Tiara for Elena

My friend wanted two cakes for her little girl's birthday; one for school and one for home. She actually wanted the tiara one for school and a Strawberry Shortcake one for home that night, but I got it the other way round! Luckily she didn't mind at all! :)

For the tiara cake, she showed me this photo which she found on Flickr. It belongs to Alexandra Caribe and she makes very beautiful fondant cakes.

I made the tiara a few days ahead, but it was a bit problematic. I put the gumpaste tiara on a round container for it to harden, but as the container was smallish, the gumpaste kept slipping off at the sides and warping the shape of the tiara. In the end, when it had hardened, the shape was a bit off and it also broke in a few places!! I don't think I'll be making this type of tiara again soon!! :)

I did my best to fix the tiara. I used another band of gumpaste around the bottom to hide the cracks and placed lots of red curls around the base to distract from the uneven shape of the tiara!! Luckily it looked okay in the end.

This was the first time I used silver powder. This stuff, as well as gold powder is very expensive, but I found that a little goes a long way! Also the effect it produces is well worth the price.

I brushed the silver powder on with a dry brush. This method unfortunately caused the excess silver powder to drop onto the cake. It made the surface of the cake look a bit 'dirty'! Next time I shall try using a wet brush, or maybe apply the powder before mounting it on the cake.

 Overall, I think the cake looks good. I shall be playing with silver/gold power or luster dust again soon!! ;)


Update: I left a message at Alexandra's Flickr account to let her know I used her design. I know, I should have written first to ask for permission, but it slipped my mind. So I thought I had better let her know. After all it is her beautiful and original design.

Anyway, she was very kind and was happy that I used her design and thanked me for giving her credit! She was so gracious that she even shared some information with me. I had problems with the tiara because I used gumpaste which is not hard enough. She says she used pastillage. I've heard of pastillage before, it dries bone hard. I'll look into pastillage soon I hope...

Thanks again Alexandra! :)

Amelie's mermaid

Last month, we celebrated three birthdays together, my two nieces (sisters) , Amelia and Amanda, have the same birth date, and another nephew's (Ethan) was pretty close. Since I did not have the time to make 3 cakes, I just made one for them to share. Amelie, being the youngest, got to choose the theme. She initially wanted something princess-y, like Cinderella, but that would not have been very suitable for Ethan right? so we went with the Little Mermaid and an undersea theme instead.

This is made up of two 6" round chocolate cakes and covered in fondant. The cupcakes are chocolate as well, topped with a dark chocolate ganache. All the figures are made of gumpaste. Next time I should mold the torso and arms from a single piece of gumpaste, so I won't get those unsightly joins on the shoulders...

This is the first time I tried using a harder ganache to cover the cake before applying fondant. This ganache method is what I learned from Planet Cake's book. Planet Cake is located in Australia, so the climate is more similar to ours, and thus their methods are more relevant to us. I have found that using buttercream, fresh cream and light ganaches is impossible in our awfully hot and humid weather! I am so happy that I found Planet Cake's book and thus the solution to my melting/ slipping fondant problem!

A harder ganache (higher chocolate to cream ratio) is not only able to withstand higher temperatures, it also acts like a putty, filling in all the holes and dents in a cake to give it a gorgeous smooth finish! "Alleluia!" is all I can say...

Baby butterfly

My sister-in-law requested that I make some cupcakes for her best buddy's birthday. She basically gave me free reign and that's what I love best!!

When I am waiting for something or someone or just have time to kill, and only have my phone with me, I like to browse Google images for pretty pictures to download. They give me ideas and inspiration for my cakes. I love simple designs with pretty colours.

For the cupcakes I made for my SIL, I followed the design from this wallpaper:
 

Cute right? I love how the design is so simple yet extremely effective. The baby butterfly is just simply adorable. I was just waiting for the right occasion to use this design.


So anyway, the cupcakes are the usual chocolate fudge cakes with chocolate ganache topping. The decorations are all done in fondant.

 SIL approved of the final product and I heard that Birthday Girl liked it too! So, hooray!

I love everything about this design, the butterfly, the flowers, the trees, the colours!!

Happy Family!

A friend of mine did not know what to get her Hubby for his birthday. I always have that problem as well. I never know what to get for men; ties, socks and boxers are so boring! :)

So she decided to get him some custom designed cupcakes. It would be original and unique. She instructed me to do one of her family, which consisted of herself, her Hubby and a cute daughter and son; the perfect family unit! She wanted the colour theme to be purple.

Since I had another order on the same day, we decided to do simpler 2D faces, instead of whole 3D figurines. I believe that most times, simpler is better and in this case it was true, as the cuppies turned out wonderfully well.

The cupcakes are chocolate cake with a bittersweet chocolate ganache topping. All the decorations are made of fondant.

Toy Story

A client of mine wanted some Bob the Builder cuppies for her son's first birthday. She had seen them on my blog and thought they would be great for the occasion. However, after shopping around for party accessories, she realized that there were not many Bob the Builder  party accessories available, so she changed it to a Toy Story themed party instead.

So, I told her to choose a main character, i.e: Woody vs. Buzz and a few other smaller characters. She preferred Woody and left it to me to decide who else would be included. I chose the 3 Martians cause they're so cute! (read: I spent waaay too much time on Woody and these guys were easier to make!!) hehehe...

Unlike Bob the Builder, I did not have a book with step-by-step directions to follow. I just referred to a few photos which I Googled.

Woody's shirt was kind of hard to make. The red checks on his shirt was drawn on with a red edible marker pen. I had to do it twice. I chucked the first attempt cause the lines were all wrong. I'm not too happy with the neckline of the shirt though. It should be a v-shape. I think next time I'll give him a red scarf to tie around his neck. That would cover the neckline and add a splash of colour.

For this project, I used plenty of dried spaghetti sticks for structure. I hate fretting and worrying that my pieces will fall apart once I've handed them over to the customer, so I've decided I will use as many structural reinforcements as needed, for peace of mind.

The cupcakes were also a bit rushed, because, like I said, I spent too much time on the models, especially Woody! But my client was happy with the results, so all's good! :)

P/S: I forgot to write "ANDY" with black marker on the sole of Woody's boot!

Princess tiara III

So this is the third tiara cake I've made. It seems that this is a favourite with all young princess-wannabes! :) Even my own girls tell me they want one like this for their next birthday! Though come to think of it, they say that about most every cake they see!

Anyway, I've been making mostly cupcakes and single tier cakes lately, as I find large and multi-tiered cakes too time consuming, considering the fact that I have only one teensy oven (with frustratingly uneven heating, by the way). I usually have to bake in multiple batches and end up taking hours just baking the cake, when all I really want to do is decorate it!!

However, I am in the opinion that tiara cakes are best when tiered. I think it adds to the 'regal-ness' of the cake. So when a customer requested a two-tiered tiara cake, I couldn't say no.

So here's my third tiara cake. It's all chocolate cake, bottom 7" and top 6". The cakes are covered in soft fondant. I made the tiara a week ahead, from gumpaste, so that it would have time to dry nice and hard. This time I used more dried spaghetti to attach the curly bits to the main frame of the tiara, in an attempt to make the structure a sturdy as possible.

My client loved the cake and I hope it helped make her daughter's birthday a memorable one! :)

Lovey-dovey sweet surprise

I got an online order from a girl who wasn't in town. She wanted a dozen chocolate cupcakes for her boyfriend's birthday. It was going to be a surprise.

My client asked if I could call him to him on that day, and tell him to come and pick up a package from my shop. (I own a pharmacy, not a bakery, so that would throw anyone off a bit!) Under no circumstances was I allowed to tell him who it was from! I didn't mind helping her out, cause it sounded like fun! :)

The problem was, on the day  itself, this guy did not answer his phone!! I called a dozen times and left plenty of messages! It was night, by the time I got him and he managed to get to my shop just before it closed!!

After receiving his 'package', he called me and tried to get me to tell him who it was from! I played my part and told him I did not know as it was ordered online! :)

Anyway, my client said he found out in the end and it was a pleasant birthday surprise!

I love playing a part in 'love' and 'happiness'! :)

Bob the Builder

An old schoolmate ordered a dozen chocolate cuppies for her son's 4th birthday. He is a fan of Bob the Builder, and luckily the Debbie Brown Children's Cartoon Character book which I have, includes Bob the Builder. You could make gumpaste figures just by looking at pictures of the character, but it helps so, so much to have step-by-step instructions.

So the cupcakes are chocolate fudge cakes topped with chocolate ganache. They are covered in fondant, and the figures are made from gumpaste.

I love Bob the most, of course. I especially love all the details on his tool belt. Other than the tools, his checkered shirt was pretty time consuming as well. I did not want to cheat and use food markers, because tiny red fondant squares would give a much more solid colour. Food markers would produce ill-defined lines and also could bleed into the yellow. Intricate details are always time consuming, but they really make all the difference!

I made his two friends (Sorry i do not know their names!! The cement mixer is Dizzy or something??) in a bit of a rush, so I'm not that satisfied with the result. I'll try them again soon.

Monsterz!!

Annie was invited to a friend's birthday party, and I had no idea what to get as a present. So, I decided to make a batch of cupcakes for her to bring instead.  I am so pleased with this idea, that I have decided that whenever the kids go for a party, they should bring cupcakes as gifts. At least it's something different from the usual stationery and such...

Well anyway, Annie's friend was a boy, so I had to think of a 'boyish' design. I'm much better at cute, pink designs, so it took me a while to come up with a compromise. No pink, but plenty cute..... monsters!


My favourite monster...

Stars and Stripes

A customer wanted some cupcakes for her sister whose birthday was coming up. Her sister works at a popular local radio station called Hitz FM. So, she requested for a dozen Hitz FM themed cuppies.

I chose to go with a simple stars and stripes design in the company's colours; yellow and purple. These are chocolate fudge cupcakes topped with chocolate ganache and covered with fondant.

Boxed and ready to go!