2008 has marked a year of personal and professional growth like no other. Many of my wildest dreams have become reality and there are many more to come! I wish blessings for all my friends + readers and (cliche goes here) dare to dream, yo!
Where to start on this one? This was the cake(s) of the year! Jason and Lindsey had a non-traditional (and may I say awesome) approach to what they wanted for their wedding cake. As soon as they found my site and saw Franks Donut Cake, they emailed me. They both were set on having 6 separate donut cakes as their wedding cake. We collaborated for a few months on designs and flavors and this is what resulted.
This WALL-E caramel iced donut consists of Caramel Swirled Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream.
A shot of all six cakes- at left center is the jelly donut consisting of Vanilla Bean Cake with Raspberry Preserves and Organic Raspberries. To the right is the EVA chocolate iced donut consisting of Chocolate Fudge Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream and Organic Raspberries.
This donut consists of Toasted Coconut Cake with Lemon Curd.
The Imagine Bus Project's goal is to bring visual arts education to K-12 inner-city students, most of which are low-income, where arts education is lacking. They offer high quality, culturally sensitive art classes (such as digital photography basics, printmaking and arts and crafts) which in some cases are held on their mobile art studio, the Imagine Bus.
October has been the busiest month yet this year. Lots of events/galas and cakes! From a gluten-free dacquoise cake for Jaye to Mark and Michael's wedding cake.
Mark, Michael and I worked together to create an elegant and masculine non-traditional wedding cake for their intimate ceremony. What resulted was an ivory and chocolate brown cake with mahogany accents.
Although all cakes made are completely custom, this design is a first for me. The bottom tier consisted of two cakes, same size but different flavors, stacked directly on top of each other to create a taller-than-usual tier. The bottom half consisted of Chocolate Fudge Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream and the top half, Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Buttercream. The groomsmen's' top tier consisted of Dark Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream since they both are chocolate fiends (or chocolate-mongers). =)
Congrats Mark and Mike!
-M&M's Wedding Cake created October.18th.2008
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.
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
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
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.
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
