Feeling the Blues

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It wasn't long ago that I read a tweet by a popular wedding site announcing that blue wedding cakes are trending.  It was a timely announcement because we had made 2 blue wedding cakes that week. I had noticed we've been making more blue colored cakes both for weddings and birthdays in 2014 so I figured it must be a trend, and now I had validation from the wedding powers that be, we will probably be seeing more of them! The cakes posted here were made this year.

For the cake decorators out there, are you also getting requests for blue colored cakes? What other color trends have you been noticing in 2014?

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A Grand Wedding Cake in Black and White

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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

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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!

2013 - A Year in Review - The Second Half - A.E.C., Part 4

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Finishing up our 2013 Year in Review with selected cakes made in October through December. If you are just joining us and want to look back on the previous months featured cakes, check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

In 2013 we received many requests for unconventional cake designs for both weddings and birthdays, and quite a few with handcrafted figurines. These requests came in throughout the year but event dates mostly fell towards the end of 2013. This trend of untraditional, highly customized cake requests followed us into 2014. As I write this, Rick is working on a most unusual wedding cake, for a couple marrying this weekend. Watch the blog in the coming days for more on this cake!

The cake above was made for Joe and Tracy, a couple who resides on the mainland and came to Oahu to celebrate Tracy's 50th birthday. The surprise cake was ordered by Joe for his lucky wife - was she ever surprised! Rick sculpted Oahu's iconic Diamond Head out of cake and made a lovely Hawaiian beach scene with the couple relaxing on the beach. He worked on the custom figurines over the course of a couple days and during that time we had photos of Joe and Tracy all over his workspace. When we delivered the cake it was the first time we met the couple in person and it felt like we already knew them!

We received a special note from the couple shortly after raving about their cake:

"The cake was absolutely wonderful, Tracy was completely blown away and everybody really got a kick out of it. People were taking more pictures of that cake than the performers. It really did make the night for us. The folks at the Luau took pictures as well to post on their Facebook page. So again thank you, thank you, thank you for your hard work and obvious talent. Rick you are an artist and I am a fan. Thank you again!" - Joe & Tracy

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Heather and Joe also chose a non-traditional design - a sculpted Jeep with paddleboards, and we were all so pleased with the outcome! Their sculpted Jeep wedding cake combined two trends we saw in 2013 - non-traditional wedding cakes and complex sculpted vehicles.

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From a bright orange Jeep to a badass Monster Truck, and a vibrant purple Mini Cooper 60th Birthday cake - that's how we rolled!

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 The year wouldn't be complete without at least one electric guitar cake and we were thrilled to make this beauty for a 70th birthday celebration. The cake looked so realistic, people wanted to pick it up and play it!

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One of our favorite cakes of the year was the cake Rick made for Alex's 40th birthday party.  It was special to us because we have worked with Alex of Mood Event and his wife Yvonne of Yvonne Design since we opened. They have wowed us and our clients with their fabulous event and floral design for years, and we were honored when Yvonne contacted us to make his special surprise! Alex  loves competitive running so Rick made a custom figurine of him running on a wooded trail, towards the finish line of his 40 K. The cake combined some of Rick's favorite art techniques - sculpting, painting, airbrushing, and modelling.

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The cake Rick made for Dustin's ProService retirement party was also a lot of fun and included a handcrafted figure. Rick sculpted a giant wave made from guava cake and added a handcrafted figure of Dustin riding his new surfboard (a gift from his coworkers). We were asked to give Dustin the relaxed look of someone in their retirement - so we had him sporting a five-o clock shadow. A bunch of handmade plumeria flowers were placed on the cake to give the cake a Hawaiian touch!

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Our second Seuss themed cake happened towards the end of the year. Our client fell in love with some of the 3-tier fun wonky cakes but wanted less servings, so Rick designed her a very cute and colorful cake with some of her favorite characters. It was adorable!

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Like Heather and Joe, Sayo and Torrell also ordered a non-traditional wedding cake and asked Rick to design a cake inspired by Shuri Castle in Okinawa, Japan. Read the full details about the cake and the Shisa guardians on the top of the cake in this post.

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We also made some incredibly beautiful, more traditional wedding cakes, like the one shown above. For Elizabeth and Patrick's wedding cake, Rick piped a lace design from the bride's dress and added a gorgeous cascade of handcrafted orchids and calla lillies.

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We also used handcrafted green orchids for this lovely cake, in addition to the pink hibiscus flowers. Rick placed a beautiful bunch of handmade flowers on the side of their cake and accented it with bamboo borders. The cake was so beautiful in person!

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Rick's elegant and whimsical cake with handcrafted delicate roses and a painted teacup was made for Harper's first birthday party. Harper's parents are clients of ours - we first worked with them at their wedding several years ago and we were thrilled the mainland-based couple returned to Oahu to celebrate for their daughter's first birthday luau!

We have more 2013 cakes selected to share with you, and will be doing so on the blog in the coming days. Cakes we'll be showcasing include another sculpted non-traditional wedding cake and a tall wedding cake with pretty flowers with jeweled centers, both made shortly before the New Year. We hope you've enjoyed our retrospective and we look forward to sharing more in 2014! Thank you so much to everyone who has shown their support in various ways to us throughout the year!

2013, A Year in Review - The First Half - B.E.C., Part 2

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We continue with B.E.C., Part 2 of our 2013 Year in Review. If you missed Part 1 of our retrospective or are asking "What's B.E.C stand for?", you can catch up here.

B.E.C., Part 2 - January to June

You may have noticed a number of ocean/beach themed cakes in Part 1. As is often the case with cakes, trends emerge and suddenly Rick is making cake after cake with a similar theme. In the first half of 2013, for some reason, we had plenty of ocean themed cake requests. One of our favorite cake projects in that theme was an antique copper sculpted diver's helmet. Making an antique diver's helmet was on Rick's cake bucket list - he's always wanted to make one - so we were both excited when our client ordered one as a surprise 60th Birthday cake for her husband.

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Rick made this yellow and white sculpted fishing boat cake for William's 50th Birthday. It came as no surprise the cake was yellow, as were many cakes we made that year. Like the antique diver's helmet, the fishing boat wasn't easy to make and was ordered by a woman for her husband's surprise birthday party. Both clients and their husbands were thrilled with the cake and it was a hit at the party, which made us very happy!

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The two cakes above, a wedding and groom's cake, made for Grace and Dallas represent two more cake trends we noticed at cakelava in 2013 - yellow and or/gold colored wedding cakes, and incredibly complex sculpted vehicles (air and land). For Grace's wedding cake Rick did a freehand floral applique inspired by the bride's dress, a textured gold bottom tier and gorgeous handcrafted peonies. The groom's cake, a badass Kiowa Warrior helicopter for a pilot was as masculine as they come, and looked perfectly at home at the military wedding.

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Another beautiful yellow wedding cake. This cake was actually inspired by Rick's 3-tier "Joy" design, and redesigned as a 2-tier. We love both versions! Stay tuned for more yellow wedding cakes in our next posts.

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 Another sculpted vehicle cake, though this guy needs no introduction. It had been a while since Rick made this car and he enjoyed revisiting an old friend!

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Our shop hasn't offered cupcakes in years, but in April Rick baked his mouthwatering Guava Lava and Banana Nutella cupcakes for the "I Love Kailua Town Party", a benefit for the Lani-Kailua Outdoor circle which helps keep our lovely hometown green and beautiful. We were happy to donate for a great cause! It's been a while since we've had a booth at the annual Kailua Town Party and we enjoyed mingling with our community (and the tens of thousands of attendees). Rick snapped this photo of me in our booth, standing next to a giant poster of our book cover, a special gift from our publisher! Though the cupcakes were thoroughly enjoyable - we ate several of them - it's a good thing we're not around them too often. They are too irresistible!

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The Seuss themed cakes are always so much fun! All decorations and characters were handmade. After Rick made this cake, we got a request for another one, which we designed a little differently and will be shown later in A.E.C...

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We had wondered when we were going to get a request for a sculpted Craps table with a Florida Gator and 2013 was our lucky year! It was one of our more unusual cakes of the year and we were so happy to do it, along with the couple's lovely wedding cake! Rick spent a good amount of time making the Gator figure and sculpting the cake. Our bride Marnie ordered the Craps table for her fiance Chris as a surprise groom's cake presented at their rehearsal dinner.

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Another cakelava first, a sculpted Samoan kava bowl. Rick included handcrafted traditional Samoan decorations worn and used by the chiefs, in honor of Papa Mose's 70th Birthday.

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We're ending Part 2 of B.E.C. with a cake Rick greatly enjoyed working on. wink. This NFL team and its iconic cheerleaders are instantly recognizable. The sculpted figure, a surprise gift from his wife, was made for Jeff's birthday party at a local steakhouse. Great steak and a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders themed cake - a birthday meal that would make so many men jealous!

The selection of cakes in Part 1 and 2 of B.E.C. (Before Extreme Cakeovers) were made by Rick in January to June. In the next post, we'll share some of our adventures in July including the book's release and our Boston classes, and then look at Part 3 - cakes made A.E.C.

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: 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. 

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!

cakelava is now on Pinterest!

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This week we finally caved. We starting pinning on cakelava's new Pinterest page, creating a small handful of boards and we were off and running! We've noticed our cakes on Pinterest for a long time, and we want to thank everyone who has pinned, commented, repinned or Liked our cakes enough to post them on their boards. We invite you to join us on our brand new Pinterest page for cakelava and our Extreme Cakeovers book.

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One of our Pinterest boards is called "these are a few of our favorite cakes". So far, the "few" cakes have turned into 62 of them, and we're about to make it 63 - at least 63! Our newest addition will be this handpainted Samoan tattoo themed wedding cake (above) which Rick made for a wedding this past January. He spent many hours painting the intricate Samoan tribal pattern by hand and we couldn't wait to present it to the couple! It is definitely one of 64 of our favorite cakes and we hope you like it too! Off to pin it!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2011, Part 3

 

It's been a couple weeks since our last "Stroll Down Memory Lane" post. We've been busy working on new cakes and getting ready for our book release on July 9th, which has created much excitement around here! We started writing EXTREME CAKEOVERS  in 2011 and have now come full circle. We can't wait to finally share the fruits of our labor - and believe me, it was definitely labor! If you missed the previous cake retrospective posts, you can read them here:

Part 1
Part 2

We ended Part 2 of the 2011 retrospective of selected cakes in late June, when summer weddings in Hawaii were in full swing and we felt the added pressure of having a book to produce. Our studio was a crazy place! A portion of each day was spent working on cakelava cakes for customers and the other part was spent working on our book, and the two couldn't be more different. We had our custom made-from-scratch cakes where each cake was uniquely designed with a specific client in mind, and simultaneously designing cakes using all store-bought products. If we weren't making a cake, we were on a delivery, or going to a store to get products for the book.

I've chosen some cakes to share from the months of July through October, starting with a very tall, dramatic hibiscus cake, shown above. It was one of four cakes, including a fun and swirly circles design (below) Rick made for July 3rd events.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010, Part 3

Today, we explore Part 3 of a retrospective of cakelava cakes made in 2010. We began our stroll down memory lane in late January 2013, starting with the year 2005, our first year in business, and have selected cakes from each year to share. If you missed Part 1 of 2010's post, you can view it here, and Part 2 here. You can read the entire series by visiting the Archives on the blog.

One of our favorite designs (above, photo by Mike Pham) was a 7-tier towering black, white and silver wedding cake made for Jessica and David. The stunning cake was 3 feet tall with handcrafted flowers and a vase topper, piped swirls and handmade decorations. Rick spent much of the week before the wedding making the decorations. The gorgeous cake was featured on a number of internet websites and in Wedding Essentials Magazine.

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!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2010. Part 1

2010 marked our 5th year in business, and was a turning point for cakelava. We began having a larger presence in the media, and Rick received his first invitation to teach classes in the early part of 2010. He was shocked and honored when he was asked to teach in Canada the following year and excited to to share his craft. He always wanted be able to give back to other decorators, as his mentors had done for him and this was a perfect opportunity to do it.

Rick and his assistant Annie's "Spongebob Birthday Cakes" Challenge on Food Network aired in April 2010, on Easter Sunday. It was an Easter Sunday we will never forget! Despite it being a family holiday which prevented people from attending our viewing party, we still had more than 100 guests in attendance who were there to support us and cheer Rick on! Around the time the episode aired, the media was often at our shop, filming Rick as he was making cakes and doing interviews.

It was a very interesting year for us. Hawaii started feeling the effects of the recession around this time, and there were less "destination" weddings - non-residents coming to Hawaii - and those that did often had smaller guest counts because some of their guests had lost their jobs or they couldn't afford to take such an expensive trip. In general, I think it was difficult time for many people in the cake industry, and we knew many people who shuttered their doors, which is always heartbreaking. We had counted our blessings we had a solid reputation by that time and was still getting regular business. Maybe as not as much as before, but considering the time, we were extremely fortunate.

As I reflect on 2010, I think of that year as the "end of the innocence" - not that life was so easy in the previous years, owning a business never is, but it was the last year we would focus solely on making cakes for clients. Early in 2011, Rick started teaching and began receiving more offers for other locations. Our traveling started and would become a big part of our lives in the coming years. We also got an amazing book deal for "Extreme Cakeovers" with Clarkson Potter in 2011, and would then balance the writing of the book with cake orders and teaching gigs. I remember at particularly hectic times of our lives in the last couple of years that we would reminisce about the days when we would "just make cake." Now, we wouldn't trade the opportunities we've had for anything in the world, but it demanded a level of commitment to our business that we never imagined!

I have chosen the cakes below as a sampling of some of our favorite designs that year. There were so many more I would have liked to include but couldn't for lack of time. We hope you have been enjoying the retrospective!

Rick was excited to try out these shapes for Laura and Oliver's wedding cake. The couple was married at Lanikuhonua, a gorgeous outdoor location on Oahu. Rick handpainted their cake to resemble the beautiful graphic motif from their wedding invitation. I was really smitten by this cake and loved how stylish and unique it looked. Luckily, so did Laura and Oliver!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane - 2009. Part 3

When I had the idea about doing a cakes retrospective for cakelava dating all the way back to our humble beginnings in 2005, little did I know how much effort would be involved with the writing and cake selection process. Was I crazy to think that with well over 1000 cakes in our history it would be easy to choose a representative sampling? Clearly, I didn't think about it, I was driven by the desire to look back and appreciate how far we've come, and to share some cakes we are proud of with new people who may not be familiar with the designs.

For 2009, I had an especially tough time choosing cakes to feature so I divided it into three parts. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it.

Rick designed this beautiful wedding cake with wrapped layers and handcrafted cherry blossoms for an outdoor wedding at Kualoa Ranch in May. The cake was featured in a number of magazines and in the book "1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes". The gorgeous photo is by Frank Amodo.

In 2009, a number of our good friends were married and some celebrated significant birthdays with a cakelava cake. This sushi cake was made by Rick for our friend Melissa for her 40th birthday party and gifted to her by her boyfriend as a surprise. Like us, they are huge fans of sushi. Rick made and placed sushis all over the cake. A few years later, Rick would teach students how to make the sushis on a sculpted platter for one of his classes. This exquisite photo is by Robert Bruce Ayres.

We've adored this cake for years! I like the vintage look of the flowers and bands around the tiers, and the muted tones used throughout. The bride Krista sent us the custom made bird toppers, we thought they were beautifully made and so cute! I wrote a post about this wedding cake back in October 2009 that covers the cake, including the types of flowers, in more detail.

It's no secret. Rick has a great appreciation for Hawaiian tikis and has been including them in his designs for years. I love them too. We even chose "Tiki's Grill & Bar" in Waikiki to have our viewing party for the Food Network "Spongebob" Challenge. He made this sculpted tiki out of cake for a couple's 17th anniversary celebration. We were both really happy with the way the standing tiki head turned out, and it remains one of our favorites.

By the time Rick had made the Tiki cake shown above, we were already in discussions with Food Network for an upcoming "Challenge" TV show they wanted to cast him for. When Rick found out they wanted him for "Spongebob Birthday Cakes", we both just about died! We were so excited for this particular challenge because we are huge fans of Spongebob Squarepants and it was a sculpting challenge - right up Rick's alley! For the competition which would take place in December, the competitors were asssigned one of the characters as their main character. Rick was given Spongebob, which we were both thrilled about! It was his first time on "Challenge" after numerous efforts to try and get out there to do them, and he had to compete against "Challenge" Veterans - Lauren Kitchens, Bronwen Weber and Kristin Davison - which added to the pressure!

In an ideal world, we would have uninterrupted time to prepare for such an important competition, but we had too many cake orders to fulfill during that time. Rick had very little time to prepare for his Challenge. He sketched his design, made Spongebob once, secured his assistant, Annie Welch, who he had worked when he was making cakes in Seattle. Once he was cast, we began noticing Spongebob EVERYWHERE, and took trips to Toys 'R Us to look at Spongebob items.  Many emails, and forms to sign later, we were on a plane to Denver to shoot the competition!

The photo above was taken at the studios where "Challenge" was filmed. The production company had just moved into a brand new studio and we would be one of the first to use it. After a very LONG day with what felt like an equally long deliberation by the judges, including a Nickelodeon representative, the competiton ended and we flew back to Hawaii. Food Network still airs the episode from time to time and I will leave the result of the competition a mystery, in case you haven't seen it. It was a nail biter and a very close competition, and so much fun to watch!

Rick and his assistant Annie Welch standing proudly next to their creation! The competition occurred shortly before Christmas and would be aired in April 2010. It was the third longest, most agonizing wait we've had in our cake career, the second being the casting for another Food Network show. The longest wait we've had, well, we are still experiencing it and have been for the past year and a half! The wait for the Food Network shows was agony, but multiply that intensity by at least ten, adding in excitement we can barely contain, and this is how we feel about the wait for our book, "Extreme Cakeovers". It will finally be released by Clarkson Potter/Random House in July!

The next posts will cover 2010, which was another great year for cakes and media, and a turning point for cakelava, leading us down some new avenues.

Since our Stroll Down Memory Lane started, a number of you have recognized your cake and it has meant a lot to hear from you! Whether we have made your cake or are just enjoying the view, we would love to hear if you have a favorite cake, or anything else you want to share with us about the cakes.