Happy New Year! Now back to the cakes!

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Happy New Year everyone!  It feels like ages since I last wrote on the blog.  We've been consumed with the holidays and making cakes and are now beginning to get into the groove of 2011. It's looking like an amazing year with some unbelievable cake designs on order and lots of exciting things in the works!  We can't wait to travel to Ontario, Canada in March, where Rick will be teaching at Icing Inspirations with two 3-day classes.  Being able to meet Chrissie, our host, and all the students who we've gotten to know over a distance is sure to be one of our highlights of 2011.  Here's to an incredible, fun-filled, unforgettable year for all of us!

To kick off this exciting year, we're sharing a cake that just makes us feel good when we see it.  It's cute, colorful and full of life!  This pretty cake was made for Ava's first birthday in December.

Mele Kalikimaka!

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Mele Kalikimaka!  That's "Merry Christmas" in Hawaiian.  It's always difficult getting in the Christmas spirit over here.  No snow on the ground, no roasting of chestnuts by an open fire, no bundling up in our winter attire while sipping hot chocolate.  This is not to say that we don't enjoy our Hawaiian Christmases.  We have beautiful 80 degree weather perfect for spending a day at the beach. President Obama and his family are here in Kailua for Christmas, which is always fun, and we get to enjoy the comforts of home with family.  Still ... no snow, no snowflakes and certainly no snowmen.  Fortunately, we have clients who also desire to have a winter wonderland here in the tropics, and every now and then we get the opportunity around Christmas to make a winter themed cake.  This year we have two of them and one even has snowmen on it!

The blue and silver cake above is the first of our two winter/Christmas themed wedding cakes this month.  Rick designed the striking 4-tier cake along with a groom's cake for Eseta and Poasa's wedding last Saturday night.  They requested snowflakes to be used on the cake and wanted it to be fun and elegant at the same time as well as integrate their wedding colors of light blue, silver and white.  Eseta gave Rick carte blanche when designing their cake.  In person this cake was full of sparkles and details difficult to convey in the photo.  The bands on the bottom of each tier sparkled as did the custom handcrafted snowflake topper.  Conceptually, Rick's idea was to express the falling of snow and to have a feel of winter wonderland.  This cake was so pretty and full of life!  We can't wait for our next Christmas themed cake, coming next week!

Quarry Books Giveaway - And the Winner Is ...

There was much excitement about the Quarry Books sponsored Giveaway on the blog last week!  The 1000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes book is a must-have in any cake or baking enthusiast's library.  We own two copies, one in our shop for clients to look at and one at home.  Earlier this week Rick was a judge in a local cupcake competition and the organizer of the event purchased this delightful book which Rick signed.  The autographed book was included in the prize package that the winner received.  We hope this book will inspire Donna, the winner of the cupcake competition as she continues to pursue her baking passion, as well as the winner of our Quarry Books Giveaway on the blog!  Before we announce the winner, we would like to say that if we could, we would gift each one of you a copy of this beautiful picture book. 

(drumroll please) And the winner of our Quarry Books Giveaway is ...

Jen Ramsey

Congratulations to Jen on her winning entry! Jen is an avid reader of the cakelava blog and the 2nd person to enter the giveaway.  That's what we love about random drawings, it doesn't matter when you enter, everyone has a chance.  Rick and I have known Jen for several years as she used to work as a wedding coordinator for Weddings by Grace & Mona, a top event planning company in Hawaii before moving to Idaho this year and opening up her own event planning company, Weddings and Events by Jen Ramsey.  (Jen, we hope you don't mind if we give you a plug! )

On her entry Jen wrote:  Hi Rick and Sasha!! I found the picture of your wonderful Indian Pillows cake on page 22! Miss working with you two and seeing your fabulous cakes! Would love to have a copy of this book to show all my Idaho friends what wonderful work you do! Hope to see you soon! Jen Ramsey

Enjoy your new book, Jen!

This Giveaway wouldn't have been possible without the generous contribution of Quarry Books publishers.  Rick and I thank the team at Quarry Books for their gift and the authors, Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown for assembling this beautiful picture book! 

Coming this week on the "Musings from Cakeland" blog ... our newest cakes!

Celebration at the Finish Line

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We are blessed to have many repeat customers at cakelava, including Connie and Mike, who we made a wedding cake for last year.  Connie contacted us to make a surprise cake for Mike, who was running his first Honolulu Marathon on his birthday, Sunday December 12th and wanted a cake to reflect both events.  Mike is an avid runner and she was excited about the idea of a sculpted running shoe.  Not just any running shoe, but one in Mike's collection.  Rather than having just a shoe sitting on a board, she asked if we could add in a Finish Line with a "Happy Birthday" sign, to give it context and we thought it was a great idea!  Rick sculpted the shoe out of cake and all items used were edible.  Connie was so excited when she came to pick up the cake and said they would be afraid to cut into it.  Wishing Mike a  big Congratulations on finishing his first Honolulu Marathon and a Happy Birthday!

Just a reminder that our Quarry Books Giveaway of one copy of "1000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies and Cakes" book will be ending tomorrow, Saturday, December 18th at Midnight Pacific Standard Time.  If you haven't entered yet, this is a fantastic opportunity to win a fabulous book featuring cakes by Rick Reichart of cakelava and many other amazing designers!