Goodbye 2008! A Year of Cakes, Pt. 2

Continuing the trip down memory lane. To see Pt. 1, click here.

For Heidi and Edwin's wedding, the art got a little deco ...



Natalie and Justin, what a couple of sweethearts! Two beautiful cakes, and a cooler of fish brought from Alaska ...



We did our share of monkeying around ...


Make Star Wars cakes we will ...

The Millennium Falcon cake


and R2-D2 got to party it up with Hello Kitty ...


The hibiscus cake was created and inspired other cakes ...


Ipo and Gary's wedding brought us one of our most challenging cakes of Rick's career. Rodin's "The Kiss" ...


Candy, anyone? ...


Go.... Beavers!! ...


Makenna's cake made it really fun to turn one! ...


And of course, all those interviews! What an amazing pool of talent we got to interview this year.
Big thanks to all my interviewees!

- Jen from Cake Wrecks
- Beryl Ann Byrd of Just Fabulous Pastries
- Rebecca Sutterby of Sugar Creations
- The Great White Snark
- Joan Spitler of Cake Divas
- Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes

and coming in 2009, Marina Sousa of Just Cake

Click on the sidebar on the blog to read any of these interviews.

Christie and Patton's cake got us in touch with our inner animal, and they became a Featured Wedding couple ...


We visited the Pacific Aviation Museum for a Fabulous Forties party ...


We started our line of gourmet cupcakes ... Yum!

and made our first Fantasia themed cake! ...


There were so many more unforgettable cakes we fondly remember in 2008, and you can see many more on cakelava.com. We hope you've enjoyed this visit back through 2008. With this closure, we're more prepared to move forward. 2009, here we come!

Happy New Year! or as we say here in Hawaii "Hau`oli Makahiki Hou!"

Aloha, and thank you for your support!

Sasha & Rick

Goodbye, 2008! A Year of Cakes, Pt. 1

I don't know how many times I've been talking to a client with a 2009 event and accidentally write 2008. I need to repeat the mantra, "2009 ... 2009 ... 2009" and maybe it will start to sink in. 2009 will be a fantastic year, but I have to admit, I'm still nostalgic for all the fun we had making cakes in 2008, and all the new people who came into our lives. I know, we just need to let go and move forward, embracing new adventures, but technically it's still 2008, and Rick and I want to enjoy the trip down memory lane a little longer. We decided to share with you some of 2008's cakes. These are by no means the best or most memorable cakes we made this year -- there were hundreds of them -- but rather a sampling of the variety we got to make. Clicking on the link will take you to the accompanying blog post.

Enjoy!

2 wedding cakes, 1 bride and groom ...



Maya got a little messy ...


Indian opulence and Buddha goes bowling ...



Louis Louis. The Reign of the Louis Vuittons ...



A whimsical wedding cake for Erica, and inspiration for Jennifer and Mel's honu (turtle) cake ...



and who could forget 8-8-8. I know we can't ...


the "underwater invertebrates" wedding cake for Ricki and Mike ...


giving the Tikis their due ...



Kendra and Jonathan transported us to elegant, old Hollywood, and became a Featured Wedding couple! ...


we learned that the PBR wasn't just Pabst Blue Ribbon and were introduced to this lil' guy named "Little Yellow Jacket"...


2008 U.S. Marine Corps Officers' Ball ...


and we learned what a "Tokidoki" is ...


stayed tuned for more cakes in part two tomorrow ...

Aloha!

Christmas -- Was it a Merry One?

The past several days have been a blur, one of those times when you can't quite remember what day it is, and the only reason I know what date it is, is because of the events and meetings we had. We did have a wonderful Christmas which was immediately followed by -- you may have heard on the news -- a blackout on the entire island of Oahu on December 26th. Yes, the busiest shopping day of the year, and yes, Pres. Elect Barack Obama was here in Kailua vacationing at the time -- and yes, we're all fine with no major harm done apart from the major inconvenience of it all.

Quite a few good things have happened over these past several days, some of them in our personal lives, and some in our professional lives. One of those so called "good things" was getting to see the newest issue of grace ormonde Wedding Style Magazine, which is always a treat! We did a photo shoot for the Spring/Summer 2009 issue with Grace and the Wedding Style team, Stefanie Riedel of Absolutely Loved and Eugene Kam Photography earlier in the year, and are now able to see some of the fruits of our labor in print. Inside the issue, apart from some beautiful cakes are the usual amazing tabletops and floral designs, some of which were created by some of Hawaii's best vendors. To see a few of the cakes in the editorial called "The Biggest Piece" visit the Wedding Style Magazine website. We really enjoyed working with all the vendors at the shoot and of course the Grace Ormonde team!

See some of our newest cakes posted recently on cakelava.com

This One's For Patrick - Part 2, The Reaction!

The anniversary cake has been delivered (see Pt. 1 for the backstory) and we thought it would be fun to photograph Chevelle's reaction, so we could share it with Patrick. As you can see, she was very suprised and happy to receive her purse. She and her co-workers were afraid to cut into it. (we should have told them it was Chai Latte -- yum!)

Merry Christmas!

This One's For Patrick - Merry Christmas!

Today we're doing things a little different. We're showing a cake *before* the event occurs. Rather than just share with you one of our Christmas cakes, we've decided to share a heartwarming story about one of our clients ... and a Christmas cake. Earlier this month, I received an email from a man named Patrick who is presently deployed and would not be back in time to celebrate his anniversary with his girl Chevelle. Their anniversary is today, Christmas Eve, and Patrick wanted to make their special day which they would be spending apart even more special by surprising Chevelle with a custom sculpted Louis Vuitton Purse brought to her workplace today. Her workplace happens to be at a mall. Despite the thought of a cake delivery on Christmas Eve to a crowded mall, *on Christmas Eve* (yikes!) these are the kind of stories that touch us, that allow us an opportunity to bring two people together via a shared gift, in this case a special custom cake. Rick and I have a romantic side, of COURSE we'd do it. Isn't this what Christmas is about, bringing people together in celebration, and even more so, when they are on opposite sides of the world?

Due to military security reasons, I was not able to email a photo to Patrick of the cake he ordered, so I decided to post it here. Patrick, here it is, in all its glory, your Louis Vuitton purse with the writing requested "Happy one year baby. Not too much longer!"

We hope you and Chevelle love it! Thank you for giving us this opportunity to help bring your worlds together today. Happy Anniversary and Happy Holidays to you both! -- Sasha & Rick


and here's one of our Christmas cakes which I absolutely adore. Love the delicate snowflakes and the snowmen make me smile! We'd like to wish everyone the happiest of holidays and thank you for your continued support! Merry Christmas!

Kindy and William's Wedding Cake

Once again, for our sweet town of Kailua, Oahu, population of approximately 45,000, and happy home of cakelava, there is excitement in the air. President elect Barack Obama has returned to the beach community of Kailua with his family in search of some R&R. Amidst the eager anticipation of local residents and businesses hoping to catch a glimpse of our next president, life in Kailua goes on as usual, and for us that means more cakes!

Saturday's wedding in Waikiki was a berry and gold colored affair for Kindy and William. Mona Hirata of Weddings by Grace & Mona coordinated their wedding, and Yvonne and Alex of Yvonne Floral designed the couple's floral arrangements, linens and lighting. Their beautiful raspberry and gold colored wedding cake was a major focal point in the room, and perfectly matched all the accents.

Their 3-tier wedding cake was a dramatic concave-shaped stunner. The gorgeous luxe gold colored floral accents were inspired by the couple's incredibly beautiful wedding invitations, designed by Stacey of Emi Ink. Rick used both the raspberry color of the invitation and the gold accents to make Kindy and William a showpiece wedding cake. For their cake Kindy and William chose our Banana Blueberry Mascarpone and Hot Fudge Sundae flavors. The red raspberry and gold tones, shimmering fabrics, and scrumptious cake flavors were perfect for a wedding less than a week before Christmas.



See Kindy and William's cake on cakelava.com in the near future

Featured Weddings - Year in Review, Part 2

This is the second part of our Featured Wedding, Year in Review. Click here to see Pt. 1.

June 2008: Shan & Robert, 5-10-08

July 2008: Kendra & Jonathan, 5-4-08

August 2008: Robyn & Barry, 5-4-08

September 2008: Christie & Patton, 8-15-08

October 2008: Carly & Matthew, 8-7-08

For the November and December Featured Weddings, go to cakelava.com, click on Weddings page to see the December Featured Wedding, Leslie and Sam. To see our November couple, Irene and Joseph, click on Previously Featured on the Weddings page. Hope you enjoyed our nostalgic visit back through 2008!

Cheers!