Calabash and Kolanut Traditional Wedding Cake

This past summer (and I say 'past' because the warmth of summer feels like AGES ago) we made a few traditional wedding cakes.

 

I love making traditional wedding cakes (OK I confess I love all things cake) but I especially love when clients ask for something I've never done before. It gets the creative juices flowing in my head. This type of cake is pretty common in Nigeria but a first for me.

In Traditional Nigerian igbo weddings, the bride gets a cup/glass of palm wine from her father, and presents it to her husband as a way of showing her family that this is the man she has agreed to marry.

                       This traditional wedding cake depicts palm wine flowing from a calabash/gourd. Next to it   are kolanuts on a saucer and traditional bracelets.

The main cake is french vanilla with fresh strawberries and cream filling and a white chocolate frosting. The gourd is fresh strawberry cake filled with fresh strawberry buttercream.

Our handmade fondant kolanuts make their debut again :)

To learn more about traditional weddings, click here. You can also click here for pictures of nigerian traditional weddings.

Congratulations to all our 2013 brides!

Orange and gold Traditional Engagement cake

We've done some engagement cakes in the past and we always have fun doing them!

This past weekend we had the pleasure of creating a suitcase cake for Saidat and Habeeb's traditional engagement celebration.

We worked with Yetunde of The Upper Room Events on this event. Yetunde and I have missed several  opportunities to work together in the past until this past weekend and I must say that she [and her team] know how to put together an event like no other! I look forward to working with her on more events, both professionally and personally!

Ofcourse it helps trememndously when the bride you're working with knows what she wants. For some reason or another I never physically met Saidat (the wonders of technology) but from speaking with her numerous times, one could tell that she is just such a sweet person. She knew exactly what she wanted BUT was also open to suggestions!

She sent us ideas for inspiration and then we went through an initial sketch and added and removed a few things. One of the added items was the gold rings that adorn the bottom tier of the cake.

Special thanks to Joanne for working with us on this gorgeous topper!

Saidat sent us a picture of their outfits to match this beautiful topper. The bride and groom are seen here sitting on a draped stool.

                                                Both cakes were vanilla with caramel filling!

Last night, I got a text from Saidat that warmed my heart. She said "Hey Oby! Loved my cake...you captured us to the T....even down to my necklace...Job well done!!!"

I also got one from Yetunde saying: "Hey Oby...Thank you sooooo much... The cake was delish.. And it looked wonderful!"

Thank you ladies!

Congratulations to Saidat and Habeeb! 

Kola Nut Themed Birthday Cake

We were asked by Ogechi to design and create a kola nut themed cake for her dad's birthday. If you're not familiar with the Kolanut, it's the fruit of the kola tree. It has a bitter flavor and contains caffeine. It is chewed in many West African countries- individually or in a group setting. It is often used ceremonially, presented to chiefs or presented to guests.

For more information on the kola nut, click here .

Everything on the cake is edible. The kolanuts were handcrafted out of fondant. Same for the basket.
 

The cake was vanilla pound cake with vanilla filling.

Feel free to browse this site for more traditional themed cakes.

Have a sweet week!

Suitcase cake

I'm always amazed at how wedding celebrations vary across cultures. A few weeks ago we had the honor of designing and creating a traditional engagement suitcase cake for a Nigerian couple.

We started off by sketching a stack of 2 suitcases with a couple dressed in Nigerian traditional attire (made out of fondant and gumpaste) sitting on the top tier.

The colors of the day were lavender and champagne/ivory.

The flavors of the cake consisted of vanilla pound cake with vanilla buttercream filling and a traditional Nigerian fruit cake. This cake flavor is very unique because it is made with raisins and 'aged' in brandy over time to give it a distinct flavor.

As we learned here, sometimes your eyes play tricks on you and sketching and the real life turnout are 2 totally separate things (lesson learned- sketching is only used as a guide lol).

As you can see, the iniital sketch called for only 2 tiers. When we stacked the cakes, it didn't quite create the 'pizazz' effect we were going for- so we decided to add a 3rd tier/suitcase for a better effect!

We finished the cake with a gold-ish/tan-ish sheen to give the 'worn suitcase' look

Congratulations Kemi and Samson!