Macy's Passport 2008

Dolce & Gabbana? Oscar de la Renta? Gucci? What about Chanel? NOPE! Instead San Francisco fashion day gets Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Ed Hardy. Again, I repeat, Ed Hardy. Tacky-tattoo-art-on-your-shirt-instead-of-your-skin for $187 Ed Hardy. Needless to say, no couture here but I cant complain...  its all for charity. 

In over 26 years Macy's Passport has raised awareness and donated more than $27 million towards saving lives of those living with HIV/AIDS. And for years Home Restaurant has participated in catering the event but this time I took the helm. I decided to create 700 bite-sized variations of desserts I've featured on my menu: New York Style Cheesecake with Dried Cherry Compote and Citrus Bars with Vanilla Meringue (Lemon Meringue Pie).

Fortunately Michael, Lauren and I had a chance to view most of the show, taste some sweets and watch the Jabawockeez perform- OMG.

Desserts for Macy's Passport created September.18.2008

Tan Wedding

Designing a wedding cake is usually a months long process in which the cake designer collaborates with the groom-and-bride-to-be to create a unique cake that best expresses the theme and feel of the wedding with the given budget. But sometimes that process happens over a few days. This cake from conception to birth took only 2 weeks, if that.

Classic Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Bean Custard, 

Sliced Strawberries and Vanilla Buttercream

Bryant knew exactly what he wanted when he contacted through our mutual friend, Robin. A Cherry Blossom, "Strawberry Shortcake" for 200 guests for his brother's wedding- I mean, cake for a gift? Is there a better gift?!

Photos Courtesy of Jerome Tobias. Hey Jerome, this is my favorite shot- you rock!

The Cakemonger in action! How's my technique?

Tan Wedding Cake was created September.20.2008

Happy Birthday Corndog

Need i say more? 12" Corndog consists of Vanilla Bean Pound Cake with Dark Chocolate Buttercream. Sweeeeet! Happy 25th Chris!


-Chris D's Birthday Cake created August.29th.2008

Bon Voyage: Confidential

I'm not sure how much info I'm allowed to reveal about the recipients of this Bon Voyage cake but it was for two fabulous chefs- an executive and pastry chef couple, A and A.

I was given almost complete freedom on design but was asked to create some sort of airplane or San Francisco landmark. I decided to go with the airplane idea and give it a playful feel with two passengers' heads popping out the top of the cockpit. The cake consisted of Caramel Swirled Tahitian Vanilla Bean Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream.


-A and A's Bon Voyage Cake was created March.30th.2007

Academy of Friends Gala

1200 mini cupcakes might seem like a lot of work, but imagine having to frantically repair more than half of them on-site because of damage during transport... now thats a nightmare! And thats exactly what happened February 24th 2008 the day of the Academy of Friends Gala. Academy of Friends was founded in 1980 as a private oscar party of 25 friends but has grown to become one of the largest contributors to Bay Area HIV/AIDS services organizations. The '08 Gala raised over 500,000 and AOF has raised over 6.3 million over the past two decades.


Our original goal was to make 1500 cupcakes as suggested by the event organizers but after an impromptu decision to arrive two hours early, 1200 mini cupcakes it was: 600 Vanilla Bean with Vanilla Frosting and 600 Dark Chocolate with Milk Chocolate Buttercream.

AOF Veteran/ Martini Stealer Michael and I holding
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

The decor was beautiful and the guests were entertained by acrobatics, 007 sketches and singer Taylor Dayne. Just a few minutes of mini-cupcake touch-ups, and they were ready for display and eating, of course. After rhythmically shaking my head to Tell It To My Heart, Beautiful, and some other 80's hit I was unfamiliar with, the party was over with plenty cupcakes to spare. 

Susannah's Birthday Cake

Since Carl was organizing a birthday party for his wife, Susannah, at Home Restaurant, Carl commissioned me to create a cake inspired by her artwork. He requested a Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla buttercream as the smaller top tier and a Dark Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache as the larger bottom tier but left the design of the cake up to me.

After looking through Susannah's online gallery, i was inspired by her use of soft pastel colors and seemingly innocent characters contrasted by overtly erotic images.


Though the image I chose to recreate was more on the subtle side, it was one of my favorites! The expression captured by Susannah is right on. To check out her artwork, visit SusannahBettag.com.

-Susannah's Birthday Cake was created February.7.2008

Shinmin Li and IDC

Shinmin Li established I Dream of Cake in San Francisco's beautiful North Beach District in 2005, though she began work with custom cakes in Sydney, Australia in 2002. After her time at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, where she developed her skill in graphic design and further deepened her love of art, Li attended Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney where she earned her degree in Grande Patisserie in 2003. Shortly after, Li set out to combine her two loves into what is known as the first Gallery of Cakes.

Walking into her gallery, you are surrounded by a clean, chic elegance that is inherent to Li's style. Having ingeniously designed the space with a white and warm espresso scheme with sea-foam green accents, the main focus is drawn to the art, in this case, sculptural cakes.




Although all of IDC's cakes are exquisite, some of their most impressive cakes are their handbag cakes. Made indiscernible to the real thing, these edible masterpieces are my favorite.





On a personal level, Shinmin is the ultimate professional, perfectionist and is very knowledgeable when it comes to art and business. Having developed her company into one of the nation's best "bakeries," working at IDC is my dream job.

In a recent email I asked Shinmin where she saw herself and her company in 10 years. She sees a few more locations for IDC (might I suggest I Dream of Cupcake?) and a couple of museum exhibitions. How about a Beethoven bust at the DeYoung?


...Or how about a Jade Buddha?


...Or perhaps a (delicious and probably nervous) doe?


Finally, after being asked how she would describe her style, Shinmin replied, "Clean, refined and perfect! Blah blah blah ;) ." Kudos to you Shinmin Li and the IDC team- You go girl(s)!

Special thanks to Drew Altizer and 

Dwight Eschliman for all the gorgeous photography.

Photographs are used with permission and 

full copyrights do apply. 

Visit Shinmin's newly redesigned 

website www.idreamofcake.com and make sure to check 

out her blogspot @ www.sugar-moma.blogspot.com.

__________________________________

Update: I just found this video of an interesting series from CHOW.com titled OBSESSIVES. Li chats about wedding cake trends, spills cake secrets and confesses her obsession! Scandalous!

Frank's Donut

After searching far and wide for a giant donut for her boyfriend's birthday with no success,  Megan decided to commission her awesome friend (me) to make her an extra-large-donut cake. Megan knew right away that she wanted a key lime flavored element, raspberries and some sort of pound cake so i suggested a Classic Vanilla Pound Cake with Key Lime Curd and Raspberry Jam. 


The result was a cake that looked so close to the real thing, that i was left not craving a cake, but a huge chocolate donut!

-Frank's Birthday Cake was created December.29.2007

Photo Op.

I had to post this picture- Im no professional photographer but i love to take a pretty picture and i think this is one.

Black on White

This cake was VERY last minute (thanks Dad) but done with lots of love! The design was up to me so I decided to go with a concept I've had in mind for quite a while- here's its first manifestation. Im sure it'll make another appearance in the near future.


-Chocolate Fudge Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache was created November.16.2007