Crazy Cake Company

Cakegrrl.com Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:18:00 +0000

Oh, my poor neglected blog readers, I promise to carve out some time soon to post about some of my recent creations. But, in the meantime, check out this interview I did with Kristy who writes the fabulous Cakegrrl.com blog. :)

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company
www.crazycakecompany.com
(916) 849-9794

KCRA A-List win and my 4 1/2 minutes of fame....

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:48:00 +0000

OMG, I can't believe that I forgot to post my blog about my KCRA A-List win for "BEST CAKE". When it was officially announced last Friday, I emailed friends, blasted it across my facebook page and drafted a blog post but completely forgot to post it! Doh! I must be getting old...

Well, it's probably for the better since now I can post videos and give the behind the scenes scoop on my two TV appearances. Yes, two (details to come).

First and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you who voted for me! You guys seriously ROCK!! I'm so overjoyed to have won for "BEST CAKE" in the wedding cake category, especially considering the fierce competion I had.

I was first notified of my win a few days before it was publicly announced when a producer from KCRA called and asked if I would be interested in doing a brief TV spot on their Friday morning news. Would I? Are you kidding me? Of course I would!! As luck would have it though, that week was also one of my busiest weeks of the year with multiple wedding cake and cookie orders for Memorial Day weekend but of course I made it work.

I showed up to the TV studio Friday morning with a few things to talk about: my recreation of the AT-AT cake I made for my husband's birthday, a DIY cupcake display made from things found around the house, and some cookie favors I made that week. I was told the spot would be about 3 minutes and having timed it at home (you know, for practice) I expected it to go by fast but even I was caught off guard by just how fast it went. You can watch the clip here (sorry, can't seem to figure how to imbed these videos, email me if you know how :).

Only after filming did I realize that my segment was actually cut short because they were running behind. I felt a little better knowing that I didn't misjudge the timing but to be honest, I left the studio feeling a little dejected. Not only did I not say anything to actually promote my business, I reduced my fabulous 7-yr career as an executive in the DVD industry to "selling DVDs", and worse yet I called my husband a "geek" on TV (while "geek" is a term of endearment in my books, I know others may see it differently). I felt like such a TV rookie, which I was but that's besides the point.

The light at the end of the tunnel came a couple hours later when I received another call from KCRA - they felt really bad about cutting my segment and asked if I had time to come down to the studio the following day to do another shoot. In reality, I didn't since I still had cakes to decorate for the upcoming weekend weddings but I would make time for the chance at redemption.

Learning from my mistakes, I decided to keep it simple and bring one of the wedding cakes I made along with the matching cookie favors. I also switched from my non-flattering white chef's coat to an apron which I was hoping was bit more slimming. I think this one went much better. Check it out here.

Well, as you can see, the apron can only do so much when you're standing next to Mai Fesai. I'm no petite flower but watching the video, I seriously looked like an Amazon compared to her 100lb-frame. And can you believe she has two kids? In any case, the segment still wasn't perfect (lots of um's, etc.) but I feel a lot better about it :)

So, there you go my 4 1/2 minutes of fame. And once again thank you, thank you, for all your support!!!

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

www.crazycakecompany.com

(916) 849-9794

Puh-lease vote for us.....

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:39:00 +0000

As of the time of this post, there is only one day, 10 hours and 10 minutes left to KCRA's A-List competition. We have been nominated for "BEST CAKE" for the greater Sacramento region and last I was able to check we were only 3% points away from stealing away the #1 spot from these guys. We're sooooo close, won't you help us out by voting for us? Pretty please....

Click HERE to vote for us =D. Polls close at 11:59pm PST on May 2oth!!

Thanks all!

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company
http://www.crazycakecompany.com/
(916) 849-9794

Celebrity Chef Challenge Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Ok, I know this recap is bit late in coming but May has been (and still is) crazy busy. Between weddings, wedding cakes, graduations, and birthdays (including my own), 24 hours a day simply is not enough.

If you didn't make it to the 8th Annual Celebrity Chef Challenge on April 30th, boy did you miss out. Well, actually so did I in a matter of speaking :( - I was so busy doing my cake carving demo, I didn't have time to check out many of the booths around but from what I gathered from those who attended, the entrance fee was more than worth all the delicious food and wine that was consumed that evening, not to mention the awesome live entertainment, namely the celebrity chef challenge. Bad news is that I don't have much details on the cooking challenge; in fact, I was only able to glimpse at the setup.

Good news is that I do have tons of pictures to share on my cake carving demo. To remind you, I had chosen to carve a 1953 Porsche Coupe that was on display at the California Auto Museum.

I started off with a big block of cake. (Why didn't anyone tell me my hair was sticking out in the back?)

Starting to carve the profile of the car. I look so serious, lol.

More carving...btw, that's the actual car in the back.

Adding the curves to the hood.

A quick stop to take a photo with my lovely assistants for the evening: my sister, Tran, and my best friend, Michelle, who were helping me hand out hundreds of samples of my red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream. They rocked!

Applying black fondant to the top of the cake, later to become the windows for the car.

Next, a covering of red fondant.

Scoring the lines of the door.

Picture of the crowd that had gathered to watch.

Smoothing out the front bumper.

Painting on the silver trim.

Finally finished. You see that I was sooo happy to be done that you can barely see my eyes with that huge smile, lol.And about 20 minutes after I finished, I noticed that I had forgotten to add the silver trim to the front and back bumpers (Darn!).

At the end of the evening this lucky man, Jon, was able to take the porsche cake home and enjoy it with their friends and neighbors the next day. Here is a pic of me and Jon and below is one of his lovely wife, Brenda, getting ready to cut into the cake. It was a busy night for sure since there were a lot of steps to carving and decorating a car cake but I'd definitely participate again next year. I may, however, choose to do a less time-consuming subject, something that will allow me more time to interact with the crowd.....oh definitley more time to sample some of the awesome food and wine. =D

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

www.crazycakecompany.com

(916) 849-9794

Weddingbee Guest Post

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Hi folks! My sister-in-law, Carol, is getting married tomorrow and I'm busy finalizing details for her fabulous cake display so I don't have much time but I just wanted to invite you check out my guest post on Weddingbee.com on how to freeze the top tier of your wedding cake.

I love, love, love Weddingbee - it's one of those habits I've yet to kick from my wedding days...well that and DIY projects - so I'm super excited to contribute :)

Click here to check it out!

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company
(916) 849-9794

Celebrity Chef Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:35:00 +0000

Next Friday is the 8th Annual Celebrity Chef Challenge and I'm super duper excited! Why, you ask? Not only will our company be there to help support a great cause (more on that later), I will also be doing a live cake carving demonstration! Yippee!!

The Celebrity Chef Challenge is Northern California's own version of the popular Food Network show Iron Chef. In front of a live audience, six regional chefs have 45 minutes to turn five secret ingredients into 3 delectable dishes. Got that? 6 chefs, 45 minutes, 5 secret ingredients, 3 dishes. Watching people cook is bound to make the crowd hungry so adjacent to this competition is a fabulous wine & food fair where folks can sample drinks and goodies from over 25 wineries and 45 regional vendors (us included). Food competition, wine, and yummy samples, if this isn't foodie heaven, I don't know what is! The cherry on top has got to be that Guy Farris and Melissa Crowley from Sacramento & Co. will be emceeing the event and that celebrity chef judge, Dominque Crenn from "The Next Iron Chef" will be judging.

Tickets are $50 in advance and $60 at-the-door and all proceeds go to help an extremely worthy organization, InAlliance. InAlliance has been helping people with developmental disabilities gain independence through employment since 1952 and as I have a younger brother who has actually benefitted from their services, I am more than happy to do what I can to help support them, including possibly embarassing myself doing a live cake carving/decorating demonstration.

Last week I met Jessica, the show coordinator, at the California Auto Museum (formerly Towe Auto Museum) where the event will be held to go over details and to pick out my cake carving subject. With so many classic cars on display, we thought it would be fitting for me to make a scale replica of one of these beauties. When I laid eyes on the signal red 1953 Porsche 1500 Coupe (model 356), I knew she was the one (with all those curves, you know it's gotta be a "she").

She was sandwiched between two other cars and I couldn't get a good profile shot but here she is again, this time wearing blue. Isn't she gorgeous?

I've got roughly 2 1/2 hours to carve and decorate this cake, which really isn't even enough time for certain detail parts to dry so wish me luck, lol. Embarassment or not, I promise that it'll be a great show =D. So if you're a fan of food shows, cake shows, or just a fan of free food and wine, I encourage you to go buy your tickets for 8th Annual Celebrity Chef Challenge today. Go on, just click here.

-------------------

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

www.crazycakecompany.com

(916) 849-9794

The Knot Best of Weddings 2010 Pick!!

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:03:00 +0000

2010 is shaping up to be great year for Crazy Cake Company; I've got some exciting things in the hopper (the most imminent being a website redesign) that has been keeping me super busy. I feel like I've been operating at full speed since the beginning of the year and now that Valentine's weekend is past, I can take a small breather and finally announce to all five of my loyal blog readers that I've been voted one of Theknot.com's Best of Wedding vendors in Northern California. Woooooohooooooo!!!!

Frankly, I've been a bit stunned ever since I was notified last November. I've always received great feedback from brides (and grooms) but never did I think that so many of them would take the time to fill out their after-wedding surveys and vote* for me on theknot.com. To say that I'm honored doesn't even cover the half of it. Being only 1 of 12 bakers in Northern California with the "best of weddings" vendor designation on the nation's largest wedding site is fabulous in and of itself but even better is knowing that it was earned based on the reviews from my brides. I am seriously a bit overwhelmed by how sweet and completely awesome my brides are. =D

The winter issue of the knot magazine recently hit the newsstands and of course, I rushed out immediately to secure a copy.

Okay, they have me listed as "Sacramento" when I'm technically in Davis but close enough, I say.

Finally, I would definitely be remiss if I did not send out a ginormous "THANK YOU!" to all my brides that left kind words on their surveys, you guys ROCK!!....................................and as for the rest of you that didn't bother, well, you can go......haha, just kidding, you know I love you guys too. ;P

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company
http://www.crazycakecompany.com/
(916) 849-9794

*Technically, it's not a vote. Brides receive after-wedding surveys about their wedding and vendors and the "best of weddings" vendors are then selected based on the quantity and quality of the brides' vendor reviews.

AT-AT Walker Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Let me start by saying that I'm violating one of my basic blogging guidelines by posting this entry. I'm a stickler for sequential blogging but I'm just soooo excited about this cake and there's too many blog items in queue before this one, lol.

Some of you already know that my husband, Dennis, has three great loves in his life. He loves me the most (at least that's what I tell him); he loves Porsches (especially the Porsche 911 Carrera); and he loves Star Wars. More specifically, he loves the old-school episodes IV, V, and VI and even more specifically, he loves Imperial Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walkers. So when it came time to start planning for his birthday in December, I knew immediately that I wanted to make him an AT-AT Walker cake. I had already made him a Stormtrooper cake, a Porsche cake, and a Porsche cookie so I guess I was saving the best and most difficult for last.

Dennis' birthday is on December 26th (which totally sucks eggs, btw) and we usually have a fairly quiet celebration since everyone is either out of town or busy celebrating Christmas with family. This year, however, I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party the friday before his birthday while friends were still in town. All the guests did an amazing job keeping the secret and it's an understatement to say that he was simply surprised walking through the door. I have an awesome video of his reaction but for the sake of my marriage, I dare not post it, lol. It was a bit stressful making the cake in secret but the expression on his face when he saw his AT-AT cake more than justified the 50+ hours I spent slaving over it. Without further ado, here is my dear hubby next to his birthday cake holding my present to him, the LEGO Motorized AT-AT walker he's been denying himself.

It took a few minutes to convince him (and some guests) that the cake needed to be cut and eaten but finally he conceded and stabbed it with the cake cutter.

Inside was a moist almond cake with cream cheese buttercream filling. Yum!!

Making this cake was quite a challenge for me since I usually rely on my husband (who has an engineering background) to build my cake supports. Left to my own resources, I'm delighted to see that I've actually picked up some construction skills of my own :). Below is the basic framework after the underside and legs were decorated.

.....with the cake carved and iced with buttercream.
TIP: When making a scale replica of anything (especially for your engineer husband), it's always helpful to seek out blueprints and enlarge them to the size. Finally, please forgive me as I post too many photos of the this cake - there's just so many interesting angles.
Some close-up shots with better lighting.

Happy Birthday, hubby!!!

P.S. I accidentally left out a few details on the AT-AT but you won't notice unless you're a Star Wars fan. There's not too many of those out there, right?

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

The Versatile Circle

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:21:00 +0000

So my sister, Tran's birthday was in August and of course I made her a cake. I love making cakes for my sister 'cause every year I ask her what she wants and every year she says, "whatever you want to make me" <--- cake designers love this answer :). Like me, my sister loves bold colors so last year, I made her the below two-tiered cake with simple red flowers that remains one of my favorites to this day.
This year, I noticed that Tran had accumulated a lot of green stuff (clothes, bags, accessories, etc.) and made a comment to that affect. She responded by saying that green was her favorite color and I instantly felt like a heel for not knowing my own sister's favorite color. But, I quickly got over it and decided to make her a green cake for her birthday to make up for it. =D

My sister's big day fell on a busy week, so I chose a design that was fairly quick to execute. In terms of cake design, fondant circle cutouts are unquestionably the most versatile, not to mention virtually foolproof design element a designer can use. It's as simple as cutting and pasting, literally. Circles can be placed in a myriad of patterns to achieve designs that are cute, whimsical, modern, retro, and just plain cool . For my sister's cake, I went with the traditional "pretty" with the extra bit of oomph coming from the oversized gumpaste flowers I had made the week prior.

Here's a shot of the cake with the flowers placed to the right. .....and now to the left. I prefer the flowers on the left, don't ask me why.

I've seen this circle pattern used many times on other cakes but mostly done with very pale colors on a white background so that the tone on tone coloring almost resembles a texture. With the darker colored circles that I used, your attention is definitely more drawn towards the negative space left by the circles. The overall effect calls to mind gingham checks, no?......which immediately makes me think this cake would be fabulous done in red for a country wedding, maybe displayed on a bed of apples. But, I digress...........here are some close-ups of the gumpaste flowers.

I had loaned out my 12" cake stand but still wanted an elevated look for this cake so I MacGyver'd a cake stand by placing a flat serving plate on top of an upside down bowl. And to prevent slippage, I threw in a small square of grip padding. Ta-da!

So the moral of this blog post? Fondant circles are your friend and you can make a cake stand with almost anything. To end, a pic of my beautiful sister and her equally beautiful gal pals :).

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

www.crazycakecompany.com

Less is more....

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:52:00 +0000

September passed by almost in a blur and boy do I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. First off, I must write about Amy and Kendall's wedding cake back in August. Amy loved the simple beauty of the April Reed style of cakes and showed me one in particular that she wanted to use as inspiration. Since she wasn't a fan of fondant, however, she asked if the smooth look of fondant can be achieved without actually using fondant. And always looking to please, of course I said yes.

I pride myself on precision sharp edges on my buttercream cakes so it was almost painful having to dull the edges to get the more contoured "fondant" look, but I wasn't feeling so bad after I saw how it softened the look of the cake. Below is a close-up. I absolutely love that Amy and Kendall chose to go with the natural look (and not to mention taste) of real vanilla bean buttercream. So divine. :)April Reed's designs exemplify the phrase "less is more" so the only thing needed to accent this 4-tier wedding cake were a few gumpaste peonies. The table set-up. Too bad the floating candles weren't lit, I bet that would casted a lovely glow.The cake table was lined up almost perfectly with a covered cable line on the wall and at just the right angle, we were able to capture this heavenly shot. Love, love, love it!! See, even in photography, less is more. :)

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

Threadcakes Contest: Cookie Loves Milk

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:20:00 +0000

After finishing the Byebi cake entry, I had time to squeeze in one last one for the threadcakes contest and I chose to recreate the "Cookie loves Milk" design. Even you have to agree that this t-shirt design is beyond adorable, right?

I swear I had a smile on my face the entire time I was making this cake, especially since I knew that my nieces and nephews would be seeing and eating this cake the next day. You can read the description and see the in-process photos here.
It was a blast making all three cakes for the contest. Hopefully, I'll have time next year to participate again. :)

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company
www.crazycakecompany.com

Threadcakes Contest: Byebi

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:22:00 +0000

As I mentioned in my previous post, I entered three cakes in the threadcakes contest. This second entry is hands down, one of the favorite cakes I've ever made. I would even go so far as to say that if I had to do it all over again, my wedding cake would look very similar to this. I absolutely love the elaborate simplicity (yes, I realize that's an oxymoron) of the bird graphic.

Here's the t-shirt design, Byebi, that inspired the cake. It's too bad that it's currently out of print. :(

And here's my interpretation of the graphic. Again, you can read the description and see the in-process photos here. I made this cake (all the cakes really) because I thought it would be fun but it was really nice to also be recognized with a 2nd place win in the 2D category. Woohoo! Thanks threadcakes!

P.S. Check out all the awesome winners in the 2D and 3D categories here.

P.S.S. I love this cake so much, I think I'm going to reproduce it as a display cake using styrofoam :).

Lien Sanchez

Crazy Cake Company

www.crazycakecompany.com

Threadcakes Contest: A Piece of Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:49:00 +0000

If you love cake like I love cake, you've probably heard of the Threadcakes contest. And if you haven't, let me enlighten you - it's an online cake contest held by the awesome folks who run the Threadless.com site. Contest rules are simple, make a cake inspired from one of the graphic tee designs from the site and send in your in-process photos with a description.

With all the awesome t-shirt designs available on threadless.com, I was really excited to participate in this contest but I was also really hesitant to do so as it seemed like this contest was more meant for the home baker. However, as the weeks passed and I saw the caliber of the submissions, I knew I was in good company so I decided to give in to my desire to recreate some of my favorite designs in cake form.

This first cake I entered was based on the below "A Piece of Cake" design.

Looking at the photo below, it's easy to think that this was a normal slice of cake but this was in fact a 10" slice of cake. And not to be redundant, you can read the description and see the in-process photos here. Oh, while you're there, you should also check out some of the other awesome cake designs. :)

I had time to complete two more cake submissions for this contest, one of which even won 2nd place, so you'll be hearing from me again soon. ;)

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company
http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

Mike IS amazing

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:08:00 +0000

This past June, I had the pleasure of meeting and learning from my all-time cake hero, Mike McCarey, owner of Mike's Amazing Cakes in Redmond, WA. Luckily for me, I found out about Mike's two-day modeling chocolate course just in the nick of time as I was just about to register and book travel to the Cake Camp in Las Vegas. The minute I saw that Mike was teaching classes, I knew I had to clear my schedule and make it to one of his classes.

Now, I wasn't kidding when I said that Mike is my "cake hero". There are many cake artists in the industry that I admire and draw inspriration from but Mike's work is seriously jaw-droppingly AMAZING. The level of detail and realism in his cakes are incredible and definitely something that I strive to achieve in my own work. So you can see, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to meet and learn from the best in the business (literally).

I've seen all his appearances on the Food Network Challenges and even own his instructional DVD on sculpting car cakes and from what I can tell, he seemed like a nice guy but I was surpised by how down-to-earth and genuine he is. He was patient with those of us who needed a little extra help, answered all of our questions candidly, and even regaled us with some behind-the-scenes tales of the Food Network cake challenges. The class itself was organized, well-thought out, informational, and above all FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Let me share with you a bit of what we learned in class.

Day 1 we learned everything there is to know about modeling chocolate (MC for short), including how to make it, how to store it, what chocolates to use, it's qualities and limitations, etc. We also learned about approximately 10 different techniques on how to use modeling chocolate in cake decorating. Below are 4 of those techniques (can't give away everything, 'ya know).

MC takes impresions really well - this one is an impression made from lace.

Unlike fondant, MC doesn't stretch much which makes it ideal for cutouts and scoring: MC is easily marbled:

And since it's tacky with moisture, appliques stick easily to it's surface.

Day 2 included a great many subjects but the main event was learning how to use modeling chocolate to, you know, model. In the below pic, Mike is showing us how to shape the body of the dragon on the lower left corner.We were encouraged to be creative so here's my slightly different dragon (sans pupils).
......and the finished cake.

I've really only skimmed the surface of all that I was able to sponge off Mike's two-day class but take my word that this class is MUST for any cake decorator looking to unlock the magical world of modeling chocolate. Not sure if there's any spaces left for his classes in Atlanta (Oct. 17-18 & 19-20) or Savannah (Nov 13-14 & 15-16) but it wouldn't hurt to check :-)

Having met my cake-hero, you seriously didn't think I was gonna leave without getting a picture with him, did you?

.....and Mike's assistant, also named Mike, who managed to be both incredibly helpful and adorable the entire time.

Lien Sanchez

www.crazycakecompany.com

Thomas the Train

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:16:00 +0000

So, a few hours ago I blogged about the amazing Thomas the Train cake photos I received from Huy Phan and already I've received complaints about the lack of behind-the-scenes photos in the post. Sheesh, you guys are demanding!.....and I guess I'm a pushover 'cause here I am, about to write another post on the construction of Thomas, lol.

When reproducing real objects in cake form, especially cars and such, I always strive to reproduce them to scale for greater realism. Unexpectedly, Thomas proved to be a challenge from the get-go. Why, you ask? Because there's so many versions of him and each version had differently sized. The infant toy model is short and stout (yes, like a teapot), the real train model of Thomas is slim and long, and everything in between was well, in between. After going through what seemed like a thousand photos (ok, it was more like 50), I found one that was a good representation of the most commonly-sized Thomas the Train.

I actually don't have too many in-process photos of Thomas because once I start decorating a cake, I tend to zone out and the next thing I know, well, the cake is finished. However, I do have two that you guys might be interested in.

One of the first things I do when I start a cake is to cover the cake board and build the necessary supports so that they have plenty of time to dry. The base of this cake is constructed from balsa wood covered in fondant.

Then I started carving Thomas, making sure to use cake for as many parts of the train as possible. Here it is crumb-coated with buttercream.

And then voila!, the finished cake.

Photo by Huy Phan

There, you guys happy now?

Lien Sanchez

www.crazycakecompany.com

What a difference good photos make

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:17:00 +0000

I often have mixed feelings about using cake as an art medium. On the one hand, I love the fact that it's edible art and that it serves duo functions as a centerpiece as well as a dessert. But on the other hand, I do feel a slight pang of sorrow after I deliver a cake, knowing that my art piece will most likely cease to exist by the end of the evening and that all I'll be left with are photos............which brings me to the subject of this post.

Photos, specifically good photos, are very important to those of us in the wedding industry (and I'm sure other industries as well). I often think back to when I was a bride researching vendors - I would search websites/magazines and read all the fantastic descriptions about a vendor and the goods/services they provided but ultimately, it was really the photos that convinced me to seek out additional information about that vendor. Knowing this, I've made it a point to try to improve my techniques in photo-taking (I hesitate to call it photography 'cause that would be insulting those who do actual photography, lol). My photos have gotten better over the last couple of years, due to a camera upgrade and some online tutorials, but I'm a far cry from being good. This was glaringly obvious when I made the below Thomas the Train cake for Huy Phan of Huy Phan Photography.

Huy was actually the wedding photographer for my own wedding almost two years ago. I stumbled onto his website and instantly fell in love with his photojournalist style. He's a very unassuming guy but you can just hear his passsion for photography in every word he speaks and of course, you can see it in his photos. Needless to say, we were estatic with our wedding photos and have since recommended him to numerous friends and clients who have also become fans of his work. So when he called in May requesting a Thomas the Train cake for his 5 yr-old's birthday, I was more than happy to oblige.

Without further ado, I'd present to you some of the photos Huy took of said Thomas the Train cake.

I was floored when I saw these photos. I compared the photos I took (which I thought were decent at the time) to his and literally grimaced. My husband tried to make me feel better by saying that it's silly for me to compare my amateur photos to Huy's professional ones but all I could think about was how much better my portfolio would be if I had professional photos for all of my cakes. *Sigh* I think I need to make time to take some photography classes...........Hmmmm, or maybe I can just move into Huy's neighborhood and trade cakes for photos. =^)

Update: Take a look at the construction of Thomas the Train here.

Lien Sanchez
www.crazycakecompany.com

Spongebob is a stand up kinda guy

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:03:00 +0000

What is it about Spongebob that inspires such a following from kids and adults alike? Is it his high-pitched voice? the naive innocence? the silly sponge-shaped body? Whatever it is, there's no doubt that he's a favorite at kid's birthday parties. If you search the web for spongebob cake images, you'll get literally hundreds of pages of results so when my brother called requesting a Spongebob cake for my 3-yr-old nephew's birthday, I knew that I had to so something different from the ones I've seen online. I had to make Spongebob stand out from the crowd, and what better way than to do that than to make him stand up. =D

Below is a pic of Spongebob's legs before I started piling on the cake.....and the finished cake. I tell 'ya, it was really refreshing icing this cake and purposely leaving lumps and bumps under the fondant. It was also fun to be able to take a melon baller to the sides of Spongebob's body, lol.

Making Spongebob stand up wasn't too difficult, however keeping him standing up was the real challenge. This cake was well supported internally but anything that tall and narrow and most importantly, made of cake, is going to want to sway with external pressure and movement - It's just physics. And as luck would have it, the only table that was available for displaying Spongebob had one rickity leg so that the slightest nudge shook the table rather violently. With about 20 kids running around, I had to do something to minimize the risk of damage. Hmmmm......what to do, what to do.....I know!!!

It's a bit harsh but it worked, 'cause let's face it, no kid wants to be the one who kills Spongebob. As kids came up the table to take a closer look at the cake, someone else will yell out if they got too close, "Careful, or you'll kill Spongebob!".............. it was music to my ears, lol. :-)

Lien Sanchez
www.crazycakecompany.com

Black Fondant Wedding Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Like many couples, Christine and James started their wedding cake search with a general idea of what cake designs they liked but had nothing concrete in mind. So like a good spy, I asked a few probing questions about their event and particulary about the decor and theme. As you may have noticed by now, I love to incorporate wedding design elements into a wedding cake design. Invitations, in particular, can tell you a lot about the couple and the event and as cheesy as it sounds, invitations do set the tone for your event and in a way, gives the guests a glimpse into the ambience of the event, whether it's casual or formal, simple or elaborate,...you get the point.

Christine and James' invitations screamed "fun elegance" to me, meaning that it was going to be a beautiful wedding but gosh darn it, they're gonna have fun while they tied that knot..........or I could just be smoking crack and reading too much into those little white swirls, lol.

Based on their general likes and dislikes, I drew up a cake design that incorporated their monogram and their invitation design. When I got their blessing, I was almost giddy. I've always wanted to make a black fondant wedding cake. I think there's just something so elegant about contrasting colors against a black background but let's face it, not many brides are keen about having a black cake at their wedding, ya know? Fortunately for me, I always seem to have the most awesomest customers :)

A shot of the cake in progress...

Before the gold accents..

and the final result...Ta Da!! Don't you just love pedestal cake stands?

and you know I always have to throw in an angled up shot :)

Now if just one bride sees this cake and is inspired to have a black fondant wedding cake at her own wedding, then I think my life would have meaning. (I'm joking, of course, who cares about the color of your cake when there's millions of starving children out there............well, who, besides me, of course.....)

Lien Sanchez

http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

I could just kick myself......

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:05:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I had two firsts: I did my first cupcake wedding and made my first sugar human figurines.......and unfortunately, I have no good photos to show because I forgot to bring my camera on the delivery.

The day of the wedding couldn't have gone any smoother - I arrived at the event location, levelled the cake table, set up the custom-made cupcake tower, placed the topper cake and figurines and then reached for my camera only to realize that I had left it on my work counter. DOH! At that exact moment, I seriously felt like kicking myself. There was no convenience store nearby so buying a disposable camera was out of the question - all I'm left with are the crappy photos I took using my camera phone.

Without further ado, I present to you the cupcake tower in question.

You're probably wondering why there's a tater tot at the top of this tower, huh? Well, there's a really funny/sweet story behind that. This cupcake tower was actually a wedding present from the bride's cousin, Alanna. When I met with Alanna, she expressed that her cousin, Jen and her fiance were big fans of the movie Napoleon Dynamite and that she would love to incorporate that into the cake as a surprise. Now if you've ever watched Napoleon Dynamite, you'll know that tater tots or "tots" are featured prominently in the film; you might also recognize that the outfits that the Napoleon and Deb figurines are wearing are from their prom night.

Napoleon Dynamite: "I like your sleeves. They're real big."
Deb: "Thank you. I made them myself."

Sorry, I couldn't resist. We also played with the idea of placing little fondant "liger" drawings on the cupcakes but thought that that might be taking it a bit too far. Like I mentioned, this was my first foray into making human figurines and I was really happy with the end result, not because they were all that fantastic but more because they didn't suck, lol. If the resolution on this photo was better, you would see the curls in Napoleon's hair, his mini wire frame glasses, the stitching on his vest and most importantly, his infamous moon boots.

Here's a photo of Napoleon and Deb sans hair.

If case you were wondering how the surprise topper cake went over with Alanna's cousin:

"I spoke with my cousin today, they just got home from their little honeymoon in the sierra nevada mountains. She had the last of the tater tot for breakfast and never shared with anyone but her husband! She was estatic about both the flavor and skill that went into Napoleon and Deb. Thank you cause she was tremendously pleased with her wedding cupcakes and topper!"

All I can say is that Jen is lucky to have such a awesome cousin. =D

Lien Sanchez
http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

Baby Fever

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:24:00 +0000

Is it just me or is there baby fever going around? Between friends and family, I personally know seven, yes SEVEN expectant mothers all due before August!! Crazy, right? Well, where there's expectant mothers, there's bound to be baby showers, and where there's baby showers, there's baby shower cookie favors!

My baby shower cookie cutter of choice is the onesie, mostly because onesies are so conducive to personalization. You can make them in any color and style and even write cute little phrases on them like "got milk?" or "John's little brother".

Due to time constrainsts, however, I kept mine fairly straightforward with the simple designs below.

Congrats to all the mommy-to-be's out there!!

Lien Sanchez
www.crazycakecompany.com

Aren't you gonna open that bottle?

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:11:00 +0000

So, where were we in the adventures of Kim and Chris? Oh yes, the groom’s cake. Before Kim and I ever sat down to discuss her wedding cake, she stated that the groom’s cake, which was a surprise, MUST be a bottle of Opus One. Her fiancé, Chris, is a wino, uh, I mean a wine enthusiast and Opus One is his absolute favorite wine. What can I say but the man has good taste – after all he is marrying my friend Kim, right? Incidentally, the only time I’ve ever had the pleasure of trying Opus One was at a company retreat at my first job out of college. My boss had decided to splurge on a few bottles for everyone at dinner one night, so I had a glass. I’m actually quite embarrassed to admit that that nice glass of red was completely wasted on me. You see, I was fresh out of college and my tastebuds were still recovering from the years of cheap tequila abuse, and was in no condition to appreciate all the delicate flavors that I’m sure was in that glass. Sad to say but that glass of Opus could’ve been a glass of Two-Buck Chuck and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Yeah, I know, I cringe for the younger me too.

But I digress…….I was given my marching orders for the groom’s cake and so began searching the web for a high res image of the wine label that I would need for my edible image. I couldn’t find any that were adequate for a good print so I went directly to the source and contacted the Opus One winery in Oakville, CA. Jennifer, their PR coordinator, had a high res jpeg in my inbox within the hour, talk about customer service, :-) !

Ok, enough chitchat, I know you guys want to see pictures so let’s start with the cake board. Below is a picture of it scored to resemble planks of wood.
The cakeboard after the color wash. TIP: When using color wahes on fondant, be sure to allow for ample drying time (4-8 hrs).
Next, the wine of bottle. Here is it iced with buttercream.

.....covered with fondant and airbrushed.

Then, the bottle label. So, the original plan was to simply print one out on edible paper and affix it to the wine bottle cake - hence the need for the high res image. Well, as luck would have it, my edible printer (which worked just dandy the week before) decided to throw a fit and only spew out unintelligibly garbled images. About twenty minutes and a few choice words later, I moved on to plan B: piping the label by hand. Talk about nerve-racking, not only did I need to reproduce the silhouettes of Robert Mondavi and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild, I had to reproduce their signatures at the bottom! After roughly an hour of the most painstaking piping I’ve done thus far, I ended up with darn good replica, if I do say so myself =D. I guess all that practice in grade school forging my parents’ signature on permission slips came in handy after all.
And finally, the groom's cake fully assembled in the wood crate with packing straw made of fondant. (I didn't bother with posting pictures of the wood crate cake assembly since it's basically just a rectangle.)
The side view
Closer up view

Me with my cheesy smile next to the cake

I've made a handful of novelty cakes that were a 1:1 scale but this one is by far the most realistic looking.....which proved to be quite interesting throughout evening. It began with the cake setup when several of the catering staff stopped by and asked if the bottle of wine needed to be refrigerated (nevermind that you shouldn't refrigerate reds); and continued during the wedding reception as I overheard a couple of folks wondering why the bride and groom were toasting with red wine instead of champagne; the best, though, was when Chris, the groom, admitted to me that he actually started to reach over to grab bottle before he was promptly told that it was his surprise groom's cake. And unbeknownst to me until recently, the merriment continued on 'til the next day, as evidenced by this excerpt from the bride:

“As for the Opus cake, the caterer didn't know it was a cake either so they didn't serve it. Thank goodness because we had a family get together the next day and Chris and I wanted to share your amazing talent with the rest of the family. They couldn't believe it was a real cake (funny how saying that encourages people to poke at it). It wasn't until we had to cut into the cake were they finally convinced. And even still my aunts kept breaking off the "straws" to prove to themselves that yes, it was edible.”

Yes, it really is funny how telling people "it's a cake" encourages all types of pokage.

Classic But Not Boring

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 07:16:00 +0000

First off, I have to apologize for being MIA as of late. Life has been crazy busy. There always seems to be something on the "to do" list that is waiting to be checked off and unfortunately, as much as I like to blog, I'm just not one those natural writers that have prose flowing from their fingertips; it's more like the words are squeezed out like stiff royal icing through a #1 tip (or like pulling teeth for those of you who didn't get that analogy). I've got a bunch of post topics swirling around in my head that needs to make it's way onto this little blog so bear with me as I gradually sort through them.

The first topic that I'm super-excited to write about is my girlfriend, Kim's wedding this past Saturday. Kim is quite possibly the sweetest person on earth; I literally do not think that she has a mean bone in her body. Although, who knows, maybe those mean bones will start growing after a couple years of married life, lol.......I'm just kidding.....maybe..... I've been looking forward to making her wedding cake for months now and am so excited to finally be able to share it with all of you.

When Kim and I first started talking about designs, she basically told me that she wanted 1) a tall cake, at least 5 tiers 2) a classic but not boring design and 3) she wanted their monogram featured on the cake. Keeping "classic but not boring" in mind, we began by taking inspiration from her invitations which featured gold flourishes and pearls and then later incorporated the shape and beading from her dress. Below is the sketch of the cake design in a shadow box which incidentally, was one of my bridal shower gifts to her; hopefully, she'll find time later to add additional wedding momentos to it.

The dress from David's Bridal that inspired the shape and piping

So that's the design that we started out with but it's not what we ended up with. Last-minute inspiration struck as I was staring at the above picture of the dress and in the space of two seconds, the decision was made to mimic the the curves of the mermaid bottom in the bottom two tiers. Without further ado, the final design.

At 30" tall, it easily satisfied Kim's criteria of a tall cake. Here's a view of the back.

Other shots from different anglesOnce I started assembling the cake, there wasn't a whole lot of downtime, so unfortunately, I didn't get a lot in-process photos. However, I did manage to grab one of the gumpaste flowers as they were drying.

TIP: If you're cheap like me and don't want to buy and store a ton of celformers, just use shaped aluminum to dry your gumpaste flowers, =D

....and a pic of the piped monogram before the edible gold paint was applied. The wedding was held at the Laguna Town Hall in Elk Grove and there was a lot of great decor elements at the reception but the most impressive element was definitely the hanging flower arrangements. Strung from impossibly tall ceiling beams, it was an impressive sight as you walked in.Here's a shot of one of these hanging arrangements from my view as a seated guest.
On a side note: It's always interesting being a guest at a event where my handiwork is on display. On the one hand, it's great to see and hear everyone's reaction to the cake(s) and on the other hand, it's also excrutiating anticipating everyone's reaction to the cake(s). As much as I try to enjoy the event as a guest, I would be lying if I said that a good portion of my brain isn't trained on eavesdropping into people's conversations to hear comments (good or bad) about the cake(s). As I literally am my own worst critic, my eyes automatically zero in on all the little flaws and am continually amazed that others just don't see them. Yeah, as you may have guessed by now, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, lol.

With the abundance of good food, good company, and good wine (wine, like butter, makes everything better), it was difficult not to join in the couple's obvious happiness and have a jolly good time myself :-).

And as this post is already long, I'll leave you with a picture of me and the cake(s). Stay tuned as I blog about the groom's cake (a bottle of Opus One) next.
Lien Sanchez

http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

It's an Honor Just to be Nominated

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:53:00 +0000

In early December, I received an email from The Bride and Bloom magazine regarding my gold-guilded wedding cake -- I couldn't believe it, they wanted to feature it in their spring issue!!!!!!

I was stunned, I was excited, and I was oh so giddy!!! I remember reading the email on my blackberry and jumping for joy. This isn't the first time one of my cakes have appeared in a magazine but it would have been the first time that one appeared on it's own merit. This past December, my masquerade bust cake appeared in the local SacTown magazine but it was included more as part of their coverage of the charity event. While still exciting, it's just not the same as being asked to be featured in a national wedding magazine, a magazine that I had actually read and used to plan my own wedding.

Masquerade bust cake in SacTown Magazine

As January came around, I anxiously waited for my complimentary copy of The Bride and Bloom to arrive in the mail and when it didn't arrive, I went out and bought a copy. I scanned every page of the magazine but sadly, I could not find my cake anywhere. I went back and re-read the email communications to see if maybe I was mistaken about the issue or timing but no, I wasn't. Sadness, disappointment, and more sadness. :-( Below is the page where I think my gold-gilded wedding cake would have been featured:

.....and here's a closeup of the cake (made by The Cake Girls) that was actually featured.

I dreaded telling my friends and family about the news and even more so, I dreaded telling the bride who commissioned the wedding cake itself..........that is, until I watched the Golden Globes last weekend. I was sitting through all the acceptance speeches and was reflecting on the nominees that didn't win and how they must have felt when they heard someone else's name being called. Then somewhere in my head, I remembered the almost cliche phrase, "It's an honor just to be nominated." and that's when it clicked. You know, it really is an honor to be nominated, er, I mean, to be considered for the feature in the magazine.

I think most artists would agree that the most gratifying part about creating art is having people appreciate and acknowledge its' "worth" for lack of a better word. For whatever reason, my cake didn't make it into the magazine - maybe it was the shadows on the cake, or that the gold wasn't bold enough for the spread, or maybe they just simply liked the other one better. Who knows? Whatever the reason, the fact that it caught the eye of a wedding magazine editor is acknowledgement enough for me. It ain't too shabby either to be considered alongside The Cake Girls, who are veterans in this business and whose work I've long admired.

PS. The last two paragraphs are all lies, I'm still completely bitter and resentful.

PPS. Ok, I'm back to being honored again. :-)

Cake-Tasting Guinea Pigs

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Being a baker, my friends and family pretty much expect me to bring cake to any gathering they invite me to. And by now, they've also caught onto the fact that they've become my cake-tasting guinea pigs as I usually start every cake cutting with "Ok, this is a new recipe so tell me if you like it or not." The majority of the time, the cakes are made with one recipe through and through (like the ones below), but other times (when I want to compare different recipes for the same type of cake), I'll show up with a Frankenstein cake that uses a different recipe for each layer. Needless to say, the guinea pigs,....er, I mean my friends and family are all very supportive. They even humor me as I ask them specific questions about the taste, texture, color of the cake.......and then do the same with the filling and frosting, lol.

With all the dinner parties and get-togethers over the holidays, I was practically in taste-testing heaven. And after extensive tasting and tweaking of recipes, below are some of the clear winners:

Devil's Food Cake: I had a pretty kick-a$$ devil's food cake recipe already but I wanted to find one that had a denser texture so I tried one that my sister-in-law recommended. The original recipe was already fantastic but after a tiny tweak in ingredient proportions, it was fantastic-er. Moist, sinfully decadent, with loads of chocolate flavor, this devil's food cake will literally make you sell your soul to the man downstairs. Here, it is iced with a raspberry ganache and raspberry chocolate mousse filling......soooooooooo good.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake: Wedding cakes are traditionally made with a white cake but I've never been a big fan. In my opinion, they're often too sweet, and when they're not too sweet, they're just blah (lacking in taste). I tend to steer towards bold flavors; however, I do understand the desire to serve a flavor-neutral cake at weddings, a cake that will appeal to all taste buds. I do believe that I have found that cake. This vanilla buttermilk cake is moist (a must in my book for all cakes), not too sweet, and has a lovely buttery melt-in-your mouth feel. It's almost like heaven, seriously. And it marries up (pun intended) so well with ALL flavors of fillings and frostings.

Red Velvet Cake: So we've had a bit of heaven and we've also been to the dark side (sorry, my husband's a huge Star Wars fan so I couldn't resist :-). What's in between, you ask? Why, red velvet, of course. Red velvet has long been the misunderstood stepchild of the cake world as most people incorrectly believe that red velvet is simply a really lightly flavored chocolate cake with a buttload of red dye - so, so wrong. When made correctly (because I've found that a lot places don't make it quite right), red velvet has a warm cocoa-malty-like flavor that just feels right, almost like coming home from a long day to a nice bowl of porridge. The flavor is not too strong and not too light; it's just right. (Why do I feel like putting on a little red cape all of a sudden?) And of all the cakes I taste-tested this holiday season, this red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream (lighter than cream cheese frosting) garnered the most fabulous reviews, partially because most have never tried an honest-to-god red velvet cake and was so pleasantly surprised and partially because it's just one crazilicious cake!

**please pardon the coloring of the buttercream, I was in the Christmas spirit and mixed in a few drops of green just for kicks and giggles.

I'd now like to take this opportunity to thank my family and friends for all their undying cake-tasting support. Without you........well, without you, I'd have to eat a whole lotta cake......and that is sooooo not good for high school reunions.

Gifted Snowmen

noreply@blogger.com (Crazy Cake Lady) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:22:00 +0000

A last-minute cookie order sent me back to my beloved sugar cookies this week. This time I was making personalized snowmen cookies. I may be a bit biased but I think personalized cookies make great gifts for any occassion. I mean, who doesn't love a sweet surprise with their name on it.

Below are pictures of some of the snowmen with their different colored scarves

Close-up

Pets are family too, so we couldn't possibly forget about man's best friend (sorry for the horrible photo)
Gift tag cookie from the sender
And because I'm such a dork, I couldn't resist making a few extra cookies to use as placecards for a lunch my husband and I were hosting the following day. I admit that this was totally unnecessary since there were only the six of us but my love for these cookies knows no bounds. I want to share them with everyone, uh.......I should probably get some help, huh?

Lien Sanchez