Joy is More Powerful Than Fear

My father is an amazing artist and craftsman. He has embarked on what I feel will be his legacy. So trying to get a birthday present for someone who many would consider a mad genius can be tricky. A replica of his legacy "the Goose." It is a guitar that he has designed and built—I would do my version only this one would be banana cake with carmel and a cream cheese frosting. This would be new territory for me- first sculpted cake, first time with an air brush and the biggest cake I had ever done. But this cake was born in a place of joy--not in a place fearing the unknown.

I blew up the picture of the guitar to life size—yes the template had returned- purely for scale and to capture the amazing details and craftsmanship of the guitar. I made the various guitar parts out of gum paste. I carved away the cake to expose the graceful curve of the guitar body. It was like a puzzle- how could I make the pit guard- when I figured it out my sense of joy and accomplishment increased. Then there was the air brush-- never used one, but I have spray painted- interchangeable. I dove in-- the cake turned out great-- it took me a week to clean up the over spray from my kitchen.

One thing I had not thought of---transportation. We had a cake that was 36" long, a 5 1/2 year old, a sedan and 3 hour drive. The cake would not fit in the car. I cut it in two parts to fit in the car-- the body and the neck. I finished it at my mom’s house.

We delivered the cake- there are two “O”s in goose literally. My husband my constant support helped—when my Dad walked in he couldn’t figure out what he was looking at- a cake or one of his guitars. It was great—joy from a slice of cake.

A Bride, A Brother and Complete Faith...

Looking back at my big day I did not care about my cake-- my mom was the driving force behind my cake-- she said I would regret it if I did not have the picture of us cutting the cake. But I do know friends who obsessed over their cakes--you watch those shows and women go nuts; seven tiers, six feet tall. Now I would be one of those women obsessed over the cake-- but I would do my own cake focusing on seasonal flavors and modern yet meaningful design.

So when my brother and his wife, who I adore came to me and asked my do to there cake, with out missing a beat I said yes. It never even occurred to me that I could ruin their big day if I messed this up. I was going to have plan A, B, C, and Z. My only request was that I could have design control. I was now at a place where I had have the design come to me. The templates had long since been filed away. As I became more confident in my corporate career and myself as a mom I became more confident in my ability in cakes-- fearless. I was applying some of my corporate strategy skills to cake making-- just figure it out. More forward.

Fast forward a year later, two months before the wedding. I wanted to pin them down on flavors. It had to be three tiers to serve the 80 guests. Two down: chocolate with a carmel sea salt filling with almonds and chocolate gnache and cardamon carrot with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. Then my brother dropped the bomb. I was also doing there dessert bar where I was not able to accommodate his tirimisu request --so how about a tirimisu cake-- sure I said, fearlessly moving forward. I had never done that. I arranged a cake testing-- it was okay-- not great. But we were moving ahead with the flavor. I never baked a another test cake-- I was figure out on the big day. I trusted in myself.

The design was taking from their two passions- her love of her Nordic heritage that was embodied in her dress with silver braiding and my brother's love of Japanese simplicity. I would meld the two. I found a Nordic love poem and the Japanese symbol for love. They would appear on the cake on edible rice paper- a technique I had never used. I also hand crafted over 100 Japanese Cherry Blossoms-- I had never worked with gum paste or made sugar flowers before. But I was committed to the vision. I worked at night and early mornings before work making flowers- my husband served as my judge on the cherry blossoms. He picked the best ones for the cake. I moved ahead- my daughter joined me in dusting the sugar flowers. My neighbor who is Japanese wrote "love" for me over sushi.

I finally told my brother about three weeks before the wedding what the cake was going to look like. I packed up and left for Santa Barbara on the train with my daughter to begin baking.

I never let on the terror that was going on in my head if I let them down. I had never done this before-- But it came out great-- this is my one and only wedding cake. They loved it for the meaning behind it- the fact I used local carrots from their friend who is a local farmer. It quietly spread around the wedding that I did the cake, then my brother publicly thanked me for all of my efforts. It made me realize how important it is to be graceful when receiving a complement--I also realized that I now had the ability to do it! This cake gave me the courage to launch cakes of grace...for that I am ever indebted to my brother and his wife for their complete faith in my talent.