About Us

We are a bakery located in West Michigan that prides ourselves by using only handmade products from scratch using the freshest ingredients possible. Our goal is to provide brides with beautiful wedding cakes that fulfill their dreams, and our clients with stunning cakes that can't be beat!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

some fun ones

Hello all!


Not too long back we mentioned that we'd soon have a pic or two of some cake toppers we can make for your cake if you don't want to go with a traditional monogram or bride and groom (although we have made them before and would again!). Here is a bird hand-formed from a thick gage wire that would adorn the top of your cake; two would be awesome on top! We've done some trees before too (think "fall theme"). Many colors are available, but I love the color of a metallic to stand out and bring attention to your cake.

We worked hard on this cake, specifically the car... which if I remember correctly is a '42 Chevy. Who knew it would be so difficult to get the exact angles of a car correct?! A client stopped in and wanted a replica of a car they've had in the family for a long time which was originally his dads. This cake was in celebration of the father's birthday and included signs where he went to school, grew up, grandkids that were born along the way, and some of his favorite relaxation spots.




A loving husband ordered this cake for his wife's 30th birthday! From what we hear she enjoyed a relaxing day at the spa, followed by some delicious cake and a great birthday party. We incorporated some of her favorite colors and flowers on here, and did her favorite style of cake - topsy turvy!


What a cool cake for your first birthday! I think I had Rainbow Brite on mine... anyway, this must be one cool little girl! We kept the colors in different shades of pinks, and through a request from the mother, added 3D skulls and crossbones to the bottom tier of the cake. Also, as a side note, the bottom tier of this cake would have been delicious to enjoy and is one of my new favorites - Pastacio cake with French vanilla buttercream. Although my favorite filling with this would have to have been orange curd buttercream. YUM.


Everyone enjoy their weeks (or I guess now, weekends!) and we'll have some more fun stuff soon! - Sara :)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Happy 2009!

We just wanted to say a GIGANTIC thank you to all of our wonderful brides and clients over this past year. It was a huge transition for us early last year - moving into a retail space, expanding our business, bringing on new staff employees - you were all there with us, and it was fantastic to have you around.



Thank you TRIFOLD to all of our great vendors who are always recommending us to their clients. Honestly, without all of you, we don't know where we would be today. All of our photographer, florists, videographers, event planners, venues, and our neighbors! - we love you all. So stop in a grab a cookie and chat with us while we have time to talk! Because, you know, come April, we won't have time for words until December :)



As for this year, we are so excited for everything upcoming. We have booked just about the ENTIRE month of June, May is out of control, and August through November are looking to be just as busy as the rest... which we love. Keep coming to us with new ideas, colors, designs, and inspirations. We want to create the best cake for you! Also, we are really beginning to design cake toppers to go right along with the design of the wedding cake. So if you are a bride that doesn't want the usual monogram, or bride and groom figurine, let us run with it! We should have a picture up in a few days of one we've been working on... I know it will be pleasing.



Ok, so now, on with the cakes!





I love the bronzey metallic color to this cake. Beautiful for a winter wedding.

Isn't the stucco look of this cake awesome? You definitely do not have to have a smooth iced cake! You could accent something like this with fresh flowers, fruits, or crystals and flowers on wires like this one.
SO CUTE for a baby shower. So. Cute.

I loved this cake topper for this wedding! We hand made the branches from chocolate fondant to accent the the owls (!!) that were made by a close friend. This owls were supposed to be incorporated throughout the entire wedding. I love 'em.
Everyone have a great week! - Sara :)

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the crew at Sweet Cakes Design!

We are all trying to enjoy a bit of time off and relaxing with our families and loved ones... so don't worry, new cakes are coming soon

Enjoy this wonderful time with those you love! - Sara :)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Holy Moly!

Hey Everyone! We have really been cleaning house (or, computer) over here trying to get all of our pictures together from this past year... and whew... what a year it has been! We found a ton of pictures of cakes that never got published (I don't think), so hopefully I'll be getting those up in the next few days.

As for now, here are a few from this past weekend...








Stay tuned for more!
Enjoy the snow outside too...brrr... - Sara :)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

a few random notes

Good, bright and sunny, Morning to everyone!

I love crisp, sunny mornings with some snow on the ground. Beautiful!

We have just a few small topics that we'd like to make known to everyone!

The first is to announce that we are already CLOSING dates for the 2009 season! May 16th and June 20th weekends are booked solid! Woo hoo!

July, August, September and October brides, do not be afraid to contact us as soon as possible! We do not close dates when we reach a certain number of cakes in a given weekend like other bakeries might. We look over all of our returned contracts for given dates, and depending on the attention each cake needs (and the hours plus some for the designer to accomplish the beauty of that cake) will determine when we book a given weekend. We do not want to short cut anyone, and that's why we close weekends. We also take into factor where the reception site is. We deliver only about a hour and a half before the reception is supposed to start... we can't be in 8 different places at once, and there are only so many of us :)

Just a note to remember to return your contract as soon as possible: we only hold your wedding date for two weeks after your first client meeting with us. After that, it goes back into the open pool. This is only fair as we work on a first come first serve basis. We hate to dissappoint, so remember to return those ASAP!

One last note. We like to be able to customize cakes to our brides. We do that through colors, tier sizes, design, monograms, and more. And we LOVE to sketch out a few cakes using those details for you to see, so that we know what you like, don't like, and really narrow down the perfect design for your wedding cake. This way you really know what to expect too! However, we cannot offer this anymore until you book with us. This is just so that our designs for you stay just that. Yours. We'd be upset to spend the time customizing a cake for you, only to see it pop up somewhere else. As designers, we always take inspiration from others, but we don't want to supply others with a design we worked so hard on. I know you all understand :)

So, if you have any questions, call us!

Thanks for your listening ears!
Sara :)

if you want an 8 track player...

we can do one!


This was Amanda's baby for a whole week (or, the second half of the week)...

detail, detail, detail! Remember I said "give her something electronic and she can copy it?" I wasn't kidding. This turned out AWESOME. And no, this wasn't a grooms cake, it was their actual wedding cake! People have great ideas and we love to do them!


look at this woodgrain! LOVE.



brings you back a few years, no? (although I don't think I have ever really seen one...)


Burgandy's and golds are just so beautiful together. On this cake we placed a thin burgandy fondant ribbon at the bases, and piped a royal icing design similar to the couples invitation on the cake. After the royal icing dried, we painted it with gold luster dust. This picture doesn't do it justice for how the gold really stood out.


We have fantastic neighbors at our shop, and they always order fun stuff for birthdays. Last time we put crickets on top of their cupcakes, and this time it was pizza! We actually made a small miniature pizza and then cut it into slices. The remaining cupcakes got pizza boxes!


This elegant cake looked beautiful this weekend! The cake had a simple swirl on it, and a bronze colored fondant ribbon wrapped around it with a bow.

This cake for a 1-year-olds birthday was so much fun! Each tier was airbrushed seperately and then stacked together. All the animals were made by hand and then added to the cake. The top has a John Deere tractor on it, although its hard to see. What a fun farmed themed first birthday :)

We wanted this cake to look like a piece of lace was laid over the top of it, so tight swirls were added heavily to the top, and became more spread out as they climbed down the cake.

Happy (belated) birthday to one of our favorite photographers Jen Kroll! She and her associate photographers always capture such beautiful images, and we can't get enough of looking at them. Not to mention she usually comes in with her boys who are always a joy and a bundle of fun, and bring smiles to our faces on a hustle bustle day :)


What a fun 50th birthday party cake! We did a "bar theme" with wood paneled walls, and large beer mug, and some shelled peanuts. The theme of the birthday party was somewhat hawaiian, and what man doesn't want a luau party umbrella in their beer mug?! This cake, was fun, especially the "happy birthday" banner hanging across the front. Nice!



That's all for the beginning of this week. I wanted to say a big "thank you" to Aletha for stopping by the other day! It was great seeing you again. And ladies/brides/readers if you need an event planner for your wedding, Aletha is awesome! Checkout her website and blog, because she's always giving great tips, which are great not only for brides, but for decorating your house too :) And her attention to detail is amazing.

So, everybody enjoy their weeks and the lovely snow that is falling! - Sara :)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

lots of love for different cakes

Wow, these past weeks have been completely fun with SO MANY different cakes. We are still working on gathering all the pictures... but we had animals, 8 track players, crazy huge cakes, and many, many, beautiful cakes. These are why we love what we do! Enjoy :)


Love this incorporation of the monogram. Barb made this monogram out of gumpaste, and it looks stunning on this simple cake.

Rachel (we find Rachel when we need life-like and realistic interpretations of things...) did this one, a britany spaniel, horse, and trailer... she did a great job!


This whimsical yet elegant cake turned out wonderful. We dusted the balls on the cake with gold and silver luster. Funky and fun.


This cake was HUGE and let me tell you, when Barb and I were carrying it in... lets just be glad we didn't have to hold it too long and had a cart to help us with all the heavy work :) This picture doesn't do it justice to the detail Barb put into it, so just check out Jen's blog because her picture is just so much more beautiful!

The MOLE cake (groom's/bride's cake for the above cakes wedding)! We loved how it turned out. I love the details on it... my favorite part of the whole cake is the heart and letters carved into the trunk of the tree. Romantic. Oh, and I love the step mushrooms going up the side of the stump (do you see the grubs in the dirt in front of the mole? Love those too). This was my "project" for the weekend, and I was so excited to detail it up. What you don't see on here is the diamond ring we gave her, and a prettier, fuller, glittery bow. We hear bride and groom liked it a lot too :)

A simple, square cake with a long red ribbon and bow around the bases.

A true Alice in Wonderland cake. Thats right. We thought this cake was right side up topsy turvy, but when we finally found a picture of it... UP.SIDE.DOWN. Thankfully, this was only a 5 and a 6 inch, with a 4 inch styrofoam for extra support on the bottom. If this was any larger, gravity probably wouldn't have stayed our friend. And don't you all just love the warm glow of light that fall evenings bring??



Look at these cute booties Amanda made!



that when on this super cool baby shower cake. I love the buttons!


And, a triangle wedding cake. This turned out awesome, and the bride and groom loved it. It became the centerpiece of the entire wedding, and recieved so many great comments. We love our brides and their awesome ideas!



So, that's all for now. We'll have some more later this week! -Sara :)