What exactly does "funky" mean? Think of a wedding cake with a couple of giant eyeballs as bride-and-groom toppers for an ophthalmologist couple. How about a giant popcorn bucket on top of a reel of film for a movie-loving couple? Then, there’s the cake with a barefooted couple marooned on a deserted sandy island. Get the picture?
These unusual cakes are the handiworks of Karla Lapira-Magbanua, who, for the past three-and-a-half years, has been rolling out her own fondant icing into the colorful and creative figures that adorn all Claycakes creations. Although a baking novice back then, she discovered to her surprise that she had a knack for cake designing and decorating.
Karla left the corporate world after having her son Enzo four years ago. She decided to make sense of her mother-in-law’s kitchen by working in it. Until she stepped into that kitchen, she had never baked anything in her life.
"But I found out that I had a knack for it," she admits. "My husband thinks that I’m just playing in the kitchen."
She first experimented with the cake for her son’s first birthday, fashioning sea creatures, like a starfish, seahorse, lobster and octopus as decoration for an "under the sea" themed party. It turned out to be a winner.
"When my guests learned that I made the cake decoration myself, they didn’t want to touch it," she says.
That’s one thing about Karla’s cakes: They are all edible. "People have this idea that fondant wedding cakes are not edible. And I agree. Fondant is used to keep the cake inside moist. That’s why the fondant icing hardens over time," she explains.
But not for her Claycakes creations. She went into the kitchen and worked on a fondant recipe that is edible, one that is soft and chewy, sweet and delectable.
"That’s why, before the wedding, I always ask the bride or the couple to have a sample of my cake," she says. "That way they’ll really serve it and ask their guests to eat it."
For those on a budget, she can compromise with sugar icing. But she says nothing really beats her fondant.
Karla admits she has always been an art enthusiast. She says her mom told her that she was already drawing as early as 22 months old. Through the years, she always kept herself busy drawing.
"My classmates always remember me for my humorous art," she says. "I would often do these doodles in my spare time. In fact, when they saw my cake creations, they told me ‘It’s so you’."
Although she no longer paints and sculpts art, she found working with fondant icing an extension of her art. "It was just a matter of finding the right medium," she adds.
On our visit, she presented to us four chocolate-based wedding cakes topped with her signature creative miniatures. The most striking cake is called "For The Love of Chocolate Cake," which is actually patterned after the wedding cake design of Dondi and Abby Sanz. The cake is made of Karla’s trademark moist chocolate cake and is served with chocolate sauce. But what is striking about this cake is the design with the miniatures. The couple has already started eating the cake; an open seam of chocolate that runs through the side of the cake shows where they have hollowed it out.
Another cake shows the bridal couple up to their waist in chocolate icing, their arms and faces smeared with chocolate. Called "A New Classic," it is another example of Karla’s invention. It uses lemon crumb cake inside and the frosting is made of chocolate ganache.
Yet another cake sees the humorous side of marriage. Called "Tying the Nut," the miniatures are tied together at the waist by a ribbon of fondant that goes around the cake. Karla says the cake toppers would be perfect for a goofy and unconventional couple.
The most conventional cake is called "Sepia Cake." Karla admits that it is the closest to a traditional wedding cake that she has made. The miniatures, intentionally designed to look like the couple, stand on brown cake layers that are literally embellished with candy flowerets. It is made of an espresso cake and served with a Kahlua cream sauce.
One of Karla’s most popular wedding cakes was her "The Farmers Gaerlan," which was designed for the wedding of Pat and Gigi Gaerlan. The couple had a piggery, and that gave her the inspiration to decorate the whole cake with 65 little, round, pink piglets. The guests loved the piglets so much that they took them home. She found the little piglets cute, too, that’s why she often decorates her cake plates with them.
Karla doesn’t only make wedding cakes. She also does debutante and birthday cakes.
What lucky debutante managed to convince her mom to have a Claycakes for her party? "If the mom is game, she can be pretty open to my design."
For a debutante who is an animé lover, she designed a Japanese-themed cake that dressed the miniature in a kimono as she stands under a torii. Bunnies that resemble those from Pokemon adorn the rest of the cake.
For the 60th birthday of a client’s father who loved Elvis Presley, she made a miniature Elvis topper that looked like the old man.
For Karla, the size or the design of the cake is not an issue. However, to fully appreciate her cakes, she requires that there be at least 80 guests. All cakes are uniquely designed in consultation with the client, although for most weddings she is always in close contact with the wedding planner.
She makes all her cakes at home, with a staff of four helping her assemble and decorate the cakes. But the act of creating one of her cakes is no longer work for her.
"Making cakes is now a full-time job for me," she says. "When my son learned this, he couldn’t believe that it’s a full-time job."