giants squids and pirate chefs

Arr, mateys! Here is a cake made for a lovely client, Marina. I can hardly remember the flavor of the cake, as I have waited WEEKS for the following shot to be developed (yes, its film)!

This is either a Milky Way Cake OR a Guinness Bailey's Cake.

The cake was designed after a mental snap shot of a Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-esque giant squid breaking a ship in half. The design had a meaning I'm sure but I dared not ask!

Much ♡

D

P.s. Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Erik!

I wanna be the girl with the most cake.

Just recently I had an unusual request to create a red velvet cake complete with a disheveled Courtney Love and baby doll limbs for an awesome dude- Jake of Humphrey Slocombe. But after a friend helped decipher the concept, and listening to Doll Parts, this cake makes perfect sense, kind of.

Jake's pictures from the gathering and thereafter via Jake's Instagram  =)

XO <3

Oh man! Where the heck have I been? MIA for sure, and I must apologize for that. A pastry chef turned sugar orchestrator has only so much energy to write (am I right, Abby?)

 Well, since my last post much has changed and much has stayed the same. I am still making cakes, but in a different capacity and style. Not many crazy cool custom ones but I have gotten a lot faster at baking, stacking, frosting and decorating cakes. Have developed a new found love of laminated doughs... more specifically croissant. It amazes me every time I have one. As Chad Robertson of Tartine says, "A well made croissant will give one pause, a moment to reflect on the petit engineering marvel set before you."I can only wish to be so eloquent ;)

Pain au Chocolat a la Daniel!

Anywho, dahhhhling (is it working?) I took a quick but much needed escape to NYC on my 24th birthday weekend with an old friend where I imagined new things for myself and set new goals... and that was the most refreshing and well-timed gift from God yet.

Summer in SoHo

Enough about me... lets get back to the reason we are all (meh?) here... CAKE! The following cake made for a wedding reception at the Clift hotel. It was a really chic/intimate gathering. I hope the cake found a beautiful spot somewhere besides the stainless steel counters it was assembled on.

Magenta Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting
Guiness Chocolate Cake with Baileys Buttercream

Well, now that I've lost my coffee buzz, I must say 'till next time! But sooner this time!

XO,

Daniel

Red and White Wedding

Been holding on to this photo for a while now. Here is a Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Bean Custard and Sliced Strawberries that I made for one of my very favorite clients. Marie, you are always a pleasure to work with!

Blessings to the newlyweds!

=) Daniel

Junia Lane

Have you heard of Brazilian Photog Junia Lane? She took this gorgeous photo of my (pretty) cake before its (not so pretty) tumble. =D

Make your way to her website or check out

her awesome photography blog right hurrr...

www.junialane.squarespace.com

Jose and Tatiane's Wedding

Did this really happen? Or did I, and everyone who attended the wedding, imagine it? And no I'm not talking about the bride and groom getting hitched... I'm referring to the cake table toppling over mid-cutting!

top: Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Cake Layers with Espresso Buttercream

middle: Caramel Swirl Vanilla Bean Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Organic Raspberries

bottom: Toasted Coconut Cake with Pineapple Curd

This day was filled with love, celebration, champagne, and lots of happy family members but most of the guests went without the sweetest part of the day (the damn cake) thanks to some careless servers. Now no one is playing the blame game but either the cake table was improperly set up or the servers shouldn't have loaded up the small table with almost 100 heavy plates.

groom's cake: Marble Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Bananas

(Anyway) Luckily my sister-in-law and brother had a chance to get the traditional cake-cutting photos!.. and some happy guests got cake.

Way to cut diagonally into the cake, Joe! =P

Congrats Taty & Joe!!!

Much love & blessings,

Danny

-Jose and Tatiane's Wedding Cakes created June.27th.2010

The Coulson Wedding

Creating a cake can sometimes be a non-fussy, organic process and sometimes it requires lots of thought and design editing. But they all require hours of work, fine attention to detail and if you already have a full-time job, sleep deprivation.

Toasted Almond Cake with Lemon Curd

L and G's wedding cake was no exception. In fact, and I am aware that the following analogy might stir some controversy among mothers, I can only compare the holistic act of creating cake sculptures to birthing a child. By the end of the week and design process, your head throbs, your body aches, and it takes a substantial amount of energy to form a coherent thought... and conjure the strength to utter it loud enough for others to hear. Okay so maybe I'm exaggerating but once finished, you feel joy that is difficult to express. Seeing something that once was only a concept in your mind manifested before your eyes is a magical thing. Creating is a magical thing. Creating is a gift. Creating is one of the things we were designed to do.

Vanilla Bean Caramel Swirl Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

After seeing photos of L's wedding dress and color scheme we collaborated on a design inspired by the embroidery on the front and the way in which the fabric wraps around the silhouette. Here is what we came up with:

The Coulsons opted to offer three different flavors to their guests, choosing a different one for each tier (the last tier being Vanilla Bean Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Organic Raspberries... my fav!)

Congrats L & G! Many blessings!!!

♡,

D

-The Coulson's Wedding Cake was created June.10th.2010

Jerry's Black Widow

Since Im busy baking some red velvet cake for Maribel (that actually tastes like chocolate!), I thought it might be a good time to update this thing!

Last Saturday was a dear friend's birthday so although I was only instructed to make a simple bowling ball-shaped cake I thought it was time to take it to the next step and create something really special.

Apparently Jerry is an avid bowler and just recently purchased his newest baby, the "Black Widow."

Chocolate Cake, Dark Chocolate Ganache, Milk Chocolate Buttercream

Happy Birthday Jer!

Jerry's B-day Cake created May.15.2010

♡,

D

fabrics

Last time I attempted this fabric-like design was for Debbie's birthday cake about 2 years ago. Although that cake was well received, it did not match up to the vision in my mind. I think its safe to say my second attempt at the frilly ruffles was a success.

Top tier: Caramel Swirled Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Bottom tier: Toasted Almond Cake with Lemon Curd and Vanilla Bean Buttercream

The Coulson's 25th anniversary cake created February.26th.2010

♡,

D

Piping hot!

My hand is still sore... and this cake was made 4 days ago... okay maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad. I don't think I've piped this much EVER and it was only an 8-inch anniversary cake! I can only imagine how stunning (and tiring) this would be on a 5-tier square wedding cake (yeee boooy)!

How's the cliche go? No pain no fame? (bwahahaha).

Xoxox

Daniel