Mele Kalikimaka!

www.cakelava.com

Mele Kalikimaka!  That's "Merry Christmas" in Hawaiian.  It's always difficult getting in the Christmas spirit over here.  No snow on the ground, no roasting of chestnuts by an open fire, no bundling up in our winter attire while sipping hot chocolate.  This is not to say that we don't enjoy our Hawaiian Christmases.  We have beautiful 80 degree weather perfect for spending a day at the beach. President Obama and his family are here in Kailua for Christmas, which is always fun, and we get to enjoy the comforts of home with family.  Still ... no snow, no snowflakes and certainly no snowmen.  Fortunately, we have clients who also desire to have a winter wonderland here in the tropics, and every now and then we get the opportunity around Christmas to make a winter themed cake.  This year we have two of them and one even has snowmen on it!

The blue and silver cake above is the first of our two winter/Christmas themed wedding cakes this month.  Rick designed the striking 4-tier cake along with a groom's cake for Eseta and Poasa's wedding last Saturday night.  They requested snowflakes to be used on the cake and wanted it to be fun and elegant at the same time as well as integrate their wedding colors of light blue, silver and white.  Eseta gave Rick carte blanche when designing their cake.  In person this cake was full of sparkles and details difficult to convey in the photo.  The bands on the bottom of each tier sparkled as did the custom handcrafted snowflake topper.  Conceptually, Rick's idea was to express the falling of snow and to have a feel of winter wonderland.  This cake was so pretty and full of life!  We can't wait for our next Christmas themed cake, coming next week!

Quarry Books Giveaway - And the Winner Is ...

There was much excitement about the Quarry Books sponsored Giveaway on the blog last week!  The 1000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes book is a must-have in any cake or baking enthusiast's library.  We own two copies, one in our shop for clients to look at and one at home.  Earlier this week Rick was a judge in a local cupcake competition and the organizer of the event purchased this delightful book which Rick signed.  The autographed book was included in the prize package that the winner received.  We hope this book will inspire Donna, the winner of the cupcake competition as she continues to pursue her baking passion, as well as the winner of our Quarry Books Giveaway on the blog!  Before we announce the winner, we would like to say that if we could, we would gift each one of you a copy of this beautiful picture book. 

(drumroll please) And the winner of our Quarry Books Giveaway is ...

Jen Ramsey

Congratulations to Jen on her winning entry! Jen is an avid reader of the cakelava blog and the 2nd person to enter the giveaway.  That's what we love about random drawings, it doesn't matter when you enter, everyone has a chance.  Rick and I have known Jen for several years as she used to work as a wedding coordinator for Weddings by Grace & Mona, a top event planning company in Hawaii before moving to Idaho this year and opening up her own event planning company, Weddings and Events by Jen Ramsey.  (Jen, we hope you don't mind if we give you a plug! )

On her entry Jen wrote:  Hi Rick and Sasha!! I found the picture of your wonderful Indian Pillows cake on page 22! Miss working with you two and seeing your fabulous cakes! Would love to have a copy of this book to show all my Idaho friends what wonderful work you do! Hope to see you soon! Jen Ramsey

Enjoy your new book, Jen!

This Giveaway wouldn't have been possible without the generous contribution of Quarry Books publishers.  Rick and I thank the team at Quarry Books for their gift and the authors, Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown for assembling this beautiful picture book! 

Coming this week on the "Musings from Cakeland" blog ... our newest cakes!

Celebration at the Finish Line

www.cakelava.com

We are blessed to have many repeat customers at cakelava, including Connie and Mike, who we made a wedding cake for last year.  Connie contacted us to make a surprise cake for Mike, who was running his first Honolulu Marathon on his birthday, Sunday December 12th and wanted a cake to reflect both events.  Mike is an avid runner and she was excited about the idea of a sculpted running shoe.  Not just any running shoe, but one in Mike's collection.  Rather than having just a shoe sitting on a board, she asked if we could add in a Finish Line with a "Happy Birthday" sign, to give it context and we thought it was a great idea!  Rick sculpted the shoe out of cake and all items used were edible.  Connie was so excited when she came to pick up the cake and said they would be afraid to cut into it.  Wishing Mike a  big Congratulations on finishing his first Honolulu Marathon and a Happy Birthday!

Just a reminder that our Quarry Books Giveaway of one copy of "1000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies and Cakes" book will be ending tomorrow, Saturday, December 18th at Midnight Pacific Standard Time.  If you haven't entered yet, this is a fantastic opportunity to win a fabulous book featuring cakes by Rick Reichart of cakelava and many other amazing designers!

Giveaway! - Quarry Books

amazon.com

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  If you submitted an entry past Midnight PST on December 18th, your entry was not counted. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!
 
We had so much fun with our giveaway back in November that we have decided to do another one! Quarry Books, publishers of the gorgeous 1000 Series, have generously offered one reader of "Musings from Cakeland" a copy of their fabulous new book called 1000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes.  Authors Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown have assembled an exquisite collection of cakes, cupcakes and cookies from contributors all over the world, including our very own Rick Reichart of cakelava, who has 12 cakes featured in the book, including one on the back cover.  cakelava is proud to have our designs in this amazing collection that is a Bestseller on Amazon.com.   The book has been so popular that we had to wait to run the contest because the publisher was tight on stock until another shipment arrived!

If you don't already own 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes, now is your opportunity to have a copy or gift one for the holidays.  Our giveaway is super easy to enter!

RULES

This giveaway is available to residents of the U.S. ONLY.   Quarry Books will mail a copy of the book to the winner, so please make sure that we have a way to reach you by including your email address if if is not in your profile. 

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the giveaway, visit the link to the book at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Ideas-Decorating-Cupcakes-Cookies-Cakes/dp/1592536514/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1290453504&sr=1-1

Above the image of the book you will have the opportunity to "Click to Look Inside!" It is here that you will find the answer to our question:

On what page in the book is our Indian pillows cake shown (pic below)? 

Rick Reichart, cakelava, USA, image by Chrissy Lambert Photography

- Leave us a comment with the number of the page.

- Earn an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway on twitter - include a link to this post.  Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

LIMIT 2 ENTRIES PER PERSON.

The giveaway ends on Saturday December 18th at Midnight PST.  One winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Monday December 20th on our blog. 

  A BIG thank you to Quarry Books for donating this wonderful prize!  Good luck everyone!

Kristin and Joel's Wedding Cake

www.cakelava.com 

Images courtesy of Rachel Robertson Photography 

For the past 12 hours the weather in Hawaii has been miserable with a capital "M".  The rain has been coming down in sheets.  There is thunder and lightning. The wind has been howling, knocking over power lines and trees, businesses have lost power (luckily we did not!) and we're all hoping for the sunnier days we're used to!

A miserable, gloomy day like today needs a little sunshine.  Today's blog is dedicated to everyone who is suffering in cold, snowy, wet, dreary weather and dreaming about sunnier days.  Kristin and Joel's Hawaiian sunset wedding cake makes me think about laying out at the beach and catching some rays.  Rick's design has managed to capture some of my favorite things about Hawaii -- the palms and lush greenery, watching a sunset that looks like its receding into the ocean, spending time at the beach, and the beautiful carved hawaiian art.

Kristin and Joel were married at the Halekulani in Waikiki, a perfect setting for a Hawaiian themed wedding cake.  When we met with them to work on their cake design they had a few requests.  They wanted something with a Hawaiian feel that was fun with flowers, tikis and surfboards.  The primary colors they wanted to be used were orange and green.  They selected our Banana Blueberry Mascarpone and Hot Fudge Sundae flavors to serve their 100+ guests.  Below an image of the couple during their cake cutting, photographed by the fabulous Rachel Robertson.  Joel is an officer in the Navy and like many of our military couples, chose to use a sword to cut the cake.  Love it!  Congratulations Kristin and Joel! 

www.cakelava.com

Jessica and David's Wedding Cake

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Jessica and David were married at a Waikiki resort less than 24 hours ago in front of several hundred guests.  We've been looking forward to making their wedding cake ever since it was designed and upon completion it quickly became one of our new favorite designs!  Working with Jessica and David was a wonderful experience! They encouraged Rick's creativity, wanting a showstopping design of contemporary elegance with a minimum of 5 tiers. This cake was 7 tiers, including the floral vase topper and a height of 3 feet.  Their colors were ivory, black and a pewter/silver color.   Rick had been working on all the handcrafted decorations throughout the week and spent most of Saturday making the cake.  When I first saw the finished cake, my jaw dropped.  I knew Jessica and David would fall in love with it. The towering wedding cake commanded a presence in the large ballroom decorated in black, white and silver.  Everything looked gorgeous and I only wish we had a chance to give our best to the couple when we delivered the cake.  We would have loved to see their reaction! 

Jessica and David selected three flavors from our menu to serve to their guests -- Kona Toffee Crunch, Peanut Butter Fudgey and Strawberries Chantilly.  We hope our couple loved their cake as much as we enjoyed making it for them.   Congratulations, Jessica and David!

Birthday Wishes from Afghanistan

www.cakelava.com

Earlier this year we made a sculpted tiki cake for a woman about to leave to Afghanistan on deployment.  The cake was ordered by her husband as a surprise in honor of a birthday celebration before she left for duty.  The cake was a big success -- she, her husband and their guests loved it!  A number of months later we received an email from Afghanistan.  This time, it was her husband's birthday and she wanted to surprise him with his own special cake!  For both of our clients, incorporating Hawaii into the cake was important to them.  He chose a tiki with a surfboard for her and she requested a sculpted Honu (Hawaiian sea turtle) for him.  Both cakes looked amazingly realistic!

Hawaiian sea turtles are revered in Hawaii and most people think they bring good luck.  Sometimes when we are out swimming at our local beach they come right up to us.  it is a magical moment. They are gentle, beautiful creatures, and also look great in cake!  Rick has made many honu cakes over the years and each looks slightly different from the next.  The honu is sculpted out of cake and handpainted.  The handcrafted hibiscus flowers give it a further tropical touch.

Just like the tiki birthday cake, the honu cake was delivered to a party on a military base.  Our client had arranged for a friend to meet and escort us.  When we arrived at the building where the party was held, a familiar face walked by -- it was the birthday boy -- yikes! -- and we had to dodge him just so he wouldn't see his birthday surprise.  Luckily he didn't see us and we delivered the cake to the table where it patiently waited for its reveal!  From across the miles, we want to say "Thank You!" to our clients for including us in their special days!

A Marriage of a Family

www.cakelava.com

 Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with their families! I thought this cake, which was actually made for a wedding couple and their daughter, would be a perfect design to share after a holiday weekend that brings families together.

This sculpted island cake complete with custom handcrafted figures, palm trees, rowboat and firepit was made in honor of Christina and Clint's wedding to each other as well as the celebration of their official union as a family with their daughter Kylia and their pet poodle.   It was an idea that touched us, to truly personalize the wedding cake to include the whole family.  Rick based their wedding cake on photographer Dave and Michelle Miyamoto's island themed design he made for their 2009 wedding.  Christina and Clint fell in love with it and asked for a similar design honoring their family with a rowboat instead of the yacht and a poodle instead of a shiba inu.

When the cake was delivered, we knew immediately who greeted us because Rick had spent many hours making and painting the figure -- it was Kylia, their daughter, and she got a kick out of seeing herself and her parents on the cake.  Everyone loved the cake and felt it really represented the spirit of the couple.  Congratulations to Christina, Clint and Kylia!

www.cakelava.com

Heisman Trophy Cake

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The Heisman Trophy cake had been on the books for a while, and it was a mere coincidence that it happened to be on the same Saturday as the Miami Dolphins Football Helmet with figures wedding cake.  Two football themed cakes for diehard football fans, and the pressure was on!  I remember when the Heisman trophy cake request came in.  I had to look up the name "Heisman" just to make sure it was spelled correctly on the order, (and again had to confirm the spelling for this blog post).  We had certainly heard of the Heisman Trophy, it's the most prestigious trophy in college football,  but could not tell you who had won one in recent years.  As a sculpted piece Rick was determined to make this difficult structure as true to form as possible.  It didn't help that the body in a Heisman trophy contorts itself in a way that doesn't seem natural, or the fact that he had to make the piece look like it was made out of bronze, or that the father of the child who the cake was for was a H-U-G-E football fan -- no pressure there!  The sculpted Heisman Trophy was substantial, the photo does not do justice to the size.  We were both extremely happy with the completed piece and hope it made a huge impression at the party.  When we delivered it to the venue, every football fan in the room who was there setting up commented on how realistic it looked, which we took to be a good sign and a felt a big sigh of relief that Rick had captured such an iconic form as an edible piece.  After spending many hours sculpting the piece, Rick as well as myself, will never look at another Heisman Trophy quite the same way again!

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

www.cakelava.com

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!

www.cakelava.com

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

www.cakelava.com

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!

www.cakelava.com

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

www.cakelava.com

 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! 

www.cakelava.com

www.cakelava.com

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. 

Happy 235th Birthday, United States Marines!

www.cakelava.com

Last Friday, November 5th, we celebrated the 235th Birthday of the United States Marines.  This is the fourth cake we have made for the U.S. Marines Birthday Ball, and each year we do a different design for them.  This year however  they surprised us and asked for the same design as last year, with just a couple minor changes.  Rick added a ribbed effect to the red area and made the whole side of the cake a beautiful gold color. The cake was just as massive as last year and the same flavor, Strawberries Chantilly was ordered again.  The officers who greeted us were thrilled with the cake and we were very happy with it as well.  We want to wish the United States Marines a Happy 235th Birthday, and we look forward to serving them again next year!

www.cakelava.com

Giveaway! - CSN Stores

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  If you submitted an entry past Midnight PST on November 17th, your entry was not counted. Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway!

We are excited to announce a fantastic new giveaway for our readers just in time for the holidays courtesy of CSN Stores!  If you haven't had the opportunity to visit one of the 200+ online stores at CSN, you are certainly missing out. Whether you are looking for a special gift or something new for yourself, there are over one million products to peruse at CSN!

In my most recent "travels" to the site, I found the cutest aprons (see below), fabulous cookware, and some amazing upholstered headboards.  As the sponsor for our giveaway, CSN Stores is generously offering a $45 gift certificate to one lucky "Musings from Cakeland" reader and we couldn't be happier! We want our faithful readers who have supported our blog to be rewarded with a little retail therapy at any of their stores! 

How CUTE is this! I found the Flirty Aprons Women's Apron in "Frosted Cupcake" on Cookware.com and at $34.95, it can be purchased with your gift certificate!

RULES

This giveaway is available to residents of the U.S. and Canada ONLY.  Please be aware there may be shipping charges for certain items.

HOW TO ENTER

To enter the giveaway, simply visit CSN Stores and leave us a comment telling us what you would like to purchase using your $45 gift certificate.
- Earn an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway on twitter - include a link to this post.  Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

The giveaway ends on Wednesday November 17th at Midnight PST.  One winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Friday November 19th on our blog. 

Special thanks to CSN Stores for donating the generous prize!  Good luck everyone!

Naomi and Roy's "Pillows" cake

www.cakelava.com

In the past couple of weeks Rick has had the opportunity to recreate some of his previous designs.  Our "Pillows" cake has been widely circulated on the internet and in print since 2008 when it was designed for a wedding.  The original "pillows" cake had an Indian flair to it because it was designed for yoga instructors.  On October 30th, a few hours before the "Dia de los Muertos" wedding cake was delivered to Katie and Chuck, we celebrated Naomi and Roy's wedding at an oceanfront venue in Ko Olina.  Naomi and Roy's wedding colors were metallic blues, greens and purples and their accent color was coffee brown.  The couple are Filipino and desired to have their heritage integrated into the design and provided us with Filipino patterns to use on the pillows.  It looked absolutely gorgeous and was meaningful to the couple.  For the Indian pillows cake Rick made handcrafted whimsical looking stylized flowers and for Naomi and Roy, opted for more delicate orchids in whites and soft pinks.   Congratulations to Naomi and Roy!

Rick Reichart "Cake Shoe Diaries" on The Sugar Cove Blog

Cake Shoe Diaries Welcomes Rick Reichart

"The Sugar Cove" blog has a wonderful interview blog series called "Cake Shoe Diaries" which features a different cake designer each month.  Rick was invited to be the November feature, and he felt honored to do it.  Angela, the owner of The Sugar Cove blog interviews each of her selected cake artists to find out what ignited their passion for sugar.  In her interview with Rick she asked him how he got started, what keeps him motivated, what principles guide his work, and what advice would he give to others just starting out.  Click the above link to read the interview and feel free to leave comments for Angela as she works hard on this series.  Thank you Angela for featuring Rick and for your continued passion of all things sugar! 

LA Lakers Basketball Cake

www.cakelava.com

 

Yesterday we shared Nicole and Kareem's modern fall wedding cake and today it's all about his Groom's cake!  Nicole ordered a basketball Groom's cake (Peanut Butter Fudgey flavor) as a surprise for Kareem on their wedding day.  Rick added a handpainted logo of Kareem's favorite team, the LA Lakers and along with Kareem's last name and his high school team number.  It was pure coincidence that their wedding cake used a similar shade of orange in it and that worked out perfectly.  Wish we could have seen the expression Kareem's face when he saw his gift! 

Modern Fall Wedding Cake

www.cakelava.com

 

It's beginning to feel a lot like Fall over here.  It's been overcast the past couple of days and temperatures are dipping into the low 70's -- brrr.  We're making more fall themed wedding cakes, like the striking design above.  For Nicole and Kareem's wedding cake Rick used their fall colors to inspire his design which had a cascading pattern of leaves and flowers.  The couple used tropical flowers in fall colors throughout their wedding but did not have a "Hawaiian/tropical theme".  Rick made his floral pattern with a Hawaiian flair but desired to emphasize more the feeling of Fall.   Nicole and Kareem were married at Lanikuhonua, a gorgeous tropical/oceanfront property, with 350 guests in attendance.  Nicole also ordered a groom's cake as a surprise for Kareem which we will be sharing on the blog tomorrow! 

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Wedding Cake

www.cakelava.com

 

This year the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) which is celebrated annually on November 2nd happens to coincide with Election Day.  While the holiday of Dia de los Muertos focuses around gatherings honoring deceased loved ones, (hence the skull motifs) it is also a time of great celebration.  Elaborate altars of sugar skulls, flowers, candles and fruit are created and it you've never seen one in person, they are exquisite works of art, full of color and spirit!

Last Saturday night, our couple Katie and Chuck were married in a "Dia de los Muertos" themed wedding at the gorgeous Loulu Palm Estate on the North Shore. Their wedding colors were black, white and red which were also the colors used on their wedding cake, except for gold in the candles.
Rick spent hours working on the super detailed stylized skulls and flower print on the cake.  The roses and candles were handcrafted, as were the custom bride and groom skull cake toppers.  At the bottom of the cake he wrote at the request of Katie and Chuck "HASTA QUE LA MUERTE NOS SEPARE", 'Til death do us part. Katie and Chuck, who both work for the famous L.A. radio station KROQ, both wore black. Katie looked stunning in a black lace fitted gown and Chuck was dashing in his black shirt and vest with his red tie. They flew in L.A. photographer/filmmaker Cale Glendening who was a perfect choice for the couple.

Katie and Chuck have been wonderful to work with during the whole design process. Rick was a big fan of KROQ when he lived in L.A. and when they found this out, they sent us a box of t-shirts and other items from KROQ which we now both proudly wear.  When we met the couple at the wedding they were warm, fun loving and as sweet as can be!  They were ecstatic when they saw their cake, which put a huge smile on our faces!  Wishing Katie and Chuck our best! 

Rick with the happy couple!

The "Story" of Allison and Adam

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It's been over a year since we first met with our clients Allison and Adam to discuss their wedding cake design.  During our meeting the couple spoke of their love of San Francisco, where they currently reside and their desire to have a sculpted cake incorporating San Francisco landmarks of importance to them.  We thought it was a great idea!  I used to live in the Bay Area, and spent a number of years in San Francisco and was excited to revisit this spectacular city once again and Rick was too!  As we began working more closely with Allison and Adam the cake design evolved from a strictly San Francisco landmarks theme to one that included other countries and places that the couple spent time, including Hawaii, Italy, and Australia.  Their wedding cake would tell the "story" of Allison and Adam and Rick was looking forward to making it for them.

The cake was designed to work chronologically with the uniting "road" being the iconic and super curvy Lombard Street in San Francisco.  Adam and Allison were depicted near the bottom of the cake, on the start of their path -- Allison as a chef's toque and Adam represented by a surfboard.  Both Hawaii and Italy are shown here.  Adam was originally living in Hawaii attending a University here and Allison was studying abroad in Italy.  They met at the Metreon theater in San Francisco, spent time together living in San Francisco and then got married at City Hall.  Our couple was already married when they booked their wedding cake but was planning a wedding on Oahu where their family and friends could be a part of their vows and ceremony.  Their life in San Francisco made up the majority of this cake.  At the very top was Australia where the couple plans to live together. 

Rick spent many hours carefully drawing and painting every building and detail.  Considering the other cakes he was working on for the weekend which also demanded a high level of artistry, I was truly amazed at what Rick accomplished over the course of a week! You can check back on our blog throughout the week to see some of these cakes. 

When Allison and Adam chose their cake flavor, Hawaii Five-0, they had no idea how appropriate it would be at their wedding venue.  The private estate where they were married on Friday night is also "home" to one of the new "Hawaii Five-0" TV show characters, and they regularly film there.  What a coincidence!  Congratulations to Allison and Adam! 

Rustic Elegance for World Travelers

cake image by Sieber Studio

 Wedding Images by VISIONARI
Event Design and Coordination by Parasol Events
Floral Design by Yvonne Design
Wedding cake by cakelava

We have already selected our next few Featured Weddings on cakelava.com and are excited to share them with you! The wedding cake and accompanying wedding below was one we would have Featured had we been able to show our couple, one of whom is in the public eye. Since we cannot officially "Feature" it, we wanted to at least be able to share the beautiful components put together by the couple's coordinator and design team, acknowledged above. This gorgeous wedding combined romantic, rustic and organic florals and decor by Yvonne Design at an exquisite oceanfront private estate. The theme of travel was prominent throughout, as the couple resides outside of the country and many of their guests flew in from all over the world. For their wedding cake, the couple requested a fun and contemporary design with unusual shapes. Rick used soft green, ivory and a brown/gold color that tied in the organic quality found throughout the wedding. He placed a single large handcrafted flower on the side of one of the tiers. It was a striking design that worked with the different design elements present yet still maintained its own identity. We would like to thank our wedding couple, all the talented vendors involved with this event and Yvonne Design for sharing with us their images photographed by Visionari and Sieber Studio. Enjoy!

Leah and Sean's Wedding Cake

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Yesterday we posted a wedding cake that was bright and bold, funky and fun!  Today we're sharing a wedding cake with softer colors and a more elegant vibe made for an Australian couple Leah and Sean.  Their wedding took place last Sunday night at the Moana Surfrider Resort in Waikiki.  The main color of their wedding was purple and the accent colors were dark green, gold, white and cream. Leah and Sean sent us some Japanese paper which had a lovely floral pattern on it that would be used in their wedding and gave Rick carte blanche on the design other than the request to include the pattern on the cake, which he chose to emphasize in the middle tier and keep the others plain except for a textured band on the bottom.  Once the cake was designed the couple was extremely pleased with it and we were too. They chose our Totally Turtle and Guava Lava flavors for their guests, who flew in from Australia and the United States to celebrate their wedding.  Congratulations to Leah and Sean!

Johanna and Michael's Wedding Cake

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Our couple Johanna and Michael were married on October 16th at the breathtaking Lanikuhonua venue.  Several hundred guests were in attendance at their long awaited wedding.  We first met Johanna and Michael in June 2009.  They told us they had seen our couple Irene and Joseph's wedding which was featured on cakelava.com and Style Me pretty and had similar colors for their wedding -- hot pink, coral/orange, and a tropical green.  They loved Irene and Joseph's funky modern cake with the "shifted" squares and wanted to do something similar, using their own stylized floral motif.  Once Rick designed their cake we knew it was going to be a really special design and we were all excited to see it on the wedding day.  The cake was a striking focal point of the wedding and matched the decor beautifully!  We had a blast working with Johanna and Michael and wish them our best!

Jungle Love

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I adore the jungle/safari theme cakes!  Put a bunch of cute, playful animals together on one cake and you've got yourself a party!  Rick spent several hours making all the animals and they looked magnificent up close!  I instantly fell in love with the little zebra placed in the front of the cake who appears to be rolling around in complete ecstasy, having the time of his life.  It was a super cute, unexpected touch that made the cake even more endearing!

Baby, Life's a Beach!

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Living in Hawaii, you can imagine how popular the beach theme cake is.  The tropical beach theme cakes are always fun to make and are a great crowd pleaser too.  Rick has made countless beach themed cakes and hundreds of palm trees and surfboards since cakelava opened and we never get tired of looking at them.   The cake above was made for Sophia's first birthday party.  For Sophia, at our client's request, Rick used pastel colors and gave everything a cute, rather than more realistic appearance.

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For the beach themed baby shower cake above, Rick chose to use only white and shades of blue, which made for a nice contrast.  The client had requested for the beach theme to be done in "baby style" and had wanted to emphasize the beach and surfing since the baby's father owns a surfing company.  Around the cake he placed handcrafted beach toys, shells and marine life.  Cute baby faces were placed on the side of the cake and on top he created a scene with a "BOY" sign, surfboards and a sweet blue crab.  Inside the cake was bright layers of our signature Rainbowlicious flavor.

Sold Out and Out of Stock!

We are thrilled to announce that Rick Reichart's second 3-Day "Discover Your Inner Artist" class at Icing Inspirations in Ontario, Canada, next March is now SOLD OUT!

30 students are coming from New York City, the Bahamas, Utah, Louisiana, England and all over Canada -- and those are just the ones we know about! We want to thank each and every one of you who have signed up for the class as well as our wonderful hosts, Chrissie and Justin who have been divine to work with.  We are so excited to meet everyone!

Although the class is Sold Out and "Out of Stock" you may contact Icing Inspirations to be placed on a wait list.  info{at}icinginspirations {dot}ca

Blue Daisies Baby Shower Cake

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You wouldn't know from looking at the cake above that it was made for a baby shower. There was no baby props -- no rattles, blocks, bottles or teddy bears to be found anywhere on the cake.  Our client chose 10-10-10, one of the biggest wedding dates of the year to celebrate the upcoming birth of her baby.  This was the third cake Rick designed for Leilani and her family and each has been drastically different from the next.  For her baby shower, the only requests Leilani had were the colors of blue and grey to be used in the cake, to make it fun and whimsical, and to omit the baby props.  Rick made pretty handcrafted daisies combined with a playful print on the cake and ramped up the WOW factor by adding interesting shapes to the cake.  The cake had a lot of attention when we delivered it.  Our pregnant client came over beaming and expressed how much she loved her cake, as did several of her guests.  We loved the cake too and were thrilled to be part of such a joyous celebration!

Jennifer and Mitch's Wedding Cake

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Wedding and cake images courtesy of VISIONARI

The wedding cake above may look familiar if you read Cake Central Magazine.  It was featured in the September 2010 issue along with Melissa and Polar's wedding cake.  Jennifer and Mitch's cake, shown above, like Lindsay and Bob's couture lace wedding cake, was designed in more muted tones of elegance.  The couple selected ivory and cream for their wedding cake and mentioned how much they liked Rick's "Bree" design, which had a similar look but different sizing and colors.  The white on top of a cream base was a gorgeous combination and Jennifer and Mitch were very happy with the results!  We loved the way the cake turned out and so did Cake Central Magazine, who at the time was looking for cakes in shades of whites and thought it would be a perfect match! 

Special thanks to Jennifer and Mitch for including us in their special day, and to their wonderful vendors Yvonne Design, Mood Event, Finishing Touch, Les Saisons and cakelava. 

Couture Lace Wedding Cake

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We have put up a fair share of bold, colorful cakes recently and decided that for at least part of this week, we would focus on cakes with a more muted color palette -- beautiful creams, whites, and champagne tones.  Rick designed a gorgeous champagne and ivory wedding cake for Lindsay and Bob, a couple who were married over the 10-10-10 weekend.  Their wedding cake was inspired by the lace pattern on Lindsay's gown and Rick added a draped ivory bow with a handcrafted jeweled brooch on the side of the cake to complete the elegant look.  The reception room was decorated in champagne, ivory and chocolate brown colors with towering vases of white phalaenopsis orchids for the centerpieces.  Lindsay and Bob chose to add a colorful element to their cake on the inside and selected our yummy Guava Lava and Lemon Pucker flavors to serve their guests.  Congratulations to Lindsay and Bob!

Isabella's Pool Party

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Happy Friday Everyone!  We went through our portfolio of recent work and pulled one of the cutest, happiest cakes we could find to share.  The theme was "Chobits Land" and the occasion was Isabella's 9th birthday pool party.  If you are asking "What is Chobits Land?" that was our reaction as well.  Chobits Land has cute characters similar in appearance to the Sanrio animals with large adorable features.  We heard that Isabella's favorite animals were the panda and brown bear and Rick gave them a prominent position on top and in front of the cake. Throughout the party area Chobits Land was everywhere -- hanging above the tables, on top of the tables, and sticking out of the grass. It was adorable!

Almost immediately a crowd of children and adults gathered around the cake.  It took an immense amount of willpower for the children to hold back from touching it. We gave our birthday girl a big hug and she told us how much she loved her cake.  She was grinning from ear to ear, as were all the children and shortly after, so were we! 

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Beautiful Things Come in Small Packages

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I practically gasped when I saw this cake, a reaction that is not reserved for cakes of a larger stature.  The level of detail really blew me away!  Someone recently commented on our blog, "Rick, what goes on in that brain of yours?" and I can tell you when his thoughts aren't in the gutter they reside in an unfathomable realm of imagination.  How he gets from point A (cake) to point B (finished product) is anybody's guess.  I've stopped guessing. It's better when you let creativity unfold and just enjoy.

I certainly didn't know when the order came in and the only direction given by our client was "vibrant colors" that Rick would design this gorgeous multi-layered, super detailed, adorable cake.  The party for the birthday girl involved a small amount of people, but we wanted the WOW factor to be big.  Bigger is not always better and beautiful things absolutely do come in small packages!

Happy Garden Cake

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Garden themed cakes are a common request and our challenge is to then take the theme and make a unique and special design for each client.  The cake above was made for a little girl named Chloe and was inspired by one of of Rick's previous garden cakes with happy faces on the flowers.  Using the colors requested by the client, Rick made a gorgeous 3-tier Strawberries Chantilly and Chocolate Dream flavored birthday cake with smiley flowers playfully placed on the tiers.  The cake was so cute in person and made little Chloe and her entire family smile when we delivered it.  Happy Birthday Chloe!

Female Super Villians Kick Ass

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I totally adore this cake!  It's sexy, it's bold, it's edgy, and it has some of our favorite Super villians kicking ass!  The theme of the cake was super villian girls, specifically Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Harley Quinn, from the Batman comics.  Rick could use any or all of them and decided to really do it up and include all three.  This was a party after all and the more women the better!  This super fun geeky birthday cake was ordered for Mia, by a friend of hers who left the design up to Rick's wild imagination, and he had a LOT of fun with this one.  The cake looked amazing in person and the group who showed up at our studio to pick it up were fawning over it in our shop, which made us very happy!

Very early the following morning, we received a Thank You note from our client:

Hey Rick and Sasha, the cake absolutely made the party.  The whole vibe turned around once we brought the cake out, it was amazing.  Without a doubt I will want to do business with you two again sometime in the future.  I will send pictures as soon as I'm able to.  Thank you so much for making a wonderful cake for me and my friends.  Wonderful job, worth every penny.  Amazing.   -- TJ

birthday girl enjoying her cake!