"The Red Cake" Revisited

Our "Red Cake" shown above has been well-circulated. It's been on our website since 2006, when Rick designed the cake for our bride Juliet, and has appeared in a number of magazines. While the execution of the cake and design is ours, we had a great source of inspiration from Juliet, a graphic artist, who sent us the invitations she had made which looked a lot like the bottom tier of the cake. All components on the cake are handcrafted. This past July we made Juliet's cake for Theresa, but instead of red, we did the cake in sky blue fondant. You'd think that recreating a cake we designed would be easier than making a new design, but that isn't the case. It can be more challenging. I recall Rick painstakingly observing every last detail of where he placed a flower or wire on Juliet's cake just to be sure that it would look the same on Theresa's cake. Since it was made 2 years ago, all the details weren't completely fresh in his mind.

Apart from how the cakes look, there are other similarities. Both have white draping as a backdrop. Note the photographer on both cakes, Chrissy Lambert Photography. With the amount of interest we've had from people asking about "The Red Cake" over the past couple years, my guess is we may be making it again, perhaps in another color, in the future.

Tequila!

This weekend we got to do some pretty extravagant wedding cakes and a couple fun sculpted cakes, all of which will be posted on cakelava.com in the near future. The sculpted Patron Silver bottle above was made for our client Nakia, who was throwing her husband his own baby shower. She had already had a couple given in her honor and didn't want him to feel left out. We thought this gesture was very sweet. Making a sculpted Patron Sliver bottle cake isn't the easiest task because the bottle and contents are clear. When a very pregnant Nakia and her friend came to pick up the cake at our studio they were extremely happy and excited to surprise her husband with his Hot Fudge Sundae flavored sculpted Patron Silver bottle.

Next Featured Wedding Sneak Peek - Robyn and Barry

All images courtesy of blufoto :: tiara & brad

Our next Featured Wedding on cakelava.com comes courtesy of the uber talented photography team of Brad Uyehara and Tiara at blufoto. We've been excited to feature Robyn and Barry's stylish wedding ever since they got married on May 4, 2008. Robyn and Barry, two L.A. television producers met while they were working on "The Amazing Race." Robyn is presently working on "The Biggest Loser," (admittedly, one of my guilty pleasures). For their wedding ceremony and reception they chose an incredible private estate perched at the very top of Lanikai overlooking the Mokulua islands. This residence took our breath away. Vows were exchanged in front of their guests next to an infinity pool which gracefully "fell" into the ocean below, and the reception took place inside the residence. Kailua-based Cater to Me provided the cuisine and linens, and Robyn informed me that she and her mother provided the lovely tropical floral decorations. For photography, Robyn and Barry selected blufoto, one of our favorite photographers, whose stylish images look like they belong in a magazine.

As a vendor, getting to a residence with these picture perfect views is not the simplest of tasks. Robyn and Barry's wedding cake was delivered immediately after our couple Kendra and Jonathan's wedding, (our current Featured Wedding). We were warned in advance that the driveway had a 45 degree incline and they weren't kidding. It was one of the more difficult deliveries we have made, and it involved me driving and Rick riding in the back making sure nothing happened to their cake. The whole way up all we could think about was Robyn and Barry, who we had grown fond of, and were determined to deliver their beautiful cake intact, and we did! We arrived just in time to see Robyn smiling down at us from the top of the staircase. Everything was now perfect!

For their wedding cake, Robyn and Barry fell in love with one of Rick's previous designs, an ivory fondant cake with a whimsical green vine design and handcrafted hibiscus. He customized their cake to suit their number of guests and made 3 taller tiers for a dramatic presentation. They served their guests our Banana Nutella and Kona Toffee Crunch flavors.

After their wedding, Robyn and Barry sent us a nice Thank You:

Thank you Thank you Thank you for all that you did and the magic that you pulled in getting the cake up to the top of Mount Everest! It was a feat I didn't think anyone could pull off! And the cake was amazing, people didn't believe it was a cake. Kudos to you both.

Robyn and Barry,

It was indeed a challenging delivery, but you were both worth it. We wish you both the best in your marriage and your careers. Thank You!

Sasha & Rick






Special thanks to Brad at blufoto for sending us such an incredible selection of images.

see Robyn and Barry's Featured Wedding on cakelava.com next week!

Barack Obama Cakes

The town of Kailua, where cakelava is based, has been abuzz since last Friday when U.S. Senator Barack Obama arrived with his family to vacation on Oahu. He is staying at a huge estate on Kailua Beach, where tourists camp outside hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Every day in the paper you can read where he dined the night before, where he stopped for shave ice (Island Snow, in Kailua, by the way) where he played golf. He's visited many spots we frequent in Kailua but we've yet to see him, and he leaves tomorrow.

I don't want to add to the Barack Obama as celebrity hoopla, but there is an electricity here that I haven't witnessed in quite some time. It got me thinking about Barack Obama cakes and wondered how many were out there. I did a little research and let's just say I don't have enough time to look at all the Obama cakes in existence. Here are several culled from various sources on the internet. I tried my best to be respectful of any photo distributing rights, and for that reason there are a few good ones intentionally eliminated from the group.

We would like to acknowledge the site my.barackobama.com where we found some of the photos and a wealth of information.

Enjoy!