Sweet Beginnings: Custom Cakes
Gretel Steckler certainly has all the right ingredients:
German roots, a lifetime passion for baking and even a name that
conjures up visions of confections.
“Cake is a piece of art, it’s your centerpiece,” said Steckler, whose business Amazing Cakes in Charlevoix specializes in the simple to the simply incredible. “I always suggest to give your guests a nice flavor of cake, a high-end piece of dessert. It’s the last thing your guests are going to taste, and I want them to have a good feeling, a good taste, in their mouth.”
But good wedding cake doesn’t only appeal to that single sense; the masterpieces designed by Steckler are a sight to behold, too. She enjoys creating elegant stacked cakes that don’t rely on plastic pillars for support, but rather present a classy look with layers stacked high.
She is adept at handmade cakes shaped in any way to suit the bride and groom, from boats to airplanes to simple round cakes. “Anything is possible with sugar and chocolate and cake, you just have to work up the plans structurally, and then go to it,” she said.
Since everyone knows it’s what’s on the inside that counts, Steckler often recommends to brides that they mix it up, with chocolate and vanilla as the cake layers, for instance, and a filling, such as strawberry or cherry, in the middle. “The plating looks very nice,” she said. “There are all kinds of combinations to make it uniquely your own.”
Steckler suggests couples reserve her services
as early as possible, particularly for more intricate cakes. Steckler’s
pricing starts at $4.75 per person and varies depending on the required
intricacy of the request.
To keep her talents on the cutting edge, Steckler continues her training through her membership in the International Cake Exploration Society (ICES.org). Rolled fondant is one technique she particularly enjoys.
“That’s what gives your cake that pristine, perfect look,” Steckler said. “Some need that also to get the design on there. It’s a nice medium to do the embellishments.”
For photos of examples of her cakes, go online to www.gretelcake.blogspot.com. She also sends brides flavor sheets that include the various tastes she offers, such as pistachio, amaretto, hazelnut, deep-dark chocolate, orange others. Reach Steckler at 547-7470.
Let them eat cake (and other goodies)
What Kim Sperl can do with some flour, sugar and eggs is astounding. The owner of Bella e Dolce cake and pastry shop based in Cheybogan is a professionally trained baker with an eye for detail and creativity. She recently answered a few questions about her business and the unique tastes she provides local brides and grooms:
Wedding Guide: What’s your background?
Sperl: I have
been making wedding cakes and pastries since 1997. I am a graduate of
Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Paris, France, where I learned pastry
art and design. In addition, I’ve also taken chocolate classes at the
French Culinary Institute in New York City and have also studied with
cake designer and author, Colette Peters, to learn the art of sugar
paste flowers and fondant.
WG: What should brides and grooms expect if they hire you?
Sperl:
Personal service. Most couples want to meet personally to discuss the
flavor and design of their wedding cake. We have cake tastings during
the winter months where couples come to taste the many cake flavors and
fillings that we offer as well as looking over our cake portfolio …
Then, unless they find a cake photo that they love exactly as it is, we
take some time to go over the style and theme of their wedding and try
to incorporate those components into their wedding cake making it
individual to them.
WG: What is popular in cake and dessert designs today?
Sperl:
Simple and classic. Most wedding couples want a traditional wedding
cake although there are always those that want the unusual and may
choose whimsical cakes, cupcakes, pastries or cheesecakes. … The brides
that I work with often choose monograms, fresh flowers, cake jewelry
and, sometimes, vintage toppers. A decorating technique that continues
to be popular and makes a cake unique is rolled fondant. This sweet
confectionary cake covering is rolled and placed over buttercream.
Fondant allows us to paint, emboss, sculpt or airbrush designs that
could never be accomplished with simple buttercream.
WG: What flavors and fillings do you offer?
Sperl:
Couples seem to be spending more time choosing a cake with interesting
flavors and fillings to create a memorable dessert rather than just a
beautiful showpiece for their guests. We can make almost any flavor of
cake and filling but some of our most popular are chocolate cake with
peanut butter buttercream, yellow cake with passion fruit cream and
raspberry buttercream, Irish cream cake with praline buttercream,
lemon-rosemary cake with lemon curd and cherry buttercream and carrot
cake with orange-ginger cream cheese. All of our cakes are torted. This
creates four thin layers of cake with three alternating layers of
filling.
WG: Give us some examples of nontraditional cakes that you’ve
created.
Sperl: Thanks to the ‘Ace of Cakes’ show on the
Food Network, last year we had more requests for groom’s cake than ever
before. We made cakes that looked like Comerica Park, an aquarium, a
frog prince sitting on a lily pad and a snow boot on a snow board. This
year we have an order by a Miami Dolphin’s fan for a 3-foot-tall cake to
resemble an ibis. Other requests for this summer include a lighthouse
and a Dutch windmill. We love the challenge of making something new and
unusual. We haven’t been stumped so far.
Reach Sperl at (231) 625-8232 for more information, or go online to www.bellaedolce.com.
More area pastry, cookie and cake makers
Chef Julie Adams, Julienne Tomatoes, Petoskey, 439-9250
Tom’s
Mom’s Cookies, Harbor Springs, 526-6606
Dutch Oven Shop, Alanson,
548-2231
Designer Cookies by the Crate, www.cookiesbythecrate.com
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