EXTREME CAKEOVERS Book!

Having spent the past year and a half working on our book, EXTREME CAKEOVERS, it was truly exhilarating for Rick and I to see the cover design! He and I have had many discussions about the cover of our book, wondering which cake or cakes would be given the honor to be front and center, or would there even be a cake? As you can imagine, we have grown quite attached to all the cakes in the book and found it difficult to choose just one for the cover. As fate would have it, we didn't have to, because the decision was made for us. It was the Robot cake's lucky day - his chance to shine and show what he's made of, quite literally! When we saw the cover, we fell head over heels all over again with the cute little robot we spent so much time crafting and writing about, and were in awe with our book designer's brilliant composition that so perfectly captured what the book is about.

Although the robot cake is a perfect cover model, we are just as excited about the dozens of other cakes that Rick designed for the book and look forward to the day when we can share them with you! EXTREME CAKEOVERS will be released next Summer by Clarkson Potter (Crown Publishing/Random House). It has been a huge honor for us to work with our wonderful editor and publishing team at Clarkson Potter and feel blessed to have the opportunity to write such a fun book!

BOSTON, Massachusetts "Discover Your Inner Artist 3" classes at The Cake World!

We are thrilled to announce our third and final set of "Discover Your Inner Artist 3" classes for 2013, which will take place at The Cake World in Boston, Massachusetts in July. This will be the first time Rick is teaching his craft in New England, and the only North American east coast location in 2013. Due to our book's release in Summer 2013 we will not be traveling for classes past July, so if you have been wanting to learn from Rick, we would love to have you join us at one of our three scheduled locations next year - Austin, Amsterdam and Boston.

The philosphy behind Rick's "Discover Your Inner Artist" series of classes is to teach students how to let go of their artistic inhibitions and dependence on fancy tools, molds and cutters and learn how to trust their own "inner artist", which we all have. The classes explore some of his favorite art techniques and take a free form artistic approach to cake decorating, promoting creativity by embracing the idea of letting go and not feeling like you need to achieve such a precise or uniform look to cakes. Rick often says "It will work itself out". Once you have the knowlege of many different techniques, your confidence as an artist builds and you take more risks with your work, giving you more means to an end.

We've had great success with "Discover Your Inner Artist" and "Discover Your Inner Artist 2", with students expressing they haven't tried many of these techniques before. Students who have taken either or both DYIA and DYIA 2 will already be familiar with some of the techniques and can jump right in to learn these designs, which are slightly more involved. However, the first two series of classes are not a pre-requisite to "Discover Your Inner Artist 3" classes.

Students who enroll in the Peacock and Dragonflies and Waterlillies 2-day classes will learn handpainting, airbrushing skills, fondant application on taller tiers, including a concave design, how to pipe with royal icing, how to create a custom waterfall-style cake topper, and how to make handcrafted decorations without the use of molds or fancy cutters.

To register, visit here. The Cake World is offering a 10% early registration discount until November 20th. Students may either pay in full or in installments. Please contact The Cake World with any questions about the class or for travel information. There will be a limited number of openings in each class, to allow Rick to give students more individualized attention. We hope to see you there!

2 day class, Dragonflies and Waterlillies

2 day class, Painted Peacock

"Peeta" the Chihuahua

www.cakelava.com

Rick loves making the sculpted dog cakes and I always enjoy seeing how realistic they turn out. Having been a dog owner ourselves, we have a special appreciation for these cakes, and know how important it is to capture the personality of each client's special pet. Our bride Ashley asked Rick to make her and her fiance's pet Chihuahua named "Peeta". The cake would be a surprise for the groom on their wedding day. Rick sculpted "Peeta" out of chocolate cake. He added a golf ball in front of the dog to tie in the groom's love of the sport. Congratulations to our couple!

A Candy Colored Wedding and a Sharp Looking Groom's Cake

www.cakelava.com

Summer really flew by this year! When we weren't traveling or meeting book deadlines, we were making and delivering cakes, like this bright and whimsical wedding cake and "sharp" looking groom's cake for our couple Lisa and Kent. Lisa and Kent have a real sweet tooth and even based their wedding theme on their love of candy. Their wedding colors were inspired by brightly colored candies with accents of chocolate. When we met with the couple earlier in the year, they requested a fun, flamboyant, brightly colored topsy turvy style of wedding cake with playful wire pieces coming out of it. They left the design in Rick's hands and he designed the cake with their candy theme in mind. When they saw their sketch, Lisa and Kent loved it and Rick was excited to make it! Not surprisingly, their cake flavors were two of our sweetest, Peanut Butter Fudgey, and Kona Toffee Crunch. Kent is a huge fans of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and this flavor and the Kona Toffee Crunch which has candy toffee pieces was a perfect choice for both of them!

www.cakelava.com

During the time Rick was designing their wedding cake, Lisa contacted us requesting a surprise groom's cake for Kent. She shared with us that Kent's new obsession was knives, specifically, local knife artist, Ken Onion's beautiful pieces. She gave us photos of Kent's favorite Ken Onion pieces and two were selected for variety. She asked that Rick incorporate camouflage into the design, so he placed the knives on a hand painted camouflage board. She chose a banana cake flavor for Kent's special surprise cake.

When we delivered both cakes to the hotel, we knew their guests were in for a special treat. The room was decorated with brightly colored stripes and polka dots, and there was a candy bar prominently on display. The wedding cake was brought to one side of the room and the groom's cake to another area of the room, which we affectionately called "The Man Cave". The knives cake looked right at home with photos of the groom, including one of him and Rhianna, who he apparently has a big crush on because there was a life size Rhianna cut-out figure flanking one side of the table. We also heard the knife designer Ken Onion would be attending the wedding. We knew the knives had to look just like his beautiful creations. No pressure there!

Congratulations to Lisa and Kent! A big thank you to them for including us not only in their special day but also for inviting us to their "Mahalo" party they threw for their wedding vendors and close friends. What a SWEET couple!!