Flamboyant Peony Cake

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We met with Leslie and Arnold last Fall to design their wedding cake.  We knew shortly after we started talking about their wedding colors and design style that their cake was going to be flamboyant and fun!  One of their wedding colors was pewter, which is somewhat unusual, and obviously one of the bride's favorite colors because she was wearing a pewter colored shirt and carried a pewter handbag, and when we looked down, her shoes were also pewter.  We knew pewter would definitely be included in the cake!  Besides the colors midnight blue, pewter, and splashes of pink, and a romantic floral accent, the rest she left up to Rick's imagination.

For Leslie and Arnold, Rick designed a very tall bottom tier with dramatic edges and two smaller top tiers in a rounded shape. A large handcrafted pink peony with stylized curvy pewter leaves was placed on the cake, adding a romantic flair to the design, along with a floral piped pattern on the bottom tier.  Rick chose to do a wavy cake board to work with the shapes of the cake and accented the board with both fluid and sharp design accents. We love the way the cake looked and how all the different components came together -- fun, modern and romantic, all in one! Their wedding took place on the gorgeous grounds of the JW Marriott Ihilani resort in Ko Olina, in the Hokulani Ballroom, one of the prettiest on site. Many heads turned when we carried their wedding cake in and placed it on the pewter linen, amongst the pretty pink flowers and blue linen on the head table.  It looked right at home! Congratulations to Leslie and Arnold!

Book Deal!

cookbook shelf at our local Barnes and Noble. 

 

We barely had time to catch our breath upon returning from Rick's Canada classes when we jumped head-first into our next project, working on a proposal for our first book!  Over the past two and a half months, in between our cake orders, we've been quietly nurturing this exciting and complex project.  Working with our awesome agents Holly and Allan of Hollan Publishing our manuscript was pitched and highly received by publishers and went to auction, which is every first-time author's dream! We still can't believe how quickly this is all happening and suddenly we've found ourselves writing our very own cake book! This has been one amazing experience, really more like a dream that we're still waking up from.  We are thrilled to announce that we have been signed by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Crown Publishing and owned by Random House!  They are super excited about our book and we can't wait to work them!  It was absolutely a dream come true for us to be a "Potter" author.  Clarkson Potter is the largest cookbook publisher in America and Random House is, well, no introduction necessary.  Potter has some of the most well-known chefs and culinary experts including Martha Stewart, Giada de Laurentis, Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, and Rachel Ray, to name a few, and we are honored to be amongst them.

For the rest of the year, in addition to our cake orders Rick and I will be working on our book, which is scheduled to be released in Spring 2013.  During this time we will do our best to accommodate cake requests but we are also on a deadline and suggest you book early if you are wanting a cake.  We can't divulge what our book's concept will be or other details but we are truly excited to write it, design the projects and work with our agents and editors.  We promise the book will be a lot of fun and we will keep everyone posted.  Thank you so much to those who have given us their support.  It means the world to us! 

Totally Groovy!

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Here at cakelava, we're definitely not afraid of color.  We embrace it, celebrate it and fortunately, get a good amount of requests for colorful cakes.  Rick designed this totally groovy 70's themed cake for a sweet young girl whose family are regular clients of ours.  They are one of the kindest families we know and Rick took the responsibility to make a special cake for their daughter seriously.  The cake was a celebration cake made for the girl and her friends as they kick off their summer and prepare for 6th grade.  We were asked for a fun cake in bright colors, for someone who loves pre-teen music and peace signs.  They gave Rick creative control and he really worked his magic on this one.  When I walked into our kitchen while he was working on the cake, I couldn't believe how colorful and fun this cake was, and the medley of colors really worked together.  We loved the writing for the cake "You Rocked 5th Grade!" She is one lucky girl.  What a fun kick-off to her summer, and ours!

Cute and Geeky Kids Cakes - A Winning Combination!

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If cakes had a "like" button, I would give this one a thumbs up and a LOVE! It turned out super cute and is one of my new favorite kid's cakes.  It's only the second time Rick made a Little Einsteins themed cake, and the first one was a sculpted rocket made a couple years ago and shown below. 

This cake brings together the cute and the geeky, always a winning combination!  The cute and geeky cake requests seem to run in our client's family, as their first child's birthday cake was a Super Why? theme, shown on our website.  Making kids cakes can be more time consuming than other types, but also rewarding as it allows us to grow with the family as they celebrate their birthdays.  We get to know the family over the years and look forward to our next cake together. 

When the order came in for the Little Einsteins cake, as usual, Rick didn't know exactly what he was going to do until shortly before the event.  I loved all the different textures on the cake and the sculpted rocket topper was adorable!  Everything on the cake was edible and made by Rick, and for the inside of the cake two tropical flavors were chosen, Broke da Mouth (mango) and Guava Lava.  Thank you to our clients for making us a big part, once again, of their special celebration!

www.cakelava.com