let's travel...

coconut pineapple

with a coconut buttercream

okay, you gotta admit, this one was pretty cool :) my client lizeth ordered this cake for her mom's birthday/retirement party. i made little hand drawn or 3D postcards of places her mom has gone, or wishes to travel to now that she is retired. everything is COMPLETELY edible :) okay... maybe not the foil... but everything on the cake is! my favorite postcard is a tie between the hawaii one (go figure) and the paris one....which i hand drew the eiffel tower! :) i was super, duper happy with this cake and might i add... was so refreshing to be challenged to make something other than a pink round cake! :)

krista's 18th birthday...

chocolate covered strawberry
with milk chocolate buttercream

this very girly cake was made for krista's 18th birthday and ordered by her aunt. the frame was a special request by the aunt to have on top of the cake. i used little edible pearls to create the tufted pillow look on the top tier... and that rose is the first little fondant rose i ever made... :)

happy birthday la...

chocolate covered strawberry
with milk chocolate fudge buttercream

a quick mini-cake made for la's birthday. i wasn't feeling too well that day, but couldn't let the day go by without making a lil cake for her birthday.

congratulations derek...

chocolate covered strawberry (middle tier)
cookies & cream (bottom tier)

my client alicia, ordered this cake for her boyfriend, derek, in honor of his graduation from long beach state (hence, the black and yellow). his family is from hawaii, and he loves UH football... (don't you just love that hawaiian lei around the cake!?!) he's a big lakers fan, and on his graduation cap, he has the logo for the san diego chargers and of course... his drink of choice: mr. jack daniels.
the cap, tassle and notably the jack daniels logo was made entirely by hand... rolled and cut out of fondant with no templates or cutters... it took me forever but alicia was so happy that it made me happy to see my client very happy with the cake!

happy birthday joce...

mocha delight
with expresso buttercream

in honor of my best friend's bowling themed 30th birthday, i made this retro-styled cake for her big day. she seriously loves the color pink... so it was fitting to design a cake in her favorite color.

concordia, here i come...

cookies & cream (top tier)
double chocolate chip (bottom tier)
with chocolate buttercream

a promise is a promise... when i interviewed for my new job at Concordia University Irvine, i mentioned that i made cakes as a hobby... so my amazing team joked with me about making them a cake... and i promised that i would bring one someday... so i fulfilled my promise on my first day on the job :)

owen's 1st birthday...

marbled fudge with milk chocolate buttercream

my childhood best friend rhea-ann ordered this cake for her youngest son's 1st birthday. she always calls him her little monkey face so we decided to make a cute lil monkey as the theme. his nickname "bubbas" is on the middle tier.

twilight series...

notice the elements of the cake which were taken from the stephanie meyer covers for the twilight series? c'mon... name them all! :)

if you are truly a super fan... you would have noticed this cake at bella's birthday during "new moon."

twilight cake:
dulce de leche with a caramel buttercream
mocha delight with an expresso buttercream
southern red velvet with a cream cheese frosting
bella cake:
dulce de leche with caramel buttercream
marbled fudge with chocolate buttercream


my college buddy, emily has got to be the biggest twilight fan i know... no really, she IS THE BIGGEST, BADDEST TWILIGHT fan that i know! :) she specially ordered these cakes for a new moon/birthday party she was having in her home... and get this, she drove from valencia to west covina, just to get them. she gets the award! :)

baby troy's 1st birthday...

vanilla bean with
vanilla buttercream

troy's mommy ordered this cake to celebrate his 1st birthday. the helmet has his initials and the #1 to honor his birthday... it's also in the colors of black and red which are the school colors of the football team his daddy coaches. football is made out of rice krispies and fondant and yes, is completely edible!

for a navy/marine...

rocky road (bottom tier)
southern red velvet (middle tier)
with cream cheese buttercream

this birthday cake was made for a navy/marine... yes, how's that for country pride! i was extremely proud of my little sailor hat which was completely made out of rice krispies and fondant. it made me so happy when people thought the hat was real! :) this is one of my favorite cakes!

team pacquiao!

mocha delight
with an expresso buttercream

it was the night of a pacquio fight... so as we always do, the family gets together to witness the greatest filipino boxer of all time kick some boootay! :) my aunt tita and my uncle frank were also celebrating their birthdays, so i designed this cake in honor of their birthdays! oh and yes... pacquio won that night, too!

hawaiian hello kitty cupcakes...

guava chiffon cupcakes
with a strawberry guava frosting

my hawaiian hello kitty cupcakes were designed for chloe, the niece of my good friend melanie joy, who ordered these cutie patootie cupcakes for chloe's 1st birthday. i can't deny my love for hawaii and i couldn't resist putting a beautiful little colorful plumeria on hello kitty's ear!

kaylaena jaline's 5th birthday...

chocolate covered strawberry (top & bottom tiers)
cookies & cream (middle tier)
with fudge chocolate buttercream

by far, one of my favorite cakes... my god-daughter kaylaena was celebrating her 5th birthday with a disney "wizards of waverly place" theme. her face lit up when she saw the cake... and all those in attendance ran to the cake table to take pictures of it... i was so happy with how the colors turned out... and was pretty darn proud of myself for completing it :)

jeff's favorite things...

he loves the raiders, tennis and golf...

the tv show 24 and monster energy drinks...

and he likes the oakland a's...

chocolate fudge and peanut butter cup
with a peanut butter buttercream

my dear friend, maureen ordered this cake for her husband's birthday. we designed the cake to incorporate all of jeff's favorite things. on the other side of the cake was also a canon lens cover as jeff loves to take photographs. i had fun creating all the little trinkets on the cake!

janine's bridal shower...

chocolate fudge cake &
peanut butter cup cake
with milk chocolate buttercream

this was made for my good friend janine's bridal shower. the blushing bride-to-be and her treasured friends and family loved it!

reese's birthday...

double chocolate fudge with
chocolate buttercream

my co-worker at HPU loves pigs and cows... so i decided to combine her love for both animals into one cake! kinda silly... but it always makes me smile when i see it.

for my dear boss, sara...

southern red velvet with
cream cheese frosting

this was for my HPU boss Sara Sato... it was made for Boss' Day... i think this was the 2nd fondant covered cake i ever made!

this is how it all began...

Nar's Southern Red Velvet
w/Cream Cheese Buttercream

so this is what started the adventure: my hawaii hpu bff janine was marrying the love of her life and since she was on a tight budget, i offerred to make her wedding cake. i had no idea how the heck to do it... but i figured, hey, after watching practically every episode of ace of cakes or all those food network cake challenges, i could take a shot at it!

... she loved the cake so much, she cried tears of joy and probably hugged me so hard all my muscles hurt from rolling out all that homemade fondant! hehehe :)

and that's how it all began... cakes by narleen kristel!

janine, thank you for your inspiration... my cakes were born out of your and chad's love.
i love you both very much! guarantee... when the little one comes, ninang nar will surely bake the bestest, biggest, cake everrr! :)

hello!

i never imagined my cakes would become not only a hobby... but a budding business. i have been asked by many of my clients to start a website, but gosh... with everything going on in my life, i thought i can start by making a blog for now.

i will be posting my cakes on this page as the orders come... and maybe give you a lil story on how the design came about, what flavor(s) i experiment with, etc.

thank you so very much to all my clients, who have given me not only the inspiration for my cakes, but for helping me to challenge myself with another hobby.

i am ever so humbled by your love and support.

enjoy my posts!

-narleen kristel