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.
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!
4 comments:
Magnificent!! Looks wonderful.
Thank you, Catherine! Love your profile pic, by the way. :)
So, curious here, how long is your current bucket list?
Gorgeous cake btw. I look forward to each new post. So many wonderful designs. Rick is very talented.
You know, Ilnara, we've never counted how many cakes are on the bucket list because nothing is written down. ;) I know something is on the bucket list because Rick will mention how he's "always wanted to make..." prior to, or when the actual order comes in. Apparently, there are quite a few cakes on the (mental) bucket list. Sometimes we didn't even know it was on the bucket list until the client introduces the idea and I suddenly hear how he has always wanted to make one. Thanks so much for the compliments on the cakes! We're glad you are enjoying the blog!
Post a Comment