ChefTools Customer Profile: Cakes By Kemi

ChefTools, being an online business, sees a huge variety of customers. On any given day, people from all 50 states and Canada will shop at ChefTools.com. Some are shopping just to shop, some are buying supplies for their business, and some just need 100 aluminum funnels for their laboratory (true story!). 

The notion of the huge variety of people who shop at ChefTools struck me today after noticing one particular order. Today, Adekemi Fowler bought a jar of American Silver Disco Dust from us. I did a little digging and found out that Adekemi owns her own cake catering and decorating business, Cakes By Kemi, in Jonesboro, Ga., just about 30 minutes south of Atlanta. 

Fowler is a well-trained baker and decorator, having graduated from a Le Cordon Bleu school – yes, the world-famous cooking school founded over 100 years ago in France – in Georgia. Take a look at the photo gallery on her website and you’ll see a host of incredible cakes that prove her training. She makes wedding cakes, themed cakes (one shaped like a movie theater popcorn box, or one themed on Georgia Tech’s mascot), and cupcakes – just all kinds of cakes covered in ornate fondant, frosting and decorations.

And, the cakes come in all these off-the-wall and delicious sounding flavors: raspberry limeade, humming bird, pink lemonade, pina colada …

A cake by Kemi.

“If you don’t see a specific flavor or filling listed, just ask! I can make just about any flavor combination you can imagine!” she writes on her site. 

It’s really cool to know that the little jar of Disco Dust will travel from our warehouse here in Seattle thousands of miles to Adekemi in Georgia. And then – even better – that Disco Dust will adorn one of Adekemi’s unique cakes, which later a bride and groom, or a birthday girl or boy or whomever will enjoy.

I hope to use this blog to highlight more of our customers – you’re all very important, and you’re all probably doing cool things with the stuff you buy from us. So, if you want to tell us about what you’re cooking or how you’re using something you bought on ChefTools, please email me  at Neal@ChefTools.com. Otherwise, you might get an email from me one day bugging you to tell me your story. And thanks to Adekemi for letting me share hers!

Halloween Edibles

Halloween Monster Head Minis

Halloween will be here shortly and until it arrives we can't help but think about spooky cookies, cupcakes, cakes and more. You never need an excuse to bake, but when a holiday comes around it is the perfect opportunity to show off your skills. Our Halloween Edible Decorations department is designed to enhance your baked treats so you spend less time decorating and more time baking. The Monster Head Minis (pictured left) are perfect for Halloween cookies. Simply ice a fresh batch of cookies and place these edible images on top of each cookie. It is a quick way to add a little style and fun to a regular old Halloween cookie. We also have sprinkles, edible images for cakes, and sugar dec-ons, everything you would ever need to jazz up a Halloween treat. Shop all Halloween Edible Decorations HERE

Autumn is right around the corner!

This year feels like it has flown by so far and now that Fall is coming up quickly it's time to start thinking about baking. If you're into cupcakes, Meri Meri has a great Thanksgiving Cupcake Kit (pictured left). It includes 24 cupcake liners in 2 designs and 24 toppers in 2 designs. Pumpkin cupcakes would be the perfect fit for this kit and will delight any recipient. If you want to avoid thinking about Thanksgiving right now and focus on something more present tense, take a look at Lucks' School Assortment Dec-Ons. You can throw a back to school party for your kids and their friends and use these dec-ons on top of your cupcakes or cake. Maybe you'll get the chance to pass a slice of cake or a cupcake along to a teacher as well. For all the wonderful Fall Cake Decorations available at Chef Tools, click HERE. For decorating ideas click HERE.

Congratulations Graduates

Do you know anyone that is graduating soon? If so, make sure to check out our Edible Graduation Decorations department. In it you'll find some great Edible Images and Dec-Ons for cakes and cupcakes. Adding a graduation cake decoration like the "You Did It Grad" edible image pictured on the left is a quick and easy way to add festive beauty to your graduate's celebration cake. You can even throw some Cap & Scroll dec-ons on top to take it to another level. Shop all Edible Decorations for Graduation. And if you aren't familiar with edible images or dec-ons, visit our Decorating Center for helpful videos, ideas and recipes.

There's a Tip For That

Whether you're an experienced decorator or just an avid home baker/decorator, you know how important a good selection of pastry tips are to your cakes, cupcakes and other confections. With a little help from your coupler you can easily pump out icing in a whole different design than just before. Using a standard pastry tip you can write "Happy Birthday" then switch to a rose pastry tip and fan out a few rose leaves. The possibilities are endless with the 180+ new pastry tips we've just added to our website. Stop by and browse them all. Or if you know exactly what you're looking for use our search box and type in the "#" symbol followed by the pastry tip's number.

New!

You have to try Lori's Meringue Mushrooms! Brand new at ChefTools.com, these fun, handmade edible delights make a great low calorie snack and are the perfect companion for a yule log cake. Lori's Meringue Mushrooms are made in Oregon by famous madeleine maker, Lori Forrest, who has been named "Master of the Madeline" by Mail Tribune. Each mushroom has a tiny amount of chocolate that binds the stem to the cap for a little added bonus and they are shelf stable for over 2 months if kept sealed and away from the heat. Available in two sizes and three different packages.

White & Brown Mushrooms in an 8-Pack Till Petite Mushrooms 4-Pack Petite Mushrooms 21-Pack

Ending Soon

FREE SHIPPING on all edible Winter and Christmas decorations ends this Friday the 11th! Whether you plan on delivering goodies to friends for the holidays or just want to indulge with your family, our collection of edible decorations will give your treats an unmatched look with ease. Make festive Christmas cookies and cupcakes by topping them with some Christmas Lights and Christmas Ornaments dec-ons. Or celebrate Winter in general by using Edible Image Winter Minis on top of cookies and small cakes. Click HERE to shop Winter decorations Click HERE to shop Christmas decorations If you're looking for some ideas to get your creative juices flowing, stop by the Lucks Decorating Center for decorating how-to videos and to see example cupcakes, cookies and cakes for any occasion.

NEW Decorating Videos!

We've just added 8 new videos to our decorating center! They are all gingerbread themed and will show you basic decorating and building techniques as well as how to build a gingerbread bird house, dog house and beach house. Kasia provides thorough, step by step demonstrations as well as some great tips and tricks throughout the 8 decorating videos.

I think you'll find yourself inspired as well as prepared to start your own gingerbread projects after watching our new gingerbread decorating series. We have a list of quick links to products at the bottom of the decorating center page as well as an "icing recipes" document available for you to download and/or print.

View the new videos HERE, just click on the image underneath "Open the Lucks Video Decorating Library"

Coming Soon...

This week we're headed to visit with Lucks' head cake decorator, Kasia Wilk! She's going to be sharing some new tips, techniques and examples of great holiday edible decorations. If you're not signed up for our newsletter, do that HERE so you know when the new videos are up. Also, take advantage of our holiday/seasonal decorating departments (Halloween, Autumn, Winter, Christmas and Hanukkah) and start planning for your parties and/or edible gifts!

New Additions from Luster Dust

For all the decoraters, amateur and professional, we've added Disco, Petal, Platinum and Luster Dust colors to our site!

Luster Dust is a very popular decorating tool that adds glimmer, glamour and sparkle to all your baked goods. It's easy, fun to use and we now offer it in a huge array of colors and styles.

Click HERE to see all the new Luster, Disco, Petal and Platinum Dusts.

New Lucks Videos

For all who are interested in decorating or have been thinking about giving it a try we've added 5 new videos to our Lucks Decorating Center. Last week we stopped by Lucks headquarters and met with Kasia Wilk, their decorating consultant. She showed us how easy it is to lay on an Edible Image^®, work with Designer Prints^TM and how to rescue a dried out Edible Image^®. Visit the Lucks Decorating Center HERE and click on the image under "Open the Lucks Video Decorating Library" to see how easy it is to use Lucks products.

New Decorating Department

Calling all cake, cupcake, cookie and confection decorators: We've just added a new "Decorating" section to our website! When you get there it is going to look a little overwhelming at first. There are about 47 departments within Decorating, 29 of those 47 departments are occasion/holiday/themed departments starting with the "Groovy Collection" continuing on through "Christmas". These departments offer amazing edible image® designs and dec-ons® decorations from our newest brand, Lucks! The other departments in Decorating range from Packaging, Wrapping & Display where you'll find cupcake stands and cake boards to Sugars where you'll find Sanding and Crystal Sugars for your confections and much more. Let us help you with your decorating projects!

Click HERE to browse our Decorating department