Unexpected Surprises

Isn't life funny sometimes?  You think you know where your life is headed, and then you get thrown a curve ball.  We had a pretty steady week planned out for the bakery, one order for this weekend, one consultation, nothing major.  It's January, most people are still trying to work off that holiday weight they packed on.

And then, out of no where, it all was flipped upside down.

On Tuesday we received the most unusual call from a bride-to-be.  She's getting married this weekend and at the 11th hour had lost her baker and her wedding cake.  She needed something, anything, for her reception.

At first, we said we couldn't help.  We're leaving for an out-of-town visit this weekend, and the last thing we needed to add to our schedule was a wedding cake.  But then we thought about it...she was frantic, and we could probably throw something together by Friday.  Honestly, we could rearrange a few things, right?

So we made a simple cake for her to cut this weekend on her wedding day.  We cut out lots of rose petals (see above), and shaped them for the cake topper (this is such a labor-intensive process, you have no idea).  We baked two cakes, covered them in fondant, decorated the heck out of them, and after a few hours of work, we're pretty proud with the end results.

We never got around to publishing our goals for 2015 (apologies to the 5 people who actually follow this blog), but one of the things we really hoped to accomplish this year was to become more involved in the Pittsburgh wedding scene.  We have two more consultations lined up next week with brides-to-be, and maybe nothing will come of either meetings, but at least we're getting our name out there more.  We don't want our business to stagnate, and sometimes last year it certainly felt like it was.

So 2015 is off to a great start for us!  Here's hoping it continues past January! 

New Year, Same Blog

Hello readers!!

Welcome to 2015!!  What a crazy end of 2014 we had!  You guys loaded us up with orders (thanks!) and we spent most of December baking for all of your holiday needs.  Dozens of cookies, cupcakes, and loaves of bread (yes bread!) went out this holiday season, and we couldn't be more humbled by the love and support you have shown us.  What a way to end the year!

Aren't Christmas cookies the best, though?  So yummy, so sweet...so bad for you!  Yeah, we might have eaten a few too many cookies this holiday season.  Do the pants feel a bit tight, or is the washing machine mis-set again??

Crazy enough, our New Year's Resolution is to get into better shape.  We go to the gym, but our goal is to do it on an increasing basis (not just when Penguins hockey games are on so we can watch the game for once), and to cut all added sugar out of our daily diet.  Yes, you read that right....cut sugar out of our diet.

Sanity Police: Ma'am, you do realize you run a bakery, correct?
Me: Yes officer, I'm aware.
Sanity Police: And you do realize most bakeries use sugar in their day-to-day operations?
Me: Wait, what?!?

It hasn't been easy, we'll tell you that.  When you cut something out of your life, you begin to realize just how much it was in your life to begin with.  Sugar's in EVERYTHING!!  And we decided to cut out artificial sweeteners too, which rules out diet drinks (including juice), and even some "healthy" dessert options.  If it wasn't naturally found in the product to begin with, we're not touching it.  We've been eating a lot of fruit...a LOT of fruit.

Sometimes fruit doesn't cut it, though.  Sometimes you need something that you baked for dessert.  And we found a fabulous recipe we thought we'd share with you today.  It has no added sugar!!  And it tastes really yummy!!  Seriously, jot this one down!!

Banana Walnut Cookies
(no added sugar.  Yield: 12-18 cookies)

• 3 extremely ripe bananas, mashed up
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup raisin (optional)
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

^That, folks, is the easiest recipe you'll see all day.  You dirty one bowl.  And we mashed everything together with a sandwich baggie over my hand, so we didn't even use a spoon.

We'll be honest, we're not always a fan of banana-flavored things.  We trade the banana Runts candy like we're on the stock market floor.  But after not having anything sweet for dessert in almost 2 weeks, this was like mana from heaven!  So delicious, and really simple to make!