I was asked by Chow.com to create a gingerbread village as a "movie set" for their holiday greeting card movie. They actually even borrowed all my personal Playmobil toys and Brilo train set for the scenes. I spent the day working with the awesome guys at chow as they made this adorable stop motion animation movie. Enjoy. It's so cute.
This cake came out pretty cool if I may say so myself! A surprise groom's cake that I hope was a home run. Cheesy pun intended.
This cake was so long over due. My husband has been asking me for a Ween cake for years and last night he finally got it. Ween is a killer rock band and the cake, as you can see, is the album cover of Chocolate and Cheese. They are worth checking out if you haven't heard of them. We've been to many a concert. You can check out Jean and Dean Ween's website Ween.com. Rock on!
Thank you to Bruce Forrester Photography for the gorgeous photographs. This beautiful event was designed by Joannie Liss Events and End Design.
Today I thought I'd show a few examples of the sugar figures you can do on cakes. In this first example of Dora the Explorer I drew her on sugar with food color. She is what I call a 2D design because she is not sculpted out of sugar like in out next example.
For the Scooby Doo Halloween Cake the gang is also painted on sugar, but scooby, who is hiding in the grass is sculpted out of sugar.
For the full effect of sculpted sugar figurines see The Swedish Chef, Micky and Minnie Mouse and Sesame Street. I know I already posted the Sesame Street gang, but they are just too cute to leave out.
Doing sculpted figurines is a good option if your party is too small to do a sculpture cake(I usually need to work with at least 25-30 servings) or if you don't want to break the bank as sculpture cakes are more expensive.
This cake, photographed by Melissa Bagley, was inspired from my own wedding cake. I'm sure you've seen it, the Moroccan pattern, 5 tier cake that is in a few spots on my website and blog and facebook page. But in the end this cake looked very different. The piping was in ganache instead of a deep blue and then the burnt, fall colors of the hydrangeas and roses really made the cake pop.
I loved how this cake turned out. It is buttercream with piping in chocolate ganache.
This shape is a little different, the bottom and middle tier were on lifts. I think the proportions are really great.
I love Sesame Street and watching those vintage 70's sketches still makes me laugh. This cake would have made my day when I was 6, well actually, I wouldn't mind a Bert and Ernie cake right now. I'm convinced that they sculpted my sense of humor to what it is today.
This cake was for a couple, both Pisces, and both with Koi fish tattoos, who got married this weekend in Golden Gate Park.
This is my new favorite cake of the summer. This cake is iced in buttercream. The details of the peacock feathers are made from a textured fondant center that has been painted in green shimmer and the wispy feather detail is piped in buttercream and also painted in shimmer. The gold details are also piped and then painted in gold. The cake went to the new Pavilion on Treasure Island which is a brand new venue. It is a large white permanent tent that looks out over the waterfront and the San Francisco skyline. It is a great venue and a complete blank slate so the design possibilities are endless.
Thank you to Melissa Bagley http://www.melissabagley.com/ for the photographs.
I am so honored to have been a part of this beautiful photo shoot executed for Brides Northern California. I shared the spotlight with so many talented Bay Area designers who made it all possible. The photography by Lisa Lefkowitz www.LisaLefkowitz.com was stunning as usual and the design concept was meticulously staged by Gloria Wong www.GloriaWongDesign.com. The large cake and mini cake design were inspired from all the airy and colorful patterns of the vintage table clothes used in the vignettes. The mini cakes even used bands of fabric as part of the decor. Nothing is off limits. There were so many great ideas and I hope it provides a lot of brides with inspiration!
My friends who know me well, know that almost every line that comes out of my mouth references Nacho Libre or lyrics from Tenacious D albums. Nothing makes me laugh more, so this just may have been one of my greatest moments in history. I tried as hard as I could to not be a weirdo fan-I WAS supposed to be there. I think I was normal, I think. He sure was awesome.
I made him and costar, band mate Kyle Gass a cake in the shape of the pick from the movie Pick of Destiny. Jack Black and Kyle Gass make up the most killer rock band of all time: Tenacious D. They reigh supreme!
All the clients I'm meeting with right now are bringing me navy, pewter/gray and silver. Those are the "it" colors of next season. I do think they make a great color combo, but I still love the yellow, black and white scheme. Yellow flowers were floating all over the Kohl Mansion, another beautiful venue in the Peninsula. This wedding, coordinated by MB Wedding Design and Events is magazine worthy.
That same day, down at the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio was another fabulous wedding coordinated by Kathryn Kalabokes of Dream a Little Dream Events. Here is the cake from that event and the link will bring you to photos from the wedding.
This was a fun wedding cake. Stacked pillows for the bride and stacked law books for the groom.
A simple elegant cake with sugar orchids and modeling chocolate bands. So simple, but so sweet.
