This Weekend in Cake: Paris of the South, Old School Cake School, and, of course, Weddings.

I love summer. I especially love this lush, deep part of the summer, when the Crape Myrtle is in bloom, the cicadas are loud and obnoxious, and the storms are fast and furious in the afternoon. I love it because its my birthday time (Thursday!) and because I love swimming and because things just seem a little lazier. More things to love about summer: we've got peaches and raspberries and blueberries and wineberries- and lovely friends visiting from far-flung places.



Why, yes, it is Elyse Manning, one of the cake ladies featured in my book, Cake Ladies, which comes out in a mere 3 months from now!

Here's some highlights of our hot summer weekend at the Cake Shop:

1) Paris of the South Flea Market!



I love this little flea market. You will too. Food truck heaven, thrifty paradise. Cheap tables, live music, good times. Oh, and we're there too, selling cupcakes!



Phillipe, the fawn that stole Elyse's heart:



And some more scenes from the flea:






Paris of the South Flea Market is open Saturdays and Sundays, down on Lyman Street by the river, just past the candle factory.


2) Weddings.

Check out these from Oh, Darling! Photography, taken at Claxton Farms.




Then there was this wedding cake at Brahma Ridge:



Which, I hear tell, held up even in the summer mid-day heat.


3) Cake School!

We had our second installment of Old School Cake School Classes at the Cake Shop today! I'm very proud of today's three graduates, who successfully baked a cake from scratch, start to finish, for the first time in their lives!



However, I think the best part of Cake School was the mimosas.



Next installment of Cake School is Sunday, August 14th.

Thanks to everyone for such a beautiful weekend, especially the magical and amazing Cake Shop Cake Ladies, like Hannah, who made this awesome cake:



And Anna, who makes the Cake Shop awesome. Love.

Pretty Pictures!

Lucky for us, you can't swing a cat in Asheville without hitting a photographer. Even luckier for us, they really like to photograph cake. Here's some recent work of our work that some artists have shared with me.


Marc Tickle:

Short Street Cakes baked Marc and his wife's wedding cake last year, and they live in the neighborhood and frequent the Cake Shop. When I was looking for contact information online for him, I found his website, and discovered that he makes these beautiful kaleidoscopes from hand-made glass, japanese paper, and mirrors! His work is truly beautiful and magical and I was happy to have stumbled upon it.


Tracie Acreman, Image Asheville:
Tracie is a sweet woman with a lovely accent (a Tasmanian accent, I came to find out) who created this great set of photographs at The Big Crafty, Asheville's bi-annual indie craft fair. Tracie's blog is full of vibrant images of events and people around town, including these pretty shots of Hannah's Sugar Two Shoes lollipops and good ole Short Street Cupcakes.




Asheville Indie Weddings Artist Collective:
The brainchild of Asheville wedding photographer Jennifer Callahan, Asheville Indie Weddings is described as "the first bridal blog to focus on unique local artists in our community, showcasing businesses brides might not come across otherwise." Jennifer recently conducted an interview with me and took some shots of Aunt Tissy's Italian Cream Cake:



Cade Bowman Photography:
Cade recently sent me this link to the wedding of Brandon and Jen that took place this past spring. His work is truly beautiful, and he got some great shots of the cake buffet a la Short Street:





And finally, thanks to Brandy Bourne, Co-Creator of the Big Crafty, for these shots of our fun day slinging (all-natural, scratch-made) cake and candy to the people and pilgrims of Asheville.



As I peruse all these images, I feel so very lucky to be a part of this community, and to be able to have a livelihood that brings me into contact, (and relationship) every single day with creative, powerful, imaginative, soulful, lovely, lovely people. I'm so grateful for all the places this path has taken me. Thanks everybody!

Three Newsletters of Note.

Hey Friends, I would like to spread the word about three newsletters this week I find to be interesting:
1)Short Street Cakes- our sort-of monthly email newsletter, including info on Summer Old School Cake School and other upcoming events;
2)Slow Food Asheville, with a really interesting article about the recent Indigenous Terra Madre Summit in Jokkmokk, Sweden: "Delegates shared their stories about keeping food traditions alive and fighting to maintain rights to self determination, land, and water. Observers, like me, learned how they can be allies to indigenous communities as they (like many of us) seek to decolonize their food traditions and ensure their food cultures are taken up by the next generations." Word.
3)Community Food Security Coalition. This email is chock full of really dense and really relevant food policy information at the federal level. Just in case you are a big dork like me and you enjoy reading stuff like that.

The Big Crafty! this Sunday, July 10, Noon-6

We will be there, and we will have CUPCAKES.



And... we'll be sharing our booth with none other than Hannah Dansie of Sugar Two Shoes and Two of Hearts fame.



There will be literally hundreds of awesome, handmade vendors, and many of them are new to The Big Crafty. This is my 3rd (or 4th?) Summer Crafty, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
See you there, lovelies!
xoxo

I love you, My Drunk Kitchen.

I love you, My Drunk Kitchen, and I thank you, Oso Wallman, for the introduction.