Sunday Spotlight - Cake Designer: Karen Portaleo

It seems like you can't remotely turn on the tv nowadays without seeing a show about cakes! Between Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars, etc, the hype is huge! (*My disclaimer: I'm fairly certain that I DVR every single one of them. Yes, I buy into it. And it is AWESOME!) 

Here is a snippet about Karen from her Flickr profile:

My name is Karen Portaleo, and I am the cake decorator at Highland Bakery in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been decorating cakes since October of 2005 when , by chance, I stopped in to my friend's bakery to have brunch. I noticed there weren't any decorative items, and asked if I could maybe do some cookies ( having up until that point only decorated cookies a handful of times!). My background is in clay sculpture, but these days cake has taken over! I am self taught and always learning. 

You can check out her website by clicking HERE or you can visit her FLICKR Photostream.

















And the "Mac Daddy" of them all:




I didn't find Karen on my own. Someone left a link to the octopus cake above in my FormSpring early last week and I was blown away. Since we're only 5 months and 25 days away from my 23rd birthday (whoa!), I am requesting that Karen make me an epic Great White Shark cake. Please and thank you! ;) 

Thanks for passing her along to me! I hope you all love her stuff too! The way she captures textures really just astounds me. Okay, enough fan-girling for one day! But really, give this woman a tv show already! 

Do you watch those silly cake shows on tv? (and if you watch Ace of Cakes, do you solely watch it for Geoff? C'mon, you can admit it! He may or may not be a teensy (read: big) reason why I do! Haha)

10 comments:

  1. These cakes are INSANE! As in insanely awesome. I can't even... wow!

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  2. Holy cakes! I love the wedding cake with the flowers, but that octopus cake is AMAZING!

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  3. oh amazing work!!

    xoxo jessie

    http://www.freaktvblog.de

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  4. Woah! Amazing! My mom would go nuts for the pug one. All the cakes are incredible and so creative.

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  5. Highland Bakery comes HIGHLY recommended. I've been in a few times, and one of my friends got a cake from there for her 21st. Delicious AND delightful to look at. For anyone in the area, the tofu Thai wraps are AMAZING.

    I got way excited that you featured a place in my hometown that I've been to! Props!

    xo Abby

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  6. those cakes are so amazing! that octopus is so realistic. and i love the sushi ones : )

    ps: i'd love it if you stopped by http://lifespelledjen.blogspot.com

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  7. i'll admit it! geoff is so cute and awkward ")

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  8. You just made me so hungry. For cake. At midnight! How unfortunate. I especially love the Marie Antoinette cake and the corn husks (for some reason). The first one looks ceramic!

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  9. I'm in love with the Alice In Wonderland cake! That is amazing!

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  10. The cakes are so neat, but I don't really get why people get them...I don't think I would want to eat it. Am I just cynical? Anyway, I do like the sushi one a lot :)

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HEY! Thanks for dropping by. xo KB