cake yo!@#!@!

A couple months back Toni and I did a cake for the holmby westwood homeowners association for Westwood Cleans Up- which was a fun nonprofit event where kids in the neighborhood 'cleaned up' Westwood. We donated this adorable cake, some jalapeno cheddar biscuits, butter biscuits, blueberry muffins, and banana nut muffins. They were cute and the kids were so excited!

when asked to decorate a cake for the holmby-westwood 50th anniversary at the playboy mansion for  October 3- I was a little hesitant. I was excited but nervous. I knew it was going to be a much bigger deal than the westwood cleans up cake. All i could think was how I was going to decorate a massive specialty cake, make cake for 600 people, and take care of the restaurants desserts and breads. I have this problem that I freak out before I do assignments that I doubt myself on. But I always pull through with amazing results- so now i'm convinced that the freak out is part of my creative process. with the help of toni, erika and michelle I was able to pull off what I thought was going to be a nightmare. First off I had to get all my supplies and make sure that everything was perfect to insure that the process would be smooth and stress free. Nick and J were awesome about giving me the time and space I needed to get this done. We turned the mezzanine into a little cake decorating studio. For some strange reason God likes to throw me curve balls every once in awhile. The week I was doing all of this a heat wave hit LA. The entire summer it was unusually cool, but of course the week I need to work on a fondant cake and make 5 sheet cakes its 110 degrees out. There really was only so much I could do so i paced myself and did what i could in the heat. It ended up working itself out- so i was cool- even in the sweltering heat. I honestly think it could have been way worse, but it went perfectly! I documented the process because I wanted people to see how the cakes are made. Toni and I are lucky enough to have the training we had to be able to do a cake like this in the matter of time that we did it. We both know exactly what we are doing so we just do it and we truly love what we do, and it always shows in the end. We had so much fun doing this and we got to give everyone a little peak at how to make cake art.

We made the cake and delivered it to the playboy mansion intact. It was really cool being there knowing the history of the mansion. There were tents set up with local buisnesses and restaurants displaying there finest. I got to meet so many amazing chefs and people that day- I was thrilled and inspired. Walking around the grounds of the mansion was amazing enough! I met a lot of the people that work at the mansion- that have been there for years. I learned so much about it in general that I felt honored to even be there. Hugh Hefner did make an appearance but I didn't have my camera when he showed face but its ok, I think everyone knows what he looks like so it doesn't matter anyway. anyways,
at the end of that day everything was worth it.


I have my flicker account with all the pictures but I still want the process photos on here. The link for my flickr is posted on the bottom so make sure you check out my pictures!!!

 thats alotaa batter

 thats alottaaa cakeee

 and alotaaa buttercream. yum.

 The cake that was actually served was a lemon scented pound cake with a lemon curd buttercream, with little bits of fresh strawberries in the layers. I made 5 full sheet cakes to serve.

upstairs to work.

 The cake sat on a 30 inch board- the cake itself was a 24"sq . I cut myself screwing in the flange- but i am still alive. the pvc was 3 feet tall.

 it was a group effort! everyone helped out!!

 the tower was made out of sheeted rice krispy treats. underneath the top of the tower was a 7'' cake board that held up the top.

 the walls and windows were made in advance. the walls had a slate imprint and the windows had framed imprints.

 the roof and seams were all put on with soft fondant - with buttercream used as glue.

 the walls and windows were all hand dusted with petal dust- with a variety of colors to add depth and an authentic vintage feel.

 we wanted the sides of the cake to look like a classic antique box. we did a wood grain and painted it with a yellowish brown paint- and left the edges jagged and rugged to add to the olden look we were going for.

 the street signs were left white to honor the fact that even though tower is no longer in westwood- the streets are all there- it was our modern approach to our 'vintage' cake.

 UCLA is in westwood- Erika made a little bear with a sign to represent! 

 hand painted signs :)

 the trees were fondant and the grass was piped with green buttercream.

 the dirt was chocolate cookies and the walkway was graham crackers!

 we had put the westwood sign on a slant because we liked it like that- it was our interpretation and we thought that it stuck out- but we did end up changing it.

 the golden lightening bolts were my favorite part !!

2am on saturday night.


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