Tuesday, August 26, 2014

GO.... Mascots!

cakelava.com
 A little over a week go we delivered a beautiful wedding cake with handcrafted peonies along with a surprise groom's cake of "Puddles" the Duck, the University of Oregon's school mascot. The Puddles the Duck cake was absolutely the perfect gift for the groom, who is a die-hard fan of his alma mater! We recall when we met with the couple to design their wedding cake, the University of Oregon came up on a number of occasions. If the groom was solely in charge of planning the wedding, green and yellow would be their wedding colors. Seriously! In one of my communications with the bride about her groom's cake, she mentioned it was becoming difficult to keep the secret from her fiance, especially when he kept asking if they could have ducks on their cake. I thought this was pretty hilarious! Somehow I don't think the green and yellow duck cake toppers would have married well with the pretty peonies.

Can you imagine the ducks on top of this beauty?


I certainly can't.

The groom's cake grabbed a lot of attention that night, as to be expected, but Rick and I were smitten with their gorgeous wedding cake as well! Their wedding cake was inspired by their invitation, which had a lovely print of peonies on it. Rick's handcrafted peonies complimented the design.

Puddles the Duck was sculpted out of chocolate cake, a very popular flavor choice for groom's cakes. Rick spent many hours sculpting the duck and had to create a special support structure. We needed to make sure that under all the pressure to dazzle the groom and bride and their guests, Puddles didn't lose his head, feet or ruffle any feathers!

The couple were thrilled with their cakes and sent us a very nice thank you note shortly after their wedding, part of which I've included below:

"... wanted to send you an email to thank you so very, very much for the STUNNING cakes for our wedding!!!  The wedding cake was absolutely beautiful and the peonies were amazing.  It looked exactly like our wedding invitation!  And Puddles was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!  It was beyond anything I could have ever hoped or imagined...Scott was blown away and was so incredibly happy with the surprise!!! 

Both cakes were supremely delicious, moist and full of flavor -- we received many compliments from our guests that they were the best wedding cakes they ever had
"

Doing the Puddles the Duck groom's cake got me thinking about another mascot themed cake we made years earlier. (circa 2008) It was also a surprise gift from the bride to her fiance. Both mascots were from Universities in Oregon and they are rival schools! Rick has now made "Puddles" from the University of Oregon and "Angry Benny" Beaver, also called "Angry" Beaver, from Oregon State University. If Puddles and Angry Benny had to duke it out in all-out cake fight, who would win? That is a fight I would love to see! We'll be rooting for them both!

cakelava.com


Monday, July 28, 2014

Happy 75th Birthday Batman!


cakelava.com
On the evening of Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014, an enormous four-day pop culture media festival called Comic-Con opened at the San Diego Convention Center. Comic-Con is a much anticipated event each year with more than 100,000 attendees coming together to celebrate the best in pop culture film, comics, video games, costumes and more. Coinciding with the kick-off of Comic-Con, DC Comics, the publisher of the Batman comic book franchise, declared July 23rd as "Batman Day" honoring the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Bob Kane and Bill Finger comic book hero.

Outside of Comic-Con, Batman Day was celebrated throughout America. Local theaters showed special screenings of  Batman movies. Fans of the caped crusader threw parties in his honor, and at cakelava, Rick was hard at work making a special cake for a woman who adores Batman!

Our client wasn't kidding when she said she loves Batman more than anything. She said she has felt an affinity with Batman for years and has a Batman tattoo. She calls her apartment "The Batcave" and has Batman items throughout - pictures on the walls, Batman tchotchkes on the shelves, and Batman dolls. In honor of Batman's 75th birthday, she and a group of her friends would attend a special film screening of the original "Batman" movie (with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson) from 1989, then going back to her place to celebrate with treats and cake!

For her cake, our client knew exactly what she wanted - a 3D sculpted "Chibi" Batman modelled after a doll she owns. We didn't know what a "chibi" version of Batman was but thankfully, Google does and was all too happy to help. Our client brought her coveted Chibi Batman doll to our shop, still in the box and sealed. We knew what this doll meant to her and when she told Rick he could open the box to access the doll, we felt honored.

Rick sculpted the Batman out of chocolate cake. He spent a lot of time sculpting the body and it's gigantic head. The doll had subtle nuances in its shape that required special attention to get the look just right, and he had to build a specials structure for the standing figure. We were thrilled with how it turned out and thought our client would think it was too cute to cut. It turns out she did!

She greeted us outside her building wearing a sleek black outfit with a patterned jacket and leggings - Batman themed of course - and squealed when she first saw the cake! As far as reactions go, a big grin is a huge plus but a squeal is an impulsive, kid-like reaction that cannot be contained and it is the ultimate reaction for us to witness! The cake was well-admired as we walked through the building to her apartment. We didn't know her guests were waiting inside and when the door opened, we were swarmed with a room full of people who instantly pulled out their phones to snap photos. This was one well-photographed cake!








In addition to her amazing Batman cake, party guests enjoyed her homemade Batman sandwiches and black lemonade served in mason jars with chibi Batman heads on top. How cute!
That's one happy Bat-group posing with the cake!



Friday, July 25, 2014

Feeling the Blues



cakelava.com
It wasn't long ago that I read a tweet by a popular wedding site announcing that blue wedding cakes are trending.  It was a timely announcement because we had made 2 blue wedding cakes that week. I had noticed we've been making more blue colored cakes both for weddings and birthdays in 2014 so I figured it must be a trend, and now I had validation from the wedding powers that be, we will probably be seeing more of them! The cakes posted here were made this year.

For the cake decorators out there, are you also getting requests for blue colored cakes? What other color trends have you been noticing in 2014?

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com
cakelava.com

cakelava.com
cakelava.com





Sunday, May 4, 2014

It's International Star Wars Day - May The Fourth Be With You!

cakelava.com

The force is strong today! In honor of International Star Wars Day, we're sharing some of our favorite cakes. . May the 4th Be With You!

cakelava.com

cakelava.com
cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com
 
cakelava.com
A long, long time ago - roughly 6 years - back when cakelava still did custom decorated cupcakes, Rick made this Star Wars cupcake tower with Death Star top tier for our client's son Lane in celebration of his 9th birthday. Each cupcake had a different Star Wars character, that was handmade by Rick. He spent a crazy amount of time making the cupcakes, but it was worth it when we saw how happy the family was!


Thursday, May 1, 2014

In Celebration of Those 90 Years Old, and Above

cakelava.com

In all our years of having a custom cake business, Rick has made only a handful of cakes for people celebrating their 90th birthday. It seems the older someone gets, the less likely they will have a custom cake made, at least that has been the case with our company. I would be curious to know if it is the same is true for you. We've made more birthday cakes for people turning 70 or 80 than 90, and even more common are birthday cakes for the big 5-0 or 6-0. I haven't kept track of which decade is the most celebrated with a custom cake, but if I had to guess, I would say the 40-year olds would probably be the winner in the most celebrated decade category. For us, the age that really takes the cake are the 1-year olds. The first birthday celebration is a huge deal in Hawaii. Parents often begin planning the baby's first birthday party way in advance, and we've had clients contact us within days of the baby's birth to order their first birthday cake. It's clear people think turning 1 is extremely important, and it is, but I also think that people who have lived long enough to reach a milestone like 90 - just 10 years shy of 100 years old - deserve to be celebrated as much as those with a whole life ahead of them.

I remember the joy I felt when we were hired by the company's president to make a 95th birthday cake for Lex Brodie of Lex Brodie's, a well known tire company who prides themselves on service, "Thank You, Very Much!", with a long history in Hawaii. Rick sculpted a cake in the shape of a tire, complete with a real rim, provided by Lex Brodie's, of course! Since Lex Brodie was a household name when I was growing up, I felt honored and excited when my husband was hired to make his cake. Lex was a hugely accomplished businessman who lived a very long life and deserved to have an amazing cake! I recall during the time when Rick was working on Lex's cake our client said we'll have to do something special for his 100th birthday, and we all looked forward to it. Sadly, Lex passed away last year at the age of 98 and the custom tire cake was the last cake we would make for him.

cakelava.com


cakelava.com

Our most recent 90th birthday cake was requested by our client, who is one of the sweetest people we know, and we have made many cakes for over the years. She wanted to honor her mother with a special 90th birthday cake. I thought of the 95th birthday cake we made for Lex Brodie and the 90th birthday Sun Conure bird cake for "Granny" and how honored we felt to be included in their milestone celebrations. It is truly special to create for someone who has lived life for a decade (or less) shy of a century. The request alone was worth getting excited about, but then we heard what our client wanted and we were ecstatic to make it!




The cake would be based on vintage postcard photos of her mother shown in her youth. In one of the postcards she gathers ferns and in another one, sitting on a wall. Our client asked Rick if he could make a cake with her mother sitting on a rock wall surrounded by the foliage. We were immediately smitten with the idea and proposed a design, which she loved! We thought the postcard images were so beautiful. It was classic Hawaii in all its natural beauty and we knew this cake would be very special, both to our client and her mother. We couldn't wait to get started!

Every decoration was important because we had to convey a specific location, but the most important component was the custom figurine of our client's mother. When modeling a 3D figure, you need many photos to work from. In addition to photos taken during that same time period, Rick studied photos of her mother taken at a later age so she would be recognizable at any age. When archiving photos from 60 to 70 years earlier, there isn't the convenience of the digital family archives so common in today's world, so we had fewer references to look at. Our client spent time researching the photos, which we are grateful for, and sent us whatever she could find of her mother back then and current phtotos.

When the cake was delivered, our client and her family loved the cake and couldn't wait to show it to the guest of honor. The family couldn't have chosen a more appropriate venue for the party, which was at a well-known restaurant with a lush tropical setting that feels like you stepped into old Hawaii. After the party, we were told the cake was a big hit and her mother said "that's me" and instantly recognized herself at the location she was photographed for the postcard. We were so happy to hear that. Those words meant Everything!





Wednesday, April 23, 2014

A Grand Wedding Cake in Black and White

cakelava.com
This 3 foot tall towering black and white squares wedding cake made for Aren and Dustin is one of our favorites so far this year! The couple were married back in February, but I held off writing about it until we received the professional image of the cake from their photographer, Mike Pham Photography. Our jaws fell to the floor when we saw Mike's photo - it's a beauty!

We first met Aren and Dustin last fall, when they asked Rick to design for them a grand and elegant wedding cake that would be the center of attention. The cake would be done as all squares in black, white and silver - their wedding colors - and have a damask pattern on some of the tiers. Rick would also integrate elements from the bride's second dress, which was silver with a black lace overlay. Since the cake would be designed with a striking  pattern on each tier, Rick kept the use of handcrafted flowers to a minimum with a single bunch on top with the couple's "G initial of their married name.

Making a wedding cake of all squares is more difficult than round shapes. Squares have precise edges and demand perfection in their shaping and placement. When the tiers are as tall as these were, they must be very straight, and it requires a confidence in your craft to apply the fondant. One not-so-perfectly placed tier can affect every cake above it. Having a black on white precise pattern on each tier, left little room for error. It is worth mentioning that Aren is an architecture student, which added pressure to make the edges as straight as can be and the pattern be ultra-precise. We took our responsiblity to the couple seriously!

After the cake was made and decorated, there was one more hurdle - the delivery! The couple's reception was at an outdoor venue on the hotel's property that was located, in delivery terms, very far from our vehicle. The 3 foot tall cake was transported e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y carefully on a cart down a long hall with uneven cobblestone flooring. Then, once outside the hotel, we carted the cake to the reception venue, which was also a trek. I'm sure any cake professional can sympathize, but it felt like the color had escaped from our face and we couldn't breathe normally until the cake was safely delivered to the cake table. Lifting the cake and placing it on the cake table felt AMAZING, and seeing the expression on our bride's face when she saw her gorgeous cake made all the efforts so worth it!

I'm thrilled to report that we and the couple were tremendously happy with their cake, as were their guests. Just a couple days after their wedding, we received the sweetest thank you note from Aren and Dustin!

Dearest Rick and Sasha,

Words cannot express how thankful we are for the gorgeous wedding cake you designed for us. Every guest was in awe. They couldn't believe the cake was real, we were even complimented by the hotel staff as they had never seen a cake so grand. On top of that it was delicious! Of all the pieces of our wedding the cake was the most exciting piece for me, I couldn't stop talking about it to my new husband. I am so grateful to have found you. Thank you for helping to make our wedding day so much more than we could've ever imagined.


Congratulations to Aren and Dustin, and we wish them our very best!




Monday, April 21, 2014

A Rainbow Connecting Hawaii and New York

cakelava.com
On November 13, 2013 Hawaii Governor, Neil Abercrombie signed a bill legalizing gay marriage, and same-sex couples were allowed to marry starting December 2nd. Having spent my childhood through high school years on Oahu, I recall back in the early '90s when Hawaii was at the forefront of states allowing same-sex unions, but then later amended its constitution to ban those same unions in 1998. The topic of gay marriage is a divisive one, and if you are in the wedding industry in one of the 17 states plus the District of Columbia where same-sex marriage is legal, it is likely at some point you will be approached by a couple wanting to hire you. If you live in Hawaii - one of the most popular wedding destinations in the world - that point will be sooner rather than later.

Ever since we opened our doors back in 2005, cakelava has welcomed any couple to have a special custom cake designed for them. Most recently, we had the pleasure of designing this beautiful wedding cake for Val and Susan who celebrated their marriage after more than 20 years of being together. When we started communicating with Val and Susan, they desired to have Hawaii and New York, where they were both from, represented on the cake in some way. Their requests were simple - Hawaii, New York and a Rainbow, to symbolize their union. Rick decided to take a very stylized, colorful and artistic approach to their cake, bringing together elegance and a traditional shape with an unconventional and playful design. He decided to have a night time scene for New York City, because that is when the city comes alive, and a sunny beach scene for Hawaii, combining the best of two of our favorite places in the world, into one beautiful cake!

Val and Susan adored their cake and wrote us shortly after to say how much they and their guests loved it. Apparently, the kids at the wedding were drawn to the little taxi cabs, which we thought was so cute! I love this cake and the cute NYC taxi cabs make me smile every time I look at them! Congratulations to Val and Susan!


Saturday, April 19, 2014

Dragon Cake - The Cake Bucket List Gets Shorter!

cakelava.com
Last month, cakelava observed 9 years in business! In each of those 9 years, Rick made hundreds of beautiful custom cakes, and I've had the pleasure of communicating with each and every client. Those hundreds of cakes each year, has turned into thousands of unforgettable memories that we will treasure as we move forward towards our first decade!

About a week before cakelava's 9th birthday, Rick sculpted an amazing gold dragon cake for a client who gifted the cake to several of her male friends for their birthdays. The cake was delivered to a huge catamaran near Waikiki on a Friday night. We had been excited about this dragon since the order came in! It was the first time Rick had the opportunity to make a stand alone dragon - one that wasn't painted on or supported by a cake. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but after all these years of making dragon themed cakes, he was well prepared to do it!

Making the sculpted gold dragon cake was symbolic for us. Artistically, it was a feather in Rick's cap - a challenging design he's always wanted to make - and we were waiting for the right client to do it. As fate would have it, the request fell into our lap when a previous client of ours wanted a dragon cake as much as we wanted to make it! This has happened on many occasions throughout the years. Eventually, a design on Rick's cake bucket list is requested and the client's budget can support the request. As any cake designer knows, having the budget to accommodate a labor intensive request is important, and without it, the cake doesn't get made. It remains on the bucket list. When the stars line up and you have that winning combination of desire to have and desire to create, and able to afford, the magic begins and the cake is just meant to be. The cake bucket list gets shorter! This was the case with our Star Wars Yoda cake, the Monster Truck, the Antique Diver's Helmet, and the Gold Buddha cakes, among others.

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com
Aside from making the cake bucket list shorter, the sculpted dragon cake was symbolic of our company's beginning 9 years earlier when Rick made a large wedding cake with a gold dragon on it for our booth at our first bridal expo. We thought the dragon would make a huge impression at the expo and it did! It was such an unusual piece, especially for a wedding, and couples as well as other vendors were drawn to it. The cake which was made faux, was later put on display at a local country club we were working with, and also brought many subsequent requests for a cake with a dragon on it. 9 years ago, cakelava was a fledgling company with big dreams, (and an ambitious bucket list!) working out of an incubator kitchen with no air conditioning and rented space by the hour. Thousands of cakes, (and many dragons later), we cross the sculpted dragon off the cake bucket list, and look forward to more cakes to come! Thank you so much to our wonderful clients who have brought us years of inspirations and supported our creative endeavors. Here's to 9 amazing and unforgettable years!



Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Maya's Kangaroo Birthday Cake

cakelava.com
We have a long history of making cakes for Maya and her family. Six years ago, Maya celebrated her 3rd birthday and Rick made a "messy cake" for her party. It was a fun and colorful cake that Rick designed to look intentionally messy and like it was created by a child. The colors were bold with plenty of contrast. The following year, our client ordered another messy cake for Maya. The first one was such a hit with everyone, she decided to keep the same theme for her daughter's 4th birthday.  This time, she asked if Rick could do a pretty "messy cake" in girly colors fit for a princess. We knew that could be a challenge given the theme and colors, but once again, Rick designed her cake through the eyes of a child - a little girl (as best as he could) and we were all happy with the results!

Shortly before our book Extreme Cakeovers was released last year, Maya's mother wanted to order a cake for Maya's father's birthday. We were already committed, unfortunately, but wished we could make the cake. We later learned Maya had made Rick's "Aloha Shirt" cake from our book and her mother sent us some photos. We were blown away by her ability and were so proud of this little girl we have grown to care about! Here is one of the many photos we have. You can view the rest of the photos of Maya making the cake on the Extreme Cakeovers website. Little did Maya know at the time that we already had an order for her 9th birthday cake. We were all so excited about what we had in store for her!

extremecakeovers.com
We got the request for the sculpted kangaroo cake while Maya and her family were living in Perth, Australia. Rick and I had visited Australia the year before and had a very special kangaroo encounter in the wild where we got to see and feed dozens of kangaroos. Having this amazing experience would be helpful in making the cake. Since the cake was for a 9-year old, Rick decided to make the kangaroo as cute as could be. With the family returning to Oahu to live, Maya's mother thought it would be fun to add a Hawaiian touch to the cake, so Rick put a flower lei around the kangaroo and a plumeria flower in its ear.

cakelava.com
I've said on many occasions, it is always such a pleasure to share in the experience of the "reveal" - when someone sees their cake for the first time. Their reactions are often priceless and it is one of those special moments that remind us why we do what we do. This was one of those moments Rick and I will never forget. When we arrived at the family's home, Maya saw her cake and immediately started grinning and making the cutest giggly sounds. She was in awe of the kangaroo and it was like heaven for Rick and I to be a part of this. Her mother took the photo of Rick and Maya. As you can see, the kangaroo was not small.

cakelava.com
When the kangaroo cake was delivered, her mother made a comment about how she would send the kids into the other room when it came time to cut the head of the kangaroo. We all thought this was hilarious and I visualized a room full of kids running into the next room while the parents beheaded the poor kangaroo. We've heard this many times before that people can become emotionally attached to their animal cakes and don't want to make that first cut. Our client had a great sense of humor about this potentially traumatizing moment and sent us this photo of her laughing as she's about to lop off the kangaroo head. We laughed out loud when we saw the photo, but were also happy we weren't there to have to witness that moment in person. Just as they can grow attached to their cute cake, so can we, and it's hard to see the little fellow go. A huge Thank You to Maya and her family for giving us so many memories over the years. We look forward to many more!




Saturday, February 8, 2014

Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: Plants vs. Zombies

cakelava.com
In the past few months, we've been regularly posting non-traditional wedding cakes, most recently a stack of books made for Regi and Jeff who were married on December 29th. That was one of the last cakes we made in 2013. Just two weeks later, Rick made one of his most unusual non-traditional wedding cakes to date, a "Plants vs. Zombies" video game theme for Jovi and Brandon. The couple approached us months earlier to make their cake. At the time, neither Rick and I knew much about "Plants vs. Zombies", but all that changed as soon as we accepted the order. Like most gaming fanatics we've worked with, they come very well prepared and provided more photos and references than we knew what to do with.  Jovi and Brandon had a very good idea of what they wanted, but also encouraged Rick to let his imagination run wild and create the cake he felt worked best for the theme.

We all knew as soon as the cake was booked, this project was going to be a doozy and we allocated a large amount of time the week of their wedding to work on the cake. Everything on the cake was handcrafted - every plant, the bride and groom zombie figures, the house - there was a crazy amount of detail on the cake! Rick spent about 40 hours making their cake. After we saw the final product and heard how much the couple loved it, we both agreed it was totally worth it!

cakelava.com





Thursday, February 6, 2014

I Scream for My Ice Cream Cone Cake!

cakelava.com
For 364 days of the year, minus a couple major holidays, my focus is on other people's special celebrations. Their birthdays, their weddings, their graduations, their cakes. It's the part of my job I love the most, getting to work with our clients as they plan some of the most memorable days of their lives. I feel honored to see their cake being designed and made before its big reveal and think about how elated they will be when they see it!

There is one day during the year when the tables are turned and I'm left completely in the dark during the cake design process. That one special day is my birthday, and I look forward to it every year!
Being married to a cake designer has many advantages, especially during the month of January, when 1 have another amazing cake to look forward to. Usually part way through the month, I start to wonder what cake Rick will be making for me. My birthday cakes are usually a complete surprise, and tend to coincide with a prominent theme at the time, or designed after wherever we happen to be eating that night. One year we dined at a Moroccan restaurant in L.A. and Rick made an incredible Moroccan mosaic birthday cake for the occasion. Last year I got a vintage style popcorn popper and a cake that looked like a big box of popcorn. This year, it was all about the ice cream!

Ice cream has been an obsession of mine since childhood. It probably started with our family's regular outings to Baskin Robbins, which I have fond memories of. Over the years, it's been almost impossible for me to pass up a homemade ice creamery, and it's something I always seek out when we're traveling. During the latter part of last year, we started a tradition of going out for an ice cream sundae together once a week. It was such a fun tradition and one we would have continued if we didn't have to think about Real Life concerns like watching our cholesterol and eating too many calories. We decided the once-a-week ice cream sundaes should probably be a lot less frequent, sadly, and ended the tradition before the new year. We reluctantly agree it's for the best.

Early in January, Rick started talking about how excited he was about my birthday cake this year. He kept saying "you are going to LOVE it!" and "It's so perfect for you!" and I began guessing what it could be. Of course, I had no idea. He said it the cake design was something he's been wanting to make, which made me happy. If my birthday can give him a reason to make something he's wanted to make, then all the better! The week of my birthday, Rick started sneaking around our studio. Doors closed in front of me and I was given warnings not to come into the kitchen at certain times. It was all very exciting and made me wonder even more what he was making.

When I saw the cake, I was absolutely amazed! I standing up ice cream cone cake, with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry. Life just could not get any better! I agreed with him that it was perfect for me! I knew exactly how our clients felt when they said they didn't want to cut into it. I stared at the cake for a long time, looking at every inch, (and salivating over the thought of eating ice cream). It was gorgeous and one of my favorite birthday cakes he's made for me. I wonder how he will top it next year. He probably wonders the same thing!




Thursday, January 23, 2014

Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: Regi and Jeff's Stack of Books

cakelava.com
We've been waiting a long time to do a stack of books wedding cake. It had to be just the right couple who was obsessed with books enough to request it for their wedding day. Last summer, we were contacted by Regi and Jeff, who were planning their wedding on the last weekend in December and specifically asked for a stack of books wedding cake. We were excited and knew that their wedding, which would be one of our last of the year, would be a great way to close 2013!

The couple desired to have the books include their wedding colors - garnet, gold and ivory - and done in a vintage style, with beautiful leatherbound jackets, which we knew would look gorgeous! This couple definitely had great taste! Their other request was to have the titles of the books be connected in some way to love, relationships or marriage. They provided Rick with a list of choices and he selected ones that worked best with the design. We particularly like the title of "Persuasion" and we both had a laugh over that one.

The wedding took place at the beautiful Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's North Shore and was an outdoor event, overlooking the ocean. As if their choice of theme, book titles, style, and venue wasn't enough proof this couple had fantastic tastes, they also selected one of my favorite flavors for their cake, Banana Nutella. Congratulations to Regi and Jeff!


Tuesday, January 7, 2014

2013 - A Year in Review - The Second Half - A.E.C., Part 4

cakelava.com
Finishing up our 2013 Year in Review with selected cakes made in October through December. If you are just joining us and want to look back on the previous months featured cakes, check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

In 2013 we received many requests for unconventional cake designs for both weddings and birthdays, and quite a few with handcrafted figurines. These requests came in throughout the year but event dates mostly fell towards the end of 2013. This trend of untraditional, highly customized cake requests followed us into 2014. As I write this, Rick is working on a most unusual wedding cake, for a couple marrying this weekend. Watch the blog in the coming days for more on this cake!

The cake above was made for Joe and Tracy, a couple who resides on the mainland and came to Oahu to celebrate Tracy's 50th birthday. The surprise cake was ordered by Joe for his lucky wife - was she ever surprised! Rick sculpted Oahu's iconic Diamond Head out of cake and made a lovely Hawaiian beach scene with the couple relaxing on the beach. He worked on the custom figurines over the course of a couple days and during that time we had photos of Joe and Tracy all over his workspace. When we delivered the cake it was the first time we met the couple in person and it felt like we already knew them!

We received a special note from the couple shortly after raving about their cake:

"The cake was absolutely wonderful, Tracy was completely blown away and everybody really got a kick out of it. People were taking more pictures of that cake than the performers. It really did make the night for us. The folks at the Luau took pictures as well to post on their Facebook page. So again thank you, thank you, thank you for your hard work and obvious talent. Rick you are an artist and I am a fan. Thank you again!" - Joe & Tracy

cakelava.com

cakelava.com
Heather and Joe also chose a non-traditional design - a sculpted Jeep with paddleboards, and we were all so pleased with the outcome! Their sculpted Jeep wedding cake combined two trends we saw in 2013 - non-traditional wedding cakes and complex sculpted vehicles.

cakelava.com
From a bright orange Jeep to a badass Monster Truck, and a vibrant purple Mini Cooper 60th Birthday cake - that's how we rolled!

cakelava.com
 The year wouldn't be complete without at least one electric guitar cake and we were thrilled to make this beauty for a 70th birthday celebration. The cake looked so realistic, people wanted to pick it up and play it!

cakelava.com
One of our favorite cakes of the year was the cake Rick made for Alex's 40th birthday party.  It was special to us because we have worked with Alex of Mood Event and his wife Yvonne of Yvonne Design since we opened. They have wowed us and our clients with their fabulous event and floral design for years, and we were honored when Yvonne contacted us to make his special surprise! Alex  loves competitive running so Rick made a custom figurine of him running on a wooded trail, towards the finish line of his 40 K. The cake combined some of Rick's favorite art techniques - sculpting, painting, airbrushing, and modelling.

cakelava.com
The cake Rick made for Dustin's ProService retirement party was also a lot of fun and included a handcrafted figure. Rick sculpted a giant wave made from guava cake and added a handcrafted figure of Dustin riding his new surfboard (a gift from his coworkers). We were asked to give Dustin the relaxed look of someone in their retirement - so we had him sporting a five-o clock shadow. A bunch of handmade plumeria flowers were placed on the cake to give the cake a Hawaiian touch!

cakelava.com
Our second Seuss themed cake happened towards the end of the year. Our client fell in love with some of the 3-tier fun wonky cakes but wanted less servings, so Rick designed her a very cute and colorful cake with some of her favorite characters. It was adorable!

cakelava.com
Like Heather and Joe, Sayo and Torrell also ordered a non-traditional wedding cake and asked Rick to design a cake inspired by Shuri Castle in Okinawa, Japan. Read the full details about the cake and the Shisa guardians on the top of the cake in this post.

cakelava.com
We also made some incredibly beautiful, more traditional wedding cakes, like the one shown above. For Elizabeth and Patrick's wedding cake, Rick piped a lace design from the bride's dress and added a gorgeous cascade of handcrafted orchids and calla lillies.

cakelava.com
We also used handcrafted green orchids for this lovely cake, in addition to the pink hibiscus flowers. Rick placed a beautiful bunch of handmade flowers on the side of their cake and accented it with bamboo borders. The cake was so beautiful in person!

cakelava.com
Rick's elegant and whimsical cake with handcrafted delicate roses and a painted teacup was made for Harper's first birthday party. Harper's parents are clients of ours - we first worked with them at their wedding several years ago and we were thrilled the mainland-based couple returned to Oahu to celebrate for their daughter's first birthday luau!

We have more 2013 cakes selected to share with you, and will be doing so on the blog in the coming days. Cakes we'll be showcasing include another sculpted non-traditional wedding cake and a tall wedding cake with pretty flowers with jeweled centers, both made shortly before the New Year. We hope you've enjoyed our retrospective and we look forward to sharing more in 2014! Thank you so much to everyone who has shown their support in various ways to us throughout the year!




Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...