Cashew's Tub

2011 has been a good cake year for us. So busy that it's been awhile since I've updated my blog. There are so many cakes that I want to blog about but found this one that was drafted by never posted so here it is...

Expectant mother with her siblings and cake

I've always found baby shower cakes fun to make but I think this one is particularly extra fun. Janelle emails me all the way from Asia and asks me to make a cake for her sister who lives in the Bay Area and expecting her first child. Her only 2 requests: ocean animals and blue. With my thinking hat on, I came up with this tub filled with ocean animals and bath toys. Here are some details of the cake.

A closer look of what's in the tub

This photo courtesy of Janelle. Thank you for sharing!

And oh, have I told you I love it when customers give me free reign of the design? If not... I LOVE IT!

Bianca & Erik

Bianca and Erik have been together for 7 years now and I've known them pretty much since the beginning of their relationship. So when the couple asked me to make their wedding cake, I was honored. Every cake I make is special to me but to make a cake for someone you know always makes things extra special.

To those who know Bianca and Erik, you know that they are not going to go for the traditional tiered wedding cake. Within the first few minutes of our consultation, they settled on a sculpted cake reflecting wine and cheese as their wedding will be held in Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa. I thought of wine crates, cheese, wine and Erik said "Mice!" I drew them a really rough sketch of what I would do for them and after which, did some research myself. My vision was further inspired by Gateaux Inc's perfect wine themed cake with their permission.

There were a lot of firsts on this cake: my very first sugar wine bottle, first time for me to use modeling chocolate on an entire cake layer, and first time to drive 4 hours to get to destination. Thank goodness my dear hubby was nice enough to drive!

Here are some details of the cake.

View of wine bottle with our own "lover's blend" and "caviar"

Personalized the Parmigiano Reggiano wheel with the couple's wedding date

Look at the bride and groom mice!

The beautiful and happy couple

I can't help but post a photo of the breathtaking view from the top of the winery. Photo courtesy of my sister.

To Bianca and Erik, here is one thing our best man shared at our wedding that I know you will appreciate humorouly -- "There are 4 rings to marriage: engagement ring, wedding ring, suffe-ring AND endu-ring". :) To the ups and downs of marriage life, through thick and thin, and to hopefully lots of little Eriks and Biancas...CHEERS!! Congratulations!!

The Amazing Mike

Mike Mccarey of Mike's Amazing cakes is known for making exceptional 3 dimensional cakes that's totally out of the box. He's won several Food Network Challenges -- Elvis Birthday Cakes, Cartoon Cakes and Sesame Street Cakes to name a few. He was actually the first Food Network competitor that inspired me to give sculpted cakes a try and last month, I was given the opportunity to learn from Mike. He is just not amazing but A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! He is an excellent sculptor and such a speedee gonzales too! Most he has done was 70 cakes a week. Again, 70!! I feel his company name should actually be "Mike's Incredibly Amazing Cakes".

I took 2 back to back classes at Mike's. First was the Eiffel Tower Cake and let me just say, for a complicated looking structure, he made it quite easy yet still looking difficult to make! Here is a photo of me with the 2 Mikes and of course the cake.

As mentioned earlier, Mike competed on Food Network Challenge Sesame Street Cakes which is one of my favorite episodes. It was a fun episode to see Cookie Monster, Elmo, Oscar and a HUGE Big Bird! Who in the world can make a huge Big Bird cake in 8 hours on top of 2 other characters? Mike. So the second class is called Structures. He discussed various support structures to make 3 dimensional cakes and to culminate the class, we made our own mini version of his wining Big Bird cake.

In progress...

I could continue to talk about how amazing Mike's cakes are but more than just an amazing sculptor, was an excellent teacher. He was so nice, very patient, generous with information, thorough, and encouraging. Both classes were beyond what I expected. Bottom line: it was SO worth the trip.

Thank you for everything, Mike!

Hello Kitty aka "Kitty"

When my Izzie was 2, she would call Hello Kitty "Kitty Cat". Little Annika who turns 2 calls Hello Kitty "Kitty!". So for remainder of this post, I shall refer to the famous cat "Kitty" since this is about Annika and her cake.

Here’s a little about Annika...she was born during spring time of 2009...she’s a cutie...and she LOVES "Kitty". So what would be a perfect cake for her? Hello Kitty that feels like spring!

Here is Annika’s special cake. Hello Kitty’s body is made out of rice cereal treats while the head is styrofoam covered with chocolate and fondant. Cake was chocolate with vanilla buttercream covered with fondant as well.

After the party, I got a sweet email from Annika’s mom saying how Annika loved it. Few weeks later, she shared some photos of Annika’s party. And she wasn’t kidding when she said Annika loved it! The photo below shows proof that she really DID love it.

Most people say kids are easy to please. On the contrary, kids these days are quite critical too! So I say they are actually the best critics. You get an honest opinion when you ask for one. I didn't ask for one this time but the reaction above says it all.

Ariel & Nemo

You have probably seen a couple of my cakes with the name “Cayleigh” on it. This cake doesn’t have her name on it but it is for little Cayleigh. She turns 1 and celebrates her birthday with her brother Clayton at a local aquarium. To go with the underwater theme, her mom requests for an Ariel and Nemo cake.

All my cakes have always had gumpste, fondant or modeling chocolate figures. With this cake, I decided to make Nemo and Ariel (figures only, not the shell or reef) out polymer clay. It wasn’t easy as I thought but it wasn’t hard either. The hardest part really is kneading it. You really need to work it! It also attracts a lot of dirt so you have to keep your work area and hands extra clean. But the good thing about polymer clay other than it being a keepsake is you can add details to it even after baking. Of the 2 figures I first made Nemo and he originally looked like a tadpole. Seriously! But after the initial baking, I built it up and added more cheeks and it was then that he looked like Nemo.

Here’s a close up of Nemo.

And here are the cute celebrants! Happy Birthday!

Alvin Bowls to 40

One of my regular customer's husband turns 40 and loves to bowl. Her request: a black bowling ball cake. And here's what I came up with.

I've not made a cake ball of this size yet nor have a covered one. It's not that big - 8 inch to be exact- but it is quite tricky to cover with fondant and more importantly, to keep it upright without having a flat bottom. The solution: styrofoam! And boy, was it great. But there still IS cake in there. 2/3 of it that is.

The little pins (yes, they're tiny)...I decided on them 20 minutes before pick up and I'm glad I made them. A friend of mine who saw the photo on facebook said she definitely will win and knock those pins out! Ha!

Okay, on to another cake story...

Natalie's Pokemon Cake

When Pokemon was first introduced in the 90's, I recall it to be such a hit to youngsters as my my nephews and nieces were fanatics. They collected toys, games, cards and even traded. When I got a request for this Pokemon cake, I was actually surprised that he is still popular and kids still love the little yellow character!

Pichu

Natalie turns 8, loves Pokemon and knows what she wants on her cake: her 3 favorite pokemon characters and a big number 8. Her aunt and uncle got this special cake for her and she loved it. So did the other kids. I was told that before the balloons got on the cake, the kids had to have a taste of them and bite marks all around. Natalie on the other hand, was protecting it from all the other kids as you can see in the photo below.

This cake was simple to make: round covered with fondant and a cut out number 8. But I had to get my characters spot on since Natalie knew her characters. I took extra time to make sure they were as close the character. Natalie's smile tells me it was worth it.

Pocoyo!

Last year, I was given the opportunity to make Gabriel's baptismal cake. Now he turns 1 and his is wonderful mom, Katrina, decided on Pocoyo for his theme since he looks much like Pocoyo! I have never heard of Pocoyo till now and after watching a few videos and checking out their official website, I was sold.

Here is a simple cake I made for the birthday boy. Pocoyo is made out of rice cereal treats. The birthday cake beside Pocoyo is cake whose design is based on one of the show's episodes.

We can't leave the back part of the cake without a story. Here it is. We can't have a party without gifts right?

Till next time Gabriel, happy 1st birthday!

3 Days with the Master of Sugar Flowers

Here it is...my 3 days with the ONE and the ONLY Ron-Ben Israel of Ron-Ben Israel Cakes.

Question and answer with Ron

Ron is known to the cake world as the master of sugar flowers. My 3 days in his class validates all rumors. He was amazing. His techniques and flowers were spot on. They were beautiful, graceful and so life like. But more than just sugar flowers, his cakes are amazing as well. If you have not seen them, it is worth the time to check them out. They are clean and precise, the way I would want my cakes to be.

I am an amateur when it comes to sugar flowers. My definition of flowers don't go past beyond the cut out flowers I made for my Tangled cake. I did take a class 15 years ago but I did not care for them. They did not inspire me. Ron's class completely changed my views on sugar flowers. I have an increased appreciation and the confidence to try them once again.

Here are some photos taken from class plus photos of the flowers I made. Well, what's left of them. Unfortunately, some of my flowers did not make it safely back particularly the roses (which were my fave!). I still wanted to share them just the same.

Sweet peas

Sweet peas, rose buds, peony and hydrangeas

My poor rose...

Ron's sugar flowers. The photo don't do it justice.

I pass!

Thank you Ron for sharing your talent. I am truly grateful for this opportunity. Thank you too to Minette Rushing of Custom Cakes for being such a gracious hostess.

Tangled

I love it when kids personally ask me to make their birthday cake. My latest little customer is Victoria. A month before her 4th birthday party, she comes up to me and says: "I want a Rapunzel cake with long glowing hair!". And on another occasion, she made sure I would make Rapunzel's dress purple.

"Tangled" is my now new favorite Disney movie. It's funny, not too cheesy, and it's the first movie we watched as a family with my 3 year old. I was excited to do this special cake request but I was nervous at the same time. To make a character's face is difficult. Any person's face for that matter. So lets just say my brain was "tangled" for awhile. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the lantern scene so I went for the braided hair and of course, the lanterns.

Everything in this cake is edible. Well, except for the cake board, light and the stamen. So lets just say it's 99% edible. Rapunzel is made out of rice cereal treats covered with fondant and modeling chocolate. The base is a 12 inch round chocolate cake filled with vanilla buttercream. The lanterns are edible too! Victoria did request for glowing hair so to get as close to a glow, I applied some luster to the hair.

My 3 year old was my critic. When she saw bald Rapunzel, she said she didn't like it. She even showed me a face of Rapunzel! I got nervous! But once the hair was on, she said she likes it. Whew! I hope you all approve of it as well. It's not perfect but I tried my best :)

Happy 4th Birthday Victoria! Thank you for picking me to make your special birthday cake!

Sebastian's Skates

My dear cousin Sebastian turns 8 and loves ice skating. He celebrates his birthday at a local skating rink and I was in charge of making his cake.

This "cake" actually served more as a centerpiece. The boot is made out rice cereal treats covered with fondant. The skull on the side is an edible image designed by my sister. The cake that was actually served was a 10 inch round chocolate cake filled with vanilla and strawberry buttercream, which also had the skull. We also had 3 dozen red velvet cupcakes iced with cream cheese frosting. The kids wanted to cut into the skates but my aunt wanted to keep it so no cutting happened.

Happy 8th Birthday Sebs!!