Dear Friends, Family, and Sugar Addicts,

I wanted to share with you that I am closing my business. It has not been a light hearted decision. I am moving to the lovely state of Maine in order to consume a lot more beer, flaunt my extensive sweater collection and to close the gap in my long distance relationship.

First off I want to thank you all in being a part of this experience. It literally has been a dream come true and I would have never been able to do it with out the support of my family, friends and community. I have never felt so grateful for a network of people that constantly lifted me up. These last couple of years have been a complete learning experience that has been exciting and exquisitely challenging. You have all made it worth the weird, twisted, rewarding ride that is owning my own business.

I have come to overly appreciate small business owners and encourage you to support your community intentionally. I also advise you to never to tell small business owners ‘what they should do’. They have heard it before and even though we appreciate advice unless you have done it I can assure you it is like running a constant marathon. So instead I would bring them coffee and tell them how pretty they look. This will make their 15 hour work day all worth it.

Things I will miss the most are the looks on kids; but more so their parents faces when buying a cupcake. The relief after a successful cake delivery and the enthusiasm of friends/family telling strangers about my venture. I intend to promote you all as shamelessly as you have done for me as the opportunities arise.

Thank you – I will never be able to express that enough…..

Seacrest Out,

Allison

A couple of weekends ago my bff got married. It was a beautiful day and fortunately Julia Roberts didn’t try to steal the groom.  I know people get married all the time but for some reason I can’t believe she actually got married. Kimmy and I have been friends since we were 3 years old. As toddlers we were pretty popular I must say and often sat on the forbidden stairs at preschool together. I’m positive older 4 year olds looked up to us. Since then our friendship has thrived through many hours of dance classes and some terrible dance costumes. There is horrible photo evidence that our friendship survived the rough middle school years. It really flourish when we discovered fake ID’s and cheap vodka which was part of upholding our bad girl image we started in preschool.

Basically I don’t remember a time without our friendship.  I’m pretty sure that makes you related some how and that 0-3 were lame years for me because some of my best memories are with her.

Anyway…Kimmy asked me to make a groom’s cake for her new husband! Vince is obsessed with cheeseburgers and if a restaurant has one on their menu it’s his definite go to. I was a little nervous about the cake at first because I wanted it to be perfect. It was not cut at the actual wedding but I think it served as a late night snack to some boozy guests which seems appropriate.

Last week I was lucky enough to participate in Tyler at Twilight which is a charity auction for our local arboretum. G.Mess is on the board so basically I was signed up before I was asked – in turn I signed up Bevan’s before I asked them. The event was held outside under a tent at the arboretum. The weather was amazing and it was a really nice night. A lot of great local restaurants participated. Everything went smoothly until G.Mess gave his speech where he spent way too much time hyping up Bevan’s and A Sweet Mess compared to all the other companies there. But I mean as a family we have little to no shame so I guess I should expect that by now.

 Bevan’s made chocolate covered strawberries and raspberries. We made cakeballs together and I also made a cake and mini cupcakes. My diet that day mainly consisted of chocolate covered fruit. The raspberries are ridiculous!

The cake was a section of the arboretum landscape. It was a vanilla cake with milk chocolate frosting.

Pinnochios Beer Garden supplied beer for the event. They were awesome enough to have Allagash White. I am partial to the brewery and I promise I had not had anything to drink when this picture was taken.

These were also provided at the event. Fresh strawberry lemonade with vodka - genius! Don’t you want it in your hand right now?!

Everything went! We made just enough. I was asked by a few people not to judge them when they came back for seconds and thirds. I am not one to judge since I’m right there with them with my sugar addiction!

After college I moved around a lot – as in I am a platinum member with Uhaul. They call me every 8 months to see when I need my next rental.  I made a lot of good friends during each move but when I finally decided to move home to Media, PA to start my business the decision was made easier because my oldest friends were there to support me.  I mean they take support to a whole new level. Not only do they drive to ridiculous locations to help push my business, they talk me up to strangers and wear track suits with my logo on them to work. They don’t do that last one but they might ask for that to happen now that I brought it up because it would be awesome to have a group uniform. To say the least I am grateful for their enthusiasm.

I am aware it is rare for people to be close to the friends they grew up with and for some reason frowned upon as if you are suppose to out grow these friendships. I think it is a testament to what true friendship is all about. They have known me through my worst and best. We have seen each other at the most awkward times which was not easy on any of us. Now they let me know how my eyebrows could have been permed they were so large and luscious back when. We have gone long periods of time out of touch only to come back together as if we were never apart. At one point I had taken these friendships for granted but now that I have a few ‘real life’ years under my belt I know that I am extremely lucky.

This past weekend we celebrated two of my good friends bdays – Val and Da- who are born 3 days apart. We had a surprise get together that was organized mostly by Da’s boyfriend and my friend Jazzy. Both Da and Val are incredibly happy, overly excitable individuals who go insane over the little things in life which I kind of love about them. I do try to keep their excitement at bay though because sometimes it makes me uncomfortable.

I made them a private beach for their bday cake with everything you would need at the beach – a cooler, book, sun tan lotion, and a camera to obvi take tons of arm length photos of yourself.

I also made Da and Val snorkeling in the water. They are nearly on top of each other because I pictured them being so into what they are looking at that they run into each other. This senerio would definitely happen. These are two people that joined the swim team in high school only to have ‘tea parties’ underwater during practice.

Anyway….. I love them and hope they liked it as much as I liked making it!

This past weekend was a big family weekend. My dad turned 60 on April 30th so it was a great excuse to party.  I tend to like to compete whenever possible this includes gift giving- I like to give the best present. Some might say it’s a character flaw but I think those people are sick of losing to me ie my brothers. I knew the stakes were high because my brother Adam flew in with his girlfriend CJ from Seattle for 24 hours  to celebrate and that is an expensive/thoughtful trip. My other brother Bryan and his wife Kelly always pull the sentimental card because they were the first and only to reproduce thus far so they are ALWAYS using that against me.  I had to anti up my game basically, but in my eyes I think I really won this year.

I found a website which you can purchase a small piece of land in the Scottish Highlands in order to conserve the land. They send you a map of where your land is so if you go to visit you can camp out on your real estate. Awesome right! Well it gets better since you become the owner of a piece of land in the Highlands Titles Scottish Estate you are legally allowed to put Lord or Lady before your name. So my dad is now LORD G.Mess! It took him a while to catch on to the awesomeness of the present but he got there when he started knighting people at the party. And that is how I won.

I also made G.Mess a cake obvi – I decided to make him a suitcase because the man loves to travel. I made stickers  to cover  the suitcase to show his interests and what not but it just turned into stickers that poke fun at my dad’s expense. Bryan did help me with some ideas and we both got a little too into it. My favorite stickers included one that said- ‘I’m glad you asked – i do speak French’ and one of Pride Rock – Simba from the Lion Kings home, because my dad went to Africa and I’m pretty sure you have to go to Pride Rock if you are in Africa. I also made the lock combination 060 which I thought pulled the whole thing together since it was his big 6-0.  The base board I covered with fondant that I painted and stained to look like a wood floor.

Unfortunately the day after the celebration was my niece’s baptism. She slept through the whole thing and the rest of us could have since the next morning was rough for a few of us.

This past week was insane! I had my first cake competition ever plus 4 events I had to bake for. I some how pulled it all together but crashed hard on Tuesday.

I have no idea why I signed up for this cake competition in the first place. I believe you should challenge yourself but I like to take it to an unhealthy level. I tend to think stress is my drug of choice. I mean I don’t know who I am these days without it and I enable every last bit of it. The event is called ‘ Let Them Eat Cake’ which is put on by City of Hope which funds research for cancer. So at least I know that when they cure cancer I was involved because that’s what I’m going to tell people.

The theme for the competition was ‘Under the Big Top’. I wanted my cake to represent how the circus is for all generations as well as how long the circus has been around. On one side of the cake it was the 1930s and on the other it was present day. On the first layer I made cars from each period so it looked like they were parked to go to the circus. The next layer I made two types of fences with a ticket booth on each side. The middle was a double layer which had a little boy with a balloon going into the circus in 1930 and on the present day side it was him as an old man with the same balloon. Then on top I had a night sky with fireworks. I seriously thought the concept was going to evoke tears from people. I was sure I would have to console many strangers at my table. This did not happen which I thought was extremely odd.

The 1930s

 Present Day

I asked my friend Kimmy to be my assistant the day of the event which was my saving grace. We obvi were the first to arrive to the event at 9.30 am. I had focused so much time on my cake I forgot that I probably should have a sign with my company name. Kimmy basically handle the sitch and got my life together. She made sure that I had all the marketing materials neccessary for the event and made my table look awesome. When we got back to the event other cakes were set up and that’s when my self-esteem hit some low levels. The cakes were ammmazing and everyone did an awesome job. Don’t get me wrong I am extremely proud of the cake I did but I am also very competitive and WAY too hard on myself.  I like to think of myself as laid back but there are many ‘type A’ traits that have been appearing lately.

 Some of the Competition

We had to leave the room so our cakes could be judged and that’s when Kimmy put my frazzled self back together. She gave me some pep talks basically letting me know I was being an idiot and then took me to a bar which is how you know she’s a good friend. Three drinks in I started to come around. I was in a better state of mind going back into the competition and it was an amazing event. I made samples of chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting topped with roasted peanuts. People were pretty amped up on the flavor and came back for seconds so I thought that was a score. My dad, step-mom, brother and pals – Jazzy and Da as well as Kimmy’s mom Dar came which was so nice to have the support.

Some of my lovely support crew

As my first big event it was a success. I learned a ton about competing and what to expect. I also learned not to take everything so seriously because come on – it’s cake.

My table at ‘Let them eat cake’

Happy Friday!!!

I debated about exposing the boob cake I recently did but then I showed it to an 83 year old that thought it was hilarious and I thought if he loved it a lot of people probably would.  An amazing wife ordered it for her husband who to my understanding appreciates a nice pair!

Last week was crazy busy!  Meagan from ME Photo & Design – a new store in Media – asked if I would make some goodies for Second Saturday in Media. It’s something the town puts on to promote artists and bands in turn to help local business. I was stoked because it was such a great opportunity. Unfortunately the weather was not so great but Meagan took some amazing shots of the cupcakes and whoopie pies. You should def get up right now and check out her store. She does amazing work and her store is so warm and creative. I love it – so check it out or go on her website if your boss requires you to stay in your cube - http://www.mephotodesign.com.

It was also Valentine’s day if Hallmark forgot to tell you. I was fully prepared and had negative stress levels about the week but that only lasted a hot minute.  Let me set the scene for you. I was casually emailing with a contact I have with Wawa about helping them celebrate opening their first store in Florida. At first they wanted cupcakes but I have never mailed cupcakes and didn’t feel comfortable with the sitch. Then he suggested cookies – brilliant.  Why didn’t I think of that – I mean he’s probably their MVP but I am suppose to be the creative one.  He suggested some shamus, oranges and I suggested throwing some Wawa endorsements in there. Anyway…..they wanted 160 cookies for Monday and it was Wednesday which was perfect. I had about 12 hours of grace when I received the next email……

I guess everyone over at the Wawa corporation got super amped on the idea of cookies. Well they wanted 900! My face must have been see through I was so white. I pulled it together enough to realize this was not humanly possible for me. Each cookie must be hand decorated. That means at least 3-5 mins goes into every cookie. I let them know I would do my best but would come up short about 150. I figured I could at least guarantee 750.

The madness started Thursday morning and didn’t stop until Sunday night. I literally didn’t talk to anyone for about 3 days straight. My first human interactions made my friends Julie and Mikey uncomfortable because I was talking so fast. But all I had was a radio which stayed on the same channel that only plays the same 8 songs in a row. I have no idea why I couldn’t change it but they pumped me up ok – I admit it.

 My crazy cookie world

On top of all the craziness I lost my phone. I’m pretty sure it left me. I was kind of abusive to it over the past year – Not on purpose but I don’t blame it for leaving. But who needs a phone when you have 750 cookies.

Things are moving again and people are eating cake! Alot has been going on and I’m making a ton of changes. I am in the process of shifting locations in hopes of taking more on in the future. I feel incredibly lucky and supported by my community, friends and family. Everyone has been aaaaamazeballs. I’m hoping as long as I keep throwing baked goods their way they keep talking me up!

Also I just wanted to let the community know I am completely down with the bartering system. I want to do away with cash money as soon as possible and just exchange skills and services. I’m spreading the word so let me know what we can trade so we can all just get back to the 1800s already.

Also a special shout out to my bf Pitter who’s Bday is today!

He just shaved his beard off and left the mustache. It makes me uncomfortable. I did everyone a favor and did not expose that side of him - just the pirate side.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Whenever I tell people what I do for a living usually the first  comments include – “You should be on Cupcake Wars!” or  ”You should do one of those cake challenges.” It would be amazing to be a part of anything on that level but I politely explain I wouldn’t be able to handle doing a situation like that. Let me paint the picture for you of how I would appear on camera….

First of all let me explain how I can not handle public speaking at all. My body temp reaches new levels and I literally become beet red from head to toe. I start to focus on the fact that I know how uncomfortable I am making everyone else because I am a beaming sauna light. And that seems to be when the sweating starts. It’s not pretty. No amount of deodorant would be able to stop my extremely premature menopause. I know that the cake construction would be stressful but I’m confident I would be able to get through the process. The downside would be that I would have to pay the show a ton of dollar bills due to the fact I wouldn’t be able to control myself and they might have to bleep every other word.

I imagine this is what I would look like standing in front of the judges at the end of the show. Granted with better lighting.

So I’m pretty sure a challenge like that is not in my future. But then again maybe I would have my own show by the end of the day due to my ‘eccentric’ appearance.

I am doing my first cake competition on April 2 but thankfully it’s not filmed and cakes are done ahead of time. It’s for a really good cause and I’m excited for it. It’s put on by an organization called City of Hope which researches cures for cancer. Check it out ! -

Let Them Eat Cake!