cakes, naked cakes, weddings

Desserts in the Desert

Desert Desserts

This past weekend I had the absolute pleasure of getting to make the desserts for a wedding in Palm Springs for an incredible couple. I initially connected with Anica (the bride) online and after learning that she and Jonpaul (the groom) were in charge of the LA Pug Meetup, I knew these two were my kind of people. Anica had asked if there was any way I would be able to come out to make a cake and some cactus cupcakes for their wedding…as if there was any convincing to be done. A wedding in Palm Springs and an excuse for a weekend in California, sign ME UP! I flew into town two days prior to the wedding to get everything baked and prepped in San Diego and then drove up to the venue the morning of with my desert desserts. My DESERT DESSERTS in the DESERT…why does this excite me so much?! Ha

Alana Jones-Mann Cactus Cupcakes

I loved baking my cactus cupcakes in San Diego. Finally, they were home! It felt pretty special getting to bake them in my home city, the place that initially inspired the cupcakes three years ago. Truth be told, I was actually obsessed with having them in California. I even made an extra one just so I could take it around my street and photograph it in front of some drought-friendly landscaped homes (I’m a total loser, guys!). I will refrain from posting those since I have four or five to choose from – and that’s just in my “selects” folder from the trip. I couldn’t stop!

Wedding DessertsPalm Springs Wedding Desserts

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Anica wanted a semi-naked gluten free vanilla cake with just a touch of decorative flair, which made things very easy for me since that is my preference as well when it comes to this style of wedding cake (aside from gluten free! 😉 ). I find that simple is best with naked cakes, just a touch of florals and greenery can go very far.

Semi Naked CakePalm Springs WeddingCake

One more thing I loved about getting to bake/decorate in California: I usually have such a hard time sourcing the right flowers to top my cakes in Brooklyn, but San Diego, sheeesh – it could not have been any easier! I could have foraged all these, but to make things easier on myself I just stopped by the farmers market to grab a few bundles of stems. They had everything I needed, all for so cheap!

Farmers Market PickWhile  I don’t want to post any other photos I snapped during the setup of the awesomeness that was going on with each of the vendors just yet, I have to show off one little peek at the setup. Just look at this magic below – it was so friggin gorgeous! The house was literally cradled in the hills with a gorgeous backdrop of the mountains and the venue overlooked the entire Palm Springs valley. It was soooo pretty!  Hello Gem, the event designers/planners/florists for Anica and Jonpaul’s wedding totally blew me away. Every single thing looked so perfect! Those tables pictured below weren’t even finished, and they already looked fantastic. If you’re getting married in Southern California, I’d absolutely recommend reaching out to the Hello Gem team – you can see the beauty and perfection they put into their work HERE.

Hello Gem Tables

And fine, I can’t resist – just one of my ridiculous succulent cupcakes in nature shots. I’ll post my non-dessert photos from Palm Springs tomorrow and you can expect more photos from the wedding at a later date. Thanks so much to Anica and Jonpaul for having me be a part of your day! And thank you to the Hello Gem team for making my job so easy! And thank you to my mom and friends in SD for making this traveling job stress-free!

Succulent Cupcake in Cacti

  1. Julie D

    April 7, 2016 at 10:17 pm

    They look amazing and so real !

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