2009 Bride's Choice Award from WeddingWire

We love getting emails like this one:

"Congratulations! You have been chosen to receive a 2009 Bride’s Choice Award! This award recognizes the top 3% of vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility.

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews. That means your past clients have spoken on your behalf and chosen you for this honor!"

Thank you to our past wedding clients, we really enjoyed being a part of your special days. And to our future brides and grooms: We promise to make your event a truly memorable one! Thank You!

Love to Find a Cure Photos

As promised, here are some photos from the Love to Find a Cure Event benefiting the Lymphoma Cancer Research Foundation. We so enjoyed being a part of this important cause. It was a night filled with food, fun and friends.

Custom Cupcake Tower Decorated in Red and Black


Southern Banana Pudding Dessert Shooters


Black Velvet Baby Cakes with Heart Decor

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We spent the day baking so that Valentine's parties across the city could enjoy decadent desserts. Here are a few shots of our work:

Southern Banana Pudding & Dark Chocolate Dessert Shooters

Vanilla Bean Cake with Raspberry Buttercream
Shades of Red and Pink Fondant Polka Dots

Favor Boxes with 2 Chocolate Bouchons

Favor Boxes Sealed with "Be Mine" Emblem

Love to Find a Cure

Cocoa & Fig is proud to announce our participation in the "Love to Find a Cure Restaurant Revue" to benefit the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Join us along with 10 other top restaurants and catering companies for an amazing evening of good food and fun to benefit a worthy cause. Pictures to follow the event!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Depot, Minneapolis

5:45 – 6:45 pm cocktails & silent auction
7:00 – 7:30 pm program
7:30 – 9:30 pm dining experience
individual ticket $150
($110 tax-deductible)

Black Velvet

Our "Black Velvet" cake and cupcake flavor has been getting a lot of attention lately, so I thought I'd share the story with you. I discovered this beauty after a client asked us to make red velvet cupcakes for her wedding. I scoured recipes and set out on a mission to create the most amazing red velvet cake ever. Now, I'd eaten plenty of red velvet cake and I always had one complaint. There was so much food coloring in the mix that my mouth would turn a shade of red. Not wanting to inflict this on anyone, I was determined to create a cake that would not stain your mouth. I also wanted a super chocolaty cake and most recipes called for a measly few tablespoons of cocoa powder.


And not all cocoa powders are created equal (more on that in a later post). We use Valrhona cocoa powder and lots of it! So in short, our Black Velvet cake is based on a traditional red velvet recipe, but contains around 1/2 the amount of coloring and twice the amount of cocoa. It's become our best seller and I think you'll like it too! As you can see, the cake has a nice bordeaux color, but since Bordeaux Velvet didn't sound quite as appealing, we settled on Black Velvet.

Oh yeah, we always using Cream Cheese Icing for this cake. Mmmmm...

National Carrot Cake Day

February 3rd was National Carrot Cake Day. And I missed it. Why would they plan such a sugar rush day so soon after the first of the year when you started your oh so important New Years Resolutions? Because its CARROT cake and by my standards that means its got to be good for you! Here's a pic of some carrot cake cupcakes we made for a friends' wedding.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing