Cakes with dragons on them are a regular request for us, especially for the Yakudoshi birthdays, when you need all the help you can get, according to Japanese culture. The term "Yakudoshi" is comprised of yaku, meaning "calamity" and doshi, signifying years. Yakudoshi years are considered critical or dangerous because they are believed to bring about bad luck. With a large Japanese population in Hawaii, we get a fair share of yakudoshi cakes, and they always involve symbols of good luck such as cranes, dragons, and frogs. When the cake is of a larger size with stacked up tiers, we are reminded not to make 4-tiers because 4 symbolizes death in Japanese. Somehow Death and Good Luck don't mix. Knowing this, Rick designed Kim a 3-tier birthday cake. As with previous yakudoshi cakes, on her order we wrote "4 tiers = Death. Please Use 3". In addition to having a large good luck dragon wrappped around her cake, we made the cake red, which is a lucky color.
What you see in the photos of Kim's dragon cake is all cake, including the dragon. Rick sculpted the dragon directly on the cake and later took his almighty airbrush to it. It was an exciting process to watch and I felt priveledged to walk into the kitchen throughout the process and snap a few photos to document it. We seem to do at least 1 big dragon cake a year and they keep getting better and better. When she ordered her cake, Kim asked if Rick could put her near the dragon. Maybe she was hoping some of that good fortune would rub off on her, or maybe she just wanted to be on the cake. Either way, it was an adorable addition and she got a kick of seeing herself when we delivered her cake.
Aloha, 'til next time!
3 comments:
i have no words. Okay, maybe one, and I think i said it yesterday...AMAZING!
And yes, I'm totally stalking your blog (in a good way). ;-)
Doreen, we always appreciate your comments. You are welcome to stalk our blog anytime.
quelle merveille celui ci également, bravo
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