You are never too old to pursue your passion!

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. 

Yes, I'm still alive (a whole decade older as a matter of fact). 

No, I no longer work at Sweet E's Bakery (as mentioned in my last post). 

And Yes, I still make cakes!

This summer has been an eventful one filled with weddings, travels, birthdays.....life. Back in June I turned 30! And I must say that I'm loving it so far. Unlike some, I actually embraced turning 30, and wanted to plan something special but not typical, classy yet whimsical, chill but engaging...so I threw a "Feathers and Bowtie" themed thirtieth birthday bash fully equipped with some Abs of Cakes sweet treats and crafts.

Peacock feather, Abs of Cakes creation.

I made 30 origami bow ties, no two exactly alike, to represent each year of my existence.

I crafted this bow tie necklace from an old neck tie and chain as part of my birthday outfit.

I provided my guests with a random food spread selection...some watermelon (I LOVE watermelon!), Spam musubi, li hing mui apple, and some "bow tie" snack bags...give me a theme and I run with it. I also served meatballs, truffle cheese potatoes, and Sio Pao made specially by my cousin Nerielynn (love you).

With my experiences of organizing events to raise funds for certain causes, I saw my birthday as an opportunity to not only celebrate with my friends and family, but also as a Benefit to send me to Pastry School in New York one day....because you are never too old to pursue your passion! 

Pastry School is expensive. New York is not cheap! I could use all the help I can get to offset the costs of this dream of mine. In lieu of gifts, I asked my guests to help donate to my dream....but of course I wasn't expecting a hand out (even if it was my birthday). I wanted all of my guests to know how serious I am about my craft, without feeling obligated to invest in it. So what did I do? I gave them the opportunity to "win" an Abs of Cakes creations. 

I created five mini cakes with the "feathers and bowtie" theme, Hello Kitty cake pops, and feather/bowtie cake pops.

I really don't know why I stood right in front of my cakes and blocked them out of this shot. Silly me.

Art + Cakes = Love

Some awesome artists, including my amazingly talented friend Ritchie Ramirez, donated their works of art to my cause which were raffled/auctioned off. We raised a good amount of money to kick start this next step into my cake career....and we had fun doing it.  

This is Ritchie Ramirez, ladies and gents. Can't thank this man enough...I owe you :)

Original Art by Ritchie Ramirez...they come as a pair.

Special Thanks goes out to my friend Kenny Rojes for being the highest bidder and proud owner of Ritchie Ramirez original art. Congratulations!

Shout out and thanks goes to the Gallery fam for winning the bid on this Abs of Cakes Bow Tie Cake.

Congrats to all those that won and contributed to my Cause. Endless thank yous for your support. 

In order to be inspired, I think it's important to surround yourself with creative positive people. I truly am blessed with some incredibly supportive friends and family that believe in what I do and continue to inspire me with their presence. 

To my cousins Ron and Joy, thank you so much for opening up your home aka "The Gallery" and for helping me organize my special day. You both are inspirations both individually and as a couple. I love you guys!

 To explain my dream and the objectives of my party in more detail, I created a website for it.....you can check it out here...and even donate to the Cause if you feel compelled.  

Thank you for stopping by. I'll try to visit here more often ;). 

~Abs of Cakes~

Social Networking

I realize I've been holding out on all my readers. It's been over 6 months since my last post...the longest I've gone without sharing my cake creations. So you can imagine all the fun projects I've been working on. 

A few days after my last post back in November 2011, I was hired to work at a Bakery in Los Angeles called Sweet E's the Mini Bake Shop. This means I get to work with cakes and sweet treats just about EVERY DAY! And I'm learning so much! But it also means that I have less time to update AbsofCakes.com. 

Luckily, we live in an age of Social Networking which makes it so easy to share the daily musings of our busy lives. My guilty pleasure and addiction is Instagram (IG). Not only can I share my creations, but I love getting inspired by other Instagrammer's photos. Viewing the world from other people's point of view is absolutely beautiful, and I've made a few friends that I've never met through it. 

I am also on Twitter, where most of my IG photos are shared....but I actually mostly tweet about anything Lakers related, so if you're a fan and into that, then feel free to follow me ;)

So here's the low down:

Instagram: @aLodevico, check out #absofcakes 
(Don't have Instagram? You can view my feed through this link: http://statigr.am/alodevico

Twitter: @absofcakes, feel free to tag any of my cakes with #absofcakes

Facebook: I have not created a FB Page yet. Maybe in due time. I'm still not ready. Sorry.

Flickr: a work in progress. stay tuned.

You didn't think I would update my post without sharing some pictures did you? I didn't think so...Here you go...

Mini Vanilla Raspberry Cream Cupcakes

Hot Chocolate Mini Cupcakes

Twig & Willow (Long Beach) Launch Party and 2nd Anniversary

Nike True Blues Cake for Zeph Jr.'s 10th Birthday

Isaiah's Pirates of the Caribbean Cake

Charina's 18th Birthday Cake...exactly 18 Gumpaste Plumerias.

Holiday Cupcakes for The Boys & Girls Club of the South Bay.

Sports Balls Cake Pops

Owl Baby Shower Cake.

Hotel Maya Photoshoot with Oh, Love Struck Event Design and Styling

Kahana Bear's First Birthday Cake

Cute Puppy Cupcake Toppers

Happy Spring 2012

Easter Poop!

Minnie Mouse and Hello Kitty Cupcake Toppers

Star Wars Cake for Hannah's 7th Birthday.

April Cherry Blossoms Cake.....look familiar? ;)

All the images you've seen are creations I've worked one since my last post, both from my own orders and from the Bakery I work at. As you can see, all the challenges are different and unique in their own way. THAT'S what makes this fun!

Hope you enjoyed. Please follow me and stay posted for anything new. Thanks for stopping by.

~Abs of Cakes~

Jen Claudio is the biggest USC Fan I know...

As much as I love and respect the game of football, it's not much of a sport that I'm really into keeping up with. Maybe it's because my alma mater, Cal State Long Beach doesn't have a football team nor does Los Angeles......yet. My loyalties for a particular team are nonexistent, so I root for action and a good game. And boy did I get one this past weekend.

I happened to be at the Long Beach Hooters on Saturday, October 29, Halloween Weekend. There were zombies roaming the streets (and ninjas and Snookis and Wolverines), but that's a whole other blog post. I was there to watch the UFC Fight with my brother and cousin, but the bar was packed with more USC and Stanford fans. Like I said, I don't really keep up with football, but that game had our attention! Back and forth action in a TRIPLE OVERTIME GAME! In the end, Stanford prevailed. And although USC fans were upset, they couldn't help but feel excited for such a thrilling game. USC did "Fight On!"

Automatically my thoughts were on the BIGGEST USC FANATIC I could think of.

Here's a little SAT analogy for you:  

What basketball and the Lakers are to me, is what football and USC is to Jen Claudio.

That should give you an idea of how passionate she is! I honestly don't know a more hardcore USC fan than her. And that is why for her last birthday I made her a special cake to honor that. 

Sorry Jen, I had to steal this picture from you. ;)

Of course I started off with a little research and collected a few logos to help me get started. Her cake was going to be a surprise and only a handful would eat it, so I kept it pretty simple with just a touch of personalization that I knew Jen would appreciate. I decided to use a chocolate painting technique like what I did for Leilani's Luau Cake.

Of the different USC logos, I liked this the most and figured I could use the Varsity Lettering to personalize it for JEN.

I started with the Trojan's mirrored image, then flipped it once the chocolate hardened.

After "painting" the main details, I went back over the whole image with chocolate to strengthen the solid piece.

The final cake. I told you I kept it simple. (Chocolate cake covered in chocolate ganache).

She made it onto ESPN! I told you she was hardcore!

Thanks Jen! Your passion and loyalty is inspiring. Two important qualities we all should live with each day. Thank you for stopping by, and have a Sweet November!

~Abs of Cakes~

Star Wars: Aries' Trilogy

This post is dedicated to all you Star Wars Fanatics out there! Guarantee, there will be a few Princess Leias, Darth Vaders, Luke Skywalkers, etc. etc. roaming the streets this weekend in celebration of Halloween. Maybe this will inspire you with your costume.

This year I was asked to make some cupcakes for Aries' 3rd birthday. Last year I made his 2nd birthday cake with Yo Gabba Gabba and Disney Characters....this time I got to sculpt Aries' favorite Star Wars characters. 

My initial sketches

Yoda

Storm Trooper

Boba Fett

Darth Maul

Darth Vader

I also made some colorful light sabers and made Aries' name using the same lettering as the Star Wars logo. R2D2 was added later because 5 characters was a weird odd number.

In case you haven't seen or come across it yet, here's a throwback of one of my favorites and my first Star Wars cake request....

Death Star Cake

I hope you enjoyed this post. No matter what you decide to dress up as this weekend, please have a safe and memorable Halloween folks....stay away from the Dark Side. Thank you for stopping by.

~Abs of Cakes~