Hawaiian Wedding Cakes*Sponge Bob*And cakelava!!!Interview with wedding cakes expert Rick Reichart of cakelava. By ~Lorelie~ 
Searching Hawaiian wedding cakes recently I stumbled upon cakelava.com I was immediately drawn in by their quirky up beat style! Curious to learn more about their wedding cake business, and what it's like to live and work in paradise, I contacted husband and wife team Rick and Sasha. They graciously accepted my request for an interview. Here is how it went...
Image by ~Stephen Ludwig Photography~
Hawaiian Wedding Cakes ThemeLorelie-Rick, I love the way the Hawaiian theme runs through everything from your website to your cake flavors. I imagine that the Hawaiian wedding cakes theme makes up the majority of your orders. Are most of your wedding cake requests tropical wedding cake designs? Rick--When we first started cakelava most of the requests were Hawaiian themed cakes or inspired by the tropics. In the last 2-3 years I would say that it is half or less. I've tried to dig a little deeper with our brides to see if a Hawaiian wedding cakes theme really works with their decor and style. I've found that I was able to open the door to other styles which creatively made me happy. Don't get me wrong, I love doing Hawaiian wedding cakes designs but I don't want that to be the only style that people associate with me when getting a cake. I worked for years on the mainland and have a diverse repertoire of artistry to offer. Image below by ~Frank Amodo Photography~
cakelava's Hawaiian Wedding Cakes MenuLorelie--Your cake flavors are so unique. With names like broke da mouth, the Hawaii five-o, and rainbowlicious, I imagine they are pretty tasty. What was the process for coming up with these combination's? Do you ever get special requests besides the 17 mouthwatering choices that you offer? Rick--Sasha and I came up with the menu together. I drew from my experience as a pastry chef and from working with other people making cakes. Sasha has a culinary background on the savory side and grew up in Hawaii, so she was able to give some great input and a local perspective on the menu. We tried to have fun with it. There were some flavors I did not want which were carrot cake and red velvet. I'm not a fan of cream cheese frosting which is found in both carrot cake and red velvet. I felt they represented an average bakery and we wanted to offer more unique flavors. We did however have to offer some basic flavors like Lemon Pucker, Chocolate Dream and Strawberries Chantilly. Not everyone is adventurous. Some special requests became a part of the menu and some flavors on the menu eventually were eliminated because they were not popular enough. I don't usually take special requests unless I know it will taste good. I like to be able to try it first to be sure. Most people seem to find something on the menu they like and we rarely receive special requests. Solo ArtistLorelie-Do you have a staff of bakers and decorators?Rick--I don't have a staff of bakers or decorators. I work completely alone in the back. I do everything from bake to design to cleaning up! I know most people think I have a team but we wish to keep it small. Image below by ~Frank Amodo Photography~ 
Food Network ChallengeLorelie-The Sponge Bob cakes are really awesome. I am sure it was stressful yet exciting competing in the challenge. Can you elaborate a little on it? And do you know how you placed? I missed the show . Is their a video of it online?Rick--Thank you! The Challenge was very stressful but more so before I got there. Once the Challenge started I felt mostly fine. You are so consumed with what you are doing it's hard to find time to be nervous. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun there. I was fortunate enough to compete against people I respected in the cake community. Everyone put out an awesome cake, I thought. Now I didn't win first place -- I took second and received a silver medal -- but they did tell me that I was their best ever first time competitor. They did not show it on TV but I did finish my cake about 45 minutes early, which was a surprise to me!! At one point I was working so fast thinking I was behind that I actually finished early. I ended up detailing my cake while I waited for the clock to tick down. It was a close race and Lauren (Kitchens) and I split the judges. They went to a point system and I lost by two points. Ugh ... so close!! Would I go back? Yes, definitely!! Rick's Most Meaningful Of All Hawaiian Wedding CakesLorelie-All of your Hawaiian wedding cakes are fantastic, do you have a favorite or most meaningful one and why?Rick--I get asked frequently what my favorite cake is and I don't really have one. If I do, its always the latest one I finished. However, my most meaningful cake would be Sasha's and my wedding cake. It was the first cake I did on my own and was made in Los Angeles. It was a Hawaiian wedding cakes theme with a giant tiki on the front. I'm very proud of that cake. It was mine, you know. #1 Tip For Opening Up ShopLorelie-Since a lot of my readers are aspiring cake decorators, I would like to ask you your best advice on starting a cake decorating or bakery business. Your #1 tip.Rick--The best advice I could give is to take the time to learn your craft. Don't jump right away into opening your own business without learning what the business is. Working for someone else would be a minimum requirement but also working for a variety of designers would be best as well as having an art background. These days you really need some art experience to produce the requests that people are asking for. Be prepared to work harder than you have ever worked!! Image by ~Rachel Robertson Photography~
Rick--I do not exercise, on purpose. As it is I work on my feet 60-70 hours a week on average and the last thing I want to do is exercise. Sasha on the other hand works out every day in the early morning hours. She likes yoga. I do like to swim and rollerblade but I haven't been able to find the time since opening cakelava. Making Hawaiian Wedding Cakes In Paradise Does Involve ChallengesLorelie-What is it like living and working in Hawaii? It looks like such a happy place.Rick--Living and working here is fantastic! People are warm and friendly and the weather and scenery is unbelievable! The down side is that it is extremely expensive, product is hard to find and often not in stock. The weather is brutal on the cakes. All in all it is very difficult doing cakes here. When I first started I had to invent my methods and techniques. The humidity changes everything. It was so hard at first that I had to work inside a walk-in all day just finishing a cake. I had no air conditioning and the kitchen was 95% with 100% humidity ... Brutal! It was at a kitchen incubator and then three years ago we moved into our current space where it is much better. Finding a retail kitchen space is extra difficult in Hawaii. In L.A. where I used to work, it was much easier. A Drop In The Bucket! Cake Blooper!Lorelie-Do you have any really funny or interesting stories about your Hawaiian wedding cakes at cakelava that you can share with my readers?Rick--For some reason I can't think of anything at cakelava off the top of my head but I do have a story when I was working in L.A. When I first started at Rosebud Cakes, I was decorating a tall wedding cake with fresh flowers that was due for delivery in 5-10 minutes. The fresh flower bucket was sitting next to me while I was working on a tiered cake, where each tier was up on pillars. At the previous place I worked, oddly enough, they would glue the cake above to the pillar plate below and deliver it as one piece. I had forgotten when I was at Rosebud that Elin didn't do it that way and forgot it wasn't glued down. When I was finished with putting the flowers on, I lifted the cake up as one piece to take it to the walk-n. At the moment I lifted it up, the top tier started to teeter and I looked down and saw the bucket of water and I thought "Oh crap!" and I looked up and I saw the cake falling and it splashed right into the bucket of water. After it splashed into the bucket of water, Elin and her crew were able to put together another cake quickly and have it ready to go in time. I was pretty blown away by how quickly they responded and fixed the problem. I never did that again. Ricks Teaching DebutI love making the cakes of course but I'm also very excited about my budding teaching career as well. I'm making my teaching debut in Ontario, Canada in March 2011 at Icing Inspirations. I'm teaching two cake styles, one is a sculpted clownfish in a coral scene and the other is one of cakelava's signature designs, our hibiscus print cake with bamboo borders. I felt if I was flying 10,000 miles that I should at least bring a piece of Hawaii with me. My first class sold out in 4 days, which was amazing and I've had some interest for other classes and locations. I'm looking forward to more teaching opportunities in the future. Congratulations Rick on your new venture as a teacher of the art of cake decoratingClass Schedule Classes with Rickcakelava blog Musings From Cakeland cakelava facebook fan page Follow them today! cakelava Cakes Designed With WOW In Mind!
Back to Cake Decorating Topper and Amazing Wedding Cakes Page Back To All Wedding Cake Designs Page
|
