photography

Sometimes My Favorite Part of the Cake Isn’t Even the Cake

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Erica OBrien in cake topper, calla lillies, old new borrowed blue, photography, vintage | Leave a comment

I loved everything about this cake. I really did. I loved the tatooed bride. I loved the bride’s mother. I loved the vintage color palette of olive, coral, and peach.

I loved the venue–La Palapa in Long Beach. And I loved the fondant calla lilies on the cake.

But the thing I loved the most was the cake topper. It belonged to the bride’s grandmother who used it at her wedding. The bride’s mother used it at her wedding too. And the cake topper, with its silk flowers, delicate porcelain couple, and still in its original box, would now be used for the third time by the bride. It was my favorite part of the cake.

I am grateful to Ramon Felix of Ramon Felix Photography for sharing his beautiful images.
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A Jessica Claire Workshop Produced by Duet Weddings

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Erica OBrien in cake design, for the baker, for the bride, photography | 1 Comment

I recently created a cake for a wedding photography workshop hosted by Jessica Claire. Rebecca Stone of Duet Weddings styled the shoot. Below are the images she used for inspiration.

When Jessica mentioned that for her “more is more”, I took that as my cue to go crazy. Thanks to Lissette Q, one of the workshop attendees, for these photos of the cake.



It’s always interesting to see how different photographers interpret images. To view Jessica Claire’s photos of the cake and setup, visit her recent feature on Style Me Pretty.

Tip for the baker: Vertical stripes can be difficult. I like to let them dry slightly before applying to the cake so they don’t lose their shape.
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From Concept to Cake: A Jessica Clair Shoot Produced by Lollipop Events

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Erica OBrien in bridal shower, cake design, fondant, for the baker, for the bride, inspiration, photography | 6 Comments

Design inspiration for a wedding can come from anywhere, really. Recently, I worked with Cortnie from Lollipop Events and Jessica Claire from Jessica Claire Wedding Photography to design a travel-themed wedding.

Event designers often use inspiration boards to give a visual voice to their idea and to fine-tune their concept. Here are the inspiration boards Cortnie created:


As a designer, I am very visual, so an inspiration board helps me conceptualize the cake. Once I have my idea, I create my sketch. Sometimes I create numerous sketches. For this particular cake, I was happy with the first sketch, but I ended up changing the design for the actual cake.

I was very impressed by how seamlessly Cortnie and her team were able to incorporate all of the elements into a cohesive design.

The wedding cake topper was inspired by the Moroccan art in the inspiration boards. I hand-sculpted it using fondant.

Cortnie wanted vintage stamps, so I printed some images with edible ink. (Lo and behold, thanks to my poor inventory skills, I ran out of icing sheets. Melody, my friend and proprietor of Sweet and Saucy Shop, lent me the edible icing sheets. Thank you Melody!) I cut them into stamp-sized rectangles and attached them to ribbon using fondant tabs.

I applied the sequins by hand. Overall, I was very happy with the cake. I really thought it captured the concept while still looking simple, streamlined, and sophisticated.

A big thank you to Julie Roberts of Julie Roberts Photo for providing the photos above.

The photo shoot was part of a workshop for photographers given by Jessica Claire. Her work from the shoot appeared on Style Me Pretty.
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Nice Cakes/Bad Photos

Posted on September 15, 2009 by Erica OBrien in for the baker, for the bride, photography, wedding cake | 3 Comments

As I was snapping pictures for an upcoming blog post, the following occurred to me: Perhaps I should have considered before embarking on a blog that I am a bad photographer. Okay, really bad. Terrible, in fact. When it comes to photographing my wedding cakes, I am notorious for cutting off the top tier. My husband always advises me that when I think I’ve got the cake in the frame to take two steps back. (We started with just one step, but soon realized that it was not sufficient.) Here are a few photos to illustrate my point.

This was a “perfect pear” themed wedding cake for a wedding at the Torrey Pines Lodge in La Jolla, California . Too bad I took the photograph during my artsy EXTREME CLOSEUP phase:

Check out the lighting on this one. Ouch. Even I can’t tell what color it is:

This hurts me more than it hurts you:


Here’s a slightly better version. The wedding was at the absolutely stunning Inn of the Seventh Ray in Topanga Canyon. Of course I could have chosen to take the picture outside in the beautiful bucolic setting, but no, I chose to take it in their kitchen. See the spoons and gray glassware bins?

My daughter gets some pretty cool birthday cakes. Too bad she doesn’t get any cool pictures of them.



So, what’s a cake designer to do for quality photos? More about that in a future post. For now, I’ll try to compensate for my poor photographs with really quality blog content. And really nice cakes.

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