cake 5-0 Hit Parade

Over the course of a week, I encounter plenty of eye candy through social media, the internet, catching up on my favorite blogs, or even just a trip to the grocery store. Sometimes it finds me, and other times I seek it out, just to get my fix. It isn't always all about cake. I'm a sucker for food porn in all varieties - sweet and savory.  If it makes me salivate, or causes my eyes to widen or makes me want to share it with my friends, or just makes me feel happy, it becomes part of my "hit parade".

In the past week, there were a number of memorable foodie items in my hit parade and I want to share them with you, in case you haven't seen them. The list is in no particular order.

SAVEUR Magazine, March 2013 Issue. I was standing at the checkout line at Whole Foods, when this incredible cover (shown above) leapt out and assaulted me, because it looked so damn good! I immediately grabbed Rick who goes absolutely CRAZY for donuts, and I showed it to him. We flipped right to the donut feature, slowly digesting each page. I could not get the image of the cover out of mind all week. It brought back memories of our trip to NYC last fall and our stop at the Doughnut Plant! 

"That Takes the Cake" show - Austin, Texas. Lots of eye candy here from competitors of all ability levels and ages! Last weekend cake enthusiasts from all over gathered to celebrate cakes and the theme "Flight." "That Takes the Cake" recently posted a slideshow of the photos of all the winners and there were some beautiful entries. Rick was scheduled to be a celebrity judge for the "Showcake" category at the show, and unfortunately was unable to attend. The winner of the Showcake Competition was Kim Simons and her "flight" themed cake is shown above. Wish we could have seen all the cakes in person. We both enjoyed seeing the slideshow and want to congratulate the winners!

The next item in my hit parade is courtesy of Marian at Sweetopia, based in Ontario, Canada. I fell in love with these cute Decorated Car Cookies the minute I saw them!  They are super cute and the workmanship is perfect! I adore the presentation of the cookies on the toy car mat and the interactive component which is beautifully displayed in her Vine video.

I noticed the cover of Richard Blais' new book "Try This at Home" on our our publisher, Clarkson Potter's website, and it instantly made my hit parade, before even looking inside the book! Richard Blais is a chef, restauranteur, television personality, and winner of "Top Chef All-Stars". His new cookbook is being released today!

Will you take a look at this cherry pie! I was mesmorized when I saw our friend Annie Welch post it on facebook. Annie made this BEAUTIFUL cherry pie for her husband's birthday. She got a pattern press for the design on top but it didn't work for her needs and she cut out the pattern with an exacto knife. Now that is dedication. I can only imagine how good it tasted!

 

I came across this photo of a slice of cake made by Duncan Hines on one of my feeds. We're big fans of anything with coconut, epecially coconut cake - we have three coconut cake flavors on our menu. I thought the photo looked good when I saw it. The combination of the coconut and key lime pie frosting sounded yummy and tropical. I showed it to Rick and he agreed. We thought it was a pretty darn good looking cake!

Another "hit" of the week - we got a special package from our publisher this week - our very own copy of "Fifty Shades of Chicken." (Thank you, Carly!) I look forward to making some of the recipes. Ladies, have you seen this book and the trailer?! Hilarious! I actually shared the trailer with a bunch of Rick's students during lunchtime at one of his classes and they went crazy for it! Beautiful, topless buff men having their way with naked chicken. The recipe titles and stories and super hot and will make you blush! Even if you don't cook, it's a fun, naughty piece of literature to read.

Feburary 8th was National Girl Scout Cookie Day and the The Girl Scout Cookie trend seems to have taken the cupcakers by storm. Just in the past week, I've seen a number of bakers posting about Girl Scout cupcakes. Crumbs Bakery has the official Girl Scout Thin Mints' Cupcakes, (shown above) which they are offering through this month. Today on Cupcakes Takes the Cake blog, they feature a bakery in Glendale, CA that makes Thin Mint, Samoa and Tagalong Girl Scout Cookie cupcakes. I don't know about you, but I'm craving a box of girl scout cookies right about now!

That's my hit parade for the week. What items are on your list?

And the Oscar Cake Goes To ...

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A billion people all over the world were glued to their television last night watching the 85th Academy Awards. Were you one of them? Parties were planned in every city, celebrities dressed in their finest attire, and at home we all eagerly watched hours and hours of speeches. We do this faithfully every year with one common goal - to see who would have the honor of taking home "Oscar".

Our "Oscar" experience last night started with a cake delivery to a sweet family who are regular clients of ours. Their oldest daughter loves movies so they decided to host an Oscar's party at their home. We were excited when we found out about the party because the Oscar's theme would be great to do in cake and our clients know how to throw a party! Since we have made them numerous cakes, and they always like what Rick comes up, they let him surprise them with a design, and he decided to make a sculpted Oscar statue cake. I couldn't wait to see it!

The whole week we were excited and anxious about the sculpted Oscar's cake. Excited, because we are movie buffs and grew up watching the Academy Awards, and knew our clients would go crazy when they saw it! Anxious, because they live at the top of a very STEEP ridge. To make a cake worthy of Oscar, it couldn't be short in stature, but rather towering, regal -  two and a half feet tall! During the week, Rick and I discussed the plan - who would be driving, who would sit in the back with the cake in case it swayed uncontrollably. I was trying to determine what would be worse - having to drive all the way to their home, encountering roads not perfectly paved, viewing the cake in the rearview mirror and trying not to freak out if I saw it sway. Or, sitting in the back with the cake with hands at the ready should anything happen to it while going over unexpected bumps in the road, and the 45 degree incline on the ridge leading up to their home. Then there was the factor of the possibility of rain. Luckily, last night it didn't rain.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010, Part 3

Today, we explore Part 3 of a retrospective of cakelava cakes made in 2010. We began our stroll down memory lane in late January 2013, starting with the year 2005, our first year in business, and have selected cakes from each year to share. If you missed Part 1 of 2010's post, you can view it here, and Part 2 here. You can read the entire series by visiting the Archives on the blog.

One of our favorite designs (above, photo by Mike Pham) was a 7-tier towering black, white and silver wedding cake made for Jessica and David. The stunning cake was 3 feet tall with handcrafted flowers and a vase topper, piped swirls and handmade decorations. Rick spent much of the week before the wedding making the decorations. The gorgeous cake was featured on a number of internet websites and in Wedding Essentials Magazine.

An Angel of the Superbowl

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cakelava.com

Many months ago, a client of ours who is also a close friend, placed an order for and purchased a Superbowl themed birthday cake - for herself.  Her party would be on Superbowl Sunday and the cake, a surprise design that she would leave up to Rick. As with any cake, there is a certain amount of pressure because we want it to look great and exceed expectations. The pressure is high when the cake is for a friend, and even higher when the design is something ubiquitous or iconic, like a football helmet. If the shape is wrong, you fail. If the team logo doesn't look right, you fail. If you don't get the logo and the helmet shape right on a cake for a Superbowl party, you may as well pack your bags and close up shop before the angry football fans come knocking.

Rick decided to surprise our friend with a 2-sided football helmet cake - Baltimore Ravens on one half and the San Francisco 49'ers on the other half. In other words, he would make an already difficult design even harder with twice as many logos, different color schemes on each side, and both sides must meet seamlessly in the middle, including on the face mask. The face mask is the most difficult part of making a football helmet because it has to sit right on the cake to look like it is connected to the helmet and not just placed in front.

We were both extremely excited about the design and knew our friend would love it. Rick is always up for a good challenge! We imagined it would be a hit at the party and and a birthday she would never forget. Shortly before the party, our friend called and sounded super excited. She wanted to get our approval on an idea she had. What she said next touched both of our hearts...

The World's Most Expensive Wedding Cake Costs $52 Million!

twitter photo courtesy of Cake UK LTD

Today, we're all about the eye candy!

Have you ever wondered what a $52 million wedding cake would look like? Feast your eyes above on the world's most expensive wedding cake made by baker Tim Smith of Cake UK LTD, based in Chester. The extravagant wedding cake is covered in more than 2000 diamonds supplied by Liverpool jeweler Russell and Case - who most appropriately are located on the ground floor of the Bling Bling Building in Liverpool. The cake was unveiled recently, ahead of its formal unveiling at the National Gay Wedding Show, taking place in Liverpool on March 3, 2013. Congratultations to the team at CAKE UK LTD for their record breaking display of extravagance!

You can visit ITV News for more information and close ups of the blinged out wedding cake.

Rick and I had a small debate about the number of tiers in this cake. We count 6 tiers of cake and 2 separator tiers, which may or may not be cake. This may explain why we have seen conflicting reports of 6 tiers and 8 tiers. How many tiers do you count in this decadent cake?

We have even more eye candy to share! You may have noticed our blog has undergone a dazzling makeover! The new design is courtesy of our awesome designer Dana at Wonder Forest. We are totally smitten with the results and hope you like it too! Our new blog has the same great content - mostly cake, all the time - and a new name that truly reflects us - cake 5-0! Rick and I chose the name cake 5-0 as a nod to our life in Hawaii making cakes in the 50th State. "Hawaii Five-0" is one of our cake flavors, and yes, that ever-popular show "Hawaii 5-0" is filmed here as well. So, come on in, kick off your shoes, and tour the new cakelava blog. We have lots of eye candy lined up in the future and we can't wait to share it with you!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010. Part 2

We're continuing our retrospective of a selection of cakes made in 2010. If you missed yesterday's post of Part 1, you can read it here. Yesterday, we ended with a black, white and gray tattoo inspired wedding cake and today we are starting by showcasing a cake that is predominantly black and white and equally as unusual.

Katie and Chuck's "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) themed wedding cake was one of our most memorable cakes of the year! The artistic, detailed "Day of the Dead" theme was a cake dream request for Rick. We have always been fond of "Day of the Dead" themed art and we jumped at the opportunity to make it for Katie and Chuck! They had a black and white wedding with red roses, and the couple wore black, not white at the wedding. Rick was given carte blanche on the design, and the result was an amazing cake with extremely intricate detailing, all done freehand, with handmade bride and groom skull cake toppers reminiscent of the sugar skulls commonly found in "Dia de los Muertos" celebrations. The cake took a lot of time to make, but Katie and Chuck were worth it and their cake was a big hit at the wedding!