Saturday, December 10, 2011

Butterflies for Graysen

This cake was for my friend Sandy's baby, who turned one already! It was funny, the last time I saw her, I was delivering a cake for her daughter Campbell, and she was pregnant with Graysen. This time I was delivering a cake for Graysen, and she was pregnant again! The next time I see her it will be the first time seeing her not pregnant (well maybe) she has the most beautiful children, I wouldn't blame her for wanting more!!

Happy Birthday Graysen!!

Happy Birthday Samerah!!

If you look back into my cake archives, I made a cake for Prity's baby shower, it was three pillows with some baby shoes on top. Believe it or not, this cake was for her baby's first birthday!! how time flies :)

She didn't really give me any instructions, other than she wanted flowers and she sent me the color scheme, so I decided to make the cake a light pistachio color, and have the vibrant colors of the flowers stand out against the muted background.
I also made her a little smash cake.

Happy birthday Princess Samerah!! You are so loved, precious little sweetheart!! xoxo


I just realized I never posted the picture of the baby shower cake. here it is:










Zombie cupcake

I made this cake for my daughter's class for their Halloween party. This year I am their celebrations coordinator, which is a good thing, because my talents don't go much further than cake and knitting, so if I was assigned something like field trip coordinator I think I would have a stroke. Too much rules and organization for me.
Anyway this was the first time I got to experiment with sculpting fondant and making fake blood. It was easier than i expected, I just had to make the fondant thicker so that it wouldn't rip when I was poking it and stuff. The blood was corn syrup and food coloring, which kinda dried so it was easy to transport.
The kids really liked it, so I am eager to make more cakes and try out more techniques with them.

muah hahaha hahahaha!!



Plants vs Zombies

Plants vs Zombies is one of my son's addictions, the other one is angry birds.
So, it was really easy for me to visualize how I wanted this cake to turn out. I love the happy flowers and the pea shooters.
such a fun cake to make ~ I wonder if I will start getting more orders for this game and less for angry birds? probably not.




Slot Machine for Dante

Yes, this picture is awesome. Of course, I didn't take it. You probably already knew that, though.
Dante is the cousin of my friend, who is Dani's mom (see below). For his birthday, I made this big slot machine. I think it looks really cool with the disco lights!!
Happy birthday Dante!!



Pinwheels for Danica :)

Danica's mom is one of my friends and an amazing cupcake baker :) check her out at www.thankyousweets.info
For Dani's birthday, I made her this pinwheel cake. I love disco dust! of course after I made this cake, it's now several months later and I still find disco dust all over the house, including on my kids faces, haha
I love the theme too, so original, and pinwheels are something I remember from childhood. Which kid doesn't love pinwheels, right??
Happy Birthday Dani!!







Happy Birthday Derek!!




Derek is my husband's life long best friend. He has been through thick and thin with my hubby, and they're closer than brothers. He loves to golf and is a Chargers fan (unlike my husband who is a die hard Raider fan)



Derek's lovely wife threw him a surprise birthday party for his 40th, and I made him this cake.



check out what 40 candles looks like:










Congrats Ben and Sarah!!


Ben is my hubby's cousin, and he and Sarah had a magical Disneyland themed wedding. They are SOOOO cute!! We really wanted to make the cake capture the "vintage disney" theme, with handpainted gumpaste postcards that represented the rides at Disneyland. I also snuck behind each one of their backs and had them write a little poem to each other on two of the postcards. It turned out so cute! And she cried, which made all the work sooo worth every second!
Congrats you guys! we love you xoxo

Minnie Mouse for Paola

Ever since I made that original minnie mouse cake for Eliana way back when, I have had many orders for that exact cake, which is perfectly fine, but change is good too, ya know :)

I made this cake and cupcakes for Paola, who had an amazing dessert spread for her birthday party. I mean, check out the before picture, of how the cake and cupcakes looked when I had them all packed up for delivery, and the after picture, of how they set it all up at the party. A.mazing to say the least!!!










Friday, July 15, 2011

Cake pop tree


Ok, so obviously I could never in a zillion years take a picture this phenomenal. What I can take credit for is the object in the picture :)
This was the first time I've ever made anything like this, it's a tree stump made out of styrofoam, and hand carved and covered in fondant. Then 18 dozen cake pops and cake balls were stuck into the stump and arranged around the base of the stump to look like berries on a vine. I think it turned out beautiful!!

Psycho 4th of July!!



I made this donut cake for Psycho Donuts, for the 4th of July, and we auctioned it off on Ebay! It was so cool, I've never even seen a cake auctioned off on ebay before, and with bidding started at a penny, there was quite a little bidding war going on!
Donut cakes are made entirely out of donuts, instead of cake. If you'd like to order a donut cake, email me!!


It was so much fun, I can't wait to make another one soon!



Donut Wedding Cake







So, I've started working with this really cool donut shop called Psycho Donuts. We've been collaborating ideas on combining donuts with custom cake designs, and one day, they received an email requesting a donut wedding cake.
I think this may take off as the "next thing". It's very unique and sorta whimsical, which seems to be more the theme these days for weddings. Very custom, kinda humorous, like an inside joke, and over the top creative.

The possibilities are really endless. If you'd like to order a donut wedding cake, email me!!!!

Happy Anniversary Michelle and Tony!!


My friend Michelle has her own cupcake business, so you can only imagine how special I felt when she asked me to make her hubby a surprise anniversary cake!!
So, a little bit of explanation. Tony proposed to Michelle at the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, and he's a total star wars fan. So, I recreated the proposal with none other than kokeshi doll Star Wars characters, made out of rice krispie treats.
He was so surprised, he was speechless when I came knocking on their door with this cake.

Happy Anniversary Michelle and Tony!!!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!



This was for a very special little girl, Madison. We call her Maddie, and I've known her since before she was born. Her mom, my best friend, hates to ask me to make her kids cakes, but secretly, I've been waiting for years to be asked!! So finally she asked me to make something small for Maddie's birthday. I was so excited!!

Her party was at one of those places that kids can cook stuff and decorate their own cupcakes, so I made her this very special giant cupcake cake. Perfect for a little princess!!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!! Love you very very much !!

Jocelyn's wedding cake


This cake was a very special one for me, Jocelyn and I have been friends since we were 2 years old. We went to preschool together, and her mom was always the "class mom" in elementary school, creating handmade gifts for every kid in the class for every holiday. I really think it inspired me to be creative.
Jocie met the love of her life, and they celebrated their unity with a small intimate get together with family. Which is why the cake is so cute and petite. Otherwise I would have made my friend a big ole honkin cake.
Congrats Jocelyn and Jeff!!! here's to many many years of love and happiness !!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Totoro cake for Karen

I made this cake for my daughter's best friend, Karen, who loves Totoro. My daughter helped me to design this cake, which is why it's a big tree with characters on it. Since she has seen every single cake I've made, she likes to set the bar really high. So, basically, her design ideas are "whatever she can imagine".
So, here are the Totoro characters, up on top of a big tree :)

Happy Birthday Karen!!

Hot Wheels cake for Harrison

Here is my first CCC (cupcake cake). It is made by placing cupcakes close together, then frosting them in a way that makes them stay together in the form that they were placed (similar to grouting tile, i guess), then decorated and stuff. So Harrison turned 4, and had a Hot Wheels themed birthday party at a fancy car place.
The cars were all made out of fondant, using this tutorial http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-a-race-car-cake-topper

Happy Birthday Harrison!!!



Pascal cake for Hanna

This cake was made for a friend of my younger brother. It's Pascal! The adorable little chameleon from the movie, Tangled. on a side note, don't you just love Disney movies these days? The movies they make have more adult humor, and the way the women are independent and don't have that "I can't live without a man" attitude holding them back from their dreams, like that ole floozy Snow White, you know what I mean? I cringed every time my daughter watched that movie, hoping she would not grow up to be that dependent and weak. (she's not, by the way) But now, I get excited when a new movie comes out, knowing that I might actually enjoy it way more than my kids. I actually fear the day my kids are too old to see Disney movies. Go ahead, make fun of me.
My brother asked me to make this cake for his friend's girlfriend, Hanna. She loves the movie Tangled, and also loves Lulu Lemon, so I incorporated the logo too.

Happy Birthday Hanna!!

Dissected Frog Cake

Is this not the coolest cake ever??? This was for a boy who was having a mad scientist birthday party. How cool is that!?!?!? Note to self: recreate this party/steal this idea in a few years for my own son's birthday!
When I delivered the cake, the front room of their house was all set up like a mad scientist's laboratory, with numerous vials filled with dry ice and bubbling/smoking stuff inside them, and other really cool sciency lab stuff. It looked like it was going to be a really fun memorable time!

Happy Birthday Jayden!! Hope you enjoyed your dissected frog!!







Olivia cake for Emerson

Besides dachshunds, my most favorite animal in the entire world is a pig. And it's probably not a healthy love I have. I mean, if there's a pig character in a storybook somewhere I know what it is, probably bought the book for my kids and insist on reading it over and over. all the time. I collect pig statues, pig stationary, pig kitchen utensils, well, you get the picture. The craziest thing is, my husband also has this love for pigs, which he had for years before I even met him. His friends even call him "pig" and his dj name is "notorious pig". Isn't that crazy coincidence? Maybe fate? hmm...
Anyway enough about me. The point of the story was to tell you that I love Olivia the pig. She's a storybook character, and she's a little diva. She has several wardrobe changes throughout the day, all different varieties of princess attire, of course.
So when my friend Karynn asked me to make an Olivia cake for her daughter Emerson, I was so thrilled!! And it made the process of making this cake so much fun. I really hope to get another Olivia cake order again.

Happy Birthday Emerson!!!






Baby Boy for Elvia!

This cake was actually for Eliana's mommy! (Minnie mouse cake)
Elvia is pregnant with a baby boy!! Oh happy day!, and this cake was inspired by the modern jungle themed baby shower invites, which mixed baby blue with giraffe and zebra print. Just love the look of this, don't you??

Congratulations Elvia!!!!

Minnie Mouse cake for Eliana

I've been wanting to make a mickey mouse hat with the big ears, for so long, and finally I got an order from one of my favorite customers! yay! And as an added bonus, my very first Minnie mouse cake too! So of course it had to be all pink :)
This cake was so much fun to make, I really hope to be able to make another minnie cake again.

Happy Birthday Eliana!!

Elephant cake for David

This cake was for my son's friend David, who loves his stuffed Elephant, and wanted to dedicate his birthday party to his beloved friend. So, what could be more perfect for this special occasion than a giant elephant cake? :)

Happy Birthday David!!!

Yo Gabba Gabba for Dante

This cake was really fun to make. On each side of the cake, I made the background for each one of the characters, using my fond memories of the show, and also my son's book as a guide.
When I delivered the cake, Dante was actually watching the show on tv! A true YGG fan, made me so proud. Having a husband who's an actual dj, kids who love silly tv shows, and a love for cool tricks, makes it impossible not to love everything about the show!!

Happy Birthday Dante!!!



Angry Birds Seasons Valentine cake for Brielle

So, if you are really a true fan of my blog ;), you will recognize the name on this cake, yep, it's my friend's sweet little daughter Brielle (bunny cake and soccer team cake), who loves to play Angry Birds. I confess, I'm a total AB addict, so I totally understand the love she has for the game, and so I was really excited to make another angry birds cake that was different this time (she asked for pink angry birds). The first idea that came to me was the Valentines day on AB seasons! I love that level!!
So here I recreated one of the little structures, with the little white clouds and wooden roof. All of the pigs and birds are made of rice krispie treats too. hee hee!

Happy Birthday Brielle!!!

Italy Futbol cake for Brayden

Here is another cake for another one of my childhood friend's children. Beginning to see a theme here? Yes, we are all getting older, and as the years go by, more of my friends from ages ago are getting married and having kids. The only difference is, I was married and pregnant when I was 21, so my kids are much older. It's nice to see my friends starting out on the long road of parenting, and it makes me smile to think about all the wonderful memories and learning experiences they will have for many, many years to come.
So, this is for my friend Jenny, whose son Brayden turned 1. She and her hubby are fans of the Italian futbol team, so she asked me to make this cake for Brayden's party. It was so cute too, where they had the cake, they also hung the teeniest little Italian futbol jersey next to it, and the jersey and the cake were almost the same size, too precious!!

by the way, aren't you impressed that I'm calling it futbol and not soccer??? Yes, my own hubby is a big futbol fan, so I'm familiar with the proper titles. (his team is Manchester United)

Happy Birthday Brayden!!

Ladybug cake for Ava

I just love the ladybug theme, don't you? It's so cute, and perfect for so many different occasions, you know? For this ladybug cake I used black wire for the antennae and a food marker to make some dotted lines for the little trails.
This cake was for my childhood friend's little sister, who is having a baby girl, who she's going to name Ava. Baby Ava is one lucky baby, she's entering this world already loved by so many people, and has a wonderful, loving family to join.
Welcome Baby Ava!!!




Dino cake for Aries

So, this cake was for the daughter of my friend, Rebecca, who I've known since I was in 7th grade. I remember she was the biggest New Kids on the Block fan, and considering this was during the era of the ever so fancy "hairbears", I also remember that she had very tall hair. Being asian, I was never able to pull off the look (not that I didn't try), so I had lots of "hair envy" when I was around her. ha! those were the days....
Anyway now we're all much older, and we are wives and mommies. And her sweet little daughter, Aries, loves dinosaurs. So she asked me to make this cute dino cake for her birthday. The excited look on her face was so cute as I walked into the party with the cake. Seriously, it's why I do this!!

Happy Birthday Aries!!

Jungle baby shower

This cake was designed from the adorable invitation, which had a little giraffe and elephant sitting together with some playful little monkeys. The elephant's ears were green and glittery, and some of the leaves on a little vine were glittery too, so I bought some edible glitter to recreate the look.
Congratulations Antoinette!



Ni Hao Kailan

My friend's little niece was visiting her from Calexico (I had never heard of it before, it's on the border of Mexico and California, on the California side. I asked, and right on the other side is Mexicali, makes perfect sense, right?)



So, her niece, Xitlali, loves Ni Hao Kailan, and my son is a huge fan of the show. I just love the cute characters, Kailan reminds me so much of my daughter when she was little, with the little mickey mouse hair style.



Happy Birthday Xitlali!! (in case you're wondering, it's pronounced Seet-la-lee, really cool)



Kokeshi Star Wars


My friend Michelle is a cupcake girl. That is, she has her own cupcake business.(http://www.thankyousweets.info/)



So, when she asked me to make her husband a surprise cake for their anniversary, I was so excited, AND knew that I had to make it totally awesome and over the top!!



Her husband Tony asked her to marry him on the top of Half dome in Yosemite, so cute!! and he is also a star wars fan, so we came up with the idea of recreating the proposal on half dome, in Star Wars form, hehe



So, Michelle is asian Princess Leia and Tony is asian Han Solo, and they have their trusty droids there to guide them into eternal happiness and Yoda to give them vague but wise advice.



When I delivered the cake, Tony was so surprised he was speechless, it was so funny. Their little princesses were all excited to eat their "parents", which were made out of rice krispie treats, too cute!



Happy anniversary Michelle and Tony!! (now go check out her website!!!)
















~ Sonja's 50th Birthday ~

My friend Sonja always hosts these elaborate parties, where she feeds us this delicious food and serves us these fancy cocktails, one after another, after another. I Love her parties!!!



(not to mention she is the most amazing quilter I've ever known, she slaved every year since I can remember, to make these beautiful quilts for our kids' teachers. I'm not just talking simple pieced together quilts. Im talkin museum worthy masterpieces. I can imagine the teachers putting their priceless gifts into acid free paper lined boxes, and stored away in some heirloom trunk. They are that amazing!!



Anyway, my wonderful friend just turned 50, and for her birthday I thought it only appropriate to make her a cake in the form of a giant Grey Goose vodka bottle, to thank her for the many drinks and laughs shared over drinks I've experienced with her. (the quilt thing didn't really seem to fit into the raging party theme)



Happy Birthday Sonja!! Here's to many more drinks we will have together!!



Sunday, January 9, 2011

Rakiya's Birthday Cake

This was the mothership of all shopping cakes! :)
I met Rakiya through a friend, she is an amazing 16 year old girl. Really mature and very sweet. The crazy thing is, I delivered this cake 2 and a half hours away, which I don't usually do. In the rain. It's nothing short of a miracle that I made it, and the cake really came together great. I used some new tehniques, like these cool little party led lights behind all the decorations to give it extra zing.
I also made all of the little details she wanted, like a diamond encrusted iphone and mac makeup and perfume bottle, out of gumpaste and cereal treats.
Happy Birthday Rakiya!!!

Kev's Movie cake

So, this cake was for an old friend of mine, who I went to Junior high school, and high school, with. She ordered this cake for her boyfriend's birthday. It's an old school movie reel, with a little director chair and all the movie stuff. All of the decorations are made out of gumpaste, and also the top part of the cake too, it dries rock hard, and I needed it to have stability so it would look like the side of a movie reel!

Brody's Bday cake

So, my most favorite type of cake order is like this: "umm....my son wants (insert the most crazy and abstract idea here)...do you think you can do it?"

You just gotta love kids' imagination. And their endless faith in my cake decorating skills.

So, the order I got from my friend was, "He wants a helicopter, with him jumping out, wearing camouflage army gear AND a white karate belt, riding a skateboard......he's crazy. Can u do it?"

um, YES!!! And, i can top it. The propellor is hooked up to a small motor, which I mounted to the bottom of the helicopter, and the propellor spins. Yeah, needless to say, he was stoked!!!
And my friend said that at the bowling alley, people didn't think it was a cake, so they got no compliments, until they turned the propellor on and poked candles into it. so funny!!


Harry's Camera

So,
So, this was for Harry, who I made the turntable cake for, (August 2009). He's a phenomenal photographer (www.harrywhophotography.com) and also my husband's good buddy.
this year, I decided to make him a giant camera cake. This cake was about a 20 inch square, ginormous, and really heavy. I modeled it after the most expensive digital camera I could find on the Canon website, as i know absolutely nothing about photography (obviously, if you have been paying attention to how much my pictures suck). Oh well. I should hire Harry to take pictures!

Fra-gee-lee

I can't believe i never thought about making one of these before! My friend got this cake for her dad, as kind of a funny joke for their xmas dinner. only the top part is actually made of cake, the leg is styrofoam. But it's too funny! And everyone knows immediately what it is, hilarious!!
(and italian)

Rock and Roll Barbie

I had never heard of Rock and Roll Barbie before this cake. I think that, when I was younger, this may have been the only way one would have convinced me to play with Barbies. I love this cake! and even more, I love the theme. Barbie loves to rock out! :)


Shelly's Diner

Shelly is a good friend of mine, our kids go to the same school, and we knit and drink and share many many laughs together. She's the kind of person who, after you hang out together, you're out of breath from talking and laughing so much, yet you can't wait to go hang out with again.
So, Shelly was having a bbq for some of her friends, and wanted to order a hamburger cake. This was a fun project for me, I really had to think about it though. I mean, look at it. If I had made everything out of fondant, all the sugar would hurt your teeth! So, I made all the inside elements out of white chocolate clay, which went really well with the chocolate patty cake and raspberry mousse filling.
And I stamped "Shelly's Diner" on the ketchup bottle, which was rice krispie treats!

Ambulance cake

So, a while back, there was a bbq for the San Jose Firefighter Burn fund. I think I mentioned way back somewhere that my hubby works for the burn center, and we went to the bbq, and I made a cake that had the logo and flames. i think it was June or July 2010. It's on the blog somewhere. anyway, one of the firemen who is a paramedic (apparently every fire truck has a paramedic) asked for my card, then contacted me to order a cake for their class. This Ambulance cake had flashin lights on the top, he was so excited when I gave him the cake, and he said that there was a loud "awwwwwwww" when he cut into it, too funny!!
Thank you Paramedics and Firemen (and Nurses too) for saving us when we get hurt!!!