And the Winner Is .... and a Monkeys Cake!

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Our CSN Stores Giveaway has officially closed and a winner was selected by random on Wednesday.  Our winner did take advantage of the second entry by tweeting about the giveaway, but it was her first entry that was selected as the winning number.  (drumroll please) And the Winner of our CSN Stores Giveway is ...

Kim ~ Kay Kay 

Congratulations to Kim for her winning entry!  When asked what she would purchase using her $45 CSN Stores Gift Certificate, Kim wrote: "Oh my... lots to choose from!  My first choice would be a Le Creuset Dutch oven. I've been wanting one for a very long time.  I also browsed the Bedding for my daughter, she is getting a new bed soon and they have a ton to choose from.  Love the styles!  Thanks for introducing me to the site.  Did not know about them.  Fun stuff!"

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.  We wish we could give a prize to each of you!!

If you have been reading the blog recently you know Rick recreated several of his designs in the past few weeks with only slight modifications including a customer favorite, his "Monkeys" cake.   The monkeys cake above was made for a first birthday party for twin boys on November 6th.  Like his original monkeys cake, the background was the same and each monkey handcrafted and placed in playful positions on the cake.  At the top of the cake were two monkeys in honor of the birthday twins Branden and Brenden.  The monkeys were holding signs of their names while the others were frolicking and hanging upside down on the cake.  The monkey cake matched the decor beautifully.  Monkey and banana themed items were everywhere, they did a great job on the setup!

The next morning we received a thank you note from the childrens' grandmother who purchased the cake:

Good Morning!!

Just wanted to thank the both of you for the awesome cake.
Not only was it beautiful but sooo delicious!!!

When it was time to cut the cake the children were so excited. Everyone wanted
to have a piece of the monkey.

Again a  big mahalo,
Bernie

It's a Cake!

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We began working with Laressa and Daniel in January of this year for their November wedding.  They were referred by people we knew and we wanted to give them the cake of their dreams.  They desired to have a cake that was both elegant and unique and would long be remembered by their guests.  Laressa and Daniel's wedding colors were blue and white and and Rick drew inspiration for the design from the stylized blue floral motif on their invitation and wedding paperie.  Rather than put the pattern on a traditional 3-tier round, he gave the cake a modern, feminine shape with rounded edges and each tier balanced slightly above.  Laressa and Daniel were so excited about the cake when they saw their design.  I even got a nice call from Stephanie their wedding coordinator shortly before the wedding to work on the cake table.  They wanted to have just the right color linen and size for the table.  A couple after our own hearts!  The table looked perfect! The cake drew a great deal of attention when we delivered it to the beautiful Halekulani resort in Waikiki.  We had both the staff and the coordinator of the wedding surrounding the cake table, and some fascinated looks and "What is it?" questions. To which Rick smiled and proudly said "It's a cake!"

Sadly, we did not get a chance to congratulate Laressa and Daniel on the wedding day.  We really wanted to. It was a hectic weekend for us and we had to run back to our studio for Rick to work on the U.S. Marine Corps birthday cake for the following day and cakes throughout the weekend. 

Shortly after the wedding we received a sweet thank you note from Laressa which included the following:

We just came back from Hawaii and we wanted to send you and Rick a note to thank you for an amazing/tasty cake. Everyone, including the catering folks at the Halekulani, were impressed with the cake. We even took the leftovers to our honeymoon and enjoyed it with coffee and tea.

We wanted to make sure the cake stood out from the white table so Stephanie made the blue table cover with the color of the cake in mind. I am glad you guys thought it was nice :)

You guys are the best!

Laressa

Congratulations to Laressa and Daniel! 

Miami Dolphins Helmet Wedding Cake

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For some unexplainable reason, on Saturday we had two football themed cakes, and one of them was actually a wedding cake!  We get the sculpted football cake request somewhat regularly and make the occasional football helmet which is much more difficult than the football shaped cake.  For months we've had these two football cakes on our calendar for November 13th, one being a Heisman trophy which can send one into a little panic attack, and this sculpted Miami Dolphins Football Helmet wedding cake with custom bride and groom toppers waving penant flags. The funny thing about these football themed cakes is that Rick is not a sports fan. Turn on a football game and he will probably leave the room, yet, he puts just as much time and attention into these cakes as he does themes that he is more interested in.  He knows how important football is for the client and he wants to give them his best effort.

Our dedication to football aside, Rick and I both fell in love with Kristi and Justin's Miami Dolphins Football helmet wedding cake.  It was a perfect match for the couple who were having a non-traditional wedding reception, complete with casino tables.  Rick made handcrafted custom figures of the bride and groom in their wedding attire to be placed on top of the helmet and it really took the cake to the next level.  Their love of The Miami Dolphins and of each other made for a winning union -- Touchdown!

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Our CSN Stores sponsored giveaway is still running on the blog through tomorrow, November 17th at Midnight PST.  Thank you to those who have entered.  You can earn an additional entry by posting the link to the giveaway on twitter. 

Birthday Cake for Chef Alan Wong

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 The cake was a last minute request ordered as a surprise gift for Chef Alan Wong of Alan Wong's Restaurant and The Pineapple Room by Alan Wong. The woman had called in a panic, "I know this is last minute ..." -- she was so sweet, I would have moved mountains for her if I could, but try and squeeze a cake into Rick's schedule when he is already booked, and my hands are tied, there is absolutely nothing I can do.  Even if the cake is for Alan Wong.  It pained me to say no to our client, she was so excited about surprising him with a cake and I dearly wanted to be able to help her.  She was hopeful and asked when our next availability was.  I told her that we could probably do it for Friday the 12th and she said that would be okay, it would be a belated birthday gift for him.  She called over to his project manager just to make sure he would be in town and it was a Go! 

I went into the kitchen to talk to Rick.  "Okay, now this is for Alan Wong..." and he knew immediately what that meant.  It meant, it better be AWESOME! Chef Alan Wong has long been one of my culinary heroes and consistently wins awards as one of Hawaii's top Chefs.  Alan Wong's Restaurant is considered by many to be the best restaurant in Hawaii and his New Wave Luau Cookbook is absolutely gorgeous!  He's made countless local and national appearances and his food is sublime! As someone who spent 8 years of her life slaving over a hot stove in my previous career, and who had one of her best meals in Hawaii at Alan Wong's Restaurant, it was a huge honor to have my husband make his birthday cake!

Our client wanted a FUN, whimsical wonky cake for Alan that included some of his favorite colors and would really WOW him!  She asked for pineapples (since he owns The Pineapple Room) to be included in the design and possibly a mushroom or two.  On the plaque she asked for the writing "Exceptional Things are worth waiting for.  Happy Late Birthday, Love, (their names)."  After some discussion we selected our Banana Blueberry Mascarpone flavor for Alan.  It's one of our favorite flavors and we thought he would love it.   When we met Alan to present the cake to him, he had a huge smile on his face.  He has a warm disposition and treated us like we were guests in his home. He seemed fascinated by the cake, I don't think he's had a cake like this before and were so honored to make it for him.  He chose the front of the bar area in the restaurant to display the cake during the dinner service.  His pastry team was brought out to see the cake and meet Rick and we took some photos with Alan.  It was a special night that we will never forget!  We want to thank our client for giving us the opportunity, and wish Alan a Happy Belated Birthday! 

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Our CSN Stores sponsored giveaway is still running on the blog through Wednesday.  Thank you to those who have entered.  You can earn an additional entry by posting the link to the giveaway on twitter.