Ruffled up

Yes, I ruflled up some cakes for my friend's parents anniversary and her SIL's birthday yesterday. Like, literally - but in a good way ;) I wanted to bring something different and fresh to the table this time. No flowers, i thought. So i googled for ideas and decided to try making these pretty ruffle cakes. It looks very vintage and elegant! (I just love it when they tell me to do whatever design i like and let me experience new stuff! <3 and="" buttercream="" chose="" colours.="" do="" don="" go="" in="" it="" just="" me="" p="" pink="" ruffles="" she="" somehow="" t="" the="" think="" to="" together="" told="" you="">

WIP.
Almost done.. see that cup at the back? He had witnessed some really ugly ruffles in the beginning (it's what i used for practice). They were ruffles, alright. Like really ruffled up! So ugly, I was so panic at the time, but then i realised i should have taken some photos of it just for laughs!

I learned to make the ruffles via youtube, by the way(click here for the video). It's not very complicated once you get the hang of it, all you need is some courage, calm nerves and lots of buttercream! There are so many ways you could dress up the top but since i didn't want to do any flowers, i stuck to the pleats. But you can actually add on rosettes, or pipe a large rose in the centre or whatever. I wasn't courageous enough since i had to make the other cake quite at the last minute and was too worried i would screw up and won't make it in time for the pick up. I'm happy (more like relieved actually) with how it turned out in the end because i really didn't have a backup plan. Hubby was very confident i could pull it off! I shouldn't listen to him so much, just to be safe next time.. -__-"

Pink ruffles close up

I can't get enough of it..

Aerial view

Ok, i'm done now :D

What do you do when you only have about 20 minutes to decorate 25 cupcakes, pack and hit the road?

Splash some colours into the buttercream, fold as fast as u possibly can, run to the cabinet and try to look for something that could save you from the stress of getting multiple bbms and calls asking where you are when your hands are busy holding the piping bag (in this case shiny, colourful Italian dragees saved me), throw those on the iced cupcakes, shake them a little just to make sure they don't fall off easily and personalise it to make the niece feel a little extra special. 

Then run upstairs, take a shower, put on clothes, shove some clothes and necessities into the bag and hit the highway! Oh yes, don't forget to reply the bbm. And answer the phone calls. And call out to the brother to reverse the car behind yours. The cupcakes too! It's good to have a reliable brother to help clean up that fortunate day! (Thank you G!) Happy belated Birthday, dear niece. I hope you enjoy the plain but right from the heart cupcakes! xoxo

p/s: mum asked why i didn't make the angry birds for the niece too? In 20 minutes???! I'd like to see her make them in 20 minutes!  

Chelsea! Chelsea!

A birthday cake for a Chelsea fan. It's one with a simple design - the only kind i can come up with these days.. A Liverpool fan uncle actually offered me more money to destroy the cake that day! Hahaha! The top tier was made later when the mom decided on a bigger number of guests for the son's 12th birthday party.

I usually prefer at least 3 inches from each tier (though the rule is actually just 2 inches) but i couldn't have gone for a smaller one because then the ed image wouldn't fit, and no bigger cake for the bottom as the cake was already cooling on the rack when i receive the phone call to add on.

Happy Birthday, Arif!

The end of 2010

I've had 2 batches made before the year end. First of, was my cousin's son 1st birthday. She had asked for a Barney cake like the one i did for a customer-friend in the previous post (i was secretly hoping so much that she would decide to make a sesame street theme).

And another 50 swirl cuppies for a wedding to be given to those who have helped in making the wedding happen. I've had a crazy November and this was done in early December. I have just started another business, so i was struggling, juggling time between baking and learning my way in this new business and fell sick in between, not knowing if i could survive both. It was going to be my last bake for a while.. or so i thought...... And unfortunately enough for me, the pictures were taken along with my stolen notebook :(

Here's one i got from the mum's fb page for the Barney cake:

Happy ONE year, little Ezran! :)

Something different for someone sixty!

I made this berry cheesecake for dad, abandoning my original plan for a pretty cake for his birthday. I knew he had always loved cheesecakes and thought i'd bake him one this year.

Happy birthday, ayah! Sixty is err... sexy?? Hehehe...

Mr. Men and Lil Miss cupcakes

This was for little Rayyan's birthday party, the day after he celebrated with the Thomas cake. I was to come up with 50 cupcakes of the characters from Mr. Men and Lil Miss. Lots of cutting, moulding and assembling required. I desperately need neck, back and foot massage now. Huhuhu..

a close up

WIP - some assembling required

Also need to get as much good sleep and recharge before having to prepare for Raya Haji (which is only 3 days away now) and start baking again soon after that... Hectic month, yo!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha to all muslims out there.
 
** wishing mak a blessed Aidil Adha in Mecca. Hope all is well with her over there. Amin. 

A simple Thomas the Tank Engine cake

The mom wanted a simple, not too big Thomas cake for Little Rayyan to celebrate at school before the real party the next day. Cake and board are covered in fondant, decorated with edible images (top and side) and chocolate sugarpaste for the rail tracks.

Happy 3rd, cutie!!

Fast car fan

Made this for our darling kid neighbour. He turned 9 this year and is a go-kart racer who is obviously an avid fan of fast machines like the brother and err, the mr. neighbour ;)

I wanted to get an F1 car cake pan at first but since i couldn't find any, i opted for the Nascar pan from ICCA instead. But the word Nascar was changed into his name, Naufal.

The cake was done in buttercream and board covered with fondant. It's not that i've done that many but from the few lot, this is by far the most challenging 2D cake i have worked on. Lot's of detailing.

G.L.A.M.O.R.O.U.S.

The theme was Colourful & Glamorous. The plan was:


... something like that. The sketch was of course, not drawn to scale.
I wanted to have the 30 standing and some stars and fuschia feathers added to the cake. Everything went according to plan until the number 3 broke!! Arghhhhhh!! And i only had a couple of hours left till it's party time! I wanted to cry!!!

Panicked, i fixed the no. 3, hands already trembling and dashed to an air-conditioned room (at the upper floor!) to let it dry, trying to cool myself down.. and thought, i couldn't risk having it broken the for second time during transportation or worse, at the party. And so i ran back down and started thinking of plan B. After minutes of head scratching, i quickly grabbed the 6" cake board (fda approved ;)) and get back upstairs to see if it can fit the 2 digits and when it did, i then started rolling out some purple fondant to cover the board and apply the pearl lustre to match the whole look and throw gold beads around it and there you go. The contingency version of my Glam cake:


here's one with a better tone in a slightly different angle:

I was a bit frustrated and was truly nervous on the reaction i would receive from the guests especially the celebrated, but she loved it! She texted me the next day thanking me again for coming and for the gorgeous cake (her words exactly.. hehe) that according to her, is yummy too! She also commented that she was one happy customer in one of her fb photos. So, i couldn't ask for more :)) (I don't just say this, okay.. i swear!)

Perhaps it was better to have done it this way, otherwise it would have been a bit too broadway. Hehehe. - trying to make myself better here.. pfft).

However, underneath all the pressure, i had a good time experiencing the patchwork cutter and sheer joy of dabbing and applying the gold sheen and disco dust for the first time (while Fergie's Glamorous song playing over and over in my head - obviously this was before the hapless incident. Hehe).

I absolutely love the glitter!!

..can you see it??

The birthday gal and her cake:

Happy Birthday, Glam gal! :)

Note to self: next time, have spares!!!!!!!

Barney bearing gifts

I received a particular Barney themed cake order loooooong before the kid's birthday. Last year to be exact. But the thing is, the mum haven't decided on the date of the birthday do. And not long after i have agreed to an order from another customer-friend, the mum dropped me the bomb. It falls on the same day!!! Luckily enough, the Barney party was to be held down south so collection has to be made a day earlier. And the other function was at night. So, i didn't have to cancel anyone. Phew!!

Barney and the friend's figurines (i don't know the name. Not a fan of Barney's :p) was sculpted based on photos of the characters. Made a banner to be placed at the back of the 2 figurines and some pressies to complete the whole look too. And since i have another order, i thought the safest and best way (to save time) to decorate the cupcakes is by using edible image. And, voila!

The major challenge this time was the weather. It was so humid, (it was raining, but was darn hot the whole day) the fondant turned soft so quickly that i couldn't get a smooth finishing on some parts of the cake. Urgh.. stress! :(
Time to think about installing an aircond in the back room.... Hmm.

Happy Birthday, Rayyan darling!!

p/s. Thanks mum, for lending me a helping hand. And ayah, for lending mum to me ;)

Thirty Flirty

I didn't want to take any orders during the fasting month but it's amazing how persuasive some customers can be (or how kind a person yours truly is.. :D). So here's what i've done for one customer friend. With eyebags and all. Lol.

Happy Three-O, babe!! Hehe.

My birthday cake

Ok, this was not by me, but one that was specially FOR me when i turned a year younger not very long ago. Loved it :)

Nadhirah's Butterfly cake

My dearest friend celebrated her daughter's birthday, yesterday. She had asked for me to make a butterfly cake for her cutie pie. The butterflies and lettering for the baby's name was done using patchwork cutters. 2 words: NOT easy! (There's always new challenges each time, but i guess i have to count my blessings when things pan out rather well eventually.) Alhamdulillah.. :)
And i was so grateful that my brother's maid was around to help especially with the after cleaning! Make that a double Thanks be to God! Hehehe..

The cutesies with the cake.

Happy Birthday, little one!
Hope you had a great time hitting 1 year! :)

My 1st fondant cake for Zahra's 1st (animal themed) birthday

My ultimate project to date. My cousin's daughter turned 1, 2 weeks ago and i was given the responsibility to come up with an animal themed cake.

The cake is covered with fondant and decorated with gumpaste animal figurines while the animal faces for the cupcakes are made of buttercream. I was going to make the cake yellow, but since the cousin wanted to make sure it's girlish, i went for the utmost girlish colour, a pastel pink instead. I was also hoping to find a Giraffe print wrapper for the tiers but had to settle for stripes as i couldn't find any.

I was lucky enough that Animal figurine cupcakes course was included in Cake Connection's schedule that month! We did, i mean we were supposed to make 6 figurines in class but i came home with 2 invisible ones. Paige Fong was the talented instructor for the class. Her immaculate attention to detail very much impressed me and she's just the kind of instructor anyone could have hoped for. She even helped me with questions in my attempt at home (to make the 2 animals i didn't have time for in class) via email. Thanks, Paige!
(Check out her impressive work of art here).

And thanks to my current instructor, Joanne Fam who advised me due to my ordeal with the sticky fondant. You're a life saver!! :D (it's a lot easier to work with fondant in class as the room is air-conditioned..).

Meanwhile, here are 2 cupcakes i did in class.. the other 2 was taken before i had the chance to snap them.

Anyways, Happy 1st Birthday, dear Zahra!

Happy cake for a happy person

We were told to bring a frosted 8" cake to class for decorating in our second lesson of Course 1. We learned the techniques for printing and writing, piping stars fill-in and borders and also pattern transfer.

I know i've done this several times before, but my hands were still shaking during the process. When doing this, PRESSURE CONTROL is key! I didn't have much time to do any writing or printing in class, so during dinner i asked my brothers if they knew anyone's celebrating their birthday the next day, then i can personalise the cake. And the lucky (or unlucky :p) person is...

The Happy Arif

The Arif Happy cake.
I thought i'd inject some fun to it by drawing a stick man.

(I later received a text from the celebrated, personally thanking me and said that he was indeed very happy. How nice :)).

** One good tip i learned is to add some piping gel into thin consistency buttercream for smoother writing and printing ;)

A busy, busy weekend..

It was the busiest weekend i've had in a while. Not only i had to bake a batch of 36s cupcakes and a whole 8" chocolate cake for a Teachers' Day celebration, an aunt requested for a birthday cake for her 24 year old son (bukan age sebenar.. tee hee). "Any kind will do", said the aunt. Another brave soul! :D

Since the cousin is barely a kid and the guests are mostly adults, i've made a simple cake with no elaborate designs to mark the cousin's birthday. I've been wanting to try out this Sicilian orange cake recipe ever since i came across it at this blog called Almost Bourdain but there was never a chance. It's either i have my usual cake orders or there's this other usual thing called 'laziness'. So i thought this would be the perfect time, especially it looked pretty simple too. (Did i mention i had to bake for the teachers?) :) So, i took 'anything' and turned into this:

Though, i think it would have tasted better if i have gotten my usual self-raising flour and used rather sourish oranges for the cake. Recipe here. Let's feast our eyes again, shall we?.. hehe.

Then later i made these. I've told the teacher friend that it will be a rushed job but she insisted. I only had time for simple designs due to the time constraint. I still have another cake to make as a homework for my class! S.T.R.E.S.S! :'(

(I'm not very happy with the results but sometimes, i think best to make peace and move on. So, moving on....).