Hi-Fructose Magazine Art Book Release Party, Oakland, CA.

As stated by the artist Scott Hove, “all beautiful things are equipped with a defense mechanism, to protect against the predations of those who seek to possess.”

This cake is a response to that statement. What defense does a cake have against its predators, an eager audience awaiting its inevitable carve? A sugar beast mouth might offer it some element of protection, even if only temporary or fleeting.

The entire frame was made completely out of sugar and painted in edible gold. This cake was designed to celebrate the relationship between the beautiful and the brutal.

deYoung Museum

San Francisco, July 2016.

Cake presented to the brilliant artist, sculptor, and painter, Steve Ferrera, whose Clan Folk sculptures inspired this cake. They are protectors and defenders of the Cupcake Throne, and guardians to the Sweet Kingdom of the sacred FIRE and ICING kitchen. Now you know who's really in charge of all my kitchen madness.

Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City (Los Angeles), October 22, 2011.

A cake for the opening of the very first west coast exhibit for the internationally renowned and brilliant artist, Ray Caesar. This cake was one of the most technically challenging to create, as the sugar tentacles and talons had to appear suspended in mid-air, along with ever-so-delicate royal icing fish scales gently resting along said tentacles. Alas, it made it to the gallery in one piece. It was an absolute honor to make a cake for this show, and for one of my favorite artists.

Japanese-themed cake comprised of the elements of water, earth and air. The Katsushika Hokusai waves (Edo period, 1615 - 1868) represent strength and power. The great Daishizen (Mother Nature) hovers amidst the branches of her trees, cloaked in cherry blossoms, the same ones provided by her that demonstrate the stability and beauty of her earth. The sky above connotes limitless journey, adventure and happiness. Origami sugar cranes appear to be prepared to take flight.

"Futatsu" is the Japanese word for "two". It's the composition of these elements that brings two people together (and perhaps being in the right place at the right time).

The Candy Cane Queen is the highest order of all Sugar Queens, and is the emblem of the Christmas season. She sits on her throne announcing the arrival of the Winter Solstice and the blistery cold of Winter nights to come. The power of peppermint has never been stronger.

Look into his eyes, and you’ll find that you’re caught
In his mesmerizing gaze,
With a flick of his wand, and a card trick or two
He will captivate and amaze.

He can cut you in half while inside of a box
with both halves still visibly there,
Or wave his baton in a cloud of green smoke
to make you disappear into thin air!

Look closely, look closer! But you never will see
The tricks behind this tradition,
For these secrets and sources, and magical forces
are the power of The Magician!

May you dream in magic,
-F&I

Inspired by the Imperial Blue Serpent Egg designed by Fabergé and presented to tsarina Maria Feodorovna in 1887, my egg is adorned with Victorian medallions, hand-piped royal icing pearls, Art Nouveau embellishments and topped with a beautiful, metallic-ruby sugar egg. I think it serves as a perfect sugar topper for a cake. Perhaps not precious enough for a tsarina, but maybe an appreciative Sugar Princess somewhere out there in Sugar Land.

Varnish Fine Art Gallery

JennyBird Alcantara solo exhibit - "Creatures of Saintly Disguise" June 9th, 2012

The world of pop-surrealism is abundant with oddly-shaped creatures, otherwordly landscapes, unexplained objects and abstract, narrative images. True to this is the flora and fauna captured in JennyBird Alcantara's artwork, as well as the vulnerable, doughy-eyed damsels and creatures that inhabit her paintings. Here, both animal and human come together. Conjoined at the head or the hip, animal and damsel become one, and the duality of human fragility and animalistic tendency coincide.

Dia De Los Muertos / Day Of The Dead cake for the annual parade and celebration in San Francisco, CA. My version of a very "hip" green-haired Catrina. This cake weighed close to 70 pounds, despite her being nothing but "bone"!

This is not R2D2. This is a strawberry/apricot cake dressed as him.

Not too shabby looking, me thinks. Broad shoulders, tapered waist, mechanical good looks. Don't tell this to the cake–he'll get a big ego and it'll all go to his head. Star Wars will never be the same. May the force be with you.

A sugar beast mouth and royal crown made completely of sugar and hand painted with edible colors. The cat is king. Leopard never tasted so good.

Mark Ryden “The Gay Nineties West” Art Exhibit, Michael Kohn Gallery, Hollywood, CA

May 3, 2014

“Bunny” is better known for his appearance in one of Mark Ryden’s greatest works, “The Ecstacy of Cecilia”. It was a pleasure and an honor to bake a cake for one of the world’s greatest pop-surrealist painters of our time. A brilliant show from one of the most brilliant minds in the New Contemporary art world today.

A holiday cake for a Victorian-themed party in an enormous four-story Victorian mansion in beautiful San Francisco. Embellished with FIRE and ICING's version of Modern Victorian Snowflakes and Modern Victorian Poinsettias to create a whimsical-yet-classical, modern vintage aesthetic.

Modern Eden Art Gallery Re-launch Party, San Francisco, CA - March, 2020.

Who said tough guys don't wear flowers in their hair? A cake to celebrate the reopening and relaunch party for Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA. Congratulations to Kim and Brad on their new space. This cake is all about rebirth and new beginnings - celebrating the past and embracing what is to come.

Indian-inspired cake for a special milestone birthday, with an extravagant cake topper inspired by the radiant Indian sun.

Cake designed for “The Art Of The Mushroom” gallery show at The Compound Gallery in Oakland, CA.

This cake was inspired by the brilliant Japanese artist, Naoto Hattori. Thank you again to the two masterminds behind the Hi-Fructose Art Magazine, Annie Owens and Attaboy, for curating a brilliant show, and to The Compound Gallery for exhibiting in their great space.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA), San Francisco, April 5th, 2012.

Book signing tour for the release of Camille Rose-Garcia's newest book, "Snow White".

This cake comprises a culmination of Camille Rose-Garcia's beautiful, dark art and iconic, gothic-like imagery. It serves as a sugar tome to the milieu of characters that inhabit her dark and fantastical world as witnessed in her numerous paintings and art books: The Saddest Place On Earth, Tragic Kingdom, The Magic Bottle, Alice In Wonderland, and her latest release, Snow White.

One never knows what one might find at the bottom of the sea,

An old tin can, a shipwrecked boat, or a rusted old skeleton key.

Or, perchance you’ll find a fishy friend, as this young diver did, 

That turned out to be, not two, not three, but a four-foot giant squid!

A special gift for two new dads. There are sugar “surprises” in the baby rattle and confectionery spheres that, when cracked open, produce a special message and gifts for the new parents. Gender-neutral colors are prevalent on most of my children’s cakes. Don't let your kids fall prey to “girl” and “boy” gender stereotypes of pink and blue. Let every child be true to who they are. Change begins with you.

You are the dancing queeeeen, young and sweet, ooooonly 17.....

Ah, the good ol' days. Bell bottoms, big hair, platform shoes, and the DISCO! 1970's themed cake for a special 50th celebration. You don't look a day over 17, Dahling.

A visual display of pastel bubbles floating against a white background, bouncing off of shiny, silver stripes. This cake was a whimsical play on color, shape and pattern.

I was invited by the Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco to create a display piece for the celebration of their newest exhibit opening, Stop Motion Animation in America. One of the first stop motion films that I remember as a child, and one of the most memorable, was a movie made in 1955 called "It Came From Beneath The Sea", a film about a giant radioactive octopus that wreaks havoc on San Francisco and demolishes the famous Ferry Building with its giant, monster-like tentacles.

But Gumby and Pokey were two of my all-time favorite characters as a little boy, as well as James and The Giant Peach. These animated films have been an enormous influence on me since I was a kid, and to be asked to create something for the exhibit was an absolute honor.

A celebration of pride in the great city of San Francisco.

Yes, my friends, it's a Scottish Burro Mexican Donkey Pinata Cake. But wait, I can explain.

Through this great, cross-cultural divide of ours two gentlemen met and fell in love. Some twenty years later, they tied the knot. One is Mexican, the other is Scottish. How to combine the two cultures into a cake? Simple. Make Mexican Donkey Pinata cake sporting the Scottish family tartan. Add a Mexican and a Scottish troll doll to his back and voila!

A burro never looked better in plaid. And you thought unicorns were a rare breed.