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!

Dragon Cake - The Cake Bucket List Gets Shorter!

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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.

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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!

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!

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!

Alex's 40th Birthday Art Cake

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As a cake designer, Rick's specialty is custom art cakes.  He has a background in fine art and pastry and loves sculpting, hand painting and airbrushing on cakes. For Alex's 40th birthday, Rick employed some of his favorite art techniques to make an unforgettable, truly personalized cake for a man we greatly admire and who, along with his lovely wife Yvonne, is one of Hawaii's top wedding vendors.  Alex and Yvonne own two companies, Yvonne Design and Mood Event and they have been wowing us and our clients with their amazing talent for years! Just look at their websites and you'll see what we mean! Alex is a man of many interests and one he is most passionate about is competitive running, which is the area we focused on for his cake.

When Yvonne ordered the cake for Alex's surprise birthday party, we knew the cake needed to be fantastic! It was for Alex G, afterall! The cake would be sculpted with a running theme, and a custom figurine of Alex on a woodsy trail about to cross the finish line of his 40 K. The idea of 40 K trail worked great since it was close to the length of an actual marathon and also represented Alex's big birthday! Rick studied many photos of Alex when he was making the figure and spent quite some time getting everything just right. We both felt the pressure of creating a likeness of someone everyone in the wedding industry knows and who we greatly respect!

The cake was a huge success! We received compliments from Yvonne and Alex and their guests. We attended the party as guests, and were very impressed at how beautiful everything looked! The party was brilliantly designed by Yvonne and the Mood design team - even Alex unknowingly contributed to making his own decor.  The party was filled with Alex's favorite things and different aspects of his life that would be honored in some way. Guests dined on Alex's favorite foods and for dessert, the awesome cake in his favorite flavor, Peanut butter and chocolate, an unbeatable combination that makes my mouth water just thinking of it! Happy Birthday, Alex G. It was an honor to immortalize you in cake!

Dr. Seuss - A World of Infinite Possibilities

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Some party themes are just too perfect for cake, and Dr. Seuss is one of them! The whimsical vision of Dr. Seuss provides a world of infinite design possibilities. We know when we receive a Dr. Seuss theme request, we're in for a really fun time, and... we also need to clear plenty of time on our calendar to work on it! It is one of our favorite themes to do and one of the more difficult due to the amount of time Rick spends making the characters and decorations.

The inspiration for this colorful wonky cake was based on one of Rick's previous Dr. Seuss themed designs. The client wanted a similar look with modification to the themes to suit their party. The Lorax and truffula trees would be used in decor throughout the party and we were asked to include them. The choice of colors used was left up to Rick. Since the cake was for a boy, Rick selected blues and red for the main base colors and some of the more feminine colors were used as an accent.

As I write this, I'm thinking about and looking forward to one of our cakes for next weekend. Can you guess the theme?

Monster Truck Birthday Cake

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The monster truck cake is one of those requests that can make you shudder because it is so much work! Sculpting a massive truck body out of cake that has to be suspended and sit perfectly on gigantic wheels is no easy task. At the end of our first full week back in town after the Boston classes, we hit the ground running and Rick made Stylen's birthday cake.

Both the truck body and its wheels were sculpted out of cake. All the detailing on the truck was handmade and painted. Applying fondant on a cake like this in the Hawaiian humidity is always a challenge, but we got lucky that week and the weather cooperated. Whew!

The cake was purchased as a gift for Stylen by the child's aunt. I recall my reaction when I asked her for the child's name. She said "Stylen." I said "Did you say Stylen?". The name was about as perfect as it could be for a lucky child about to be gifted with a "stylin'" amazing monster truck cake! "Yes, Stylen." A child named Stylen and a very difficult, very detailed monster truck cake. We better not screw this up!

Rick estimates he spent 15 hours working on the monster truck cake, and that is a chunk of time to devote to one cake when you have others in the same weekend. The time spent was all worth it in the end. We were so happy with the cake, and Stylen's family loved it as well!

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Diver's Helmet Cake

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I was recently asking Rick if he has a cake bucket list. I was curious if he had one and what was on it. While he doesn't have a formal list written down, there are definitely designs he has his eye on and just needs the right client to request them. As I suspected, one of the designs on his cake bucket list is a hard hat diver's helmet.  After last weekend, Rick can cross the diver's helmet off his list!

It's hard to say who was more excited when the request for the cake came in - Rick or myself. I had been communicating with the client who was considering one of two themes for her husband Scott's 60th birthday party. Both themes had something to do the ocean and her husband's careers. We were happy to make either of them, but hopeful she would choose the diver's helmet since Rick hadn't made one before and apparently, was on his cake bucket list. If it was meant to be, it would happen. We were thrilled when she sent us an email telling us to move forward with the diver's helmet!

Knowing the diver's helmet would be a challenging cake, Rick allocated a good amount of time to work on it. It took him 9 hours to sculpt and decorate the cake. We wanted Scott and our client to be blown away when they saw it, and make it a birthday celebration he would never forget!

The party was held at our client's home. She told us that she had designed a theme based on the cake. We were very impressed at her attention to detail and how much the theme was carried out in the decor of the party. When we arrived, some guests were already there. It didn't take long for the cake to draw a crowd, which was soon followed by "THAT'S a cake?!" - music to any cake designer's ears!
The diver's helmet cake was a huge hit, with both our client and her guests.

This amazing display at the entrance to the party which included a photo of Scott, greeted guests as they arrived. The antique diver's helmet in the display was one of many on display throughout the property.

Thank you to our wonderful client for including us in Scott's very special day, and for giving us an opportunity to cross one of our new favorite cakes off the bucket list!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2011, Part 2

Thank you for joining us as we continue our retrospective of cakes made in 2011. Yesterday, we began Part 1 of "A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2011", showcasing a selection of some of our favorite cakes, ending with the month of May. Throughout the history of our business, the month of May - "Mayhem" as I like to refer to it - is always one of the most hectic. It feels like the start of summer here, but while everyone else is playing, we work that much harder! In May 2011, our stars aligned and collided at the same time. We were busy fulfilling cake orders and quite suddenly, had an incredible book deal on our hands! We needed to quickly figure out how to balance our company's commitments and a deadline for our book.

The week we signed with our publisher for EXTREME CAKEOVERS was filled with cake orders and all very different from each other.  Rick made two Law school graduation cakes - a bright pink floral cake, and a "Legally Blonde" inspired cake - a Parisian cake (above), a Little Einstein's cake, and a 70's themed cake. I also had dental sugery scheduled that week!

William's 50th Birthday Fishing Boat Cake

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Last Saturday night, our client Carol C. escorted her husband William to his surprise 50th birthday party, held in the ballroom of a Waikiki hotel. As the couple opened the doors, waiting anxiously behind them, was 150 of their family and friends, Rick and I, and a beautiful sculpted fishing boat made out of our Guava cake, which Carol had arranged for her husband. Everyone yelled "Surprise!" in unison and William's party began!

Although we never met the couple before the day of the party, the fishing boat cake felt special to me because it brought a family together. There was Carol C. who was so excited about ordering the cake for her husband and chose one of his most prized possessions, a beautiful fishing boat named after her. How romantic! Our client's sons were also involved. They photographed the fishing boat from various angles so Rick would be able to envision the massive piece of machinery as if were in the room with him. Carol and I had several conversations on the phone about the details of the boat and she conveyed to me how much it meant to her to gift the cake to her husband. We discussed the type of fish we would put on his fishing line in the water and chose a marlin because we wanted him to catch a big fish on his special day! She asked if we wouldn't mind delivering the cake a little later to allow us a chance to meet in person. We didn't realize at the time that we would be arriving just before William and Carol entered the room. Everyone rallied around William, the guest of honor, and he didn't even know it!

The cake was sculpted out of our guava cake, and all decorations on the boat and in the water were handcrafted. We were happy with the end product and looked forward to having Carol, William and the entire family see it. It was great to meet everyone. We hope William had a truly memorable 50th birthday!

Scuba Diver Looking into a Cave Birthday Cake

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The colorful scuba diver looking into a cave birthday cake is one of our favorite recent projects! The week Rick made the cake was hectic because his other cakes were also artistically demanding, making the week as challenging as those that have more cakes with less complexity. The cake was made as a 21st birthday gift from his aunt to Joey, a Marine Biology major at the University who enjoys scuba diving.

Rick started making the decorations for the cake early in the week, allowing extra time to sculpt the cave and scuba diver. Sculpting the cave was very difficult. It was important to make it look as realistic and organic looking as possible. Rick estimates it took him 4 to 5 hours to make just the cave and diver. A cake with this big a wow needs to be tasty on the inside and the client chose our "Broke da Mouth" flavor, a delicious mango cake with a mango curd and cream filling with Li Hing Mui. Li hing mui is a sweet and salty dried plum sold in the islands and a popular ingredient with local chefs.  In Hawaii, "Broke da Mouth" is a pidgin English term that literally means the flavor is so good, it will break your mouth - an explosion of flavor! My mouth is practically breaking just thinking about our "Broke da Mouth" cake!

I always have to smile when I see Rick making cakes with a coral scene. He has used some version of a coral scene on many under the sea cakes. We spent a good part of 2012 touring around the world with his "Discover Your Inner Artist" clownfish class, where he taught students how to make the realistic looking coral. The coral pieces have been incredibly versatile over the years, being used on both sculpted and non-sculpted ocean themed cakes. Although I have watched Rick and his students make hundreds of the colorful decorations, it never gets old and it always brings the already lifelike cakes to another level!

Happy Birthday, Ernie Santiago, Mr. U.S.A. 1983!

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One of our favorite perks of owning a business comes from building a relationship with clients that goes beyond making their cake. This is especially true of clients that return to us repeatedly. With each cake they order, we learn a little more about them, whether it is an interest we never knew existed, or getting to meet the newest addition to their family. In the case of the Santiagos', who are regular clients of ours (and some of the nicest people we know), we got quite a surprise when they ordered their latest cake - a sculpted partial body of bodybuilder Ernie Santiago, Mr. U.S.A. 1983. Mr. U.S.A. 1983? We never knew Ernie was a famous bodybuilder, much less won such a fabulous title! We were so excited to make a likeness of Ernie circa 1983 to honor of his 60th Birthday, another milestone event! The cake was as relevant today as it was 30 years ago, as Ernie is still very committed to bodybuilding and is preparing for his next competition!

This was a really fun design process! First came the photos - Ernie on bodybuilding magazine covers, in competition, and at the beach posing. I couldn't believe my eyes! "THAT'S our Ernie?!!"
My jaw dropped, practically hitting the floor when his wife sent the photos. It was one of those awesome moments where you learn something so surprising about someone you would never look at them the same way again. Seeing our client Ernie with a totally ripped body, 30 years earlier was pretty mind-blowing! We knew this was going to be some cake!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! ... Here's a Cake for You!

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 Theodor Seuss Geisel, who is better known as Dr. Seuss would have turned 109 on Saturday. Dr. Seuss is one of the most influential authors of our time and his wonderful world of whimsy is celebrated daily across the world. We honor Dr. Seuss' influence by remembering our collection of books - some of our earliest exposure to literature was Dr. Seuss' Cat In the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and so forth. We've seen the movies, both live action and animated, and the Dr. Seuss theme has been popular for designers across many disciplines. It has especially resonated within the cake community. Some of our favorite cakes made at cakelava have had a Seussian theme.

This fun and colorful Dr. Seuss themed cake was made by Rick and featured Cat and the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and Horton Hears a Who characters as selected by our client. The cake was made in March 2012 and was never shared on our blog that month because I didn't have an opportunity. A quick look through our 2012 archive and you'll note we don't have a single post in March. We traveled for part of the month, then immediately had a photo shoot for 'Extreme Cakeovers" book, then were occupied with cakes for the rest of the month. I had meant to share it after March because we were proud of the cake and the client absolutely adored it, but the cake got filed away. Then, over the weekend Rick and I were talking about Dr. Seuss' birthday and he brought up the cake.

It was one of our favorite cakes that Rick made in 2012. Each of the characters were made and hand painted. It was a super cute topsy, turvy design with each tier done in a different color scheme. I really like the truffulas and playful pieces sticking out of the cake and theme lends itself to many different approaches for the design. On a previous Seuss themed cake, our client wanted the cake with a sculpted Cat and the Hat on top, which Rick made out of cake. Each version has its own special qualities and we love them both! Happy Birthday to the late Dr. Seuss! We are grateful to this visionary for creating a magnificent world where anything is possible, filled with positive messages that makes us feel great, and reminds us what it is like to be a kid again!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2009. Part 3

When I had the idea about doing a cakes retrospective for cakelava dating all the way back to our humble beginnings in 2005, little did I know how much effort would be involved with the writing and cake selection process. Was I crazy to think that with well over 1000 cakes in our history it would be easy to choose a representative sampling? Clearly, I didn't think about it, I was driven by the desire to look back and appreciate how far we've come, and to share some cakes we are proud of with new people who may not be familiar with the designs.

For 2009, I had an especially tough time choosing cakes to feature so I divided it into three parts. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it.

Rick designed this beautiful wedding cake with wrapped layers and handcrafted cherry blossoms for an outdoor wedding at Kualoa Ranch in May. The cake was featured in a number of magazines and in the book "1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes". The gorgeous photo is by Frank Amodo.

In 2009, a number of our good friends were married and some celebrated significant birthdays with a cakelava cake. This sushi cake was made by Rick for our friend Melissa for her 40th birthday party and gifted to her by her boyfriend as a surprise. Like us, they are huge fans of sushi. Rick made and placed sushis all over the cake. A few years later, Rick would teach students how to make the sushis on a sculpted platter for one of his classes. This exquisite photo is by Robert Bruce Ayres.

We've adored this cake for years! I like the vintage look of the flowers and bands around the tiers, and the muted tones used throughout. The bride Krista sent us the custom made bird toppers, we thought they were beautifully made and so cute! I wrote a post about this wedding cake back in October 2009 that covers the cake, including the types of flowers, in more detail.

It's no secret. Rick has a great appreciation for Hawaiian tikis and has been including them in his designs for years. I love them too. We even chose "Tiki's Grill & Bar" in Waikiki to have our viewing party for the Food Network "Spongebob" Challenge. He made this sculpted tiki out of cake for a couple's 17th anniversary celebration. We were both really happy with the way the standing tiki head turned out, and it remains one of our favorites.

By the time Rick had made the Tiki cake shown above, we were already in discussions with Food Network for an upcoming "Challenge" TV show they wanted to cast him for. When Rick found out they wanted him for "Spongebob Birthday Cakes", we both just about died! We were so excited for this particular challenge because we are huge fans of Spongebob Squarepants and it was a sculpting challenge - right up Rick's alley! For the competition which would take place in December, the competitors were asssigned one of the characters as their main character. Rick was given Spongebob, which we were both thrilled about! It was his first time on "Challenge" after numerous efforts to try and get out there to do them, and he had to compete against "Challenge" Veterans - Lauren Kitchens, Bronwen Weber and Kristin Davison - which added to the pressure!

In an ideal world, we would have uninterrupted time to prepare for such an important competition, but we had too many cake orders to fulfill during that time. Rick had very little time to prepare for his Challenge. He sketched his design, made Spongebob once, secured his assistant, Annie Welch, who he had worked when he was making cakes in Seattle. Once he was cast, we began noticing Spongebob EVERYWHERE, and took trips to Toys 'R Us to look at Spongebob items.  Many emails, and forms to sign later, we were on a plane to Denver to shoot the competition!

The photo above was taken at the studios where "Challenge" was filmed. The production company had just moved into a brand new studio and we would be one of the first to use it. After a very LONG day with what felt like an equally long deliberation by the judges, including a Nickelodeon representative, the competiton ended and we flew back to Hawaii. Food Network still airs the episode from time to time and I will leave the result of the competition a mystery, in case you haven't seen it. It was a nail biter and a very close competition, and so much fun to watch!

Rick and his assistant Annie Welch standing proudly next to their creation! The competition occurred shortly before Christmas and would be aired in April 2010. It was the third longest, most agonizing wait we've had in our cake career, the second being the casting for another Food Network show. The longest wait we've had, well, we are still experiencing it and have been for the past year and a half! The wait for the Food Network shows was agony, but multiply that intensity by at least ten, adding in excitement we can barely contain, and this is how we feel about the wait for our book, "Extreme Cakeovers". It will finally be released by Clarkson Potter/Random House in July!

The next posts will cover 2010, which was another great year for cakes and media, and a turning point for cakelava, leading us down some new avenues.

Since our Stroll Down Memory Lane started, a number of you have recognized your cake and it has meant a lot to hear from you! Whether we have made your cake or are just enjoying the view, we would love to hear if you have a favorite cake, or anything else you want to share with us about the cakes.