need to check out. It’s a throwback to the good old days in the Fifties and Sixties; Not that I REALLY know since I wasn’t born yet, but I believe it.

Photos of that shoot are coming soon, but look at this behind-the-scenes video footage from Wild Orchid Studios.

HighBall Fashion Shoot from Wild Orchid Studios on Vimeo.

Did you know that we are a green company? These are some of the ways in which we help the environment by reducing our carbon footprint.

• We limit the use of paper products by putting all of our 95% of our information online.
• At cake tastings, we use filtered water, instead of bottled water.
• We buy almost all of our ingredients locally from central Texas area suppliers.
• We schedule deliveries around the same time to avoid trips back and forth.
• Our web host runs on a hydroelectric facility.
• We plan cakes based on a certain percentage of your guest count, so you don’t have leftovers, eliminating the need for cake boxes which end up in the trash. (We know! leftover cake is good..but the trash will last long after your wedding is over. That’s not good.)
• We conduct most of our meetings via sunlight, reducing the use of electricity, and our bill!

As a small business, we are committed to helping the environment, as well as making great cakes! Hopefully in 2010 you can find some ways to help the environment as well!

Everyone knows that if you’re going to plan a full wedding and reception, you have to be prepared to spend money.

I’ve also discussed pricing and what to expect when you get a cake. However, many people STILL feel like a cake should be the cheapest thing. I assure you, that you get what you pay for…so if your cake quote is super low…you SHOULD be very worried.

However….this post isn’t really about the price…but instead, what is it THAT you are really looking for in your cake.

After sitting down with hundreds of brides over the past few years, and talking about their weddings, these are the most common items that brides value, and have found to be more important than the price.

• Pretty, breathtaking cake
• Elegant and tall… A cake that looks like a wedding cake
• Premium ingredients like real sweet cream butter, chocolate, and vanilla
• Icing, that is applied in a smooth manner with crisp edges and detailed decorations,
• Moist and fluffy, yet firm ..not dry or crumbly
• Cake that gets eaten by guests
• A beautifully decorated cake table that highlights the cake.
• Cake flavors that everyone will enjoy
• Chocolate
• Beautiful photographs of their cake/ lasting memories of their cake
• To eat the cake at their wedding

ALL of these items are what brides have placed as a priority over price. If you could put one word on this list it is QUALITY. Quality will always come before price and that is the one thing that EVERY bride wants at her wedding.