A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010, Part 3

Today, we explore Part 3 of a retrospective of cakelava cakes made in 2010. We began our stroll down memory lane in late January 2013, starting with the year 2005, our first year in business, and have selected cakes from each year to share. If you missed Part 1 of 2010's post, you can view it here, and Part 2 here. You can read the entire series by visiting the Archives on the blog.

One of our favorite designs (above, photo by Mike Pham) was a 7-tier towering black, white and silver wedding cake made for Jessica and David. The stunning cake was 3 feet tall with handcrafted flowers and a vase topper, piped swirls and handmade decorations. Rick spent much of the week before the wedding making the decorations. The gorgeous cake was featured on a number of internet websites and in Wedding Essentials Magazine.

Making a sculpted Star Wars Yoda cake was on Rick's bucket list for many years. Before he made the Yoda, he had done other Star Wars themed cakes. In August 2010 he got the opportunity he had been waiting for. I have included the post from August 3rd that shares who the cake was made for and includes links to other Star Wars cakes.

It was the first and only time Rick made a sculpted Koala sitting on top of an igloo, and I'm guessing it will be the only time he will make this unusual combination. The cake was designed for Adrienne who is Canadian, and Nathan, an Australian, who came to Hawaii to get married. There is a wonderful backstory about Rick's collaboration with the couple on the design and how it evolved from a more traditional stacked cake to a sculpted cake. You can read the story and see photos from their September 2010 wedding here.

 Melissa and Polar were a sweet couple who had a "Featured Wedding" on cakelava.com. The details of their stunning wedding was coordinated by Parasol Events, who we have worked with for many years. You can read about Melissa and Polar's wedding details and the design of their cake here. The beautiful cake with a lace overlay was done freehand by Rick and featured in the September 2010 issue of Cake Central Magazine.

July 2010 marked the final month of my "Interviews from Cakeland" series. I loved doing the interviews but our lives were starting to get very hectic as cakelava branched out into new avenues and I wasn't able to continue the series. I am grateful to have been able to know, on a more personal level, a talented group of people we have admired over the years. For my last interview, TLC presented me with the opportunity to interview their upcoming stars Katherine Kallinis and Sophie LaMontagne from their new show "DC Cupcakes". The interview would be posted a day before the show aired, and I jumped at the chance! Interviewing Katherine and Sophie, who are sisters and owners of the ultra-successful "Georgetown Cupcake" was one of many great experiences we had in the TLC Cake Crew. The sisters were lovely to meet and they shared with me openly. Since the interview was posted, they have a hit TV show, multiple cookbooks and have risen to stardom. I couldn't be happier for Katherine and Sophie! You can read Part 1 of my interview with them here and Part 2 here.

The source of inspiration for this wedding cake did double duty when it was later used for a guest post on Half Baked - The Cake Blog. Allison and Marlon gave Rick a beautiful Hawaiian fabric piece to inspire him for the cake design and the result is one of our most loved cakes of 2010. After their wedding, their cake and the Hawaiian floral fabric swatch inspired me to collaborate with Decadent Cookie Favours and paperie designer Emi Ink for a feature I was writing as a guest blogger on Half Baked. cakelava has been a Top Tier member of Half Baked for many years and it is one of our favorite cake blogs! For the feature, I would present to Faigy and Stacey, the other designers, only the fabric swatch and none of us would see each other's work until it was completed. Each component was so lovely, and I was absolutely thrilled with the outcome! You can read about the "Hawaiian Fall Wedding" on Half Baked - The Cake blog. Thank you again to Carrie, the owner of Half Baked for giving me an amazing opportunity to collaborate with these talented designers!

 Rick made the sculpted Heisman Trophy cake for a birthday in November and coincidentally, it was delivered on the same day we had a Miami Dolphins football helmet with custom figures of the bride and groom sitting on top. If you have been following the blog for a while, you may know that neither Rick or I are huge football fans, but have somehow managed to make more football helmets, stadiums and footballs than we can count. When the Heisman Trophy cake was ordered, Rick started to sweat as the reality of the difficulty of making such an iconic sculpture set in. He spent a lot of time looking at Heisman Trophy's online, to be sure to get every nuance down that he possibly could. It was probably one of the more difficult cakes he made that year but as always, we embrace a good challenge!

You'll notice the wording on the cake reads "Hawaiian Family Vacation 2010". The sculpted "Stitch" cake was made for a family who came to Hawaii on vacation and celebrated with one of their favorite characters. Rick was excited to be able to make a cake based on a character from "Lilo and Stitch" which takes place in Hawaii! I thought the cake was adorable. He's made of all cake, and was delivered the same week Rick sculpted an "Avatar" cake. You can only imagine how blue our kitchen looked! You can read more about the Stitch cake and also see a link to the Avatar cake here.

 We call this wedding cake the "story" cake because it tells the story of Allison and Adam. This highly detailed design explores places where the couple has lived including San Francisco, Australia, Italy and Hawaii. Rick made every decoration and painted each piece by hand. It was an incredibly detailed cake and took a substantial amount of time to make, but it was well worth it. The backstory of the "Story" cake can be viewed here.

I've saved one of our favorite cake experiences of 2010 for last. In August 2010, Rick and I flew to Orlando, Florida for a family vacation.  Family members on both sides flew in or drove over to join us. We planned a dinner together while we were in Orlando to celebrate Rick's birthday. I really wanted Rick to have a special birthday cake that we could enjoy together as a family. I contacted Eric and Patty Woller of Meme's Treat Boutique, who at the time were working at a cake shop in the area, and asked if Eric would make a cake that was a plate of Carne Asada Tacos with tortilla chips and a Pacifico beer. The components together were a favorite meal of Rick's and we have been hard pressed to find excellent tacos since we moved from Los Angeles. Eric is an awesome cake sculptor who has been on TLC's "Ultimate Cake Off" and Food Network "Challenge" and as I found out, was a huge fan of Rick's work. Eric was extremely excited to make Rick's birthday cake. The birthday cake looked fabulous, as you can see in the photos and video! The cake was a huge hit with our family and was an incredibly special surprise for Rick as he had never had someone make him a custom birthday cake! The birthday cake with the big "42" on top of it was amazing, but the best part of the experience was celebrating with our families and meeting a super sweet couple who we have remained friends with over the years. Thank you to Eric and Patty Woller for the friendship and one seriously bad-ass birthday cake that we will never forget!

This brings 2010 to a close. We hope you enjoy reading the stories behind some of our favorite cakes that year. We have a sentimental attachment to 2010 because it was the last year our time was devoted solely to making cakes for clients. The following year would change our lives forever! We will explore it in more detail in our next "Stroll Down Memory Lane".

Our next blog post is dedicated to anyone who enjoys watching the Academy Awards ... or just loves cake!