The Perfect Flush - Sam's Toilet Cake

A few months ago Leslie, of Leslie and Sam (Featured Wedding, voted by you!) hired us to make her husband Sam a sculpted toilet cake. She was throwing a beach BBQ birthday/graduation from plumbing school shindig for Sam and thought it would be a scream to have Rick make him a toilet. I spoke to Rick about it and he was excited to take the plunge, yuk yuk, and we also thought her chosen flavor of Broke da Mouth was perfect, and we referred to the project as "broke da toilet". Sam's toilet cake was one of a number of important reasons this past week we weren't able to make the trek out to Colorado to compete on a Disney Food Network Challenge. Third time we've been unable to attend a challenge. Hopefully another opportunity will arise in the future. Sunday was Sam's party and we drove out to the White Plains surf spot out at Barber's Point to deliver his surprise cake, and man oh boy, was he surprised!

We love working with Leslie and Sam! Ever since their wedding last year, they have become regulars of ours and seeing them always puts a smile on our face. We love that they don't take themselves too seriously.

This morning we saw an email from the couple letting us know the toilet was a big hit!

Good morning!! Words cannot express how thrilled we were with the cake!! IT WAS BEYOND AWESOME AND IT TASTED GREAT! Hahaha.

Les and Sam

They were also kind enough to share with us a bunch of photos from the party, some of which were priceless. Thanks Guys, and we'll see you soon!


Les and Sam looking as happy and in love as their wedding day!


Was he booking an appointment or chatting with a friend?


Les got messy for her favorite plumber. She had been pre-warned...


Sam, our favorite plumber, Sasha, and Rick, the toilet cake artist.


yes, it is THAT pretty!


Good friends, an edible toilet cake complete with plunger, and some paddle surfing round out a perfect day, and a fabulous weekend of cakes!

More soon. Aloha, til next time!

Mark Burnett's "Wedding Day" on TNT

Last week the premiere episode of Producer Mark Burnett's "Wedding Day" show aired on TNT. For those not familiar with the reality show, the concept behind the show that brings together Mark Burnett Productions and Dreamworks Television is to provide a deserving engaged couple the wedding of their dreams. Think wedding reality show meets Extreme Home Makeover. What constitutes deserving? In the first episode, we meet Holly and Steve:

Holli And Steve TV-G (description from Wedding Day)

Just four days before his wedding day in 2007, Steve received a call that his bride-to-be, Holli, had been injured in a near-fatal car crash and had only a 50% chance of surviving. After six days in a coma, she finally came to, but everyday since then has been a struggle to withstand the long, painful road to recovery. Holli & Steve's walk down the aisle includes a New York shopping spree, a Badgley-Mishka wedding dress and Manolo Blahnik shoes. The couple even gets to enjoy a special performance by Boyz II Men, who were so moved when they heard Holli and Steve's story.

We don't watch too many wedding shows (they are so many of them) because weddings are such a big part of our lives, that when we get home we want to relax with our favorite dramas, science shows or mindless entertainment (Wipeout, for example), not shows that remind of us work. "Wedding Day" was a different story. We've known about "Wedding Day" for quite some time, ever since we were recruited and provided the cake for one of the upcoming shows, and have been looking forward to the show ever since. Mums the word on any of the details so please don't ask, but based on what we saw during the filming, it promises to be AMAZING! We've had experience with television before and you just never know what will make the show, especially when there are days of filming involved and the wedding reception is only a few hours. In the premiere episode, we thought we may have seen the wedding cake, but weren't sure, though the candy bar got heavy focus. If you want to see the list of vendors for any of the shows once they air, there is a list posted on the TNT - Wedding Day website. Participating with the awesome vendors and Mark Burnett's crew was an experience we will never forget, and we'll feel good knowing that we contributed to our couple's special day!

If you missed Holli and Steve's episode, you can see the show on the TNT website or watch it re-run. A list of the dates is on the TNT website. Tonight's episode features Jaenelle and Nyk and we've got our DVD recorder ready to go. A sneak peek of the show is available on the TNT website.

Aloha, til next time!

Heather and Jim's Stacked Drums Wedding Cake

All images courtesy of Christie Pham Photography

We always appreciate it when our couple's photographers, who work so hard at making their day memorable and perfect, reach out to us after the wedding and offer us their images. We also love it when the photographer showcases our couple's wedding on their blog because we can see how the event unfolded and of course always get a kick out of seeing their cake in its environment. Big thanks go out to photographer Christie Pham, for sending us these lovely images and sharing with us her blog post documenting Heather and Jim's wedding.

We hope you enjoy Christie's beautiful images as much as we did!



the happy couple with their sculpted drums wedding cake. They requested a diferent shade of green from the actual drums color to match their wedding colors more.


This drum played our signature Rainbowlicious flavor, which is always very tasty. Rainbowlicious is a flavor Rick originally created for our own wedding in 2004 and it's been a hit ever since we opened cakelava in 2005! It's an orange infused white cake with mango and passionfruit curd. Very bright, tropical and oh so tasty!


Back view of their drum wedding cake at the J.W. Marriott Ihilani Resort in Ko Olina.

Aloha til next time!

See our portfolio of cakes on cakelava.com.

Go Viks!

What a fabulous weekend! Two of our close friends, who also happen to be well-respected in the wedding industry got married over the weekend and talk about an affair to remember! I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. We were both a vendor of their wedding as well as a guest. They had their pick of anyone in town they wanted to work on their wedding, which had been in the planning stages for over a year. We were incredibly honored they asked us to make their cake and we're excited to share their cake and the event with you. We'll be showcasing their AMAZING wedding cake as well as a sneak peek of the event on the blog, as it is our July Featured Wedding on cakelava.com.

For today though, let's talk Football! Josh's high school graduation cake was designed to honor the next stage in his life -- College! -- specifically Portland State University, where he was recruited to play football for the team. Rick sculpted a football with the PSU Vikings logo and placed it on top of another cake, which had the VIKINGS and stars all over it. Go Viks, and Go Josh!

Next Featured Wedding Sneak Peek - Jaclyn and Brandon

All images courtesy of Rachel Robertson Photography

Our next Featured Wedding on cakelava.com will showcase Jaclyn and Brandon, a lovely couple whose wedding took place on March 28, 2009 on one of the most gorgeous wedding locations on Oahu, the Pohai Ke Aloha. The Pohai Ke Aloha, is also known as the World of Aloha Estate or as some of our brides call it, the Kahalu'u Fishpond Estate, since it is located on the historic Kahalu'u Fishpond in Kaneohe, Oahu. The Pohai Ke Aloha is a beautifully lush and serene location whose natural beauty envelops you as soon as you step foot onto the premises. This is our second Featured Wedding at this estate (see also Irene and Joe) and coincidentally, the photographer for both weddings was the marvellous Rachel Robertson of Rachel Robertson Photography.

Jaclyn and Brandon's wedding was a palette of dusty blues, whites, ivories and gorgeous greens from the lush surroundings. The flowers were classic and understated -- calla lillies, roses, and hydrangeas were used.  Jacyln and Brandon's wedding invitations inspired Rick's design of their cake, which was a four tier beauty combining both square and round shapes, delicate piping and handcrafted calla lillies. It looked perfect surrounded by white an periwinkle blue. Jaclyn and Brandon chose our Chai Latte and Strawberries Chantilly flavors to serve their guests.

Special thanks go out to  Rachel Robertson for sharing with us her gorgeous images of the couple. One of Rachel's weddings was recently awarded "Best Wedding" on The Knot's Real Weddings and will be shown in an upcoming issue of The Knot Magazine. Huge congrats to Rachel! Jaclyn and Brandon, we wish both of you many years of happiness together!








We'll be posting their Featured Wedding in the next few days on cakelava.com . Come back next week to see some of our latest cakes!

Aloha, til next time!

WARNING: This Product is not a Safe Alternative to Cigarettes

The day after we did the oh-so-cute-and-sweet sculpted turtle hugging a cupcake wedding cake, and all the accompanying giant cupcakes, we took a strong dose of testosterone and worked on Kailene and Jason's wedding, also out at Lanikuhonua. Rick sculpted Copenhagen tobacco in our Peanut Butter Fudgey flavor for Jason's groom's cake. He made sure that the can was as authentic as possible and even included the "WARNING: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A SAFE ALTERNATIVE TO CIGARETTES" label, which makes it that much better as a groom's cake. Jason can have his vices and Kailene can have her wedding cake too, and everyone is happy!

Congratulations Kailene and Jason on your special day!



Visit cakelava.com to see our selection of groom's cakes.

Aloha, til tomorrow!

Janelle and Alex's Turtle Hugging a Cupcake Wedding Cake

I recall Janelle's initial wedding cake inquiry. "A cute, cartoon-y turtle hugging a big frosted cupcake!!" Rick and I knew instantly this cake was right up his creative alley and it wasn't long after our communications started with Janelle and Alex that they had booked cakelava's first "Turtle Hugging a Cupcake Wedding Cake." When we met Janelle and Alex for their cake tasting, they were very excited about having this unique wedding cake. As far as sculpted wedding cakes go, this one was as unique as the Antonio Gaudi themed wedding cake we made for Bella and David in 2007, or Lena and Mike's 3-Alarm Wedding Cake in January 2009. It takes a non-traditional couple to order a cake in such a drastically different shape from the usual stacked wedding cake. We embrace the experience of uniqueness and have a lot of fun with the couples in the planning process of the design.

I absolutely LOVE Janelle and Alex's Turtle Hugging a Cupcake Wedding Cake! He is so cute looking like he is ready to devour that cupcake -- YUM! While many sculpted cakes are made with buttercream fillings, Rick chooses to take a road far less travelled, which is to actually fill the cake with our homemade fillings. He's a stickler about having the cake taste good no matter what shape it is, even if it means extra work for him. Reason #563 why I love this man! For this adorable Turtle Hugging a Cupcake Wedding Cake, Janelle and Alex chose our Banana Blueberry Mascarpone flavor, which is a banana cake with fresh bananas, blueberries and mascarpone cream. It is pure heaven and one of our favorite flavors.

We had quite the reaction to their wedding cake when we delivered it, along with their giant sculpted cupcakes to Lanikuhonua. There were looks of astonishment and lots of smiles. Everyone thought the turtle was so cute and were afraid to eat him. We were told by the coordinator that Janelle and Alex wanted a photo with us, which is happening more frequently, and is always touching, to be asked. I wish we could include the photo of Janelle and Alex's reaction to the cake. I will never forget the look on their faces when they first saw their cake. At that moment, all I felt was happiness!


We'd like to send a warm Mahalo to Janelle and Alex for making us a big part of their wedding!

visit us on cakelava.com to see more!

Janelle and Alex - Raspberry, Chocolate and Giant Cupcakes!

For almost a year we've been looking forward to Janelle and Alex's wedding, which took place at Lanikuhonua over the weekend. We knew their wedding would be filled with luscious sweets, giant sculpted cupcakes and a most unusual wedding cake, which we will reveal tomorrow. What we didn't know was that this sweetly satisfying event would also be so beautifully sentimental. This wedding was a perfect example of a bride with a vision of exactly what she wanted and a coordinator who knew how to design her an event her guests would be talking about for years to come. Janelle contacted us last year looking for a wedding cake of a .... which immediately got our attention. She told us she loved cupcakes and wanted to make cupcakes and sweets an integral part of her wedding, but not conventional sized cupcakes. Instead, she wanted centerpieces of oversized sculpted cupcakes and other sweets (shown below) made in her wedding colors of different shades of pinks, raspberry and chocolate. Wedding coordinators Mona Hirata and Jen Ramsey of Weddings by Grace & Mona never fail to WOW us each and every time with something a little different for our couples and designed a chic and sweetly inspired wedding for Janelle and Alex. Their team of vendors included cakelava for 6 different cakes, Showtime DJ's, Ginniberries for catering, Les Saisons for custom linens, and Stephen Ludwig Photography to name a few.

One of the sweetest elements of this wedding was not all the candy or giant cupcakes or the amazing mystery wedding cake, but rather the memory tent that was set up in honor of the couple's deceased relatives who were not able to join them for their special day. We were glad that the coordinator Mona Hirata told us about the memory tent that was filled with photos and clothing of their relatives, or we may not have noticed it, as it was in a separate area from the main reception tent. It was a heartfelt addition to the reception that was very touching.

Congratulations to Janelle and Alex! We wish them many sweet, sweet years of wedded bliss!















Tomorrow we'll show what the fuss was all about -- Janelle and Alex's super cute, super sweet, wedding cake!

Til next time, Aloha, from Kailua!

Baby V's Sock Monkey

We fell in love with this little guy who was made for Baby "V"'s shower. The client requested non-sex specific colors for the sculpted baby block with the letter "V" on it, and light green and yellow worked beautifully. Rick made the little sock monkey and placed him on top of the block where he could be king of the world and admired by the guests. His floppy body and big ears stole our hearts as well as our client and her friend when they came to pick him up.

Another busy weekend awaits, and we'll be sharing some of our cakes next week. We've got some fun stuff! Want to see more? Check out cakelava.com.

Aloha, til next time!

Retiring in Style!

Our latest military cake was made for an retirement party of a Lieutenant Colonel who devoted more than 20 years of his life to the U.S. Army. In our eyes, that is both admirable and deserving of a special cake to mark this momentous occasion. Rick designed the cake with a camouflage base and placed the U.S. Army logo on top. The client chose Hawaii Five-0 for his special celebration. Congratulations to LTC (R) Nobbe!

Visit cakelava.com to see more military cakes.

Aloha, til next time!

How Cute is This Jungle!

We've been watching "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" -- I know, terrible isn't it, but it's a good diversion from the realities of Cakeland. The show takes place live in Costa Rica where celebrities have to live amongst the harsh conditions of the jungle which includes plenty of unappealing creatures like snakes, baby alligators, rats, spiders, giant lizards, and mosquitoes. Last weekend we had a different jungle on our mind as we were making Kazuya's birthday cake. This jungle was full of CUTE animals who were happy communing with nature (as opposed to munching on a piece of each other's bodies). Rick made each animal by hand and put as many on the cake as could fit comfortably. I completely fell in love with the cake when I saw it. How cute is this jungle! Our clients who ordered the cake for Kazuya selected our Rainbowlicious and Peanut Butter Fudgey flavors to serve their guests.

The party took place at Kochi Restaurant and Lounge, appropriate for our clients who are also foodies. They were extremely happy with the cake when we arrived and asked if they could take our picture. Below is the photo our client took of us with the cake. As you can see the cake was tall. We all thought it was funny that my face is partially covered by the topper. Rick, who is 6 feet had no such problems. Heh.


We received a very sweet Thank You from our client Masaki:

Rick and Sasha,

Thank you so much for today! Your cake was the highlight of the party for us and we are busy eating the top layer of the cake as we speak ... yum! (managed to save the entire top for us to take home to eat). ... Thanks so much once again! (I apologize for my photography skills, Sasha - I managed to block part of your head in the photo (sigh))

-- Masaki

Join us tomorrow for another new cake and more Musings from Cakeland. In the meantime,
visit us on cakelava.com or come tweet on twitter!

Jill and Jeff - Lush and Chic at Lanikuhonua

cake photo by cakelava


All wedding images courtesy of Cassandra Dieterle Photography and Honolulu Wedding Consultants

About a month ago, we delivered a cake to Lanikuhonua for Jill and Jeff's wedding. When we arrived at the site, it was as if we had been transported to a lush island paradise perfectly color coordinated in gorgeous tropical greens, browns and khakis. The centerpieces incorporated ferns, moss, anthuriums and other tropical flowers, and everywhere you looked it felt like Hawaii, done in a chic, contemporary way. We were greeted warmly by Cassandra, who with her husband David Dieterle runs Honolulu Wedding Consultants as well as their other company Cassandra Dieterle Photography. Cassandra was kind enough to share with us these amazing images of the wedding they designed and coordinated. Thank you, Cassandra and David! We were also fortunate enough to see the smiling faces and meet our couple Jill and Jeff, after working with them long distance. They were just as kind in person and they loved their cake!

Rick designed Jill and Jeff's wedding cake (shown above) using their colors and the floral pattern on Jill's wedding dress. The cake really complimented their beautiful tropical decor and vibe of the wedding.

Hope you enjoy these images as much as we enjoy revisiting their special day. Congratulations to Jill and Jeff!






















Below is a Thank You card sent to us recently by the happy couple:

Rick & Sasha

Thank you so much for the most beautiful wedding cake ever. It was so delicious and we received many compliments!

Jill & Jeff


Aloha, til next time!

See a selection of tropical inspired wedding cakes at cakelava.com