Sunday, September 5, 2010

Sunday Sweets: Eastern Elegance

Sunday, September 5, 2010

As you may know, Jen and I are at Dragon*Con this weekend, which means we are geeking out with the geekiest geeks in all of geekdom. Which is exactly why today's Sweets are the most elegant, Eastern-inspired cakes we could find. (See, I'm actually having nightmares about being chased through cavernous hotels by roving packs of storm troopers in kilts. Which is not only possible, but actually likely.)

So, onward and upward!

One of the things I most admire about Eastern tradition is the art of Henna, which works amazingly well on cake. Check it out:

By The Evil Plankton

I absolutely love the detail. And the elephants. (Which are edible.) But really, who doesn't love elephants? I mean, think about it. When is the last time you saw an elephant that wasn't doing something absolutely lovable? See? Never!


Look closely. See how the chocolate is glass smooth on the top? No way to scrape off a whoopsie here!


By Mahutch

The bead work on this is fantabulous.


Hey, speaking of elephants... This cake was actually called the Ganache Ganesh. [Badump bump!]

And for a little bit of structural goodness...

By I Dream of Cake

You can never go wrong with cobalt blue and gold. Beautiful.


Next, going a little further East for inspiration:

By Pattykakes

I love the texture on this cake. It's so... fabricy. (not entirely sure that's a word)


Some fabulous hand-painting:

And a fabulous fan:



A Kimono-inspired beauty:



And a tiara:

By Pink Cake Box


Finally, we were invited by the lovely folks at Highland Bakery to stop by while we're here in Atlanta, but I don't think we're gonna make it. Which is a shame, because they do stuff like this:

By Highland Bakery

Wow.

Yeah, I think we'll have to come back here some day.

Well, there it is! Next week we may be fully recovered from geek overload, so we'll probably do something really geeky with, I don't know, gears or capes or something. Until then, please send your nominations and ideas to sundaysweets (at) cakewrecks.com. And Wreck On!
geenalyn said...

An elephant being totally UNadorable...saw this yesterday on my hubby's facebook. EWWWWWW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a64JEtZMVUc

J Franklin Evans said...

Wow. That's about all I can say about these. Absolutely amazing.

L.B. said...

Absolutely gorgeous stuff!

Anonymous said...

Those are the most fantastic cakes I've ever seen! The detail in the henna cakes, the kimono-inspired cake, wow, all of them are awesome! I just don't think I could stand to be the one who cuts into them, though! But if someone else wants to cut them, I'll be happy to eat them!

Anonymous said...

Those are amazing! But they all share one fault: they are much, much too beautiful to be cut and eaten. I think I'd cry if I was served a cake like this.

Killian said...

Incredible. I cannot get over the details and beauty in these cakes! There's so much going on in each one, but none of them is -over- done, which is a risk when attempting something of that nature.

Gorgeous. Thank you for sharing these!

tiny purple elephant said...

The two elephants cake is beautiful.

Morgan said...

I can't imagine the time or the steady-handedness to make those cakes possible. Wow. I get a cramp just thinking about it!

tiny purple elephant said...

Cutting and eating a Hindu God or any God is just wrong!

Amanda said...

Wow! I always look forward to the Sunday Sweets, but today blew me away. Wow wow wow!

Jessica said...

I saw an elephant man handle Jeff Corwin which was disheartening as he does not do animal shows anymore because of it :-(
Cakes are lovely though!!

Lizzie S. said...

The art of painting the hands and feet with intricate henna designs for festivals and important occasions like weddings is actually called "Mehndi." Just FYI. Gorgeous cakes, though. I especially like the two elephants.

Anonymous said...

Wow, breathtakingly beautiful creations! Thanks for sharing such gorgeous works of (edible) art with us. Love the eastern theme, btw.

Rebekah said...

Uh, yeah, my first thought about the elephant's ability to be adorable was the video posted in the first comment. So very, er, not adorable. The elephants on the cakes are pretty adorable, though. :)

Anonymous said...

*offers the Ganesh cake a peanut*
(guess the reference and win an internet cookie!)

- Gypmama

Emma said...

Loving the Mario Kart game going on in the background of the fabricy cake with fans :)

Fanboy Wife said...

I love the henna cakes! The decoration is so delicate and intricate.

Melissa said...

Oh wow. That is the most beautiful collection of cakes I've ever seen, hands down. Especially the henna cakes.

I'm in awe.

Jules AF said...

I love all the cakes, but the elephants have to be my favorite.

Tamara said...

You should try to make it over to Highland Bakery if you can... it's my favorite spot in Atlanta for brunch! And the cakes are definitely really neat. Hope you're having fun at Dragon*Con, I had hoped to make it over for the parade yesterday but slept in too late! :)

A Cake To Remember LLC said...

Those are all fabulous!

Kristy said...

These are amazing! Finally, a Sunday Sweets not dedicated to Star Wars or Super Mario Bros. That is getting really, really old.

Kim said...

So beautiful! Very inspiring!

Anonymous said...

Nerds go to DragonCon, geeks go to PAX?

Ladytink_534 said...

These are all so lovely! I wanted to go to DragonCon SO bad. So many of my favorite author's were there. Hope you made it to the kilt blowing...

drgns4vr said...

I am just amazed by these beautiful cakes. The decorators are artists indeed.
Thank you for sharing them with us.

Terri said...

These are absolutely amazingly gorgeous. The first one -- ohhh.

Herouth said...

I'm not sure it's nice to be critical on Sunday Sweets, but the kimono-inspired cake is not really kimono-inspired. Both the design and the decorations look very Chinese rather than Japanese. The sort of buttons and loops... Have you ever seen a button and a loop on a kimono?

Anonymous said...

It's Sweets posts like these that make it utterly impossible to pick a favourite. They're all so breathtaking!

peony said...

I was so impressed by the Hindu Goddess cake by Highland Bakery in Atlanta, so I went to their website. I want to move to Atlanta now! Absolutely AMAZING stuff!

Karla said...

Gorgeous! These make the wrecks look wreckier (a word?)

Rebecca F. said...

Hey Gypmama, that is a Simpsons reference... so where's my cookie? lol. I love all of the cakes...SO beautiful!

Jen said...

An elephant being unadorable...how about when they're in rusk and decide to rampage through villages? There's a story about one on Cracked.com.

Nicole said...

Beautiful!

When I first read about your dream, my eye saw "carnivorous hotels"... so be careful where you run into when the kilted storm-troupers show up.

Kelly said...

Love, love, love the two elephants making hearts with their trunks! Too cute!

But the Ganesha one might be a tad creepy to eat. "Uh, could I maybe have a piece that is not god's crotch please?"

Everyone needs a hobby... said...

Ya'll really need to make it over to Highland Bakery, they are amazing. They just opened a second location in Midtown and it's my go to spot for lunch (and completely unnecessary afternoon cake).

I was up at DC yesterday afternoon and saw most of the costumes Jen had posted pictures of the day before, I'm not sure why, but that really entertained me. :-)

Anonymous said...

This last week I was at the Oregon State Fair and saw a gorgeous Easter inpsired cake. I took a picture of it with the intent of sending it in to you. These are all stunning!

Melanie

kittygirl said...

While these are really amazing, I just want to point out that some of us really do (absolutely) adore and love the "geekier" cakes. These are pretty but personally I love the video game cakes the best. Or unicorns. If someone could combine the two that would be heaven.

Wantapeanut said...

These are some of the most beautiful, elegant cakes I've ever seen. Great Sunday Sweets this week!

Anonymous said...

I love the henna/mehndi inspired cakes...I've wanted to do something simpler in that vein myself for a while. Henna art is a great way to practice cake decorating, because there's no way to *really* scrape off a whoopsie in henna either--it stains pretty much instantly!

Christine said...

ALL BEAUTIFUL!

I couldn't eat any of them - too beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Geenalyn!!!! LOL...seriously, I was going to post the SAME link of that elephant "snack attack" myself! Yes, truly an elephant being totally UNadorable!

Lori said...

My birthday is Tuesday. Anyone who desires can send me any or all of the above cakes. They will be duly admired, then devoured!

y said...

How could you not go to Highland?! I'd sweep their floors if they'd let me watch them create the cakes they make!! No, I am not a baker who wants to steal ideas, I just LOVE cake!! Correction: good cake. I will not eat bad cake.
And it's a great post "John, the hubby of Jen"

zombiekim said...

These are amazing. I love the Sunday Sweets whether they're about geekery or anything else, but I have to admit that while I've seen a lot of pretty nerd cakes on the Internet, I've seen very few Middle Eastern- and Eastern-inspired cakes of this quality. So, this was refreshing eye-candy!
Also, I <3 elephants as well. And obviously-rhetorical questions about how adorable elephants are. ;)

Anonymous said...

Those are amazing-more like works of art than cakes

Angela R. said...

Great cakes!

Hope you guys are having fun at Dragon*Con! We just came home today. I walked all around the Marriott last night calling your name in hopes to find you to get a button. : )

There's always so much craziness going on there that no one pays attention to a person walking around yelling, "Jennnnnnn! Jennnnn!!! Jennnnnn with the yellow boots, where are youuuuuu???

You were quite the elusive blogger. I gave myself an A for effort at least. Have a safe trip home!

jody said...

the elephants at the greenville, SC zoo are known to stick their trunks up the other ones rear....

not adorable. and even more fun to explain to the kids!

Anonymous said...

In Mehndi is applied to skin in a similar technique as piping. Just think henna paste instead of frosting. Like piping on a cake there isn't a lot of room for scrape off errors. It's really fascinating to see the two art forms in one edible masterpiece.

NYCGirl said...

Me! I don't love elephants!

Nah. Just kidding. That and the koi cake are my favorites. :)

JW said...

These cakes take my breath away. I mean every one made me gasp. So beautiful!

Craig said...

#5 So there is a non-suggestive way to do turrets. Who knew?

#6 Sorry, but I immediately saw a dorsal fin at the bottom, which led to musings about whether there is any way to connect 'man-eating monster' and 'cake' that makes some kind of sense. Sharks are so misunderstood -- their creative side has never been appreciated.

For a future Sunday, I think the characters from the Super Mario series should travel to the Star Wars universe. Or maybe 'Super Mario Visits Spaceship Earth.' Either of those ought to be 'new'. Moohahahahaha!

wv: irose. The first in Apple's new line of virtual plants. (Irose to the challenge of slipping in a geek/nerd reference!)

Unknown said...

Some weird safety survey keeps popping up when I come visit the site, any clues why?

Unknown said...

Wow, those are all amazing.

Mind you, you have inevitably invited the universe to produce a cake in which cobalt and gold do go wrong. I shudder to think what will come forth...

Anonymous said...

Wow. Not much else to say. Simply WoW.

~~Di

Anonymous said...

I completely agree, I don't know who would have the guts to cut into one of those gorgeous cakes! I think I would cry, but I would still eat it ;)

Anonymous said...

I work at the bakery and with the decorator that created the amazing cake with the elephants. Funny story, everyone loved the cake but the bride.

Arlene said...

Wow so much hard work for such beautiful cakes.. other wreckerators should look at these cakes and be ashamed of themselves lol. These are truly amazing cakes and too pretty to even want to put a knife to. No eating these lol.

Jessica said...

These are wrecks at all. They're AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for sharing these great finds!

Anonymous said...

I want to get married just so I can have that first cake.

These cakes make me want to cry at how untalented I am!

shikishinobi said...

I loooove all things Eastern, and these are definately cake-takers. The hand-fans and the phoenix ones are pretty cool, but the first is probably the best. Go the artists.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Ganesh Cake!
Although, don't appreciate the ingredient 'eggs' in it (Ganesh is a popular God in Hindu religion- Hindus are majorly veggies).
Geenalyn, its not a cartoon or a weird caricature, its a God in India.
And he looks quite beautiful, perhaps not so in cake.

Anonymous said...

Love these cakes!

And for the record- if there are roving packs of kilted storm troopers- we want pictures.

Anonymous said...

i love these cakes. please post more like these!!

mystic_eye_cda said...

Dear Wreckerators;

Look you can make castle turrets, even with roofs, and not have them look like penises.

Sincerely,
Cake Eaters Everywhere

darcitananda said...

Awesome collection, and I'm so tickled you featured my cake! Several friends alerted me to it. :)

@Lizzie, either term henna or mehndi is correct. "Mehndi" is the Hindi word, while "henna" is the Arabic word. There are other words and spellings as well including Mainjali, mehendi, mehandi, heena, hina, al khanna, and so on.

Gale said...

Oh man...I missed my chance. I found my favorite cake ever (seriously) last month on Flickr...and it would have gone PERFECTLY with this post.

It's an art nouveau styled cake with koi on it (you know, the Japanese fish)...and celtic knotwork.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27692829@N02/4437847175/in/faves-10397994@N03/

Isn't that gorgeous? And here's the coolest part. I noticed in some of the other pictures that the bride was Asian and the groom was caucasian (I'm presuming Irish). What a beautiful way to symbolize the two cultures of the bride and groom!

Chris Davis said...

Lovely.
Is the Ganache Ganesh actually the god-statue from Digger? http://www.diggercomic.com/?p=78 Cause that would be so awesome.
See the little wombat at the bottom?

LaurenH said...

I think this is my favorite Sunday sweets yet! I love any Asian-inspired decoration and the first couple with the henna-like decoration are also insanely gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Wow, those are gorgeous. I especially love the peacock one (white dots on smooth chocolate background). Amazing!

edgaralgernon said...

Stormimay - no the creator based it on some source material. What you see is a mouse, Ganesh's traditional mount.

and yes.. this is the cake my wife got me for my birthday. I was quite speechless. It had been a long running in joke, Ganache Ganesh, and he is one of my favorite deities.

Also, yes there was a bowl of peanuts to one side, based on another in joke, pre-Simpsons. :-)

Overall great cake, great flavor, and I did say a small prayer before I had to dismantle it.

Anonymous said...

Not everyone loves elephants so much. In Tennessee, they hang 'em.
http://www.blueridgecountry.com/archive/mary-the-elephant.html

Anonymous said...

I seriously JUST got a Ganesha tattoo Thursday. I just about died when I saw that cake. Gorgeous. They all are. I adore elephants so much (but got Ganesha for other reasons), so I loved the first one as well. They're all beautiful

Sweet Tim said...

Well, I'm truly inspired by what I would call a totally different level in cake art and cake decorating.

I've been making cakes for quite a while now but have never seen anything like these and most of all did not expect to find them at cakewrecks! of all places.

Fantastic blog you have here. Keep it up :)

IslandPearl said...

They're all lovely, but that one by the Highland Bakery is absolutely ART! I'd like to have that in a more permanent medium.

And I have seen an unlovable elephant -- one went rogue when the circus was here in 1993 or 1994. Totally traumatizing.