Lips & 'Stache Bash

My dear friend and sorority sister, Caroline from The Sweet Love Chain and I were approached to coordinate a very special party for Allie and Kit. Allie was graduating in Art History from Cal State Long Beach (Go Beach!) and Kit was turning 25 (Yaaay she could now rent a car on her own!). Allie and Kit had already thought of a fun theme for their celebration. Caroline and I just had to bring it to life. They wanted a "Lips and 'Stache Bash" where the ladies "flaunt red lips" and the gents "fashion a moustache"....or vice versa ;)

Here was their invitation.

Allie and Kit wanted one main cake for the both of them.  You'd think it would be easy enough....stick a mustache and some lips on a cake and call it a day! But for a theme this fun, that design seemed way too easy. Plus, there are so many mustache styles to choose from...which do I choose? [Remember Sanchez the Crab and his 'Stache?] And the lips! Do I make one big set of red lips? or just lipstick stained kisses? It took a few days to come up with a solid design idea....but it came to me while brainstorming with Caroline over a bowl of Pho. 

Wanna know what I came up with? Well, here's the story...

Mr. Mustache (first name Harry) is an artist and has a life of his own. He is surrounded by many sexy red lips and feels out of place.  Being the creative mind that he his, he takes his paintbrush and decides to decorate them with mustaches of their very own. Now Harry Mustache is no longer left out :}D

Now I just had to convert this story into cake form...I started by first sculpting a mustache out of red velvet cake.

I had a template as my reference and guide.

A small paring knife was used to get into those tight spaces.

Next was to frost (cream cheese frosting) and cover with black fondant. The base of the cake was a 6-inch round where the lips would be mounted.

The #6 tool was used to create the texture of hair.

The red lips were created using a mold with red colored candy melts. I hand sculpted a paintbrush using chocolate fondant, and created the mustaches with black colored chocolates. Here's the final result. [photos courtesy of Eloisa Nadine Hernandez Photography]

My job consisted of the cake and dessert treats. Caroline was the creative eye that styled the whole party, from the main elements like tables and chairs to the very little details that make this celebration all the more memorable. While brainstorming, we came up with the idea of having two dessert tables....since they would be celebrating two milestones, two celebrants, and dual themes....mustaches/red lips, ladies/gents, masculine/feminine.

Barber Shop idea (mustaches, masculine, gentlemen)

Vanity & Makeup idea (red lips, feminine, ladies)

topped with chocolate "shavings"

Mini chocolate combs on mini cupcakes

 Caroline and I found the opportunity to take some photos with the fun props...

Birthday Girl Kit and College Graduate Allie...thank you for letting us coordinate your special celebration.

Caroline and I owe our deepest gratitude to this woman, Eloisa Nadine Hernandez....she is the eye behind all these fabulous photos.

Please check out these blogs for further coverage on this event: 

Event Design, Styling and Paper crafts by: The Sweet Love Chain Events and Design

Photography by: Eloisa Nadine Hernandez Photography

Cakes and cupcakes: Abs of Cakes

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

~Abs of Cakes~

 

Hello Kitty....as a Zombie

Do you love Hello Kitty? Do you love Zombies? Now picture this....a Zombie Hello Kitty...in cake form! Back in December, Stephanie stumbled across my blog and liked what she saw. She requested that I make a cake for her best friend Charlie who was turning 25. Apparently Charlie loooves Hello Kitty, but not just any Hello Kitty, a Zombie one in particular. I loved it! I've been a huuuuge HK and Sanrio fan since I can remember, so I have a lot of references to work with, but I never even knew Hello Kitty as a Zombie! This is one HK I HAD to research and Google. Then I realized.....a LOT of people love her in Zombie form! Here's the image that Stephanie sent to me:

As creepy as it may seem, HK is still cute as ever....I couldn't wait to work on this cake.  It always helps to have a master plan, and my sketches helped me smoothly execute my concept to the final product. 

Whether it's an animal, person, or beloved icon like Hello Kitty, I normally have a problem with sculpting a head/body out of cake, because I have an issue with picturing the cake cutting part...but since this HK was a Zombie, I actually found it fitting to cut into her head. I knew HK's head would carry most of the weight in this cake so I needed a strong stable body to hold it up....I figured that rice cereal would do the trick. As the cake was baking, I made rice cereal treat to mold  into her body. Kinda looked like the "Crab" Cake I made.

I tinted fondant in that Zombie green color. I let that rest as I worked on the cake, so the colors would come out to it's fullest vibrancy. 

Here comes the fun part...working on HK herself. I'll let the pics speak for themselves....

I decided to add some purple buttons to HK's outfit. Here's how I did it...

 Doesn't she look naked without her nose, whiskers, and bow???

I used spaghetti sticks that I colored with a Black Foodwriter for her whiskers. Then I made her big bow.....zombie-esque of course.

All that was left to do with this cake was to add the zombie touch. If there were any flaws on HK, I was okay with it and used it to my advantage. I used them as cuts and scrapes as any normal zombie would have. A Red Foodwriter pen helped make the bloody-looking mess.  In a way, I was happy Stephanie decided on a chocolate cake....I was able to use the extra cake crumbs as dirt to place around her body and tombstone.

I was very pleased with how my first Hello Kitty Cake turned out...she was my favorite cake to make to date :) Here's how she looked during the day...

I had a Hello Kitty ribbon that was perfect to decorate the cake board with.

HK's signature bow. The skull makes it zombie-esque.

Bird's Eye View

Left Profile View

Right Profile View

Closer look at Zombie Hello Kitty's scars and wounds

Here are a few pics that Stephanie sent to me from her own camera...looks like she made it in one piece.

Stephanie informed me that Charlie LOVED the cake....so much so that she's still in their fridge and she won't let anyone touch her :) They did however eat the tombstone cake for her birthday. I'd like to thank Stephanie again for this fun cake order and for driving all the way from Simi Valley to pick her up! 

The next week after this cake order, I got a request for another HK cake....so stay tuned for that blog post. 

~Abs of Cakes~