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!

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!

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!

In Honor of our Veterans

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Today's post is dedicated to my grandfather Kazuo who is a veteran of World War II, and to all of our military veterans. We honor our brave men and women and thank them for their service!

I've been thinking about my grandfather, as I have every Memorial Day weekend since he passed away. This year he is on mind even more, because in less than 2 months our book will be released and we won't be able to show it to him. He passed away long before writing a book was even on the horizon. My grandfather was a veteran of World War II, proudly serving in the 100th Infantry Batallion and a member of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). He was a successful entrepreneur who often asked about our business and gave us advice. He had a sweet tooth and loved to eat cake. We miss seeing the big grin on his face when we showed him photos of Rick's latest designs. It would have meant so much to my grandfather that we have a book, a tangible representation of all our hard work and determination, and I know he would love the subject matter!

Last weekend, I thought about my grandfather as we delivered a Kiowa Warrior helicopter groom's cake to a military wedding. The Kiowa Warrior is one of the most difficult military cakes Rick has ever made and was a surprise gift from a bride to her groom. The cake was 3 feet long and sculpted out of chocolate cake. It took a significant amount of time to make because of the intricacy of the details and the pressure to make an accurate representation since the groom flies this model of helicopter. In relation to other sculpted helicopter cakes Rick has made, the Kiowa Warrior was more labor intensive than either the CH53 Delta or the CH53 Echo cakes. The Delta and Echo are impressive helicopters but we thought this one was especially Bad Ass!

In honor of our veterans and Memorial Day, Craftsy, the online crafting website is running a very special Memorial Day promotion. This weekend only, a portion of all Craftsy class sales will benefit a veteran's organization to support those who have served our country. Select classes, including a bunch of cake decorating classes, will be 60% off. The Memorial Day promotion runs from now through Monday, May 27th at Midnight MST (expires Tuesday morning). To take advantage of this wonderful promotion on Craftsy, click here!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2011, Part 1

photo: Christie Pham Photography

It's been a few months since our last "Stroll Down Memory Lane" post. I purposely paused the retrospective after the year 2010, knowing 2011 would require a lot of time to write. 2011 changed our lives in incredible ways! The single biggest event that year was our book deal for EXTREME CAKEOVERS with our publisher, Clarkson Potter. Then all the hard work began! Also that year, Rick began teaching his "Discover Your Inner Artist" classes with his first stop in Canada. The classes were arranged the previous year, long before a book was on the horizon. After returning from Canada in in the Spring, we immediately started the book.

In 2011, we received the coveted "Best of HONOLULU" award for "Best Custom Cakes" by Honolulu Magazine, and Rick's wonky cake was selected for the cover, which were thrilled about! The Hard Rock Cafe Waikiki had its grand opening party which Rick made an outrageous Tiki themed cake for. The year was also full of photo shoots. Just when one was ending, another was starting. We still look back and don't know how we did it all - juggling cake orders, working on the book, traveling to teach, and trying to maintain a blog! It was a crazy, nonstop year of 13 hour workdays. We discovered what we were really made of!

Before all the craziness began that year, we were "just" making cakes, which we've done quite happily for the previous 6 years we were in business. In fact, it is hard to imagine not making the cakes for clients. It brings tremendous satisfaction and keeps the creative juices flowing, and one of the reasons we chose to accept orders while working on the book. We've selected some of our favorite cakes from that year to share with you.

In January 2011, Rick made the gorgeous wedding cake (above) shown next to its inspiration piece, the bride's designer Anne Namba gown. It is one of our favorite wedding cakes ever! The client also ordered a sculpted cat groom's cake pawing a 3-tier wedding cake.

Less than a week after this wedding, Rick made a sculpted Snoopy cake driving a race car for a birthday party. It was all made of cake and took quite some time to make!

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!

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!

USS Hawaii Change of Command Submarine Cake

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On Friday, March 1st, we were honored to make a submarine cake for a Change of Command celebration for Cmdr. Stephen Mack, who was the commanding officer of the Virginia-class submarine USS Hawaii (SSN 776) from 2010 to 2013. Cmdr. Mack's wife ordered the cake from us as a surprise for her husband as he celebrated his last day as the commanding officer before passing on the ceremonial Hawaiian warrior spear. 

Rick has made other submarine cakes but it was the first time he had Diamond Head in the background. Our client requested to have Diamond Head on the cake, remembering a photo taken one day of the USS Hawaii passing by Diamond Head. We loved the idea and having the iconic crater and Hawaiian plumeria flowers really added to the composition. Rick sculpted the submarine, Diamond head and ocean out of our delicious chocolate cake. The celebration was held outside at the Hickam Officer's Club. After the party, our client sent us the photo of her husband enjoying his cake. We didn't have an opportunity to meet the Cmdr. in person so it was great to be able see him. She also gifted us with a special coin (shown below) when we delivered the cake. It was a treasured and unexpected gift! 

Congratulations to Cmdr. Mack on 3 years of amazing service and dedication!

And the Oscar Cake Goes To ...

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A billion people all over the world were glued to their television last night watching the 85th Academy Awards. Were you one of them? Parties were planned in every city, celebrities dressed in their finest attire, and at home we all eagerly watched hours and hours of speeches. We do this faithfully every year with one common goal - to see who would have the honor of taking home "Oscar".

Our "Oscar" experience last night started with a cake delivery to a sweet family who are regular clients of ours. Their oldest daughter loves movies so they decided to host an Oscar's party at their home. We were excited when we found out about the party because the Oscar's theme would be great to do in cake and our clients know how to throw a party! Since we have made them numerous cakes, and they always like what Rick comes up, they let him surprise them with a design, and he decided to make a sculpted Oscar statue cake. I couldn't wait to see it!

The whole week we were excited and anxious about the sculpted Oscar's cake. Excited, because we are movie buffs and grew up watching the Academy Awards, and knew our clients would go crazy when they saw it! Anxious, because they live at the top of a very STEEP ridge. To make a cake worthy of Oscar, it couldn't be short in stature, but rather towering, regal -  two and a half feet tall! During the week, Rick and I discussed the plan - who would be driving, who would sit in the back with the cake in case it swayed uncontrollably. I was trying to determine what would be worse - having to drive all the way to their home, encountering roads not perfectly paved, viewing the cake in the rearview mirror and trying not to freak out if I saw it sway. Or, sitting in the back with the cake with hands at the ready should anything happen to it while going over unexpected bumps in the road, and the 45 degree incline on the ridge leading up to their home. Then there was the factor of the possibility of rain. Luckily, last night it didn't rain.

An Angel of the Superbowl

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Many months ago, a client of ours who is also a close friend, placed an order for and purchased a Superbowl themed birthday cake - for herself.  Her party would be on Superbowl Sunday and the cake, a surprise design that she would leave up to Rick. As with any cake, there is a certain amount of pressure because we want it to look great and exceed expectations. The pressure is high when the cake is for a friend, and even higher when the design is something ubiquitous or iconic, like a football helmet. If the shape is wrong, you fail. If the team logo doesn't look right, you fail. If you don't get the logo and the helmet shape right on a cake for a Superbowl party, you may as well pack your bags and close up shop before the angry football fans come knocking.

Rick decided to surprise our friend with a 2-sided football helmet cake - Baltimore Ravens on one half and the San Francisco 49'ers on the other half. In other words, he would make an already difficult design even harder with twice as many logos, different color schemes on each side, and both sides must meet seamlessly in the middle, including on the face mask. The face mask is the most difficult part of making a football helmet because it has to sit right on the cake to look like it is connected to the helmet and not just placed in front.

We were both extremely excited about the design and knew our friend would love it. Rick is always up for a good challenge! We imagined it would be a hit at the party and and a birthday she would never forget. Shortly before the party, our friend called and sounded super excited. She wanted to get our approval on an idea she had. What she said next touched both of our hearts...

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010. Part 2

We're continuing our retrospective of a selection of cakes made in 2010. If you missed yesterday's post of Part 1, you can read it here. Yesterday, we ended with a black, white and gray tattoo inspired wedding cake and today we are starting by showcasing a cake that is predominantly black and white and equally as unusual.

Katie and Chuck's "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) themed wedding cake was one of our most memorable cakes of the year! The artistic, detailed "Day of the Dead" theme was a cake dream request for Rick. We have always been fond of "Day of the Dead" themed art and we jumped at the opportunity to make it for Katie and Chuck! They had a black and white wedding with red roses, and the couple wore black, not white at the wedding. Rick was given carte blanche on the design, and the result was an amazing cake with extremely intricate detailing, all done freehand, with handmade bride and groom skull cake toppers reminiscent of the sugar skulls commonly found in "Dia de los Muertos" celebrations. The cake took a lot of time to make, but Katie and Chuck were worth it and their cake was a big hit at the wedding!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010. Part 1

2010 marked our 5th year in business, and was a turning point for cakelava. We began having a larger presence in the media, and Rick received his first invitation to teach classes in the early part of 2010. He was shocked and honored when he was asked to teach in Canada the following year and excited to to share his craft. He always wanted be able to give back to other decorators, as his mentors had done for him and this was a perfect opportunity to do it.

Rick and his assistant Annie's "Spongebob Birthday Cakes" Challenge on Food Network aired in April 2010, on Easter Sunday. It was an Easter Sunday we will never forget! Despite it being a family holiday which prevented people from attending our viewing party, we still had more than 100 guests in attendance who were there to support us and cheer Rick on! Around the time the episode aired, the media was often at our shop, filming Rick as he was making cakes and doing interviews.

It was a very interesting year for us. Hawaii started feeling the effects of the recession around this time, and there were less "destination" weddings - non-residents coming to Hawaii - and those that did often had smaller guest counts because some of their guests had lost their jobs or they couldn't afford to take such an expensive trip. In general, I think it was difficult time for many people in the cake industry, and we knew many people who shuttered their doors, which is always heartbreaking. We had counted our blessings we had a solid reputation by that time and was still getting regular business. Maybe as not as much as before, but considering the time, we were extremely fortunate.

As I reflect on 2010, I think of that year as the "end of the innocence" - not that life was so easy in the previous years, owning a business never is, but it was the last year we would focus solely on making cakes for clients. Early in 2011, Rick started teaching and began receiving more offers for other locations. Our traveling started and would become a big part of our lives in the coming years. We also got an amazing book deal for "Extreme Cakeovers" with Clarkson Potter in 2011, and would then balance the writing of the book with cake orders and teaching gigs. I remember at particularly hectic times of our lives in the last couple of years that we would reminisce about the days when we would "just make cake." Now, we wouldn't trade the opportunities we've had for anything in the world, but it demanded a level of commitment to our business that we never imagined!

I have chosen the cakes below as a sampling of some of our favorite designs that year. There were so many more I would have liked to include but couldn't for lack of time. We hope you have been enjoying the retrospective!

Rick was excited to try out these shapes for Laura and Oliver's wedding cake. The couple was married at Lanikuhonua, a gorgeous outdoor location on Oahu. Rick handpainted their cake to resemble the beautiful graphic motif from their wedding invitation. I was really smitten by this cake and loved how stylish and unique it looked. Luckily, so did Laura and Oliver!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2009. Part 2

Yesterday we continued our stroll down memory lane, remembering a selection of cakes made at cakelava during the year 2009. If you missed it, you can view it here. A number of cakes shared in yesterday's post could be categorized into a common theme. Today's cakes cannot be categorized.  A great example of this would be the sculpted turtle hugging a cupcake, which Rick made for a wedding in June 2009, and is shown below.

It was one of our most unusual requests, a cute sculpted turtle hugging a cupcake. Rick and I were both intrigued by the idea when our clients told us this is what they wanted for their wedding cake. The bride and groom had a huge sweet tooth and had planned their wedding around a sweets and candy theme, which included sculpted giant cupcakes on the tables as centerpieces, which Rick also made. Their adorable turtle with a cupcake wedding cake was a huge success and circulated around the internet where the wedding was featured several times, including cakelava.com. The awesome photo is by Stephen Ludwig.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2009. Part 1

I realized after the 2008 retrospective was posted yesterday, that I had omitted an important mention which was the start of my "Interviews from Cakeland" blog series. My first interviewee "victim" was Jen Yates of Cake Wrecks fame in August 2008. If you missed my interview with Jen, you can read Part 1 and Part 2 here. Little did I know at the time that I was the first in what would be a very long list of people who interviewed Jen and that Cake Wrecks would become very successful. My interview series is listed on the blog, and ended with Katherine and Sophie from TLC's "DC Cupcakes" in 2010, right before the start of their show.

As I scrolled through the cake photos selected for 2009, I realized that it would take at least two posts, like the year 2008, to offer a sampling of what happened that year. It was a crazy busy year from start to finish and ended in December 2009, with the biggest media opportunity we ever had. Rick and I flew to Denver where he competed on Food Network "Challenge" TV show for "Spongebob Birthday Cakes"!

Prior to the months before we were in communications with the Producers of "Challenge" and began preparing for the competition, Rick was making some of the best cakes he has ever done!  It was the year he made his first standing electric guitar, and sculpted a burning firehouse.  He sculpted a Serenity spaceship from the Sci-Fi film "Firefly", a Little Einsteins rocket ship, a bulldog, a Toilet!, a life size tire for Lex Brodie tire company, a P-3 airplane, and with the help of his assistant, a large composition featuring Spongebob and a bunch of his friends! In between the cakes, there was a feature in Your Wedding Day Magazine (YWD), a fundraising calendar for American Cancer Society, and a 50th birthday cake for Ala Moana Center, one of the biggest outdoor malls in America! It was time for cakelava to Go Big or Go Home, and we went for it, in a BIG way!

 The year started with a photo shoot with Stephen Ludwig for a 2010 fundraising calendar for American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life" which Rick was invited to be a part of. Rick and I were so excited to be able to give back for such a worthy cause. The creation of this cake was quite precious to both of us. Each cake designer was asked to design a cake that was inspired by a song, and Rick chose a song by Hawaiian artist, Israel Kamakawiwaole and the song was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", which you may be familiar with. It is a gorgeous rendition of the classic, and celebrates the beauty of Hawaii, with its abundant rainbows. Rick painted a stylized land/ocean scene on the cake and dedicated the cake to my Aunt, who has been battling cancer for a number of years. Being able to give this art piece that we had such an emotional connection to was one of the most special experiences we had that year!

January 2009. It was Rick's first standing up guitar, made as a groom's cake for a couple who flew in from Baltimore. We hadn't done too many upright sculpted cakes and Rick was excited to take on the challenge. We were both happy with how the guitar turned out. For their wedding cake, the couple went with a traditional and elegant cake with beautiful handcrafted  tropical flowers.

 

A couple of months after Rick made the standing guitar groom's cake, he made a stacked drums wedding cake. The drums were done in a similar green to their wedding colors.

I remember Lena and Mike well. They bucked the traditional wedding cake idea and went for a sculpted burning firehouse with cusom figures of themselves in a fun pose. They were a fun loving couple and Rick was determined to convey this in the cake. He made a handcrafted custom figure of the couple with Lena tossed upside down over Mike's shoulder, a way that he used to carry her. I love this photo, taken by Dave Miyamoto!

 

We both adore this cake! It was a time consuming design for Rick to make because of the artwork, but it was so pretty in person and couldn't have been more at home in its environment.

We're big fans of the MINI Cooper, and enjoyed being able to make one in Rick's favorite color - orange! There is a fun back story for this cake, which you can read about here.

 

In Spring of 2009, Your Wedding Day (YWD) magazine released the issue with a feature called "New Ecclectic Hawaii". We were honored to be asked to do a shoot for YWD and be part of an awesome team of wedding professionals which included blufotographica, Finishing Touch, Yvonne Design, Emi Ink, Rachel Robertson, and Les Saisons. Rick designed the cake around the theme, which combined modern, tropical and Indian themes and included yellows, silver, white, black and bright pink. The result is shown above, captured beautifully by blufotographica.

We saw some themes gain popularity in 2009, like the "animals" theme - jungle animals, farm animals and the Noah's Ark animals. It was the first tine Rick had made a sculpted barn or a Noah's Ark filled with animals. Both cakes were done in all cake and the animals were handcrafted edible pieces. We both remember when he made all the animals for the Noah's Ark cake. There were animals peeking out of every open crevice, 360 degrees. The Ark suddenly felt much more massive when it was home to so many animals!

The start of the jungle/safari theme cake requests. It remains one of the most popular kids party themes and Rick has made many variations. This design is one of the most difficult jungle cakes he made, with each piece made and handpainted and the animals have a more realistic appearance than others.

Another jungle animals cake, done differently than the one above, but just as cute! All decorations are handmade.

 

Then came the Monkeys themed cakes. We have made so many of these, in different sizes, for twin children with two monkeys on top. We love them all!

 

The Sci-Fi/geeky cake theme was another trend we noticed in 2009. We adore the Sci-Fi cakes! More Millennium Falcons (above), R2-D2, the Death Star, a Star Trek Communicator, and "Serenity" ship from Firefly. All shown below.

 

 

The "Serenity" cake has an interesting story, which you can read about  here.  It was one of the most difficult shapes Rick had to create and though he is a Sci-Fi fanatic, neither of us had seen the movie, which made making the cake that much more difficult. 

 

It was our first dimensional Candy Land board game cake, and we set aside a substantial amount of time for this party. At the time we were still making custom cupcake towers and our client added on a candyland themed cupcake tower to go with it. I still remember the week this cake was done. We had a bunch of cakes requiring a lot of artistry, and I don't know how Rick got through it all. Every time I turned around, he was making decorations or painting them, and our kitchen looked like one big colorful art explosion. The cake below was made that same week. Yes, that is, in fact, a dog with a scuba mask on.

The last cake in this post was a striking leopard print with bright pink daisies design and became very popular after it was posted. We loved this cake and it sure made its way around the internet! It will always be one of our favorites and the colors really came together. It was one of those cakes you are sad to deliver because of all the work that went into it, but then you see the expression on the client's face and it's all worth it! 

I hope you have been enjoying seeing the cakes as much as we have liked re-living some great memories! In the next post, we will continue with 2009.