Image by Stephen Ludwig Photography
cakelava is an innovative cake design company owned by husband and wife team, Rick and Sasha Reichart. cakelava opened in March 2005 on Oahu, Hawaii and has a custom cake studio located in the beautiful beach town of Kailua. Consultations are by appointment only.
Rick Reichart is a nationally recognized cake designer who has been making cakes for 20 years. His unique and artful wedding cakes, sculpted cakes and celebration cakes have generated a loyal following since cakelava opened. Having both a background in pastry and fine art, Rick's distinct artistic style has caught the attention of television, print and internet media. cakelava was showcased as a "Stories of Success" in American Cake Decorating Magazine in 2007, just two years after Rick and Sasha opened the business. Rick's cake designs have been in People Magazine, The Bride and Bloom, Get Married, American Cake Decorating, Cake Central Magazine, South Asian Bride Magazine, Your Wedding Day (YWD), grace ormonde Wedding Style, and local publications Honolulu Magazine, Midweek, Pacific Edge Magazine, The Honolulu Advertiser and The Star Bulletin. cakelava is regularly featured in top wedding sites on the internet, and is also a proud member of the TLC Cake Crew, an exclusive group of baking bloggers invited by the network to participate as an authority in their field.
While he currently calls Oahu his home, Rick is originally from New Jersey. He received his formal pastry training at Baltimore International College School of Culinary Arts. Working first as a Pastry Chef and then as a Cake Designer, Rick's most valuable training happened on the job. He has worked alongside some of Los Angeles' most famous cake designers, Elin Katz at Rosebud Cakes and Joan Spitler at Cake Divas. He spent several years in Seattle, where he worked with cake designer, Anne Welch, before moving back to Los Angeles and finally to Hawaii, where he and Sasha have been living in Paradise ever since.
Sasha Reichart lived on Oahu until the age of 18 when she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend college. After college she lived in Seattle, where she and Rick met and they moved together to L.A to further their culinary careers. Sasha is in charge of all the marketing, public and customer relations for cakelava. Before cakelava, she spent 8 years cooking professionally on the savory side and was on her way to becoming a chef. Prior to her culinary career she held jobs in Marketing and Public Relations. She is our resident blog writer for "Musings in Cakeland" and interviewer for our "Interviews from Cakeland" series.
Cake Book: One of cakelava's proudest accomplishments is a book deal with Clarkson Potter (Random House), America's largest cookbook publisher, for a Spring 2013 release date. Rick and Sasha are very excited about the book, which they are authoring together, with Rick designing and making all the cakes and Sasha writing the text. Stay tuned..
Food Network Challenge!
After frequent invitations to compete on Food Network Challenge, Rick took the plunge in 2009 with the "SpongeBob Birthday Cakes" Challenge, competing against Challenge veterans. He has been invited back several times since and plans to compete again in the future.
upcoming air dates for "SpongeBob Birthday Cakes"
Classes: In March 2011 Rick launched his teaching career, making his debut at Icing Inspirations in Ontario, Canada. Both of his 3-Day "Discover Your Inner Artist" classes sold out very quickly and he will return to Icing Inspirations for 2 more sold out classes in June 2012. Rick will be flying ot London, England to teach at Exotic Fantastic Cake Decorating School in August 2012 and to Allentown, PA to teach at Mother of Cakes: Sugar and Cake Academy in September 2012. Rick is not currently offering any classes in Hawaii. To learn more about Rick's classes, his schedule and information may be found on our "Classes" page.
Curious to see more? We have an extensive website at cakelava.com where we have hundreds of cake photos, press, flavors and so much much more!
Thank you for checking out our Musings from Cakeland. Enjoy the blog!
Aloha!
Rick and Sasha
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