Dr. Seuss - A World of Infinite Possibilities

cakelava.com

Some party themes are just too perfect for cake, and Dr. Seuss is one of them! The whimsical vision of Dr. Seuss provides a world of infinite design possibilities. We know when we receive a Dr. Seuss theme request, we're in for a really fun time, and... we also need to clear plenty of time on our calendar to work on it! It is one of our favorite themes to do and one of the more difficult due to the amount of time Rick spends making the characters and decorations.

The inspiration for this colorful wonky cake was based on one of Rick's previous Dr. Seuss themed designs. The client wanted a similar look with modification to the themes to suit their party. The Lorax and truffula trees would be used in decor throughout the party and we were asked to include them. The choice of colors used was left up to Rick. Since the cake was for a boy, Rick selected blues and red for the main base colors and some of the more feminine colors were used as an accent.

As I write this, I'm thinking about and looking forward to one of our cakes for next weekend. Can you guess the theme?

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! ... Here's a Cake for You!

cakelava.com

 Theodor Seuss Geisel, who is better known as Dr. Seuss would have turned 109 on Saturday. Dr. Seuss is one of the most influential authors of our time and his wonderful world of whimsy is celebrated daily across the world. We honor Dr. Seuss' influence by remembering our collection of books - some of our earliest exposure to literature was Dr. Seuss' Cat In the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and so forth. We've seen the movies, both live action and animated, and the Dr. Seuss theme has been popular for designers across many disciplines. It has especially resonated within the cake community. Some of our favorite cakes made at cakelava have had a Seussian theme.

This fun and colorful Dr. Seuss themed cake was made by Rick and featured Cat and the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, and Horton Hears a Who characters as selected by our client. The cake was made in March 2012 and was never shared on our blog that month because I didn't have an opportunity. A quick look through our 2012 archive and you'll note we don't have a single post in March. We traveled for part of the month, then immediately had a photo shoot for 'Extreme Cakeovers" book, then were occupied with cakes for the rest of the month. I had meant to share it after March because we were proud of the cake and the client absolutely adored it, but the cake got filed away. Then, over the weekend Rick and I were talking about Dr. Seuss' birthday and he brought up the cake.

It was one of our favorite cakes that Rick made in 2012. Each of the characters were made and hand painted. It was a super cute topsy, turvy design with each tier done in a different color scheme. I really like the truffulas and playful pieces sticking out of the cake and theme lends itself to many different approaches for the design. On a previous Seuss themed cake, our client wanted the cake with a sculpted Cat and the Hat on top, which Rick made out of cake. Each version has its own special qualities and we love them both! Happy Birthday to the late Dr. Seuss! We are grateful to this visionary for creating a magnificent world where anything is possible, filled with positive messages that makes us feel great, and reminds us what it is like to be a kid again!

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!

Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat Cake

We were so excited when we got the order for the Dr. Seuss and Cat in the Hat themed birthday cake! We had worked with the client before on an Elmo and Sesame Street cake for her other son and wanted her to be just as happy with this one. We knew from the beginning her cake would contain a sculpted Cat in the Hat figure and other Dr. Suess characters would be present. She provided us a list of the characters that she was interested in, her flavors (Hot Fudge Sundae and Strawberries Chantilly) and left the rest of the design up to Rick. The design of her cake would have a wonky, Seussian shape and be full of color and whimsy. Honestly, other than that, Rick wasn't sure what he was going to do, until the week of the order when he did a quick sketch of the design and started making all the pieces for the cake. He spent a full day working on this cake, sculpting the tiers and the Cat in the Hat and finishing the design. The characters on the bottom -- Thing 1 & Thing 2, The Lorax and truffula trees, Horton and his pink clover, the fish from Cat in the Hat, the green eggs and ham, and others, were all meticulously handpainted. At the end of the day we took a step back and looked at the cake and a grin as big and goofy as any Seussian character could muster up was plastered on our faces. I said "she (the client) is going to DIE when she sees this!" We and our Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2 and half of Who-ville took a long drive out to their North Shore home. Each time we looked back at the cake the Cat in the Hat was grinning back at us, making us smile over and over. When we arrived at our client's home, she did just about die when she saw the cake. She and her husband greeted us wearing matching Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts -- so cute! Their jaws dropped when they saw the cake, there was an "Oh Rick!!" in there somewhere, and they both looked incredibly happy. We felt proud of the cake and all the work was most definitely worth it!

Here's hoping our Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat cake makes you smile and puts you in a celebratory mood for the holiday weekend.

Aloha, 'til next time!