Happy New Year! 2014 marks the four year anniversary that Wicked Goodies has been in existence. In that time, it has morphed from being a custom cake bakery into a dessert blog into an indie cookbook publisher, which has been an awesome and challenging adventure. I am super excited to announce that I am now back living in sunny southern California where it all began. So in honor of such exciting milestones, here is the graphic evolution of the Wicked Goodies logo starting from before its conception. It’s a Wicked Goodies peek back in time! Including a bunch of photos from the vault that have never been seen.

Warning: There are also some graphic (as in naughty) elements to this post. This blog aint called Wicked Goodies for nothin.’

Before the name, Wicked Goodies, I had this whole plan to be called, “Twisted Sugar.”

Then it was, “Wicked Goodies, Vanguard Confectionery.” So I sketched out this logo idea with a piping bag and spatula.

I wrote the whole thing out in chocolate too. But then everyone who saw it asked, what the heck is “vanguard confectionery?”  For the record, it meant unusual and modern desserts.

Then it became, simply, Wicked Goodies.

These first digital version of the Wicked Goodies logo was deigned by local artist, Julie Ann Stricklin.

Julie was so creative with the project. She had the idea to include a reflection of a pastry chef in the chocolate writing. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see my friend Paula wielding a piping bag. It didn’t show unless the words were magnified, but we still thought it was cool. A little logo secret.

I hired another designer to make this topsy turvy logo, which is quite nice but was very, VERY expensive…so I decided to figure out how to make my own graphics and logos.

My early stabs at DIY graphic design involved using photographs of edible things like candy that I had sitting around. For many years, I edited photos on a free photo software program called Gimp.

This DIY logo was crafted from elements that I piped in buttercream, wrote in chocolate, and sculpted out of colored modeling chocolate.

This is the logo that I still use today.

Now I make a lot of my graphics out of chocolate piping on top of translucent acetate sheets.

That’s how I created the title for the cover of my modeling chocolate book:

Here is the original logo for this blog. It’s made of piped chocolate glaze, caramel, melted chocolate, buttercream, rock candy, a cherry, a roller cutter, and a piping bag. To make it, I decorated the top of a white tabletop and photographed it directly from above.

The Wicked Good Blog eventually merged with the Wicked Goodies website to make one super blog with a cartoon character host…

who at first was bald and gender-less.

Now she’s a girl with blonde pig tails and an appetite for trouble.

Here is the evolution of the Fornicake logo:

 

Visual Designer, Daisy Fry created the above two digital versions based on the above sketch I provided.

 

Happy Anniversary, Wicked Goodies!

Thanks to all the readers who’ve commented on this site, emailed me with feedback, bought and reviewed my books, shared links to my posts, and cheered this blog on. You are wicked awesome people! Muuuah!

Lots of new books and blog posts on the way this year from