Happy 75th Birthday Batman!

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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!

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

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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!

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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!

Maya's Kangaroo Birthday Cake

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: Plants vs. Zombies

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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!

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I Scream for My Ice Cream Cone Cake!

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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!

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

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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!

2013, A Year in Review - The Second Half - E.C. and A.E.C., Part 3

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We're having a blast looking back on some of our favorite cakes from 2013 and hope you're enjoying the view! Today, we're exploring cakes made during the months of August and September, following the release of our book Extreme Cakeovers, A.E.C. (After Extreme Cakeovers). We'll devote some time to the eventful month of July and finish the last few months of the year in Part 4. Here is Part 1 and Part 2 of B.E.C (Before Extreme Cakeovers), if you missed the previous posts.

The cake (shown above) we chose to introduce this period of time was a 4 foot tall gold, pink, and white wedding cake. It was made in September and combines some trends and design elements we worked with prominently during this time - wedding cakes that were yellow or gold, beautiful handcrafted flowers, and towering, 3 to 5 feet tall. During the latter half of 2013, Rick was regularly dedicating many hours each week to making gorgeous handcrafted flowers. It was clear that romance was back, elegant and opulent designs were hot, and brides wanted to go bigger and more eleborate, and it kept us very busy!

Before we jump into the After Extreme Cakeovers (A.E.C.) months, we'll look at July, the defining month which divided 2013 in half. Rick and I took the month of July off so we could enjoy one of the most exciting times in our lives - our book's release!  Extreme Cakeovers: Make Showstopping Desserts from Store-Bought Ingredients was released on July 9, 2013. It was a project we began in 2011 with our publisher Clarkson Potter (Random House), and we felt a huge honor to work with a publisher of some of the biggest names in cookbooks - Martha Stewart, Bobby Flay, Giada DeLaurentiis, Ina Garten, Rachael Ray, and more! From the beginning, we put everything we had, and more into the book, and even kept our shop open while writing it! Were we crazy? Just a little...

The morning of our book's release, Hawaii News Now's "Sunrise" show aired a segment with Rick and I talking about the book with Anchor Grace Lee. Rick demonstrated his Aloha Shirt cake in their studio kitchen. Click the link to watch the "Sunrise" TV segment.

Like many authors, we "stalked" our book at the local Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores. This photo was taken at the Ala Moana Barnes and Noble, where our book was displayed prominently. I can't explain what a rush it is to see your book on store shelves for the first time!

We filmed a segment at KITV, (ABC) which you can watch here.

A special Apple only iBooks version of Extreme Cakeovers was released. It offers more interactivity than the other ebooks. You can see the Behind the Scenes at the Extreme Cakeovers iBooks photo shoot on The Recipe Club's (Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press) website, and order the iTunes book here.

The book has 40 cake recipes, all made from store-bought products. One of our favorites is the Sushi Platter cake.

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If you want to learn more about the book, check out the Official website for Extreme Cakeovers.

Boston classes: 

As if releasing a book wasn't enough, also during July, we flew to Boston for a week where Rick taught two cake decorating classes to students at The Cake World. It made for an eventful month and a nice break from making cakes! Shortly after returning from Boston, we posted about our experience and a number of photos taken during the classes. You can see it here.

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In Part 2 of our review, I mentioned one of the trends was requests for "incredibly complex sculpted vehicles"(air and land). I'll add, sea vehicles (like a fishing boat) as well. This Monster Truck was made for Stylen's birthday. The entire body and its gigantic wheels were sculpted out of cake and the decorations were handmade and painted by Rick.

We adored the yellow and pink wedding cake Rick made for Chelsea and Kyle in August. They wanted a lot of texture in their cake so Rick designed the cake where all tiers had texture and added handcrafted feathers and large roses, which were also on the bride's dress.

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Here is another yellow wedding cake Rick made, just two weeks after Chelsea and Kyle's yellow and pink wedding cake above. Sarah and Pat's yellow ombre wedding cake with gold accents was inspired by the bride's pretty plumeria flower jewelry and the groom's gold cummerbund. It was a military officer's wedding and the couple cut the cake with a sword. The cake was a huge hit at the wedding and when it was posted afterwards.

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Though we did a fair amount of yellow toned wedding cakes, we made an all blue cake too! One of our favorites of the year, this pretty blue cake was made by Rick for Dara and John, a couple we first met years ago. The flowers were handcrafted and took many hours to make - the whole bottom tier was covered with them and more flowers on the top tier! The Rainbowlicious cake made for a stunning cake cutting!

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You know it's a fun week when you get to make a cake as cute as this! Rick made the cake in late August for Chase's first birthday. Both the mouse and cake in front are made of cake. On top of it being a difficult to sculpt, the baby's father is a celebrity and that always adds more pressure. He and his wife were so kind and appreciative when we delivered the cake. We left the party feeling great, and relieved the hard work was behind us!

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Kiran and Perdeep's wedding cake was delivered the same day as Chelsea and Kyle's yellow and pink wedding cake. I recall the week when Rick spent about 8 hours making all the gorgeous roses for the cascade. It looked amazing! The bride and groom were overjoyed with the cake and we thought it turned out beautifully!

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Brandie and Glen's wedding cake was made the same weekend as Dara and John (blue) and Shanell and Troy's, (shown below). Rick started working on the flowers at least a week before the weddings just to have them all done in time! We previously worked with Brandie and Glen on their twin boys birthday cake and now it was their special day and we were excited to make their wedding cake. Rick's cake design for the couple combined squares and round tiers and pretty purples with silver accents. On the bottom tier was a pair of wedding rings tied with a ribbon. The cake was so lovely and we enjoyed working with our clients again!

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We're starting and ending Part 3 of our Review with a 4 foot tall wedding cake. Shanell and Troy's wedding cake was one of three elaborate floral wedding cakes made in a single weekend. Rick had his work cut out for him! 24 hours were spent making this one cake! For Shanell and Troy, Rick designed their cake to be covered in patterns, with bunches of large, delicate flowers. The main colors were grey and white with a vintage feel. The couple had a "TRON" themed lounge for their guests during the cocktail hour, and Rick added their monogram in a turquoise blue color, to tie in the bride's area with the groom's. We were intrigued with vintage elegance reception room and TRON inspired cocktail lounge. Sounds like a fun wedding!

In our next post, we'll wrap up 2013 with more cakes - more cars, some awesome sculptural compositions with custom figurines and of course, more wedding cakes! Please feel free to share with us your thoughts. Thank you for taking the journey with us!

2013, A Year in Review - The First Half - B.E.C., Part 2

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We continue with B.E.C., Part 2 of our 2013 Year in Review. If you missed Part 1 of our retrospective or are asking "What's B.E.C stand for?", you can catch up here.

B.E.C., Part 2 - January to June

You may have noticed a number of ocean/beach themed cakes in Part 1. As is often the case with cakes, trends emerge and suddenly Rick is making cake after cake with a similar theme. In the first half of 2013, for some reason, we had plenty of ocean themed cake requests. One of our favorite cake projects in that theme was an antique copper sculpted diver's helmet. Making an antique diver's helmet was on Rick's cake bucket list - he's always wanted to make one - so we were both excited when our client ordered one as a surprise 60th Birthday cake for her husband.

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Rick made this yellow and white sculpted fishing boat cake for William's 50th Birthday. It came as no surprise the cake was yellow, as were many cakes we made that year. Like the antique diver's helmet, the fishing boat wasn't easy to make and was ordered by a woman for her husband's surprise birthday party. Both clients and their husbands were thrilled with the cake and it was a hit at the party, which made us very happy!

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The two cakes above, a wedding and groom's cake, made for Grace and Dallas represent two more cake trends we noticed at cakelava in 2013 - yellow and or/gold colored wedding cakes, and incredibly complex sculpted vehicles (air and land). For Grace's wedding cake Rick did a freehand floral applique inspired by the bride's dress, a textured gold bottom tier and gorgeous handcrafted peonies. The groom's cake, a badass Kiowa Warrior helicopter for a pilot was as masculine as they come, and looked perfectly at home at the military wedding.

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Another beautiful yellow wedding cake. This cake was actually inspired by Rick's 3-tier "Joy" design, and redesigned as a 2-tier. We love both versions! Stay tuned for more yellow wedding cakes in our next posts.

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 Another sculpted vehicle cake, though this guy needs no introduction. It had been a while since Rick made this car and he enjoyed revisiting an old friend!

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Our shop hasn't offered cupcakes in years, but in April Rick baked his mouthwatering Guava Lava and Banana Nutella cupcakes for the "I Love Kailua Town Party", a benefit for the Lani-Kailua Outdoor circle which helps keep our lovely hometown green and beautiful. We were happy to donate for a great cause! It's been a while since we've had a booth at the annual Kailua Town Party and we enjoyed mingling with our community (and the tens of thousands of attendees). Rick snapped this photo of me in our booth, standing next to a giant poster of our book cover, a special gift from our publisher! Though the cupcakes were thoroughly enjoyable - we ate several of them - it's a good thing we're not around them too often. They are too irresistible!

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The Seuss themed cakes are always so much fun! All decorations and characters were handmade. After Rick made this cake, we got a request for another one, which we designed a little differently and will be shown later in A.E.C...

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We had wondered when we were going to get a request for a sculpted Craps table with a Florida Gator and 2013 was our lucky year! It was one of our more unusual cakes of the year and we were so happy to do it, along with the couple's lovely wedding cake! Rick spent a good amount of time making the Gator figure and sculpting the cake. Our bride Marnie ordered the Craps table for her fiance Chris as a surprise groom's cake presented at their rehearsal dinner.

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Another cakelava first, a sculpted Samoan kava bowl. Rick included handcrafted traditional Samoan decorations worn and used by the chiefs, in honor of Papa Mose's 70th Birthday.

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We're ending Part 2 of B.E.C. with a cake Rick greatly enjoyed working on. wink. This NFL team and its iconic cheerleaders are instantly recognizable. The sculpted figure, a surprise gift from his wife, was made for Jeff's birthday party at a local steakhouse. Great steak and a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders themed cake - a birthday meal that would make so many men jealous!

The selection of cakes in Part 1 and 2 of B.E.C. (Before Extreme Cakeovers) were made by Rick in January to June. In the next post, we'll share some of our adventures in July including the book's release and our Boston classes, and then look at Part 3 - cakes made A.E.C.