Ana Parzych Announces New AP Signature Line of Wedding Cakes

Ana Parzych Cakes is pleased to announce the AP Signature Cakes line, to be formally launched in July. Ana created this beautiful new collection of wedding cakes to meet the needs of a growing clientele, based on designs that have been widely popular over the years. Many of these designs were created for bridal magazine editorials for leading publications such as The Knot and BRIDES. Thanks to this great exposure, these wedding cakes quickly gained a following among brides of a wide variety of backgrounds, and have remained popular.

Offering this signature wedding cake collection for online ordering allows a busy bride to enjoy an Ana Parzych wedding cake without having to invest the time and expense that goes into creating a completely original cake design. Some of the simpler cakes in the AP Signature line can be customized with Ana's stunning sugar flowers to make the cake more suitable to the client's wedding design.

The new cakes will be ready-to-order while maintaining the artistry and high quality that is synonymous with Ana Parzych's work. As always, all cakes and fillings are made fresh from gourmet recipes and only the finest ingredients. Samples will be available for tasting monthly at our Cheshire studio.

The AP Signature wedding cakes line will be available for delivery throughout Connecticut and the NYC/Westchester County area.

Stay tuned for more details to come after our July launching!

AP Signature Cake

Photographed at Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate, by Prestige-Barkley

Fantasy Royal Wedding Cake for William & Kate

I’ve always been fascinated by royal weddings, and all the fuss and attention that surrounds them. In 1981, even my native Lima, Peru was caught up in the excitement of Prince Charles & Lady Diana. In 1993 I saw a royal wedding from a slightly closer perspective; I was living in Japan, and for months the only topic of conversation at work was the wedding of Prince Naruhito & Masako. When the big day came, we along with the rest of the country, had the day off to watch the wedding live on TV.

After these two fairy tale weddings between princes and commoners, the whole world is waiting in anticipation for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. After all, who doesn’t love a good fairy tale?

I learned that I would feel some connection to this royal wedding and have a fond memory of it, when I got a call from BRIDES editors to come up with a sketch of a fantasy wedding cake for a feature they’re doing on the royal wedding.

Of course, I’m well-accustomed to sketching, but it’s not every day I’m given carte blanche and an unlimited budget for a cake! This is my first experience sketching a cake that I might not have the opportunity to actually create (although I wouldn’t mind doing it; if you happen to run into Kate, feel free to drop a hint on my behalf!)

I usually get all the inspirational materials (flowers, dress, colors, etc.) from my client, but in this case all the details are being kept secret, so all I had to go on was the inspiration packet that BRIDES editors provided; Westminster Abbey, official emblems, traditional flowers, etc., and elements of past royal weddings. One interesting tidbit I learned in the course of my research is that Kate’s given name is Catherine, which explains why the official logo has a C rather than a K.

My own inspiration board for William & Kate’s wedding cake.  These are the flowers, colors, and details I imagined while sketching the cake.

It was tricky making something of my own style, that wouldn’t be a radical departure from past royal wedding cakes. With the centuries of traditions, and with a royal wedding occurring only once every several decades, styles don’t evolve as quickly as they do in the real world. It was a tough judgment call deciding which modern techniques to incorporate in the design. I imagine the royal wedding planners must be tearing their hair out as the powers that be wrestle over these same issues.

You can see the whole feature here at Brides.com. I enjoyed the rare opportunity to see what other cake designers came up with from the same inspiration and theme; they’re all very unique but I especially like designs numbers 4 and 9. I would love to know what you think!

Here’s wishing William and Kate a storybook wedding and a lifetime of happiness together!

My original sketch with notes, with the inspiration board I put together, which gives you a better idea of how I envisioned each detail as I created my design.

The original story along reader comments is also being featured on Yahoo’s Shine homepage.

Inspiration Board Credits:
Flower images via: tobyfairley.com;
Judy Stalus flickr.com; lebonnefleur.wordpress.com; feverishthoughts.com
Invitations: Ceci NY
Westminster Abbey via: Patdollard.com
Cake details: Ana Parzych Custom Cakes

Spring has finally arrived! Cherry Blossoms Wedding Cake

I know spring has arrived when I see the beautiful cherry blossoms outside the bay window in my kitchen;
I can’t wait for the first blooms to arrive every year to tell me that the too-long New England winter is finally over.

So last year when wedding icon Maria McBride (BRIDES wedding style director) commissioned me to create a Spring wedding cake with a bird-inspired theme for their 2010 Jan. issue, I immediately thought of a lovely birds nest sitting atop the branch of a cherry tree.

BRIDES Jan. 2010 issue

Photography by Alison Rosa - Courtesy of Brides.com