Erin and Erik: Love and Shoes

When we met with Erin for her wedding cake consultation she shared that she wanted a white on white cake that incorporated calla lily flowers.  She wanted something artsy and unexpected yet elegant, with texture and movement.  We designed a 3-tier white buttercream cake with sugar calla lilies, ruffles, ribbons and fan accents.  For their flavor, they chose our Yellow Buttercake with Lilikoi Cream Filling.

Erin also wanted to surprise her fiancé Erik with a groom’s cake.  Apparently Erik is a bit of a shoe fanatic.  In fact he was featured in this Midweek article, discussing his extensive collection of over 300 pairs of shoes.  Erin showed us a photo of Christian Louboutin sneakers, made of black patent leather and spikes - kinda reminds me of a shoe someone from KISS would wear :)

Apparently Erik really wanted these shoes (that cost $1200).  They are very rare, and they looked all over (even in New York) for it, but alas no shoes.  So in an attempt to give him his much sought-after shoes, Erin asked us to create a Louboutin sneaker groom’s cake for him.  For their flavor, they chose our Devils Food Chocolate Cake with Oreo Cookies N Cream Filling.

Erin and Erik had this to say about our company:

Little girls all over the world dream about their fairy tale wedding or princess gown, and these dreams sometime stretch into adulthood. I was not one of them. However, the one element I hoped for was the perfect wedding cake, “a piece of art.” When we met with Kristin for the first time I came armed with many different photos incorporating many different design details. Then I shared my story. Kristin seemed touched by this and was ready to make this dream come true. The story didn’t stop there. The groom has a love for shoes. On a recent trip to New York we were on the hunt for a specific pair, but were out of luck. I thought it would be fun to have a groom’s cake replica of the shoe he desired. After many photos and conversations the grooms cake was realized (in a true size 10), and it was remarkable. Every little detail down to the shoelaces and stitching on the leather trim was included. Both cakes were definite showpieces and the talk of all our guests. The actual wedding cake was beautiful and it couldn’t have been easy. After tasting the butter cream (delicious) I knew I wanted it versus fondant. I was worried that it wouldn’t look as clean and smooth, but it was not an issue. It exceeded my expectations. The groom’s cake was a hit and looked too real to eat (… but we did of course). Our vision was executed to perfection. Kristin and her team are amazing. She listens, communicates, and delivers. She is a true talent and we will recommend A Cake Life over and over again.

Congratulations Erin and Erik!  It was a pleasure creating your cakes, and we wish you all the best!

Vendors:

Cake: A Cake Life

Venue: Azul Restaurant, Ihilani

Photography: Kristin Kato

Featured Wedding: Porsche & Stephen Modern Meets Vintage

Photos by A Cake Life

When we met with Porsche for her cake consultation she explained she wanted a modern meets vintage cake design for her May wedding at the Hale Koa Hotel.  The decor inspiration for the event was black and white with touches of silver.  The only color would be the purple uplighting illuminating the ballroom, setting the mood for their modern ambiance.  They completely transformed the Waikiki Ballroom with beautiful pipe and drapery and a cool lounge by Les Saisons and Vignette.

Their cake design was originally inspired by our "Ashley" cake, featured on the home page of our website.  Porsche loved the idea of an all white fondant cake accented with silver and pearl white details.  For their design we incorporated a cascade of handmade sugar jewels and vintage style brooches, scallop embossing around the top trim, an extra large silver modern style sugar flower, and a ruffle accent.  For their flavors, they chose Devils Food Chocolate with Peanut Butter Cup filling and Yellow Butter Cake with Cookies N Cream filling.

Photos by A Cake Life

 

 Photos Courtesy of Bianca Photography

 

We also had the privilege of designing Stephen’s Groom’s Cake featured on our blog a few weeks back.

 

Congratulations Porsche and Stephen!

Stephen's Groom's Cake

When we first met with Porsche for her fiancee's surprise grooms cake, we discussed several design ideas for his cake, but when it came down to it, she couldn't settle on one theme so we created a whole cake decorated with all things Stephen!  Porsche had a whole LONG list of items to describe what Stephen likes.  We picked out a few of these ideas: his Jordan kicks, weight lifting, music, break dancing, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, steaks! (what guy doesn't?) even the Hormel Chili he grew up eating!

Photos courtesy of: Bianca Photography

Some of the main items Porsche wanted to focus on was a picture of their family with their daughter, and special detail to Stephen’s involvement with the Army.  For this we included all hand-painted sugar badges of the black and yellow Army star, his silver dog tags and a replica of his unit’s badge (see the photo below which served as inspiration).  

Left: Photo of Stephen's 'Hiki No' unit badge.  Right bottom: Hand made sugar replica

For his flavors, Porsche chose Orange Dreamcicle cake with Vanilla Cream filling and Pretty Pink Strawberry with Guava Cream filling.

We hope Stephen was surprised and stoked to see his special cake that was all about him!

The Groom's Cake

This was a surprise grooms cake of a red Audi convertible.  We handmade a replica of the couple's 2 dogs sitting in the front seat.  The dogs were wearing a black top hat for the groom and a white veil for the bride.  The bride asked us to integrate their special inside joke "MKT PRC" on the front license plate and their wedding date on the other.  All the guests got the inside joke and the groom was stoked to see his surprise cake! 

More often, couples are having two wedding cakes – the traditional cake and a groom’s cake.  As weddings often tend to be “all about the bride” a nice way to honor (or surprise) the groom is with his own personalized cake.

Accounts of the history of how the groom’s cake came-to-be often differ.  Some say the tradition dates all the way back to the 17^th century where the cake was originally was a rich, dark, fruit cake made without icing.   Others say it was the top layer of the bride’s cake that was not served to guests, but rather drenched in brandy to preserve for the couple’s first anniversary.  Another story says the groom’s cake was a edible treat packaged individually in decorated boxes, often monogrammed with a couple’s initials and given to guests to take home.

While some wedding traditions have evolved (from groom’s cake to wedding favors, or celebrating the first year of marriage with the top layer of wedding cake) so has the groom’s cake.  It is usually presented at the wedding, and sliced and served just like the traditional cake.

Most often the requests we get are to create a fun “manly” cake reflecting the groom’s hobbies or interests.  They often choose a different flavor from their wedding cake ranging from Red Velvet with Cream Cheese filling to Devils Food Chocolate Cake with Cookies N Cream filling.  This offers guests a nice variety to choose from when it comes to cake.

Some of the most recent groom’s cakes we’ve created are as follows:

Lakers theme Basketball Cake and handmade figurines of the couple in their Lakers jerseys

New Jersey Devils Hockey Puck Grooms Cake

One of our brides sent us this photo which served as the inspiration for the cake to follow: 

Michael Godard  "Shoot the Wad " Print

Grooms Cake inspired by the print

While groom's cakes can be a bit more challenging to create, it definitely brings an air of personalization to a wedding.  People remember details like this, and that's what makes a wedding special!