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Invitation to Creation

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Erica OBrien in bridal shower, Featured | Leave a comment

I love using invitations for cake design inspiration. Before making the cake, I always create a sketch that I present to the client for his or her approval. While the sketches are time consuming, for me, they’re important for two reasons: First, the sketch ensures that the client knows exactly what to expect, clears up any design miscommunications, and confirms that I understand clearly my client’s vision. Second,  the sketches help me as the artist to more fully flesh out the design concept and anticipate any design pitfalls before working on the actual cake.

Below are two recent cake designs based on the invitation. The first was for a Victorian-era enchanted garden-themed wedding:

 The second cake was for a Lilly Pulitzer-themed bridal shower.

 

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Cake for The Knot Magazine

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Erica OBrien in brides magazine 50 most beautiful, Featured, ombre cake, vintage | 4 Comments

Last year, I wrote about a cake with pleated pinwheels that I proposed to Bride’s magazine. The cake was inspired by something I had seen in Martha Stewart, and in the sketch (and my imagination) it was beautiful, with shades of peach, ivory, buttercup and pink. Once I executed it in sugar, however, it was lackluster at best, and the Bride’s editors passed on it.

I couldn’t let the idea of the pinwheels go though, and when The Knot asked me to do a cake–and left the design and colors completely up to me–I decided to revisit them. This time, I proposed a cake with more vibrantly colored pinwheels in an ombré that would pop against a white cake, as seen in the sketch below.

The Knot editors liked my idea, and so I hand-delivered the final product last spring to their offices. This time, the design really worked, and so does the photo by Devon Jarvis (to whom I am extremely grateful for sending me this high res image):
 
 
The photo appeared in The Knot magazine’s Spring-Sumer 2012 New York edition.
 
I’ll end with this: If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time (or, for that matter, a short time) or if you know me personally at all, you know I never say this, but…I love this cake!
 
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A Shower for Ashley

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Erica OBrien in Featured, vintage | 2 Comments

 

My sister-in-law, Ashley, got engaged last year and planned a November 2011 wedding. I first met Ashley when my now-husbandtreated her to a two-week adventure travel tour of Costa Rica for her 18th birthday. My friend Jackie had convinced me (coerced is more accurate) to go on the same trip, which is where I met and fell in love with Cory. That was seven years ago,and had it not been for Ashley, I would have never met my husband, so I wanted to do something special for her shower.

I decided to host the shower at my home in California (before we relocated to Connecticut) because I wanted it to feel cozy and informal. Let there be no doubt that I worked my ass off on this. I planned the menu, created the invitations, catered the whole thing, and even schlepped to the the L.A. flower market to buy the flowers. I designed every aspect, and executed it all by myself (with special help from cousin Molly and Megan from Honey and Poppies). It was a lot of work but well worth all the effort. One of the bridesmaids told me that the it was the best bridal shower food she’d ever had, and although she qualified “best food” with “bridal shower”, I choose to consider it the highest of praise. Most importantly, Ashley loved it.

As guests arrived, they were greeted by a small flower arrangement that Megan made of hydrangea, roses, dusty miller and licorice displayed in a vintage wine glass (below, left). I repurposed a small wooden ladder (perhaps you remember when it was yellow?) by spray painting it a satin-finish pink. I secured a damask pattern scrapbook paper print to foamcore board, and used decorative brads to attach cardstock with Welcome printed on it. I then fastened a ribbon to the back of the foamcore, and hung the small sign from the glass. I’m no graphic designer (although I fancy myself one), so for the invites, I bought some scrapbook paper that I scored into a tri-fold using my indispensable Martha Stewart scoring board (I like to think of myself as a younger, hipper, more socially conscious, urban Martha), and printed the invites in the fanciest font I could find.

For the centerpieces, Megan and I used hydrangeas in shades of pink and peach as well as stock, peonies, lisianthus, snap dragons and roses. She also incorporated dusty miller and licorice from my garden. (I like to think I helped a lot, and not in the way my kids “help” when I’m cooking.) The centerpieces were displayed in footed glass urns from Megan’s personal collection.

For the backdrop (above and below left), I hung a large white sheet from a photography backdrop stand and overlaid inexpensive gray broadcloth secured with ribbon to create a draped look. The tablecloth was just inexpensive broadcloth (about $2.99/yard). For the bunting on the front of the table, I made a template out of foamcore board. I used the template on 12″ x 12″ scrapbook paper and overlaid the cutouts on contrasting paper (actually, this is the part Molly did), securing them with double stick tape. To secure the squares to the pink ribbon, I spray painted binder clips in a glossy pink.

For the brunch, I made baked French toast casserole (excellent and easy, and extremely high-calorie), egg and sun-dried tomato souffle (delish and simple, but not for those on a diet), rosemary potatoes, berry salad, a yogurt bar, homemade biscotti, homemade banana crunch muffins, and a bellini bar (friggin’ fancy).

Look closely…See how I put the French toast label in front of the egg casserole and the egg casserole label in front of the French toast? Yeah, well, I didn’t notice until it was published in The Knot Magazine.

Ashley’s husband-to-be is a yoga instructor, so we thought it would be fun if we handed out flash cards with various yoga positions and had all the guests what position Ashley was in. It was equal parts goofy and fun.

For the ribbon backdrop (below), I stapled ribbons of varying widths to a horizontal piece of ribbon and printed out L-O-V-E on 5″ x 7″ cardstock.  Ashely knew exactly what she wanted for her cake, and although I’m a little out of practice with my piping, I think it was up to her standards.

Special thanks to Chatti for taking the photos. Event and cake design: Erica OBrien of Erica OBrien Cake Design ( www.ericaobrien.com ) / Flowers: Megan Gray of Honey and Poppies ( www.honeyandpoppies.com ) / Photos: Chatti Phal of Savady Photography ( www.savadyphotography.com)

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