Day of the Dead

The Sugar Skull Bakers is a collaboration of cookie, sugar, cake decorators, and artists from around the world honoring the 3,500 year old Mexican holiday – Dia de los Muertos (aka The Day of the Dead).

The group, founded in 2013, by cake artist Berenice “Berry” Rabago, of Berry’s Sweet Studio and graphic artist Yuki Navarro, is comprised of artists who work with edible mediums. Their skills and expertise range from hobbyist to professional. Some have competed worldwide and have even appeared on National American television network programs such as Sugar Dome, Cake Wars, and more.

The Sugar Skull Bakers may also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

For the last week, Between the Pages has been featuring many of these gorgeous creations. 

This gorgeous Poodle / Day of the Dead Cake was made by Sharon Kaufman Athanasiou from Not Your Average Cupcake,  Having the poodle white and the cake board black allows the vibrant colors to really stand out.  The result is a cake that is absolutely beautiful.

Here is Sharon’s description of her cake:

My piece is called “Bouffant Poodle.” Poodles are such intelligent, beautiful, loyal, and well-groomed creatures. And this poodle wanted her hair done up extra-high and fancy, and her coat specially coiffed, to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. My creation was done to honor my current poodle, Fluffernutter, as well as my late poodle, Bettie (named after the famed pinup star Bettie Page, of course!).

 

 

This lovely Day of the Dead figure was made by Pauline Po Soo from Pauline Bakes The Cake!.  I love Isabella’s dress.  The flowers on the shoulders and bodice are lovely and I really like the pleats in the dress.

Here is Pauline’s description of her piece:

On this day of celebration, the dancer Isabella puts on her candy blue skull makeup and smiles wistfully as she remembers her dearly departed dance partner and the love of her life. She yearns for his presence and misses him so. Although she will dance solo today but she has hope and the promise that they will be dancing together again when this earthly life fades away and the new everlasting life begins. Yes, today, she will kick up those heels and send the ruffles in her skirt swirling through the air to celebrate “Dia de los Muertos”!

This is my contribution to the Sugar Skull Bakers 2015 and my first time joining this awesome group of Sugar Skull Bakers which was founded in 2013. The colors used in my piece play a significant part to explain my interpretation of death and the after life. The black and blue in Isabella’s dress signifies death and the mourning that we go through when someone we love dies. The red in her hair signifies the blood of sacrifice that redeems us from our sins and the orange tone in her hair signifies the hope that we have in everlasting life after death.

Isabella is entirely modeled from gumpaste from the waist up. The top of her bodice is decorated with a row of miniature wired gumpaste roses dusted with blue and black petal dust. Below her waist, her skirt and the shape of her leg is carved from Styrofoam and covered with white gumpaste. The bottom of her skirt is then airbrushed with sky blue for brilliance and the rest of the skirt is airbrushed with light blue sheen to give it some highlight and an overall sheen. The areas around her ‘leg” and the folds in her skirt are airbrushed with black for added depth and to accentuate the shadows.

 

This colorful Chihuahua / Day of the Dead Cake was made by Cheryl Moseley of Sugarpatch Cakes. 

Here is Cheryl’s description of her colorful cake:

When I read more about the day of the dead I noticed that the people also celebrate the lives of animals that have passed. This was the inspiration behind my piece. As the festival is filled with bright colours and flowers I also wanted to incorporate those aspects into the design to show this is a celebration of life. It’s not something dark or scary but a happy event.

I think Cheryl did a wonderful job expressing the joyful side Dia de los Muertos. Her Chihuahua is smiling.  There are flowers everywhere.  The cake is bring and colorful.

 

This cute Day of the Dead / Cat Cake was made by Angela Morris from Blossom Dream Cakes.  I like how the cat is decorated for Day of the Dead and how bright and colorful the cat is.

Here is Angela’s story behind her piece:

Created to remember a much loved family pet. After discussion with my children (who didn’t want to eat her!) she was constructed from rice crispie treats covered with modelling chocolate and then fondant, with gumpaste roses. She now sits in a cabinet at home where she can be seen and talked to.

 

This lovely Day of the Dead Cake was made by Nichole Stiglich of Nichole Stiglich Cake Design.  I love the use of color on this cake.  The cake and cake stand are black, so your eyes are drawn to the colors.  There are only three colors – red, turquoise, and gold.  All three of these colors are associated with The Day of the Dead.  These colors are used on the flowers, the skull, and the trim of the cake.

Here is Nichole’s description of her lovely cake:

It was requested that this year’s creations have a lot of flowers. Well, I’m not a flower person and have only ever made one or two. That was a big reason I decided to take part, because I knew the design I had in mind and that it would force me to challenge myself and learn something new. And I couldn’t be more proud!!!

The middle tier is based off of an image I found and immediately fell in love with since red and turquoise is my current favorite color combo. The skull is all hand-cut, layered fondant and some gold sugar pearls.

 

The skull, flowers, and gold trim are lovely.

 

This elegant Day of the Dead Cake was made by Sam Hebel from Saima Sugararts Studio.  Sam based this cake on the costumes and bold colors associated with Dia de los Muertos.

 

The flowers on the top of the cake are stunning.

 

The hand painted girl decorated for the Day of the Dead is wonderful.  Notice the black and gold roses at the bottom of this layer.

 

The red ruffle and gold flower trim at the bottom of this cake is gorgeous.</f ont>

 

This stunning Day of the Dead Cake was made by Elena Pelizzoli from Il mondo di ielle – Top4cake. 

I love Elena’s description of her cake:

The work represents life and death. Which side is life, and which death. Half white, half black, or both? Maybe life is the white side, but is destined to expire, so will become death. So death is black side, but will become “life after death” … feliz Dia de los Muertos!

The white side has a white kitten who is asleep and a white candle that is completely melted.

 

The black side has a black cat who is awake and a white candle that is still burning.

 

The detail on the face is terrific.

 

 

This stunning Day of the Dead Cake was made by Nadia Flecha Guazo from ChokoLate.  Nadia used vanilla cake, chocolate ganche, gold rice paper, and wafer paper to make this masterpiece.

 

Here is a close-up of the girl decorated for the Day of the Dead.  I love how Nadia uses the mirror ganache, so that the background is completely black.  It makes the fair skinned girl stand out even more.  The girl’s face, hair, and flowers are absolutely amazing.

The Sugar Skull Bakers is a collaboration of cookie, sugar, cake decorators, and artists from around the world honoring the 3,500 year old Mexican holiday – Dia de los Muertos (aka The Day of the Dead).

The group, founded in 2013, by cake artist Berenice “Berry” Rabago, of Berry’s Sweet Studio and graphic artist Yuki Navarro, is comprised of artists who work with edible mediums. Their skills and expertise range from hobbyist to professional. Some have competed worldwide and have even appeared on National American television network programs such as Sugar Dome, Cake Wars, and more.

The Sugar Skull Bakers may also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This week, Between the Pages will be featuring many of these gorgeous creations.

This post spotlights an amazing Aztec Day Of The Dead Headpiece that was made by Ana Mourinho Remigio from CUPCAKES & DREAMS.

Here is Ana’s description of this stunning piece:

I love to study about these amazing cultures and find links between the old civilizations and the modern cultures. This year I did a Day of the Dead celebration with quetzal plumage and rose and dahlia flowers. A nod to the Mexican (Aztec) god, Huitzilopochtli. It was believed that fallen warriors after forming part of the sun’s bright hues, would return as hummingbirds forever. I thought they would add to the composition a beautiful touch and make great observers and guardians for this sugar celebration.

As you will see in the pictures below, this is an extremely beautiful and elaborately detailed piece.

 

The left side

 

The right side

 

The headpiece has three parts.  The top is a skull which is also wearing a headband.  The center is the chest with a heart.  The chest rests on the wearer’s head.  The side and bottom of the headpiece are two arms that wrap around the wearer.  There is a flower (a rose) where the headrest touches the wearer and there is a different flower (a dahlia) where the skeleton hands join.  There is Jaguar print at the top of the shoulders and at the wrists.  There are humming birds on both sides of the headpiece.  The same gold icon hangs off the blue-green feathers of the Quetzal bird on both sides.

The size of the headpiece, the use of the blue-green feathers of the Quetzal bird, and the gold icons on the side indicate that this headpiece would have been worn by Aztec nobility.

 

Notice the band on the skull.  The centerpiece looks like a blue double headed serpent.  This is based on a famous Aztec turquoise sculpture in the British Museum.  This sculpture was featured in A History of the World in 100 Objects.

Why a double headed serpent? Wikipedia speculates:

There were a number of reasons why the serpent may have been chosen as the subject of this sculpture. It has been proposed that the serpent was a symbol of rebirth because of its ability to shed its old skin and appear as a reborn snake. The snake features strongly in the gods that the people worshiped. The feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl was important to their religion, but other gods also had serpentine characteristics.

 

Notice the Jaguar print on the cloth hanging over the sides. The Jaguar was one of the symbols for Tezcatlipoca, the central Aztec deity.  There was even a class of Aztec warriors know as the Jaguar Warriors.

 

The center of the headpiece is a heart and a rose.

 

Here is a close-up on the right side of the headpiece.

 

Here is a close-up on the left side of the headpiece.

 

The gold icon is Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec Sun God.  He was the primary god of war in Aztec culture.

 

These are the feathers of the Quetzal bird.  Feathers were important part of Aztec clothing and tied into their religion.  The Aztec God Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent.  Huitzilopochtli, The Aztec God of War, was also the God of the featherworkers.

 

The skeleton hands are holding a dahlia.

 

Ana said that it was believed that fallen warriors after forming part of the sun’s bright hues, would return as hummingbirds forever. She added them because she thought they would add to the composition a beautiful touch and make great observers and guardians for this sugar celebration.

While researching this piece, I found out something really cool about the hummingbirds. Remember Huitzilopochtli? He is the Aztec Sun God, the primary god of war, and the god of the featherworkers.  From Wikipedia, if you look at the etymology of the name Huitzilopochtli,

…it means something like “Hummingbird(‘s) South” or “Hummingbird(‘s) Left”, yet it has commonly been translated as “Southern hummingbird” or “left-handed hummingbird”.

 

Here is the back side of the headdress.  Like the rest of this piece, the detail is amazing.  It boggles my mind that everything you see is edible. 

The Sugar Skull Bakers is a collaboration of cookie, sugar, cake decorators, and artists from around the world honoring the 3,500 year old Mexican holiday – Dia de los Muertos (aka The Day of the Dead).

The group, founded in 2013, by cake artist Berenice “Berry” Rabago, of Berry’s Sweet Studio and graphic artist Yuki Navarro, is comprised of artists who work with edible mediums. Their skills expertise range from hobbyist to professional. Some have competed worldwide and have even appeared on National American television network programs such as Sugar Dome, Cake Wars, and more.

The Sugar Skull Bakers may also be found on Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram.

This week, Between the Pages will be featuring many of these gorgeous creations.

What do you get when you mix Disney Tsum Tsum with Dia de los Muertos? If you are Cake Revol from Un Jeu d’Enfant, you get this awesome cake.

Here is their description of this delightful cake:

Here’s our piece, we took inspiration from the so cute Disney trends toys « TSUM TSUM ». A voluntarily childish choice to contrast with the grown-up universe of calaveras. Beyond this visual, we also wished to put in the honor the technique of the food printing. We didn’t take already existing pictures to make our cake, but took time to design on photoshop every portraits with the visual codes of the Mexican « Dia de los Muertos ». Once conceived, we realized them in our favorite technique, the Flat design ;). We chose to keep a sobriety for the rest of elements to emphasize these portraits. The topper,“Dia de los muertos”, in the shape of gravestones and also realized in Flat design, brings a lugubrious and festive touch, perfect for Halloween. Finally, we selected strong symbols of this theme, to frame each of the portraits with, for Mickey a cross, for Minnie a rose and for Pluto … a bone naturally 🙂 😀

 

It wasn’t until I saw this close-up that I realized that the topper looks like three separate tombstones.  The largest tombstone even has a stone cross.

 

Here is the Tsum Tsum / Day of the Dead Pluto.  I thought putting bones beside Pluto was a really neat idea.  First, Pluto is a dog, so bones make perfect sense.  But, this is a Day of the Dead cake, so the bones have a deeper meaning.

 

Here is the Tsum Tsum / Day of the Dead Minnie Mouse.  Notice that Minnie has flowers beside her.

 

Here is the Tsum Tsum / Day of the Dead Mickey Mouse.  Notice that Mickey has bones beside him.

 

This view shows you how the sides of the cake is decorated.

 

I love the use of colors on these Tsum Tsum / Day of the Dead characters.  Pluto’s face is painted with a little bit of yellow which matches the bones.  Minnie’s red goes with the flowers.  Mickey’s blue matches the crosses.

 

Here are Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto stacked together.

 

 

 

The Sugar Skull Bakers is a collaboration of cookie, sugar, cake decorators, and artists from around the world honoring the 3,500 year old Mexican holiday – Dia de los Muertos (aka The Day of the Dead).

The group, founded in 2013, by cake artist Berenice “Berry” Rabago, of Berry’s Sweet Studio and graphic artist Yuki Navarro, is comprised of artists who work with edible mediums. Their skills expertise range from hobbyist to professional. Some have competed worldwide and have even appeared on National American television network programs such as Sugar Dome, Cake Wars, and more.

The Sugar Skull Bakers may also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This week, Between the Pages will be featuring many of these gorgeous creations.

The Kissing Sugar Skulls shown above were made by Mitchie Curran from Mitchies Munchies.  Here is Mitchie’s wonderful description of her sugar skulls.

Dulces Besos “Sweet Kisses” My calaveras (skulls) were created on separate occasions. Muertos Dude made an appearance in our first Sugar Skull Baker collaboration in 2013, and I created my Lady Dia de los Muertos at a live demo during the IBIE convention in 2013. Muertos Dude departed into the bellies of a hungry crowd soon after his photo shoot and I regretted him not meeting Lady. I re-created Muertos dude for an event a few months later and it was love at first sight for these two.

Both were created using a number of edible mediums. Lady’s internal structure was inedible for her show appearance, but her exterior was modeling chocolate and fondant, hand-painted with powder color and vodka. Her hair is modeling chocolate dusted with luster and her hair decorations are Luster Icing sheets cut with the Sweet Accents machine from Icing Images and her flower centers are CakePlay Isomalt. Muertos Dude is crafted nearly the same, his original was all cake, this one was for display so again I used an inedible internal support structure. His mandibular (bottom jaw) is built out with rice cereal for an enhanced smile and kiss

 

Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor

Such wonderful things surround you
What more is you looking for?

Under the sea, under the sea
Darlin’ it’s better
Down where it’s wetter,
Take it from me

Under The Sea from The Little Mermaid

This awesome Steampunk Day of the Dead Cake was made by Jacqui Kelly from Totally Sugar.  The steampunk skull squid (try saying that five times fast) and skull crab are terrific.  The detail on both is amazing.  I also really like how the two lovers have similar taste in hats.

 

This gorgeous Day of the Dead Cake was made by Calli Hopper from Callicious Cakes.

Here is Calli’s description of her stunning cake:

My Sugar Skull inspiration this year is a celebration of my beloved parents. I enjoyed hand painting their portraits of when they were younger, using my favourite photos of them as my guide. I owe them both so much and so pleased I always listened and took on board their advise. Over the years I got to know them so well and cherish their letters, including those between them both I now have in my possession. I cared and loved them so much. The sugar flowers are a mixture of tropical and English as we were a much travelled family from India, to Africa to UK. My skull is made from modeling chocolate and hand painted.

 

Calli’s hand painted cake board portrait of her two parents is absolutely beautiful.

 

This gorgeous Day of the Dead Cake was made by Elizabeth Lander from Time for Tiffin.  The hand painted faces about to kiss are wonderful.  The flowers are beautiful.  I love how everything but the two faces and the flowers are black and white.  Because of this, your eyes are drawn to the vibrant colors.

 

Here is a progress shot of the middle tier.  It was hand painted using just Sugarflair pastes/pro-gels and vodka.  The end results are simply gorgeous.

 

This cool Day of the Dead Cake was made by Stacy Coderre from Sweets By Stacy.  I really like how the skull is divided into two halves – one male and the other female.  Stacy hand made over  30 sugar roses and other flowers for this piece.  I like how white, black, and red are reused through out this piece.  It causes the red roses to really stand out.

 

 

 

 

My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering Gold
There is nothing can console me
But my Jolly Sailor Bold.

— John Ashton 1891

This cool Pirates of the Caribbean / Day of the Dead Cake was made by Veena Pamel Azumanov from Veena’s Art of Cakes.  The cake is based on the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tide.  The movie features man eating mermaids who are beautiful women on land and deadly fanged creatures in the water.  Veena does a wonderful job displaying this because the top half of the cake everything is beautiful, while the bottom half is filled with bones and a man eating mermaids that lurk below.