minnie birthday for caitlyn...

c'mon... ain't this just the cutest thing? :)

04.17.11

southern red velvet with cream cheese buttercream

okay, okay... you gotta admit, this is a cutie! i was asked to create a minnie cake in the theme colors of dark pink and carribean blue and here's what i came up with! i loved the minnie ears... i wish i could have kept a sample for myself! :)

ladybug baby shower for faith amina luna...

04.02.11

chocolate fudge with chocolate fudge buttercream

soooo cute... this cute little baby shower ladybug themed cake was ordered by my friend, laurel for her friend's baby shower... she requested a ladybug themed cake and to use brown/lavender as theme colors and this is what i came up with. cute yeah? i gotta admit... i lovvve the ladybugs and the little trails of flowers and polka dots :) very adorable!

cakepops!!!

each pop had a each guest's name and table assignment... oh yes, and aira and dave's laker themed logo!

03.26.11

red velvet cakepops

dipped in vanilla lavender chocolate

210 cakepops created for aira and dave's laker themed wedding. i also created the buckets and tags for each guest. these served as the table cards/table assignments for each of their guests. it was so fun to see guests having fun eating the pops and enjoying them as they entered the ballroom! fun :) fun :) fun :)!!!

baby shower for baby girl, eliana...

02.05.11

mocha delight

double layered chocolate fudge and kona coffee cake

with mocha buttercream

this cake was ordered by my old high school friend, crisanta for her soon-to-be baby girl, eliana. this is the first time i made baby slippers out of fondant... cute yah?

aira & dave's laker themed wedding shower...

01.22.11

chocolate covered strawberry with chocolate fudge buttercream

covered in vanilla lavender buttercream

a laker themed wedding shower cake for aira & dave ordered by aira's matron of honor, liza... i created the text all out of fondant... covered only in buttercream :)

mickey mouse clubhouse for GeNo & NiCo!

01.09.11

double chocolate cake with chocolate ganache

my two ADORABLE nephews, NiCo & GeNo celebrated their 2nd & 3rd birthdays together... and this is the first time that my sister-in-law, beth and I designed and decorated a couple of cakes together. my sis also makes cakes in the everett, washington area and if only we lived closer, i'm sure we'd start a narciso business together! :) check out the lettering on the stars... i was pretty proud of my disney font that i free-handwrote with edible ink :)

i'm baaaaaaaaaaack! well, at least by special request :)

okay... so it's been awhile since i have blogged (soooo sorry! it's just been such a busy time with my full-time job as an event coordinator!) but here goes... i'm going to post a few cakes that i have created from december to wow... almost may? time sure does fly.

thanks to my faithful clientele... enjoy the next couple of posts...

sugar, spice & everything nice,

narleen kristel

christmas break...

after a crazy year of leaving my beloved hawaii, and moving back to cali, landing a great job (which allows me to still enjoy my life away from work), getting a new place in irvine and keeping up with my quickly growing business venture... 2010 has proved to be a very life changing year for me.

i decided to take a much needed break from the cakes for a few weeks... well, actually more like just until the new year :). i personally want to thank all my family, friends and clients for ALL YOUR LOVE and SUPPORT through this first year of my fast growing cake business. i know there are many cake designers out there that you can choose from, or many that consistently try to compete with me... but your support means the world to me and inspires me to continue making sweet treats with lots of love and perfectly made to share in your special events and moments in life.

thank you from the bottom of my heart!

have a very merry christmas and a happy and prosperous new year!

with much love,
narleen kristel

congratulations rob...

12.11.10
chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream

after 3 grueling years of nursing school, rob successfully graduated from cal state l.a.'s nursing program! ordered by his mom, rob's cake was decorated in the school's colors of black and gold and has a stars and stripes theme... and not to mention the cutie patootie diploma and shooting stars! :) it was funny because when i delivered the cake to the grad party at cpk in west covina, there was a guy at the table that kept yelling... "cake boss! cake boss!" hahaha... :) rob loved the cake... and his mom didn't even cut it! she took the whole thing home! hahaha :) i was quite proud and amused at the same time.

happy 30th birthday...

12.10.10
confetti cake with vanilla buttercream

making laurie's cake, was great practice for this cake! also covered in buttercream only, this cake was ordered by my friend andrew for his wife's 30th birthday. the couple are also not fans of fondant, so they asked for their cake to be made in a purple buttercream with a star theme. i also used luster dust to make the stars shine with a shimmery silver :) andrew told me his wife LOVED it! yay! :)

andes mint chocolate petites...

12.09.10
andes mint chocolate petites
chocolate fudge cupcakes with andes chocolate bits and
topped with a mint chocolate buttercream & andes mint bits

so, as part of christmas tradition here at work, we have a christmas gift exchange party and we were asked to bring sweets and treats for the event. i once made an andes petite cupcake that i was not particularly happy with... so i decided to make some adjustments to my recipe and try different additions to my buttercream... and YES! it was a success! :) one of my co-workers casey, said his friend owns a bakery that makes all these fancy cupcakes with fancy-smancy french names... and my cupcakes are waaaay better! :) he got a hug and totally made my day! :)

thank you laurie...

12.08.10
orange chocolate with a citrus orange infused buttercream

so... this was my first attempt at making a completely covered in buttercream cake (no fondant, other than the flowers). i have never done this before... i mean, sure, the cake is always covered in buttercream under the fondant... but it's a bit of a challenge to make a cake completely covered in buttercream and to make it look as smooth as fondant. i must say, i was quite pleased with the outcome. laurie was thrilled (since she's not a fan of fondant) and it was made in her favorite flavor and colors of teal & black. :) this was my little way of showing appreciation to my assistant on her very last day on the job (she's graduating!) congrats laurie, and thank you for being such an awesome assistant! i will miss you dearly!

michelle's debut...

12.04.10

chocolate covered strawberry
with fudge chocolate buttercream

this fall themed double tiered cake was ordered by my client, michelle's 18th birthday debut celebration. It's not as evident in the picture, but I used a new technique of adding luster dust and edible glitter to the leaves to give them a pearl and glittery shine. fun stuff!

dulce de leche petites...

11.25.10
dulce de leche petite cupcakes
with caramel buttercream

these wonderfully splendid petite cupcakes were ordered by my friend joanne, for her daughter justine who is simply in LOVE with them :) a perfect addition to their thanksgiving dinner!

barney birthday for xavier...

11.14.10

chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream

this barney cake was ordered by my client laurel for her nephew, xavier's birthday. apparently xavier LOVES barney... and so i created a bright and fun birthday cake for the birthday boy. barney is entirely made out of fondant. i have to admit, i was a little apprehensive about molding the barney out of fondant. i don't have much practice in molding characters... but i think he came out not too shabby! :) laurel said xavier was all smiles and loved it so much... he grabbed barney and ate him while all the adults ate the cake! hahaha... happy birthday xavier!

rockstar...

11.13.10

strawberry supreme with chocolate fudge buttercream

this cake was ordered by my old elementary school friend valerie, who i probably haven't seen in over 15 years! (thanks facebook for reuniting me with many of my old childhood friends!) valerie had seen my cakes on my facebook page and asked me to create a small, simple cake for her boyfriend's birthday. he loves rock music, so we decided to make him a rockstar cake! it's kind of hard to see clearly in the picture, but i used a metallic shimmer on the rock styled font on top of the cake which was cool. val said the cake was a hit! :)

i love lucy...

11.06.10

ferrero rocher cake

chocolate fudge with nutella buttercream

my client ordered this cake for his friend's birthday. the celebrant is a big "i love lucy" fan, so it was perfectly fitting to make a cake in the theme of his favorite classic tv show. the hardest part of this cake was the "i love lucy" text on top of the cake. i had to print out a picture of the text and mold and carve out a replica out of fondant. came out great and was pleased with all the compliments i received by everyone at the party when i delivered the cake.

let's go golfing...

11.06.10

golf themed cake pops

red velvet and cream cheese buttercream cake

dipped in white chocolate

this was ordered by my client stanley, for his friend's birthday party. stanley wanted a golf themed type of cake pop and so i decided to add fondant to each lollipop stick and molded the fondant to form a golf tee! lastly, i added in some green grass and a "happy birthday alan" flag to complete the golf theme. very cute! the client loved it! :)

girl's nite out...

11.06.10

kona pie

kona coffee cake with oreo chunks

and kona coffee buttercream

this zebra print themed cake was ordered by my friend laurel on the occasion of 3 of her best friends' birthdays. she and her girls had a girls' nite out and celebrated with this sexy cake :)

kent's taylor guitar...

10.23.10
peanut butter cup
chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter buttercream

okay, okay... i gotta say, i'm pretty proud of my 1st ever guitar cake! this cake was ordered by my co-worker sherry in honor of her hubby's birthday. she sent me a picture of his actual taylor acoustic guitar which i re-created in cake! :) if you can see... i also hand painted the lighter portion of the guitar to make it look like wood grain... and then mixed different shades of brown fondant to create a wood grain for the pick guard and side of the guitar. the strings were hand rolled fondant as well... which was probably the most challenging part of the whole cake... (rolling LOOOOONG and super thin strings of fondant ain't easy let me tell yah!) and lastly, the neck and fret of the guitar was made out of rice krispies and all the tuners are the headstock were also made out of fondant... completely by hand! seeing sherry's expression when she saw the cake was priceless... she was so happy, she was jumping up and down which made me incredibly proud and happy as well :) happy birthday kent!