Towering Elegance in Orange and Gold

At the time we accepted the order for Malia's elegant wedding cake with feminine silhouette, orange roses and gold swirls, Rick already had his hands full with the Superheroes wedding cake, Chinese take-out box, Noah's ark cake and another wedding cake we haven't shared yet. The groom's sister ordered this wedding cake as a gift to her brother and his fiancee. She wanted an elegant white fondant wedding cake with handcrafted roses, gold swirls, and everything else was left up to Rick. He designed her 5-tier wedding cake with a vase of handcrafted roses on top, and a tall concave middle tier. It was a very striking in person and everyone loved the design. It was a beautiful gift that the bride will remember for years to come!




Join us on Tuesday, December 1st as we post part 1 of our Interview with cake designer extraordinaire Marina Sousa of Just Cake. Much will be revealed, including how she got into cakes, her experience on the Oprah Show and Food Network Challenges and just about everything else you would want to know. It was a wonderful interview and we can't wait to run it!

Janelle and Alex's Featured Wedding has been posted on cakelava.com and a selection of new cakes will follow soon.

Aloha, til next time!

Next Featured Wedding Sneak Peek - Janelle and Alex

All images courtesy of Stephen Ludwig Photography

Easily one of our favorite weddings of the year, our next Featured Wedding on cakelava.com will showcase Janelle and Alex's wedding at Lanikuhonua on June 13, 2009. We knew we were in for a real "treat" when Janelle contacted us last year requesting for a cartoon turtle hugging a cupcake for her wedding cake. We thought at first - we won't lie - "That's an odd request", but quickly realized as the rest of hers and Alex's wedding details came together that it was an absolutely perfect cake for their wedding! The couple LOVES their sweets, especially Janelle, and the theme of the wedding revolved around sweets and treats of the edible variety. How much do they love sweets? Let's count the ways ... The wedding cake was a sculpted turtle hugging a giant cupcake. We made giant sculpted cupcakes to be placed on some of the guest tables, and the other tables had baking related centerpieces, such as a bowl filled with small marshmallows, Sprinkles cupcake mix, a giant spoon, etc. Janelle and Alex provided a large candy buffet for their guests, filled with giant lollipops, licorice, salt water taffy, and many other goodies. The motif of the wedding was a cupcake which was found throughout the reception area. The pinata (yes, this wedding had a pinata) was a cupcake for the women and a liquor bottle for the men. This is just the sweets. We didn't even talk about the cuisine. Two words. Food Porn -- this foodie was in heaven! Since Janelle and Alex's wedding was a mid-day reception, guests were served a delicious lunch catered by Ginniberries. Everything was minaiture and the food looked amazing!

The wedding colors were just as fun! Vibrant pinks, greens and oranges were found throughout the wedding. Everything had that special touch, that extra customization that made the wedding unforgettable. Emi Ink, made all the paperie, and she did a wonderful job. The fabulous Mona Hirata of Weddings by Grace & Mona designed a knock-out event giving Janelle and Alex everything they wanted and more, pulling together an A-list of vendors which included Stephen Ludwig Photography, Ginniberries, Showtime DJ's, Emi Ink, Spinning Web Florist, and cakelava for the cakes.

The sweetest part of this wedding was of course, Janelle and Alex. Two of the kindest, most gracious people around, and they do love their cake. So much that we're already working with them on their anniversary cake design.

Janelle and Alex's wedding and their cake were previously showcased on our blog, but with images as beautiful and artistic as what we received from Stephen Ludwig, who is also an amazing artist, how could we pass up this wedding. Enjoy!


























Janelle and Alex's wedding will be posted on cakelava.com in the near future.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rick and Sasha

Mmmm... Noodles. Chinese Take-out Box Cake

It's lunch time and my stomach is growling, which may explain our choice for the next cake to showcase on the blog. One of a number of cakes Rick recently made, this one was made for a 60th birthday party in Chinatown. As I'm looking at the Hot Fudge Sundae flavored Chinese takeout box filled with noodles and the accompanying fortune cookies on the side, I'm reminded I really need to eat lunch. Rick sculpted the box out of cake and all components are edible. To personalize the box, he put a Chinese zodiac sign of the Ox, as requested by the client.

The cake was a huge hit among both the attendees of the party and the people who couldn't make it. See our Thank You note from our client Samantha, who also provided these marvellous photos. Thank you, Sam!

Dear Rick and Sasha,

I just had to email you once more to thank you so much for such an AWESOME cake. I kind of had an idea what the cake would look like, but it's a completely different story when you see it in person. The Chinese Takeout box cake was SO realistic and still just a bit cartoony!! My mom LOVED the cake and so did everyone at the party. For those that couldn't attend I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone and sent them a picture, it wasn't until they read the message that they realized they were looking at a cake! Some of them thought it was an actual order of noodles! It was an awesome cake and tasted just as yummy as it looked!! You both are awesome, awesome people and I so look forward to working with you folks again!

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you on TV!!

Sincerely,
Samantha T. and Family

Coming Soon - cakelava Interviews Marina Sousa!

It's been a year since we conducted our last interview in our "Interviews from Cakeland" series. When our last interview ran, with Elisa Strauss of Confetti Cakes, we had already lined up Marina Sousa of Just Cake to be our next interviewee. Around this time Marina suffered a tremendous personal loss and we had to put the interview on hold til the opportunity was right. Last month, shortly before Marina was scheduled to appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show, she reached out to us to congratulate Rick on his upcoming Food Network Challenge and it was then that all the stars lined up just as the universe meant them to be, and we decided THIS was the time to run the interview. Over the past couple of weeks Marina and I have been conducting our interview, fulfilling what was started a year ago. I am a firm believer on the timing of things, that events occur when it is appropriate and I can't think of a better time when someone is on top of the world and in her element, to find out how she got there and why she is so deserves to be there. My upcoming interview with Marina left me inspired, touched and an even bigger "Marina" fan than I already was. She is one amazing lady and we are very excited to share the interview with our readers! As one of the top cake designers out there and a Food Network superstar, we are honored she has shared so much with us!

We will be running Marina Sousa's two-part interview on our blog shortly after the Thanksgiving holidays, during the first week in December. We will keep you updated on the exact days both here and on Facebook.

In the meantime, we urge you check out Just Cake's incredible portfolio of cakes and read about Marina's many accomplishments.

Noah's Ark Birthday Cake

After a week full of artistically challenging designs which included several wedding cakes and sculpted cakes, Rick ended his cake week with this super cute Noah's Ark cake for a Isaiah's first birthday. Unlike Noah, who supposedly had one hundred plus years to build his ark, Rick worked on his over the course of three days. The ark was made entirely out of cake and everything on the cake was edible. Rick spent hours sculpting the ark and handcrafting dozens of animals to fill his ark, so it could be viewed from all sides. It was absolutely adorable and the family of the birthday boy couldn't be happier with the end result. Shortly after we arrived on site for the delivery, it started to rain, but it was only a drizzle. Thankfully, it didn't continue for forty days and nights. Happy Birthday Isaiah!



To see more children's birthday cakes in our portfolio, visit cakelava.com.

Aloha, 'til next time!

Kapow, Thwack, Christina and Jason's Superheroes Wedding Cake

Christina first contacted us to make her wedding cake back in January when she and her fiance Jason were stationed in Iraq. She told us that Jason was a big fan of Captain America and this was something she wanted incorporated into their cake, possibly as a groom's cake. When they returned to Hawaii from Iraq in the summer, we met with the couple and it was decided at the meeting Rick would design a Superheroes themed wedding cake, with a custom figure of Christina as Wonder Woman and Jason as his favorite Superhero, Captain America. We were all excited about the idea and the couple absolutely loved Rick's design when they saw the sketch. The couple gave Rick carte blanche on the design and his idea to create a backdrop of a metropolis in the cake. Christina and Jason are a couple of hipsters and wanted to do it Old School, which was perfect for us, because we're Old School too. The couple hired a wonderfully artistic photographer Christen Vidanovic, of Nineteen Owls Photography to capture their wedding day. For a non-traditional couple like Christina and Jason, Christen was a fantastic match and we can't wait to see her images! The wedding and reception took place at the beautiful and lush Haiku Gardens last Friday. Just as they went unconventional for their wedding cake design, so were the flavors of their wedding cake. They chose our super delicious Local Kine Special and Kona Toffee Crunch flavors, to serve their guests. Hopefully Christina and Jason, our Superheroes had one fabulous day!

"Cakes for a Cure" - American Cancer Society Relay for Life

As Thanksgiving approaches, we have so much to be thankful for. Aside from the love and support of our friends, family and each other, Rick and I have been counting our blessings recently, as many new and exciting opportunities have come our way. One in particular that we are very excited to be a part of is the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life "Cakes for a Cure" which is taking place on April 24, 2010 in Greenwood, S.C. The theme of this year's American Cancer Society is "More Birthdays: Creating a world with more birthdays" and what pairs up perfectly with birthdays? Cake!! Cake is synonymous with comfort, caring, celebration and commemoration, as is Music. Bringing together cake and music is the idea behind Greenwood, S.C.'s Relay for Life teams "Cakes for a Cure" fundraiser presented by Co-Chairs Patti Gagstetter and Valerie Hofstetter. This one day cake fundraising extravaganza in Greenwood will feature cake competitions, demonstrations, a "Showdown Challenge", concert, ice cream and cake social and an amazing 2010/2011 calendar of cake designers available only through "Cakes for a Cure".

Some of the enticing line-up of events include a cake competition with 20 categories to enter. Demonstrations by cake designers Norm Davis and Zane Beg, who will be making a 4 foot tall dress form cake with the cancer ribbon. Ashley Vicos will be demonstration air brushing techniques. The "Showdown Challenge" will be emceed by Ashley Vicos and will feature challengers from 3 states competing. And then there is the calendar and t-shirts, which, if you don't have the opportunity to get to Greenwood, S.C. for the event, you can still help support the cause and get a beautiful memento from the event.

cakelava was invited several months ago to be a part of this incredible event and we accepted the invitation right away for Rick to appear in the "Cakes for a Cure" 2010/2011 calendar. Rick, along with a number of other well-known industry cake artists throughout the nation will design and decorate a cake based on their theme "With a Song in My Heart". He will be selecting a song and designing a cake around it, to be presented in the calendar. The calendar will be available at the "Cakes for a Cure" event in South Carolina as well as through their website after the event. We felt honored to be asked to take part in such a worthwhile cause!

Unfortunately, we have weddings booked that weekend and are not able to fly out to Greenwood, S.C. to be a part of "Cakes for a Cure", but we and our cake (via the calendar) will be there in spirit to show our support. If you are wanting to contribute to this wonderful event, "Cakes for a Cure" has recently released t-shirts and aprons for you to purchase. For each t-shirt purchased, $6.50 will be donated to The American Cancer Society Relay for Life and $7.50 per apron will be donated. There are two designs to choose from: Design #1: "Surviving Cancer is Icing on the Cake" and Design #2: "Finding a Cure is No Cake Walk". Check out the Relay for Life, Greenwood chapter's website for all the information on this exciting event! Please help show your support by ordering t-shirts and aprons, and the calendars in the spring, which will in turn help more cancer survivors celebrate more birthdays!