An Elopement Cake

Thursday night I finished this Hawaiian themed cake for an elopement party the next night. I'm not a huge fan of cascading flowers and what you might think of as a Hawaiian cake. I took my idea of a tropical cake and deconstructed it. I used the ocean and some of the native flowers as my inspiration. I ended up creating 'waves' out of fondant and a gumpaste orchid. I wanted the colors to be soft and elegant in an ivory and sage green. The elopement party was held at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm which is absolutely breathtaking. Although it was a Hawaiian themed cake, I also wanted it to have the same feel of the romantic Los Poblanos.

The cake was a lemon cake, lemon curd filling and a champagne lemon buttercream. The flavor of the cake was soft and elegent, married with a slightly tart curd filling and finished with a buttery smooth lemon buttercream with that kick of champagne.

I had so much fun making this cake and wish all my clients were like this one who let me have free reign to run with my ideas!

Planning a 'Maui'd' Elopement Cake

So maybe not your oh so traditional wedding, but it's right up my alley so of course I love it! Who doesn't want to skip all the craziness of a traditional wedding and hop right to the honeymoon phase and get married in Maui instead?! I think it's a brilliant idea!

Anyhow, I was asked to do an elopement cake with a modern-Hawaiian theme. Of course this sent me over the moon, especially because I have the liberty to do what I want. What?! So exciting!

Whenever I'm first asked to do a cake, I get all the nitty gritty details taken care of first...how many servings, flavors, size, etc. If there is a theme in mind or color scheme, I usually start to research pertinent cakes, colors, shapes, pinterest, my favorite cake blogs, etc. I like to look at other cakes, specifically, because I see what worked well and what didn't, techniques I liked, color combos, etc. I use this research as a jumping off point which then sparks my own ideas.

Here are some of the inspiration cakes I'm looking at...

From there, I start to do some sketching either of the whole cake, a component of the cake or even my cake shopping list, just to get the creative juices flowing


I really didn't want a cheesy Hawaii cake with cascading flowers. Not my thing. I like my cakes simple and elegant. I've finally settled on an abstract wave out of fondant and a beautiful Hawaiian poppy flower made from gumpaste. The cake will be lemon with a lemon-champagne buttercream and a lemon filling (the bride loves lemon). My mouth is drooling now. Mmmmmm.

I was also asked to do a giveaway for a local golf tournament, Associated Builders and Contractors Golf Tournament, this Friday too. I may have lost my mind when I agreed to it! But I'm making it easier on myself and am just making an extra batch while I do the cake so I can have a dozen cupcakes for the giveaway. I'll also be giving out a gift certificate for some more goodies. This will be a great marketing opportunity for me so of course I couldn't turn it down!

I've got an extra busy week ahead! I'm looking forward to the final product of the cake and cupcakes. Stay tuned for final pictures later this week! Happy Monday!