And then there's my most favorite...

...The crazy, colorful, fun shaped cakes! Not for the faint-hearted, or those with traditional grandmas they need to impress; a whimsical cake is unique and memorable!

-it can be "flow-y" and customized:

-it can be colorful:

-it can be themed and elegant (obviously designed for a vineyard wedding):

-it can be intricate and simple at the same time:

-or it can always be crazy...like a Norwegian viking love boat sailing into the horizon!


Hope that gives you some ideas MaryBeth...So excited to have you in our family!!!

Let's talk about chocolate and fresh fruit...

YUM! It's just sooo good. The bitter from the chocolate, the sweet and tart from the fruit, breathy lightness from cake and fresh cream... It's just sooo good! Also, using unadulterated ingredients like chocolate and fruit lend a pure, natural quality to your event.

-here, the white chocolate has a little syrup added to make it malleable and wrapped around the sides of the cake. It makes a nice little basket to hold the berries on the cake:

-never underestimate the power of a few well places chocolate shavings:

-oh berry coule folded into chocolate ganache dusted with cocoa powder, how I love thee...

-this is another take on the chocolate basket...piped to make it look like lace:

-warm ganache dripped over the edge...great for an event with chocolate or champagne fountains:

Oh, the fondant controversy...

So yes, fondant is not the silky, creamy frosting that we all crave with cake. BUT, there are soooooo many advantages! It doesn't melt in the middle of your summer wedding. Fondant can be dyed any color, and spread in a thin layer on your cake; no unfortunate red or green smiles in the wedding photos. The finish of a fondant cake is very smooth, so there's no need for frosting or ribbon borders to hide flaws. Finally, your cake can stay fresher longer- fondant can seal up the moisture of the cake, so leftovers can still taste good after the honeymoon!

-with this chocolate fondant cake, I was able to use edible gold paint to make vines and flowers to match:

-here, I could use an edible pearl dust and white chocolate to create a 3-D leaf design:

-you can give an antique feel to the cake by adding shadows with different edible spray paints:

Then there's fresh flower cakes....

These types of cakes tend to be very simple to allow the flowers to take all the glory. They are nice at a wedding because they tie together the bouquet, centerpieces, and boutonnieres.

-there's fresh flowers between each layer:

-there's just a topper (you often see ribbon accents with flower cakes to carry the color down in the cake design):

-or else you can have little clumps of flowers (fresh, or in this case made with marzipan):

Oldies but Goodies...

So my soon-to-be sister-in-law may let me make her wedding cake, but she would like a few examples of my work before she decides. These aren't necessarily the best...but they may help her identify the style she likes.

There's TRADITIONAL White Round Cakes :
These cakes tend to be monochromatic, iced in buttercream, and simply decorated

-strait stacked with no space between, accents, or topper:

-pillar supports with topper:

-pillar supports with topper and accents:

Mad Hatter Tea Party

Several months ago, a lovely friend of mine was expecting her first baby girl (after three boys) and was in need of a baby shower. We went crazy with the theme of a Mad Hatter 'super-girly' tea party. Here is the Cake:

An amazing photographer and friend, Tamera Orduna Photography, was in attendance and snapped a couple photos of the refreshments and decorations. I love how she made even the simplest things look epic!

Traditional crustless tea sandwiches:

Chicken and Thyme was served on buttered white bread with a filling of chicken breast, mayo, dry mustard, lemon juice, worcheshire, thyme, and salt & pepper.

Cranberry Chicken was served on lightly toasted raisin bread and spread of homemade cranberry cream cheese. The filling is chopped sauted chicken, toasted pecans, craisins, alfalfa sprouts, and a small amount of mayo to bind.)

Petite Cucumber sandwich requires only whole wheat bread, cream cheese, Major Grey's mango chutney and cucumber medallions.

These Fresh Fruit Tea Tarts have a crust of pate sucre (3 c. pastry flour, 1 c. butter, 1/2 c. sugar, 2 eggs, salt and vanilla) and a filling of lemon curd (12 egg yolks, 2 c. sugar, 1 c. lemon juice, and 1 c. butter). A little fresh fruit and glaze completes the treat.

Tea was served, of course (don't you just love these cups!?)

The decorations, not provided by myself, were gorgeous and sooo fun! These centerpieces and hanging orbs were made from tissue paper.

Alternatives to Cupcakes

After a long silence, I am posting a couple of the tasty things I've made in recent months. WhenI had the business, I was often asked to provide gluten/dairy/or egg-free desserts. I don't particularly enjoy using cake-y substitutes for flour and dairy like 'garbanzo starch' or 'soy silky dream'...they never quite taste like the thing they're pretending to be. Instead, it is fun to make a 'safe food' cleverly disguised to look like festive birthday fare.

This little cupcake is made out of jello. Following the recipe for "Jigglers", I layered the various flavors to make a fun rainbow. The reusable silicone cupcake wrappers that you can find at any cake store or craft store featuring Wilton products work well, and can be unmolded easily after properly chilling. The icing is a non-dairy whipped topping, sprinkled with dark chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

These cupcakes served along side their egg, dairy, and gluten filled counterparts were actually the first to go.

These little morsels are made using chocolate and ice cream. One could easily substitute sorbet or fresh fruit, and not non-dairy whipped topping to accommodate other allergies.

To make the pho-cupcake base, use melted chocolate chips (in this cake dark chocolate) and apply with a pastry brush to the inside of parchment cupcake liners. All to harden in the cupcake tin to keep the form consistent. When solidified, peel away paper. Now the form is free to fill with ice cream, mousse, fruit, or sorbet, and top with something creamy. In this example I used heavy whipping cream and raspberry jam, accented by upside down chocolate chips for polka dots.

Nanny Libby

So, I have been making the occational cake for friends and family. Saturday, we had a baby shower for a friend with a great sense of humor. We constructed a replica of her Boxer, Libby. Libby is very excited to assist in the nurturing of the new little arrival.


I have included a couple of pictures to give you an idea of how this cake was made. The basic shape of the cake began with a stack of 6" hearts on the bottom, followed by 8" ovals, and the neck used 3 1/2" rounds. The head was constructed using foam balls and modeling chocolate (this cake needed to be kosher for religious reasons, so the typical medium of rice cereal and marshmallows could not be used)


Now that I am not baking for the general public, Sonya is allowed in the kitchen to watch.
The cake is covered in "stucko" after carving, which is a mixture of mousseline buttercream, filling, and cake crumbs. It allows for a smoother surface to ice.


The next step is a thick and very smooth layer of ganache. At this stage, you add the subtle details like muscle tone, brow ridges, etc.


Now, you can add the fondant, food coloring paint, ears and eyes.


The finishing touch of a matriarchal-looking lace cap and, VOULA! Instant Nanny!


Which one is the cake? Who knows- they both look soooooo excited!

So, what did I do on the first day of the first year without my cake business....?

...I made a cake, of course!!!


This was a wedding cake for the little sister of my very good friend, Rebecca. The request was to have an Oregon Forest-looking waterfall with a little bench and outhouse incorporated. I followed instructions. In the picture, the water looks black...weird lighting, I guess; but I assure you the waterfall was a dark blue.

You can see, in the background of this picture (in my kitchen just before delivery) that I used icecream cones to form the trees. I also mashed up fresh brownies to form the boulders, and poured gelatin to give a running water look.

The Last One...officially

This is the last cake that I will be doing under the name of Karren's Specialty Cakes. It was a sweet sixteen cake for a girly-girl who likes purses, shoes, and purple. This is what we came up with.
I will still post fun little cakes I do for family and friends along with, perhaps, some of my secrets and tips in the future. Stay tuned...

Food that looks like food....

...that it tastes nothing like. I promise you that these Tater Tots do not taste like nuggets of fried and salted potato mush:-).

The Battlestar!

Believe it or not, this is actually a Wedding cake. It was for a SUPER fun couple, with the groom being a huge BSG fan.

They even let me stick around to watch it's demolition! So much fun!

A Pretty Garden Wedding

This wedding cake was designed to match the flowers of the family's backyard garden. Unfortunately, this past Saturday topped out at over 100 degrees, and the cake needed to be set up in the air conditioned living room.
This will be one of only a few remaining cake posts, as we will be discontinuing our business. Stay tuned for the final 3 weddings remaining on our schedule.

Closing shop

We served the greater Portland area since October 2006. Sadly, due to health reasons, we have decided to discontinue our business. We will miss interacting with the community and participating in the special events of your lives. There are many qualified bakers who have arrived in the Portland area since we opened shop. They should be a great resource to you. One in particular is Artisan Cake Company whose business model most closely mirrors that of Karren's Specialty Cakes. Once again, thank you for all the business and loyalty!

Can you name the movie?

What movie is the cake based on?

If you said Wizard of Oz, you would be correct.

The Lough Road

A well know Wilderness Photographer, Rodney Lough Jr., celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday.

In celebration, his daughters ordered him a cake in the shape of his camera. Here is Karren's interpretation of his camera strapped down for display.

Happy birthday Rodney!