Leilani's Luau

Leilani turned 10 years old this August and was having a Luau to celebrate her milestone birthday. Her mom, Roselynn contacted me over a month before her party to inquire about cakes, so I knew she wanted Leilani's cake to be extra special for her eldest child. I had a few ideas in mind as far as design and colors; luaus have so much imagery to work with....but Leilani knew exactly what she wanted! Leilani and Roselynn both dance Hula, so they wanted a Hula Girl on top of the cake with some flowers. Leilani also really liked the waves from my Cherry Blossom Cake, and wanted something similar with dolphins jumping out of the waves. So essentially, my job was to tie it all together onto one cake and make it work. 

 Like most of my cakes, I started with a small rough sketch of my ideas keeping Leilani's requests in mind. Since she really liked the waves, I decided I would make them the bottom tier.  I drew from the concept of the Lilo and Stitch cake I designed, where the bottom tier represented the "moana" or ocean and the top tiers represented the "aina" or land...each of which are often depicted in hula dances.  

 While doing some cake research, I came across some new techniques that I really wanted to try with this cake. One was Chocolate Painting! I instantly fell in love with this technique...it is fairly easy to accomplish and can look more realistic than fondant characters. I started by printing out an image of a hula girl that I liked. This is the image I used...

I then melted some different colored chocolates in separate pastry bags, and began "painting" away! I painted over wax paper with the hula girl image right underneath as my guide. Each layer of colored chocolate collectively turned into the Hula Girl cake topper.

Unlike painting with acrylics and oils, this type of painting requires you to start with the highlights and elements in the forefront then work your way to the body and background. What is closest to the wax paper is what the final image will look like. So the final product ends up being the mirror image of the original.  After I was done painting, I flooded the figure with more chocolate to act as a base or foundation making it stronger and thick enough to stand on its own. I allowed for the chocolate to harden for a whole day before releasing it from the wax paper and seeing the final product.

Keeping with the chocolate decoration theme, I also used this method for Leilani's birthday greeting.  I designed a circular arch that said "Happy 10th Birthday Leilani" on it.  Again I had to work backwards...meaning the words had to be mirrored.  I deliberately made it this form to create some dimension and depth on the final cake design. It was to be placed on the top tier where it framed the Hula Girl like a halo. This form would also represent the sun or a rainbow in the sky.  

I had this really cool paper that worked well with the Luau theme which I used to cover the cake board.  The colors of the paper also went well with the colors I used for the cake.

Once the cake was colored and stacked with the waves added, it was ready for some details.  I worked on a few dolphin figures that would be attached to the middle tier and look like they're jumping out of the waves. They were actually half of the dolphin, because the figures were flat on one side so that they would lay flush with the side of the cake.  Now if only I had an airbrush to add some highlights and color variations on those dolphins....

Not only did Roselynn order this cake, but she also ordered four dozen cupcakes. Again, I used chocolate to decorate them.  I piped colored chocolate into the shape of a hibiscus flower to be placed as cupcake toppers...I imagined the cupcakes to look like busy Aloha Print around the cake. 

Once I completed the cupcakes, I finished the rest of the cake decorations and details. I worked on a few fondant flowers to place on the cake.

I left the birthday greeting arch and Hula Girl to be placed at the very end once the cake was delivered.  I did not want to risk any type of damage to those fragile pieces. 

 I hope you learned a thing or two from this blog. Chocolate Painting has become one of my new favorite techniques so don't be surprised if I use it again for another one of my cake creations. Thanks for stopping by.

~Abs of Cakes~