Scuba Diver Looking into a Cave Birthday Cake

cakelava.com

The colorful scuba diver looking into a cave birthday cake is one of our favorite recent projects! The week Rick made the cake was hectic because his other cakes were also artistically demanding, making the week as challenging as those that have more cakes with less complexity. The cake was made as a 21st birthday gift from his aunt to Joey, a Marine Biology major at the University who enjoys scuba diving.

Rick started making the decorations for the cake early in the week, allowing extra time to sculpt the cave and scuba diver. Sculpting the cave was very difficult. It was important to make it look as realistic and organic looking as possible. Rick estimates it took him 4 to 5 hours to make just the cave and diver. A cake with this big a wow needs to be tasty on the inside and the client chose our "Broke da Mouth" flavor, a delicious mango cake with a mango curd and cream filling with Li Hing Mui. Li hing mui is a sweet and salty dried plum sold in the islands and a popular ingredient with local chefs.  In Hawaii, "Broke da Mouth" is a pidgin English term that literally means the flavor is so good, it will break your mouth - an explosion of flavor! My mouth is practically breaking just thinking about our "Broke da Mouth" cake!

I always have to smile when I see Rick making cakes with a coral scene. He has used some version of a coral scene on many under the sea cakes. We spent a good part of 2012 touring around the world with his "Discover Your Inner Artist" clownfish class, where he taught students how to make the realistic looking coral. The coral pieces have been incredibly versatile over the years, being used on both sculpted and non-sculpted ocean themed cakes. Although I have watched Rick and his students make hundreds of the colorful decorations, it never gets old and it always brings the already lifelike cakes to another level!