Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: LéMonaco and Delfino's Fairy Tale Sandcastle

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In our roundup of non-traditional wedding cakes which included a sculpted Jeep, an Okinawan castle, and a gold Buddha, we fondly remembered  LéMonaco and Delfino's sculpted Fairy Tale Sandcastle. Sculpted non-traditional wedding cakes have been on our minds a lot lately as we start our planning for two more in the coming weeks that we are very excited about! We won't spoil the surprise of the cake themes - you'll just have to come back to find out!

Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: Romina and Arian's Sculpted Buddha

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We continue our "Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes" series with one of our all-time favorite (and most difficult) sculpted cakes, a giant gold Buddha made for Romina and Arian, a couple from Texas who flew to Oahu to celebrate their vow renewal. If you've been following our blog or facebook for a while, you may recognize their cake from a previous post. In case you missed it, you can read the backstory on "Gold Buddha Cake for a Vow Renewal".

We definitely felt the pressure when making this cake. Aside from Rick sculpting out of cake a truly iconic and religious figure with great significance throughout the world, Arian and Romina are a high-profile couple in the media and we knew their cake would be under serious scrutiny! We really enjoyed working with the couple and arrangements had been made in advance for us to meet them when the cake was delivered. This granted us one of the biggest pleasures of any cake designer - to witness the expression of your clients when they first see their cake. Romina and Arian were ecstatic when they saw their sculpted gold Buddha holding a white lotus flower! Although the timing prevented us from being able to see either Heather and Joe or Sayo and Torrell on their wedding day, both couples reached out to us shortly afterwards to say how thrilled they were with their cake!

Next week, we're featuring another non-traditional wedding cake, made for a couple wanting to live Happily Ever After!

Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: Sayo and Torrell's Okinawan Theme

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Like Heather and Joe's sculpted Jeep wedding cake, Rick and I were excited about Sayo and Torrell's non-traditonal wedding cake idea from the time we got the order. The bride Sayo is from Okinawa, Japan, and the couple have history there together, so they wanted to honor her culture and their special place with a design inspired by the exquisite Shuri Castle (shown below). We learned from the couple that the male and female Shisa lion-dogs guarding the castle were important to them and they asked Rick to include them in his design. There are photos of Shisas on the internet and their appearance varies greatly. Some are more serious and others take a lighter, more humorous approach, which was the couple's preference for their cake. We were given a small figurine for reference but Sayo and Torrell left the actual faces up to Rick - as long as they were fun and represented a male and female Shisa.

Since the cake was for a wedding, Rick decided to make the cake stacked and symbolic of, rather than a precise architectural representation of Shuri castle. The two Shisa figures were placed on top of the roof, and became custom cake toppers. Traditionally, the Shisa's are either placed on people's rooftops or in front of their gates, to protect from evil spirits. The left Shisa has a closed mouth and the right Shisa has their mouth open. The female (bride) Shisa has a closed mouth, to keep good spirits in, and the male (groom) Shisa has an open mouth, to ward off evil spirits.

Their wedding cake brought together Sayo and Torrell's experiences in both Okinawa and Hawaii. They chose tropical flavors - coconut and mango to serve their guests. This non-traditional wedding cake inspired us creatively and also taught us a lot about the Okinawan culture.

Shuri Castle, Okinawa, Japan

In our next post, we have another non-traditional wedding cake to share. It is a striking sculpted figure that will be instantly recognizable, made for an NFL player and his wife for their vow renewal!

Non-Traditional Wedding Cakes: Heather and Joe's Jeep

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I've noticed we're getting more requests for non-traditional wedding cakes, specifically, sculpted themed cakes showcasing a couple's interest or culture. Wedding couples are constantly seeking out  new ways to personalize their wedding and make the experience unique and memorable for their guests. Having a sculpted showpiece cake with a huge "WOW" factor and an instantly recognizable theme is one of many ways couples are making an impact with their guests. We love the anything-goes attitude we're seeing with wedding cakes, and we encourage our couples to get as creative as possible. Luckily, Rick is up to the task and ready to take on nearly any challenge! We already have some very interesting non-traditional wedding cakes planned for next year, and are excited to make them!  Here is one of our recent favorites, with more to follow on the blog this week!

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Heather and Joe's Jeep with Paddleboards (above):

Rick made a sculpted replica of the couple's orange jeep. The jeep and its tires are all sculpted out of cake. On top of the cake, were the couple's custom paddleboards, one with a design of the Hawaiian flag and the other with a bamboo pattern and pink edging. The couple loves the beach and goes stand up paddleboarding - this cake was perfect for them! Their coconut and guava flavored cake was delivered to the picturesque Moli'i Gardens at Kualoa Ranch. 

On our next post we have another non-traditional wedding cake to share. The gorgeous wedding cake took Rick many hours to make and honors the bride's culture and where the couple met. 

Alex's 40th Birthday Art Cake

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As a cake designer, Rick's specialty is custom art cakes.  He has a background in fine art and pastry and loves sculpting, hand painting and airbrushing on cakes. For Alex's 40th birthday, Rick employed some of his favorite art techniques to make an unforgettable, truly personalized cake for a man we greatly admire and who, along with his lovely wife Yvonne, is one of Hawaii's top wedding vendors.  Alex and Yvonne own two companies, Yvonne Design and Mood Event and they have been wowing us and our clients with their amazing talent for years! Just look at their websites and you'll see what we mean! Alex is a man of many interests and one he is most passionate about is competitive running, which is the area we focused on for his cake.

When Yvonne ordered the cake for Alex's surprise birthday party, we knew the cake needed to be fantastic! It was for Alex G, afterall! The cake would be sculpted with a running theme, and a custom figurine of Alex on a woodsy trail about to cross the finish line of his 40 K. The idea of 40 K trail worked great since it was close to the length of an actual marathon and also represented Alex's big birthday! Rick studied many photos of Alex when he was making the figure and spent quite some time getting everything just right. We both felt the pressure of creating a likeness of someone everyone in the wedding industry knows and who we greatly respect!

The cake was a huge success! We received compliments from Yvonne and Alex and their guests. We attended the party as guests, and were very impressed at how beautiful everything looked! The party was brilliantly designed by Yvonne and the Mood design team - even Alex unknowingly contributed to making his own decor.  The party was filled with Alex's favorite things and different aspects of his life that would be honored in some way. Guests dined on Alex's favorite foods and for dessert, the awesome cake in his favorite flavor, Peanut butter and chocolate, an unbeatable combination that makes my mouth water just thinking of it! Happy Birthday, Alex G. It was an honor to immortalize you in cake!

Cascading Floral Wedding Cakes

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For many brides, one of the most important components of their wedding is the flowers. Brides love flowers - big, beautiful flowers, and the more the better! We have seen this obsession for flowers carry over to the cake design requests, and Rick is now needing to set aside even more time in his schedule each week to make flowers. During a recent week, he spent no less than 25 hours making flowers for just a few cakes. Rick started at least a week before the events just to have everything finished in time. After seeing the breathtaking results, the effort is so well worth it, and our clients think so too! Some weeks our kitchen looks like a color explosion and the cakes are fun, bold, and full of energy, but that week, all I saw was row after row of flowers. It was a beautiful sight and I can't say I minded one bit!

One of the most labor intensive handcrafted floral designs we make is the cascade style, in which flowers are placed cascading down the tiers. This style looks best on cakes that are three or more tiers, as it makes more impact falling over a larger area. Brides looking to have a cascade style of wedding cake with handcrafted flowers should be prepared to allocate more financially, as the labor charge can be higher than other floral cakes that use less flowers.

For Kiran and Perdeep's gorgeous cascade wedding cake, (above) Rick spent 8 hours making the roses of varying sizes. Every petal is handcrafted and made individually then brought together to form a rose. Imagine doing this for 8 hours! For many of us, that is an average work day. Add on the time to bake, fill and lay the fondant on the cake and paint the roses and suddenly, the cascading cake style that many brides desire and think looks "simple" is quite involved! If you are looking for an elegant, romantic cake whose main focal point is flowers, and the budget isn't a huge concern, the cascading floral is a stunning option!