How delish!

We were recently contacted by delish.com inviting us to be in a feature called "Wedding Cakes from the Pros". We were so honored and jumped at the chance -- "YES, absolutely, well do it!" The delish.com feature got even yummier for us when we discovered we were placed next to some of our favorite cake designers including: Colette Peters!! whose work we're absolutely wild about!, Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, Mike's Amazing Cakes, and more! It also doesn't hurt that delish.com is owned by Hearst Communications and MSN and is one of the top 10 food related destinations online. The feature was the icing on our cake, and boy did it taste delish!

A heaping tablespoon of thanks goes out to Sara Schwartz at delish.com for thinking of us, and to Chrissy Lambert Photography, for her gorgeous photo of our cake!

Til next time, Aloha!

Last Stop, Waikiki!

We hope you are enjoying the virtual travels on our delivery route last Saturday. It's been fun for us to relive the events all over again and seeing the cakes side by side we notice how different each one is from the next. I'm proud of Rick at how much effort he put into the cakes. We still have more cakes to share, including a super adorable little girl's birthday cake delivered on Sunday, but for now, let's go to Waikiki, to the Moana Surfrider Resort where our bride Sheryl had her wedding reception. It worked well for us that Sheryl's reception started a little later. Often times the brides want approximately the same starting time and we then have to stagger the deliveries, but Saturday night was hectic but smooth. It was all Meant to Be. Sheryl let Rick design her cake, with a just a little input on colors and something elegant and modern using flowers and silver beading. Rick came up with this beauty and we both love it and hope Sheryl and her groom did too!

Join us back here next week as we reveal more of our latest designs and some yummy recent press!

Aloha, til next time!

Next Stop, Paradise, Seashells and a Mustang

Normally if you told us we'd have to leave Las Vegas for another location, we'd say that the location better be good, but on Saturday we had absolutely no problem continuing our journey to ... beautiful, serene, Lanikai, Oahu. From our studio, Lanikai, an upscale suburb of Kailua, is very close. Not much of a trek at all. Once you get to Lanikai, which is right next to Kailua Beach, voted one of the "Best Beaches in the World" the pace of life slows down, you can smell the ocean, and you think to yourself "pretty, pretty, pretty!". Our third delivery of the night was for another wedding, Joey and Greg who were married at the exclusive Paul Mitchell Estate in Lanikai. We always enjoy working at the Paul Mitchell Estate because it's very lush, incredibly beautiful and has the most amazing views of the Mokulua Islands. We arrived at the estate delivering two cakes for Joey and her groom Greg and were part of a team of vendors we work with regularly including Chrissy Lambert Photography, Yvonne Design, and Cater to Me. For their wedding cake, Joey and Greg chose an orange color off-set squares design with seashells in our "Broke da Mouth" and Kona Toffee Crunch flavors. They were steps away from the ocean and had a beach theme so it was a perfect match!

What Greg didn't know prior to his wedding day was that Joey had hired us to also make him a red 1968 Shelby GT-350 convertible (with the top up) Mustang groom's cake, which she chose our Local Kine Special flavor. I'm guessing he was probably so surprised and blown away by her thoughtfulness, and we had a great time making it too!

Joey and Greg, you two were great to work with and we wish you all the best!


one of the many spectacular views from the estate!


Next Stop after Paradise ... Waikiki! ... for another wedding

Aloha, til next time!

Vegas 5-0!

Saturday was so tightly packed with events, we had little to no margin of error in our timing. As we returned from delivering our pink, blue and white cherry blossom cake featured yesterday, we had a few minutes to catch our breath before our client came to pick up her Vegas themed birthday cake. Rick made every piece by hand, and considering how many other cakes he was working on last week, I was truly impressed by the level of detail. For those not aware, Hawaii has a huge connection to Vegas in part because gambling is illegal here. Vegas is probably the number one vacation destination for people living in Hawaii and it seems that everyone, sooner or later here, is leaving for Las Vegas. For those of us not able to get to Vegas to celebrate, there are always Vegas themed cakes to get you in the right mood. Rick even included the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign on the cake. For the Vegas party which took place in Fabulous Hawaii, the flavor of choice was our Hawaii Five-0, a perfect compliment for a 50th birthday!

Visit cakelava.com to see more Vegas themed cakes.

Come back tomorrow to see where we went after Vegas ...

Pink, Blue and White Cherry Blossom Cake

Our first wedding cake over the Memorial Day weekend was for Kristen and Guy, a super sweet couple with a large guest count -- over 400 people! Their cherry blossom cake was stunning in white, blue and pinks and Rick incorporated many different artistic techniques to create the beautiful design. We wanted it to be an unforgettable presence at the reception. This lovely wedding was expertly coordinated by Mona Hirata of Weddings by Grace & Mona and took place on the grounds of Kualoa Ranch. For all you LOSTIES, this is the area where some of the filming for the show takes place and is very lush. We were rushing from one event to another all night long and were only there a short amount of time, so we felt lucky we had a chance to finally meet photographer Frank Amodo, of Amodo Photo. We've been working with Frank at weddings for several years and have talked to him on the phone and emailed, but have never met him in person, oddly enough. He's extremely kind and oh so talented too! After the wedding at the ranch, we had to rush back to our studio to meet a client picking up her celebration cake, which we'll be sharing with you tomorrow!

Aloha!

Christina and Alex - Celebrating Their Love at Lanikuhonua

All images courtesy of Dave Miyamoto & Company

I thought it was weeks ago when we made Christina and Alex's polka dot wedding cake, until we looked at the calendar and realized they were married on May 16th, a little over 1 week ago! In those 9 days, we've made at least as many cakes, and we'll be sharing some of them with you here throughout this week.

Christina and Alex had spectacular weather for their wedding at Lanikuhonua, and we would have wanted nothing less than pure sunshine for this sweet couple. We were rushing around from event to event that day, but the second we set foot on the lovely grounds of Lanikuhonua, it was like a giant exhale, we could feel the Aloha all around us! What was truly special was having the opportunity to see Christina, our beautiful bride, and the reaction on her face when she saw her cheery polka dot wedding cake. She was glowing with happiness and excitement and reminded us again why we do what we do and how satisfying it is to see our happy clients on their special day.

We are especially thankful to one of our favorite photographers Dave Miyamoto of Dave Miyamoto & Company, who always supplies us with beautiful images after the wedding that capture the true spirit of our couples. Our hearts nearly melted when we saw the image of the little boy leaning into the camera -- oh my goodness!
























Congratulations to Christina and Alex! We wish you both the best!

Join us tomorrow as we reveal some of our newest cakes, made over the Memorial Day weekend. Aloha, til next time!

"Follow Friday", for Bloggers

On twitter, they have a tradition called "Follow Friday" where people who want to take part suggest others to follow. This is in turn exposes your network of followers to a whole group of new people, who you then have the option to follow. Back in February, we posted a list of bloggers that we were aware of, who have linked us in some way on their site. Many have added us to their blogroll and others have mentioned our blog in a post. Like "Follow Friday", by discovering our link on these sites, it has opened up a whole world of other bloggers for us to follow that are worthy of an introduction to our readers. What you'll find is an incredible group of bloggers eager to share their talents with you. Rick and I would like to send our gratitude to each and every blogger in this list, not just because you have shown the link love, but because you have taken the time to write your inspirations, experiences, heartarches, and daily dishings. We also thank those of you who have posted comments, sent emails complimenting our work, or introducing yourselves in one way or another. We are proud to have you all in our community and thank you so much for your support!

The list below is in no particular order of preference. The top part of the list has some of our newer discoveries not listed before on our blog. Please take some time to check out this amazing group of talent!

With Aloha,

Sasha & Rick

www.elizabethannedesigns.com
www.weddingsiniowa.blogspot.com
www.lotushaus.typepad.com/lotushaus/wedding/
www.stylemepretty.com/little-black-book-blog/
www.edinadevine.wordpress.com
www.bridesbuzzing.com
www.theangarolasdirtylaundry.blogspot.com
www.kashassugarart.com/blog/
www.wtfork.net
www.siouxfallscakes.com
www.barefootstargazer.blogspot.com
www.sandrascakes.blogspot.com
www.visionariphoto.blogspot.com
www.simplysweetsaz.blogspot.com
www.heathersdrivelandwhatnot.blogspot.com
www.kokeshicakes.blogspot.com
www.bytkg.blogspot.com
www.kensoven.blogspot.com
www.rachelrobertsonblog.com
www.distinctivecakes.com
www.laakeaevents.blogspot.com
www.papayamom.com
www.blog.weddzilla.com
www.sendingawave.wordpress.com
www.shoppingandsuch.blogspot.com
www.emzeegee.blogspot.com
www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com
www.greatwhitesnark.com
www.stylemepretty.com
www.valanne.vox.com
www.www.shetakesthecake.com/content
www.flourconfections.blogspot.com
www.nineteenowls.blogspot.com
www.yankeecraftsinengland.blogspot.com
www.mrsandi.blogspot.com
www.bestweddingblogs.com
www.foodbuzz.com
www.paddedroomfor1.blogspot.com
www.yvonnedesign.typepad.com
www.finishingtouchhawaii.blogspot.com
www.emiink.blogspot.com
www.rhondasrantsravingsandcravings.blogspot.com
www.ourhappylittleworld.blogspot.com
www.ninalikewhaa.blogspot.com
www.wmtsgreenwood.blogspot.com
www.shirakoala.blogspot.com
www.sugarcakesco.blogspot.com
www.confetticakes.blogspot.com
www.crazycakecompany.blogspot.com
www.sweetthings-toronto.blogspot.com
www.cakedarla.blogspot.com
www.jillbesfavorites.blogspot.com
www.mds-llg.blogspot.com
www.justfabulouspastries.com
davemiyamoto.bigfolioblog.com
www.cpittaz.blogspot.com
www.thespritzerchronicles.blogspot.com
www.blog.amodophoto.com
www.mgweddingshawaii.blogspot.com
www.theweddingtimes.com
www.mandispeaks.blogspot.com
www.cakecoquette.blogspot.com
www.designsbyhemingway.blog
www.cdpblog.com
www.makeaperfectcake.blogspot.com
www.4boysandahusband.blogspot.com
www.weddingsbysabrina.blogspot.com
www.biancaphotography.typepad.com
www.allredlifeisgood.blogspot.com
www.dkdesignshawaii.blogspot.com
www.pacificweddingguide.blogspot.com
www.imperialstuarts.blogspot.com
www.bodene.blogspot.com

Join us next week to see a selection of cakes from our Memorial Day Weekend!

For the Trekkies - Doin' it Old School

Whether you are a full-fledged "Trekkie" and speak Klingon or just a fan of the Star Trek series, you'll instantly recognize the above cake as the Communicator. Brad, for whom this cake was made, is a huge Star Trek fan and was lucky enough to have someone in his life who indulged his passions a little and bought him a cake he would never forget. Rick had the idea for the Communicator cake -- something geeky enough for a hardcore Star Trek fan that would also suit the size of an office party, which he would be taking his cake to. We decided to go old school for the Communicator cake rather than the newer, flashier versions which just didn't have the same nostalgia factor. When Brad showed up to pick up his Communicator along with the woman who purchased it for him, he said "Beam me up Scotty!" and had a huge grin on his face, which we're guessing got even bigger when he took a bite of his Banana Nutella flavored cake.

We're also bringing out of the vault, a cake we made a couple years back for a groom who adored Star Trek. Originally his fiance was going to have us make his MINI Cooper with the Star Trek logo on it, but then she gave it more thought and decided to keep it real old school and had us make instead his 1977 Honda Civic, which we thought worked even better! Apparently he was quite attached to this car, and also had a MINI, but this was his baby and the only thing that would make it even more perfect was the addition of the Star Trek logo, which Rick placed on the top and side of the car. The writing on the cake was quite amusing -- "Mr G. you may indulge yourself!"


the happy Trekkie groom at his rehearsal dinner


Aloha, til next time!

Carisse and Todd's Wedding Cake - Va Va Voom!

Images courtesy of Chrissy Lambert Photography

If you've visited cakelava.com recently, you may have noticed Carisse and Todd's Featured Wedding has been posted. A couple days ago we gave you a sneak peek into their wedding, and today we're showing more than a peek at their amazing wedding cake! You won't find us saying "Va Va Voom" very often, but today those words describe this sexy colorful unusually shaped cake Rick designed for Carisse and Todd's wedding. Given carte blanche on the design along with the colors of the wedding, examples of cakes on our website that the couple liked, and a subtle butterfly motif, Rick created a stunning 3 and a half feet tall art piece -- Va Va Voom!

Shortly after the wedding, Carisse sent us a note:

Hi guys!!!

We are just about to leave for our honeymoon... I'm so excited ... people were dying about the cake. No one had ever seen anything like it before. The cake looked amazing and tasted amazing!!! People were asking me the next day if we had any leftovers for them to eat. My girlfriend and I enjoyed some the day after ... sooooooooooo good.

Thank you again for everything!!!

xo,

carisse



Visit cakelava.com for more photos from Carisse and Todd's Featured Wedding.

til next time, Aloha!

Hello Kitty Goes Glam

MAC and I go WAY back, and I'm not talking about our MAC computers, though we have a history with them as well. I'm referring to M.A.C. cosmetics (Make-up Art Cosmetics). I recall my first MAC purchase back when I was living in San Francisco, in the early 90's. It was a lipstick and quickly followed with another lipstick and matching lipliner. At the time I wore a lot of black and so did the MAC girls -- it was a match made in heaven. At some point I walked into the MAC store and bought "Viva Glam" lipstick which was a rich, true red and whose spokesperson at the time was RuPaul. Then later it was the eyeshadows and of course the lipgloss, sorry Lipglass. I thought it was the coolest stuff to hit the market. Loved the colors, loved the packaging and really loved their "recycling" program. MAC has always been ahead of the game in the cosmetics world so it came as no surprise that they would pair up with the swanky fab "It" girl who melts the hearts of pre-teens and us thirty-somethings alike, Hello Kitty!

Today's post we're dedicating to our client Becky, who flew in from an outer island to celebrate her 22nd birthday on Saturday with our MAC Hello Kitty Rainbowlicious flavored birthday cake. Though we can take the credit for the design, the idea was all Becky's. She contacted us specifically asking for a "MAC Hello Kitty" cake in pink, black and white. As many of you know, we are fans of Hello Kitty and Rick always enjoys making Hello Kitty cakes, but this one took a little more research since Rick doesn't wear MAC and they recently released the Hello Kitty line. Becky left the design completely up to Rick, and was so excited about her birthday cake. We knew when designing the cake that we wanted to include the shiny black MAC Hello Kitty doll,
which is available for purchase at the MAC store. Rick handcrafted one for her and placed it on top of the cake surrounded by all her favorite cosmetics, also handcrafted.

The reason we're dedicating this post to Becky is we sadly, did not have a chance to meet her in person and would have loved to. We were coming from a wedding on the other side of the island and arrived just before her. We took the cake -- elevator to 18th floor, followed by balancing the cake while riding 2 escalators -- to the Top of Waikiki restaurant, where Ms. Kitty had the perfect black and glam environment overlooking all of Waikiki, and a slew of black clad servers watching over her. She also had her own paparazzi. Several restaurant diners took her photo while we were there.


Becky sent us the sweetest Thank you note on Sunday:

Rick & Sasha,

I just wanted to THANK YOU guys SO very much for giving me such an AMAZING cake!

I absolutely LOVED it and so did everyone else!!!

Thank you for all of the love and time you put into my personal Hello Kitty cake. Mmmmmm and the cake itself tasted like heaven! The only think I was disappointed about was not being able to meet you two and thank you in person : )

Again thank you so much! And you'll defiantly be hearing from me for all future events I have in Oahu : )

Becky

Thank you, Becky, for giving us the opportunity to mix two of our favorite things together. We're glad the cake and your birthday was a huge success and we look forward to working with you again soon!

- Sasha & Rick

see our other Hello Kitty and glam cakes at cakelava.com

Aloha, til next time!

Next Featured Wedding Sneak Peek - Carisse and Todd

All images courtesy of Chrissy Lambert Photography

Our next Featured Wedding on cakelava.com can be described as Gorgeous and Unforgettable! Carisse and Todd are a gorgeous couple, the colors and decor were striking, the vendors did an incredible job and Rick amazed everyone with their jaw dropping wedding cake -- which will remain a surprise until we reveal it in their Featured Wedding. Carisse and Todd were a true pleasure to work with and such a gracious couple. They booked us about a year out and left the cake design completely up to Rick's imagination. They encouraged creativity, FUN, and wanted lots of color, and it was clear when they showed us some of Rick's cake styles they liked that we were in for a very good time with this couple!

Carisse and Todd's wedding at the picturesque Lanikuhonua, happened less than a month ago, on April 26th, the same date of the I Love Kailua Town party we did, with the hundreds of cupcakes. To see our adventures leading up to Carisse and Todd's wedding, you can read about it on the blog. We were beyond tired and running purely on adrenaline when we arrived at their wedding and were instantly met by both Carisse and Todd and a whole bunch of their guests who treated Rick like a rock star. Speaking of rock stars, check out their vendor list -- an A-list of some of the best wedding vendors here! Thank you Mona and Jen for providing the list!

Wedding coordination: Weddings by Grace and Mona, Mona Hirata and Jen Ramsey
Location: Lanikuhonua
Accommodations: JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko’Olina
Attire: Mon Amie in Costa Mesa, CA
Cake: cakelava
Catering: Memoirs, Chef Peter Foster
Cranes: It’s About Time
Emcee: Teley Brandon, Showtime DJ’s
Entertainment: Jon Basebase
Flowers, linens, lighting and design: Yvonne Design
Hair and Makeup: Leslie Gallagher
Invitations: Emi Ink, Stacey Shiroma
Minister: Alice Inoue
Photographer: Chrissy Lambert
Rentals: Catering Connection, Accel, Aloha Party Rentals (dinnerware), JMJ (tents),
Videography: Angel De Armas

Rick and I would like to thank photographer Chrissy Lambert for providing us the images on such short notice. We know she rushed the process in order to meet our deadline and we truly appreciate it!!

Carisse and Todd, you two are a fabulous couple and we wish you much happiness in your new life together. All the best! -- Sasha & Rick


















These images are just the tip of the iceberg. Check out cakelava.com in the next day or two for the full Featured Wedding!

Aloha, til tomorrow!