Taste of the Nation This Saturday

Here is a list of participants for this Saturday’s big Taste of the Nation event, and there are some pretty impressive names on the roster. If you’ve been trying to decide whether it’s worth the $100 ticket (never mind that 100% of the profit goes to fighting hunger in America), I think you’ll find some really terrific restaurants will be there.

Share our Strength’s Taste of the Nation will be Saturday, August 29, from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at the OCCC’s Valencia Ballroom, 9800 International Drive, Orlando. For ticket information, visit the Taste of the Nation Web site.

Here's a list of the TASTE OF THE NATION 2009 participants who have donated their time and food:

Omni Champions Gate
Café Tu Tu Tango
Signature by the Lake
Wyndham Palace
Olde Hearth Bread
Champions Gate Golf Resort
Darden
Red Lobster
Olive Garden
Capital Grille
Longhorn Steak House
Marriott World Center
Journeys at Alaqua
Orlando Culinary Academy
Westin Orlando Resort
JW Marriott
Royal Plaza
Norman’s
Luma on Park
Funky Monkey Wine Co.
The Ravenous Pig
Uno's
Seaworld
Sanaa at Kidani Village
Cuisiniers
Emeril’s Orlando
Emeril’s Tchoup Chop
Highland Manor

Beverages:
USA Wine
Boisineau International
Douwe & Egbert Coffee
Shipyard Brewing & Unique Beers
Nestle Water
Brown-Foreman
Stella Artois

Two Blog Articles

So the Cakery was in two blogs this week! Holy press hahahaha!

Here are the links:

http://hyperninja.com/cajun-cakery-is-yummy-goodness/
http://laptopsandstovetops.blogspot.com/2009/08/looking-for-cajun-cakery-tasting-recap.html

Stay tuned as we have alot of fun stuff coming up! I will let ya know as they happen!

Sarah :)

Another article about Cajun Cakery by the amazing Rachel Joyce

Captivated by Cajun Cakery's Charity

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Tier of Red Velvet Cupcake by HarryLimPhotography.com.

Last week I was fortunate enough to have a little bird tweet in my ear out about a charity cake tasting event at the Vixen Lounge in downtown Orlando. All the money raised at the event went directly to the Second Harvest Food bank of Central Florida, so after a Bikram yoga class my friend Michelle and I quickly prepared to eat cake, be merry, and do some donating to charity.

Sarah Mason, the cake artist of Cajun Cakery, contacted the Second Harvest Food bank to find out more about how she could help and from that act of social awareness Sarah and the representatives from the food bank organized the cake tasting event raising $475.00 from the door and raffle ticket sales. $475.00 provides 1,900 meals to the Central Florida community and a bevy of beautiful cakes for the attendees to try!

Instantly after passing through the door, I went for as many tiny cakes as I could possibly hold in my hands while trying to also photograph the beautiful spread. As you can imagine my excitement raneth over as my eyes feasted only moments before my taste buds on the following Cajun Cakery specialties:

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Fresh Raspberry Buttercream with Vanilla Butter Cake
Cream Cheese Buttercream with Orange Zest with Chocolate and Vanilla Butter Cake
Key Lime Buttercream with Vanilla Butter Cake
Peanut Butter Mousse with Chocolate Cake
Mint Buttercream with Chocolate Cake (pictured below)

Tastings of Mint Buttercream with Choclate Cake by HarryLimPhotography.com.

And of course, cake balls. Cake balls are an ingenious invention Sarah concocted with leftover scraps of cake post a carving and buttercream. She rolls the two together, then rolls the balls in another layer of buttercream, freezes them to firm, and finally dips them in either white or milk chocolate for a small, sweet treat. I am a firm believe in waste-not, want-not so Sarah got a gold star in my book for her conscientious ways. The cake balls were an excellent party favor to bring home to loved ones, but the cake was for tasting then and there! Being a southern straight from Louisiana Sarah’s Red Velvet cake was on point fulfilling all decadent red velvet expectations. Following stuffing a whole Red Velvet cupcake in my mouth in under five seconds, all of her fruit flavored confections were my favorite to taste with the Fresh Raspberry Buttercream with Vanilla Butter Cake topping the list with it’s zing of berry straight to the palette!

A grand time was had by all, and even if I didn’t win the raffled tickets to the Taste of the Nation dinner in two weeks I enjoyed every morsel of cake and every introduction made at the event. Sarah Mason’s bubbly energy is contagious and her talent for cake artistry un-deniable. After the event I was able to interview Sarah about her cakery ways.

Did you attend culinary school and if so which? Or, are you self-taught and if so, can you describe a bit about your personal training?

No I did not attend culinary school but I have always wanted to. I love food and love the Food Network. I always watch the cake challenges and one day while watching one I pretty much decided, hey I can do that. So I purchased a Kitchen Aid Mixer, made some fondant, and the rest is pretty much history. I have taught myself by watching others, reading blogs, and trial and error.

Do you consider yourself a pastry chef or a baker and why?

I don't really consider my self either, more of a cake artist. Yes baking and creating flavors is a main component and a big one but the thing that draws them in is the visual aspects of the cakes. That is also the part that takes the most time. Sometimes a cake can take a week or more from start to finish to complete.

Do you bake outside the cake box? Meaning, do you enjoy crafting cookies, breads, tarts, etc?

I love all sweets but mainly stick to cake. I would love to start doing more decorated cookies just haven't really found the time.

Have you found Orlando is receptive to the custom cake market?

My business is still new so I'm not really sure. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens J

How did you select your flavors for the tasting?

Most of the flavors I selected were for really selfish reasons. I wanted a bit of me to come out in the event so I sat down and just thought, "If I were to eat cake right now, what would I want."

What happened to the enormous multiple-tier cake with Second Harvest logo after the event?

HAHA! All of our cakes at the event were display cakes (meaning made out of Styrofoam and not real cake) all of the decorations were made of sugar, using the display pieces helps when doing events of this magnitude and the displays last for quite a while.

Peacock Cake by the Cajun Cakery and photography by HarryLimPhotography.com.

For more info: To find out more about Sarah and her Cajun Cakery, check out her website www.cajuncakery.com. To find out how you can follow her example and work with or donate to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, please also visit their website at www.foodbankcentralflorida.org. If you also adored the photography, please visit Harry Lim’s website at www.harrylimphotography.com.

A couple more photos from the event!

Here are a couple more photos from Harry. As soon as I have the event pictures from Melissa I will post those!

Harry Lim Photography

So the event last night was a success and I will post about it later but I wanted to take a moment to tell you all about a wonderful photographer that I met. Harry Lim is amazing. He was going to attend the event and offered to take a couple of photos of the cakes. I took him up on his offer not knowing what incredible work was coming my way. Here are a couple of shots he sent me. For more information on his services and to see some more pictures from the event go to www.harrylimphotography.com

Cake Tasting TOMORROW...Final Preview!

OK so here it is, The final set of shots before the actual event tomorrow. I hope y'all are as excited as I am for this event. Its going to be great and for a great cause.

Here is a little more info about Second Harvest!

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is a private, nonprofit organization that collects, stores and distributes donated food to more than 500 partner agencies in six Central Florida counties: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia.

You won’t find lines of people stretching around our warehouses waiting for food assistance. What you will find instead are representatives from more than 500 nonprofit feeding programs in our area who are picking up the food their programs need to keep helping our neighbors.

More than 500 nonprofit agencies in six Central Florida counties receive much of the food they serve or give to their clients from Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

The types of agencies served by Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are:

• Emergency food pantries
• Soup kitchens
• Homeless shelters
• Shelters for battered women and children
• Residential treatment programs
• Transitional housing
• Low-income day care centers
• Low-income youth activity programs
• Kids Cafes
• Summer camps
• Meal sites for low-income seniors
• Disaster relief agencies
• Group homes
• HIV/AIDS programs
• Other nonprofit agencies that serve our neighbors in need

Approximately half of our partner agencies provide bags or boxes of food for clients to take and prepare at home.

If you or someone you know is in need of food assistance, please contact us for a referral to one of the agencies we serve. We’ll be able to guide you in contacting a feeding program near you for help.

See y'all tomorrow!

Sarah

OMG 2 More Days...Preview #4

Last nights journeys took us deep into the jungles of Windermere (hahaha I crack myself up) where we met up with Alfred the Elephant...

He wanted me to let y'all know that he will be at Vixen this weekend and he hopes to see you there...

Here are a couple other snapshots for you to think about! Its getting close and I am bringing in all the troops tonight to help. Thanks Ben, Kelly and Ms Donna for helping me ;)

Sarah

3 More days: Tasting Preview #3

So there are three more days til the tasting with Second Harvest Food Bank and for some reason my lists keep getting longer instead of shorter. Is that possible? Tonight I have alot in store for my self so I think I am going to have to go for the red bull or just stick to the coffee. Tonight's theme for decorating is "Welcome to the Jungle" and for today's preview I am only going to provide you with one picture.



If you want to see the final products and eat some great cake remember to join us at Vixen Lounge in Downtown Orlando this Saturday, August 8, 2009 from 5:30 to 8:30!!

Hope to see you there!

Sarah

Tasting Preview PART 2!!!

Ok so here are a couple of shots that I took last night of the progress we are making. Of course i'm only going to show you enough to keep you wanting more and hopefully you will come out to our event this weekend!!

Made tons of decorative pearl beads!

This is going to be a really tall cake!!!

Edible Second Harvest Logos


A couple of Cake Stands that will be used for the event!!

Stay Tuned tomorrow for yet another preview!

Sarah ;)

Cake tasting for charity this Saturday August 8

Cake tasting for charity this Saturday August 8

Author: Rachel Joyce

Rachel Joyce is an Examiner from Orlando. You can see Rachel's articles on Rachel's Home Page.

I admit it. I bashed Twitter as a waste of time and a terrible distractor for office workers when it first arrived on the online networking scene. Now I would like to redact my criticisms because as a new tweeter I was connected to Cajun Cakery, a local cake bakery specializing in making artful pastries. Not only did I discover a great new food establishment I also found out about the incredible event Cake Artist Sarah Mason is hosting at Downtown Orlando's Vixen Lounge this Saturday August 8th, 2009 from 5:30pm-8:30pm. The concept is a simple and elegant fundraiser; come taste Sarah's cakes of Cajun Cakery for $10 and all the proceeds will be donated to The Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Hopefully we will see foodies and fundies alike, but if I am stuffing my face with copious amounts of cake, please let me be in my bliss of cultivated sugar and charity.

Event Details:

Who: Everyone who loves cake will indulge in cakes from the Cajun Cakery to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

What: $10 for a cake tasting.

Where: Vixen Lounge 118 S Orange Ave Downtown Orlando, FL 32801-3204

When: Saturday August 8, 2009. 5:30PM-8:30PM

Why: Because cake is good and charity is even better.

How: Find $10, pay at the door, and then stuff your face.

Posted using ShareThis

Tasting in 6 Days...A cake preview!

Ok so I have been busting my tail all weekend! Shopping and decorating and Shopping some more, for the Charity Tasting that I have this weekend. Im so excited to be helping out a great organization!! The event will be benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. All proceeds will go towards a hunger free Central Florida. It will be held at Vixen Lounge in Downtown Orlando (118 Orange Street) and will $10 at the door with all proceeds going to Second Harvest!

Here is a preview of one of the cakes that will be on Showcase at the event :) Check back tomorrow for another preview!

Enjoy!