you asked for it!

I'm excited to announce I will be teaching my inaugural class on August 8, in Raleigh NC. Hosted by the awesome guys at Swank Cake Design,I'll be teaching my popular realistic teapot cake. For all of you who have asked about classes, please join me in my first foray into the classroom.

http:swankcakedesign.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=74

The end is near!

if you are to believe this truck, and we all know that if it's on a truck it HAS to be true, right? In fact it's "guaranteed!"
There are really only two ways this can play out, either the believers are right , or those of us who believe that, in fact, the world is nearing collapse but it will be a long, slow demise instead.Either way one of us will be right.
All this talk of an apocalypse does make me reflective.....a cake will never avert world collapse, but , I can hope that I have managed to be true to my ideals as an artist and fulfill my goal of always trying to be the "Best Me" I can be.There are many things in life that you have little to no control of.For me, I try always to do my best and to always strive to improve. Because, in the end(whenever that is) that is all there truly is.



Here's a retrospective of my personal favorite projects of 2010, let's do it again next year if we can, if not i'll see some of you later, bring ice!

you want me to wear what??!

Yes, i'm one of those people who puts clothes on their dog. Apart from the amusement I get from seeing my lil' guy in a mini "snuggie" or pajamas with strategically placed "opening" it does serve a very practical purpose . Contrary to popular belief, California is not all sandy beaches and big sun. Here in Northern California it is chilly more often than not. For a guy who has little to no hair, clothes, regardless of how amusing or humiliating , are a necessity . As he gets older, more and more parts of his body have become off limits. Today we had one of those frustrating contests of wills , culminating in some growls and snaps,and apparently "we" have decided that he will no longer be wearing the snuggie.It reminded me of when we first arrived here, nearly a decade ago, and repeated attempts to send him to bed clad in a warm sweater .We'd always awake to a newly "naked" chihuahua. An apparent clothes Houdini, he is able to wiggle out of everything short of a straight jacket. I'd try an actual straight jacket if it wouldn't result in a disappearing act of my fingers =)! Anyway, all these memories of "naked Bee" made me think of naked cakes.My first installment about these unfinished works was well received so I thought it would be a good time to revisit it.Now, off to turn up the heat!

Tim time!

I warned early on that this blog would be both in praise of my life with cakes and my bouts of malaise too, admittedly, it may have thus far been a little light in the praise department. Maybe I'm just old or getting lazy in my old age but , forgive my complaint leanings, but 13 hour work days don't leave me much in the mood for celebrating these days.Still, there are some jobs and clients that completely make me forget about the seemingly never-ending days. One such family are the "Z's" Carolyn Z first contacted me a few years ago about making some special airplane cupcakes for her son, Tim. Tim's a pretty special kid with a beautiful smile , who really knows what he likes.He's into planes and Mario, especially the Yoshi and Toad characters. Tim is also autistic.We've never actually met, but I am always treated to wonderful stories and pictures of Tim and his cakes.Words cannot truly express how touched I am that this wonderful family has let my cakes become a tradition in their family.I have never been able to make it through one of their wonderful thank you notes without tears.My work can feel so insignificant at times, but knowing that I have brought joy to someone through my work is a pretty awesome feeling. Tim's annual birthday cake has become as much a tradition for me as it is theirs. So from the bottom of my heart,Thank You!!!!!!...........xo, Debbie

The one's that started it all.....


The first of Tim's Mario themed cakes.........More Mario, the following year featured "Toad"....one of my fave cakes.......

Next up was an homage to Tim's love of planes,Mario (see the tail wing) and his very special service dog Charlie.I mean, of course he's special, he can fly a plane afterall!
This year I was tasked with combining Yoshi, Toad, Charlie and Nerds candy all in one. I love that dog butt =)
how can you NOT love this picture?? Carolyn told me Tim wanted to stare at the cake all night and even wanted to go back downstairs at bedtime to get one more look haha!

Mea culpa....

........and thirty lashes with a wet fondant noodle.I have been unintentionally neglecting the blog.
Forgive me....it's been really busy.
In August we drove the "cake mobile" (see below)
down to our very first cake show, The ICES convention in In San Diego. I spend so much time sequestered in my shop, it was great to be able to get out and even better to finally meet in the "real world" so many talented cake designers some, I have been fortunate to call friends for years, and some that I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I felt like Bigfoot trekking across the forest, often rumored, but rarely seen.It was nice to emerge from my cave if only for a brief time.
When I returned to the lair, it was pretty much hit the ground running.I had no idea how exhausting having time off could be. I think I could learn to adapt.......
Since then a lot has been going on: lots of cake orders and inquiries, a magazine interview for an upcoming feature In "National Geographic Kids" magazine, a small piece in "Modern Dog" magazine and a feature in Italian newspaper La Repubblica.Whew! Here are a few pics of cakes that I have done since I last wrote , San Diego seems so far away now........
how's this for a diverse assemblage of cakes? Plunger cake, anyone?

well, you know my name is Simon

.......and the things I draw come true.Ah! one of my favorite segments on Captain Kangaroo.If I lost you at Captain Kangaroo, sorry, I'll now be speaking to the old folks here for a little while.
As a child who was so often carried away , metaphorically, by drawing, naturally I was entranced by a little Boy named Simon, who , in fact, did draw things that came to life. I am still enchanted by the power of art and creation.There truly is something magical about envisioning something and seeing it come to fruition. I had this thought when poring through some cake sketches. To see your concept, or even a germ of a concept actually materialize still has the power to amaze me.
I am often asked if I provide sketches, and generally I do not. Because much of what I do is replicating objects in cake, a drawing is both redundant and not a true portrayal of the finished cake. I'm not, in fact Simon and the things I draw don't exactly come true.However, when I am composing a tableau or "scene" if you will, a sketch is often very helpful in envisioning the final product. Many of my sketches are nothing more than speedy scrawl to flesh out placement, or to simply help me envision what my work week will look like.....like this one:
Some sketches are more involved concepts, where I will combine hand sketching with computer graphics to achieve a more professional proposal like this one:then there are the sketches that are never fully realized, but most have the decency to not be aired on national TV..........haha!

Parts is parts

I can't count how many times I hear someone say how much they love making cakes and how it would be so much "fun" to have a job "playing in sugar".What strikes me about this most is, at the end of a 14 hour day the word "playing" does not enter my lexicon.Working in the custom cake business, is something of a misnomer.Often, it might be days into my work week before I ever touch a cake. I work alone so I need a really big hat rack to store all the hats I have to wear on any given work week. I'm the administration staff, the supply clerk, the public relations person, the accountant , the baker , the delivery driver and finally the cake designer.After all that, sometimes actually getting to focus on actual production can feel like something of a break, at least I'm doing only ONE thing.
So many of my cakes are comprised of multiple components, components that might take me all week or more to craft.So given my already overflowing inbox,why in the world do I often actually introduce even more parts where they were not originally requested? You might call it divine inspiration or sugary masochism , but I'll just call it fun.Yes, fun.Now, don't think that all the "parts" crafting is a sushi picnic at the beach. Some jobs are just that: jobs, unavoidable tasks. However, sometimes I'll get an idea about some element I have positively convinced myself the cake absolutely needs! I'll admit, I usually put far more time into those bonus elements than I have to spare, but most often, it was that little extra that completed the presentation.
Here's a collection of "parts" that I spent waaaay too much time on and didn't care one bit. That leaning tower of dishes can wait just a little while longer.
this fully to scale Big Mac box took me two days alone
in the middle of the night I just "knew" that a Heineken bottle cake needed an oversized coaster and bottle opener!
Ok, I was actually commissioned to make a few figures for the launch of the new Death Jr. Video game, but I got carried away and made a whole slew.When my client ordered a cake replica of her boyfriend's PSP game system, she was perfectly content with just the system , but when all was said and done, it also had a controller, a game cartridge and a taco bell dinner because she mentioned he always has taco bell while gaming.
finally, I'm working on a Molar cake this week and inspiration plus my cursory graphic design skills led me to create the inscription in toothpaste and floss(but hopefully tastier)!