A Grand Wedding Cake in Black and White

cakelava.com

This 3 foot tall towering black and white squares wedding cake made for Aren and Dustin is one of our favorites so far this year! The couple were married back in February, but I held off writing about it until we received the professional image of the cake from their photographer, Mike Pham Photography. Our jaws fell to the floor when we saw Mike's photo - it's a beauty!

We first met Aren and Dustin last fall, when they asked Rick to design for them a grand and elegant wedding cake that would be the center of attention. The cake would be done as all squares in black, white and silver - their wedding colors - and have a damask pattern on some of the tiers. Rick would also integrate elements from the bride's second dress, which was silver with a black lace overlay. Since the cake would be designed with a striking  pattern on each tier, Rick kept the use of handcrafted flowers to a minimum with a single bunch on top with the couple's "G initial of their married name.

Making a wedding cake of all squares is more difficult than round shapes. Squares have precise edges and demand perfection in their shaping and placement. When the tiers are as tall as these were, they must be very straight, and it requires a confidence in your craft to apply the fondant. One not-so-perfectly placed tier can affect every cake above it. Having a black on white precise pattern on each tier, left little room for error. It is worth mentioning that Aren is an architecture student, which added pressure to make the edges as straight as can be and the pattern be ultra-precise. We took our responsiblity to the couple seriously!

After the cake was made and decorated, there was one more hurdle - the delivery! The couple's reception was at an outdoor venue on the hotel's property that was located, in delivery terms, very far from our vehicle. The 3 foot tall cake was transported e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y carefully on a cart down a long hall with uneven cobblestone flooring. Then, once outside the hotel, we carted the cake to the reception venue, which was also a trek. I'm sure any cake professional can sympathize, but it felt like the color had escaped from our face and we couldn't breathe normally until the cake was safely delivered to the cake table. Lifting the cake and placing it on the cake table felt AMAZING, and seeing the expression on our bride's face when she saw her gorgeous cake made all the efforts so worth it!

I'm thrilled to report that we and the couple were tremendously happy with their cake, as were their guests. Just a couple days after their wedding, we received the sweetest thank you note from Aren and Dustin!

Dearest Rick and Sasha,

Words cannot express how thankful we are for the gorgeous wedding cake you designed for us. Every guest was in awe. They couldn't believe the cake was real, we were even complimented by the hotel staff as they had never seen a cake so grand. On top of that it was delicious! Of all the pieces of our wedding the cake was the most exciting piece for me, I couldn't stop talking about it to my new husband. I am so grateful to have found you. Thank you for helping to make our wedding day so much more than we could've ever imagined.

Congratulations to Aren and Dustin, and we wish them our very best!

A Rainbow Connecting Hawaii and New York

cakelava.com

On November 13, 2013 Hawaii Governor, Neil Abercrombie signed a bill legalizing gay marriage, and same-sex couples were allowed to marry starting December 2nd. Having spent my childhood through high school years on Oahu, I recall back in the early '90s when Hawaii was at the forefront of states allowing same-sex unions, but then later amended its constitution to ban those same unions in 1998. The topic of gay marriage is a divisive one, and if you are in the wedding industry in one of the 17 states plus the District of Columbia where same-sex marriage is legal, it is likely at some point you will be approached by a couple wanting to hire you. If you live in Hawaii - one of the most popular wedding destinations in the world - that point will be sooner rather than later.

Ever since we opened our doors back in 2005, cakelava has welcomed any couple to have a special custom cake designed for them. Most recently, we had the pleasure of designing this beautiful wedding cake for Val and Susan who celebrated their marriage after more than 20 years of being together. When we started communicating with Val and Susan, they desired to have Hawaii and New York, where they were both from, represented on the cake in some way. Their requests were simple - Hawaii, New York and a Rainbow, to symbolize their union. Rick decided to take a very stylized, colorful and artistic approach to their cake, bringing together elegance and a traditional shape with an unconventional and playful design. He decided to have a night time scene for New York City, because that is when the city comes alive, and a sunny beach scene for Hawaii, combining the best of two of our favorite places in the world, into one beautiful cake!

Val and Susan adored their cake and wrote us shortly after to say how much they and their guests loved it. Apparently, the kids at the wedding were drawn to the little taxi cabs, which we thought was so cute! I love this cake and the cute NYC taxi cabs make me smile every time I look at them! Congratulations to Val and Susan!

Dragon Cake - The Cake Bucket List Gets Shorter!

cakelava.com

Last month, cakelava observed 9 years in business! In each of those 9 years, Rick made hundreds of beautiful custom cakes, and I've had the pleasure of communicating with each and every client. Those hundreds of cakes each year, has turned into thousands of unforgettable memories that we will treasure as we move forward towards our first decade!

About a week before cakelava's 9th birthday, Rick sculpted an amazing gold dragon cake for a client who gifted the cake to several of her male friends for their birthdays. The cake was delivered to a huge catamaran near Waikiki on a Friday night. We had been excited about this dragon since the order came in! It was the first time Rick had the opportunity to make a stand alone dragon - one that wasn't painted on or supported by a cake. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but after all these years of making dragon themed cakes, he was well prepared to do it!

Making the sculpted gold dragon cake was symbolic for us. Artistically, it was a feather in Rick's cap - a challenging design he's always wanted to make - and we were waiting for the right client to do it. As fate would have it, the request fell into our lap when a previous client of ours wanted a dragon cake as much as we wanted to make it! This has happened on many occasions throughout the years. Eventually, a design on Rick's cake bucket list is requested and the client's budget can support the request. As any cake designer knows, having the budget to accommodate a labor intensive request is important, and without it, the cake doesn't get made. It remains on the bucket list. When the stars line up and you have that winning combination of desire to have and desire to create, and able to afford, the magic begins and the cake is just meant to be. The cake bucket list gets shorter! This was the case with our Star Wars Yoda cake, the Monster Truck, the Antique Diver's Helmet, and the Gold Buddha cakes, among others.

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

cakelava.com

Aside from making the cake bucket list shorter, the sculpted dragon cake was symbolic of our company's beginning 9 years earlier when Rick made a large wedding cake with a gold dragon on it for our booth at our first bridal expo. We thought the dragon would make a huge impression at the expo and it did! It was such an unusual piece, especially for a wedding, and couples as well as other vendors were drawn to it. The cake which was made faux, was later put on display at a local country club we were working with, and also brought many subsequent requests for a cake with a dragon on it. 9 years ago, cakelava was a fledgling company with big dreams, (and an ambitious bucket list!) working out of an incubator kitchen with no air conditioning and rented space by the hour. Thousands of cakes, (and many dragons later), we cross the sculpted dragon off the cake bucket list, and look forward to more cakes to come! Thank you so much to our wonderful clients who have brought us years of inspirations and supported our creative endeavors. Here's to 9 amazing and unforgettable years!