Hollywood Glam

I love this cake. It was a gift from the celebrant's siblings to celebrate his big four-oh. He just returned from a  holiday in the US and his sister thought it'll befit the occasion if he can have a cake along the lines of Hollywood. We used old-fashioned film reels to line up photos journeying his 40 years. Because there wasn't enough time to order edible prints of the photos, I printed them on paper instead. No one eats the fondant anyway, so I attached it to the fondant film.The 3 reels stacked on a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star "tile". I used silver hundreds and thousands for the letterings on his name and age. Dusted edible glitter and we've got ourselves a cake with blings! The birthday boy's favourite Lemon Poppyseed Cake finished weighing 2.6kg.

Bridal Shower

Baked and decorated these cupcakes to celebrate a bride. Doesn't she have thoughtful friends?? Love.

Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012- a simple design that doesn't steal the thunder from the full-bodied flavour of Great Bakes' Traditional Rich Fruit Cakes. Remember to book your 2013 cakes by the first week of November! Last minute orders simply can't be met because the dried fruits are plumped up a month ahead in freshly squeezed fruit juices and brandy. If you have a favourite rum or whisky and want to personalise your fruit cake flavour, send them over. For our own Christmas cake, I baked a Chocolate Fruit Cake with Tia Maria instead of brandy. It was really good and a pleasant change from the traditional cake. 

Adventure Time 2

I.don.t.see.the.point.nor.humour.in.this.cartoon. I caught a trailer of this cartoon just a few days ago and do you know what's under that white bonnet-thingy Jake...or is it Finn?? Well, the boy wears? It's very long hair! How does that even make sense? I don't think I'll ever understand cartoons such as these...ever. But it was an easy cake to do, not much to think about when all the kid want is Finn and Jake. This Orange Cranberry Cake finished weighing 3.2kgs.

Pink Barbie

Zahira's a huge fan of buttercream and would always prefer to have buttercream icing on her cakes when possible. Her first cake in 2010 was in fondant because of the circus theme. So, her brother's 1st birthday cake was covered in buttercream instead. In 2011, she chose a Princess Ballerina, so I did buttercream ruffles for the tutu. In 2012, she's still girly at 5 and wanted a pink Barbie cake. Applying the same buttercream ruffles concept, I gradually layered tight ruffles from white to rose-pink. This Cranberry Orange Cake finished weighing 2kg. Mum bought and sent over the Barbie.
I'm going to take this opportunity to highlight the importance of using a good knife for my cakes. These 3 cakes had the same problem as one of my customers had 2 years back. The cakes crumbled. In the past 2 years, they've never had such problems with the cakes they got from me. Cakes cut beautifully, no complains. This time, the cakes crumbled. What changed? The venue of the party. The last 2 parties were at home hence the hosts used proper sharp (and preferably serrated) knives to cut those cakes. This time, party was held at a kids' playland and cake cutting was done using their knife by them. We don't know what knife they used or how they cut the 3 different cakes but they all crumbled. The earlier customer I mentioned with this problem had her party in McDonalds and they use....wait for it.....a pastry cutter! That's not even a knife!
So, why do my cakes require good knives? THEY.ARE.FRESHLY.BAKED. Freshly-baked cakes are always softer. And my cakes are not the kind most cake decorators bake for novelty cakes which are Madeira cakes. Madeira cake is a basic cake base which is firm, holds it's shape very well, can be stacked-stable hence very easy to cut. We are also suppose to let our cakes "age" at least 24 hours before we cover and decorate it. This tends to dry out the cake, so many will add fillings such as buttercream or jam in between the cakes for moisture. Flavoured-sugar syrups are also brushed on the cakes before they are covered in fondant. Watch an episode of Cake Boss or Fabulous Cakes, and you will understand I'm saying here. The cakes can be held with two hands like a plank or flipped around like a frisbee and doesn't break. I can't do that with any of my cakes. They are baked in the morning, cooled for a couple of hours and I decorate it by afternoon. Cake's collected the next morning for the party in the afternoon. You see, the cake doesn't even get a chance to age. This is also why, I can only do 1 cake a day!
You can see what good slices I get from my cakes from my baking blog Doing a Julie/Julia, they are all beautifully-cut using simply a cheap steak knife but sharp! It's serrated and cut using a gently sawing motion. Are we good?? *thumbs up*

Hot Wheels 2

The party was for 3 children, so mum and I decided that it'll be more economical (and make more sense) to have 3 small cakes, 3 different flavours. Mum knew I was up to my eyeballs during the Christmas period and suggested that I bake one large cake and incorporate the 3 children's theme on it! Imagine Tayo the Blue Bus, Hotwheels and Barbie on one cake....errr, yes *roll eyes*. See, I wouldn't do that to children. There are always ways to get around making our lives simpler...elegant solutions. Small cakes! Doesn't need much sugar work on them, yet will serve the theme, stand-out and the child will smother his/her mum with endless kisses and thank yous. Hehehehehe....yes, I aim to achieve that for all the mums who order their cakes from me, provided she knows exactly what her child wants and not guess or assume. So, here's the second cake for the party - a 1.3kg Lemon Poppyseed Cake with a very simple HotWheels-themed design.

Tayo & Friends

I am soooo post-dated that I cannot believe that myself. 3 months since I last updated this blog! It was the same with Doing A Julie/Julia, it wasn't that I hadn't been working on any cakes since, it was just the matter of short daylight hours. By the time dinner is on the table everyday, I'd be a living dead. Really dead on my feet. I've had to accommodate new school runs starting January and for that, I've also been accepting much less cake orders. Having bursts of 30 minutes to an hour in between school locations and home throughout the day doesn't leave me much time for cake decorating. Sugar modelling and cake decorating are very time-consuming tasks though they make me very happy. So, I've been a grouch of late having to give up lots of beautiful cakes to do. But thankfully, I still get to bake and continue to try out new recipes. You can read all about my stolen trysts with my Kenwood from my other blog.
But when I do get some hard-to-pass cake orders or very simple requests, I sacrifice my tea and book hours, and sleep just to do them. I do that because I have very good and loyal customers. This is one of them. I've been creating cakes for her for the past 3 years I think... always during the Christmas period, for both her children celebrating together. This time, she included her nephew in the party. Rafenzo didn't get a "real" birthday cake for his birthday in July because he lives in Hong Kong and novelty cake designers are hard to come by *lightbulb moment*. So, his folks settled for a cake from the bakery. When they returned in December, Rafenzo got a little 1.5kg Vanilla Bean Cake with Tayo the Blue Bus theme. I spent so much time on those buses but it was time well-spent. Cute aren't they?