Trading men with little birds

You know a person is skeptical of your work when he or she insisted on pictures or a sample before ordering. Well, i don't blame them. I want my cake to turn out beautifully for my functions too! I would also be nervous to find out that it would be something that was never been done before. But most of my customers are my close friends/relatives who trusts me so, i'm very grateful.

Back to the story, my aunt wanted cuppies for the grandson's aqiqah ceremony. She had at first asked for the Mr. Men & Little Miss cupcakes (50 pieces) after viewing my blog. And i know that that would require A LOT of time and a whole lot of work. I almost cried blood making that the last time! But it was for a specific MMLM themed party. And not to say that my aunt would not pay for all the pain, but i was thinking of how to break it gently to her that i did not have the time, if she could be nice enough to let me change the theme since she said she just wanted something "pretty" for the kids. Cantik was her exact word. Pressure was already mounting right after hearing that.

In the end i finally gathered enough courage to nicely ask if i could change it to something else. I was anxious for her reply, knowing that she lacks in the confidence area. But when she said ok and included the word "sayang" in her reply i went right ahead with the prep! No looking back! Haha. She asked if it was my first set of angry birds during delivery and when i replied yes, she said, "Nasib baik jadi!"

Now, the reason why i had to make the change is, MMLM each has unique hair, different limbs, accessories etc. So it involves lots and lots and lots of colours, cutting and shaping and what not. Unless of course, only a few characters were selected for the MMLM. The angry birds on the other hand is simpler because one, they have lesser character (although, i avoid the green pigs to steer away from any issues.. heheh), and two, i could use the same body parts for the different characters - so less moulding process and less colours involved too. So dear aunt, if you're reading this i hope you understand and happy for the not-so-happy birds. If it helps, they cost lesser too ;) But thank you  for the opportunity and most of all, for the vote of confidence! Hehehe.

Apparently the blue birds are not so popular. The red ones were almost gone by the time i wanted to take a picture at the cupcake stand.

I am currently waiting for some pictures from the host. Was rushing out after i was done with them.

Big Blue Bow

After a long hiatus, my oven is back at work last month. I was all nervous to bake again for afraid that i might have lost umm, whatever i have learnt in classes before and was praying hard that the oven and mixer still work. (Thank God they did!)

It was for another engagement hantaran - a six inch round cake with a Big Blue Bow. The theme colour and design was chosen by the eldest sister who was also the one who did all the pretty hantaran stuff. Congratulations to the lovebirds. I was told that the Groom's dad was a big fan!

What's with 8th January?

This is a non-current post. By 8th January, i meant the 8th day of 2011. Yes, it has been that long! (same goes with the last post, and i still have some stuff laying on the shelf!).

So back to 8th January 2010, I received FOUR orders for that particular date and i felt bad that i had to say NO to the rest but 1. First off, it's due to time constraints. I know, i know.. tell me what's new, right? I was going to go on a break from baking until i get things settled down a bit with my other business but i had to oblige for one particular order when it was for a close cousin's engagement.

But to be fair, and before you accuse me of any favouritism or nepotism, he had asked FIRST. So there. I could have made it for at least another order but the thing is, i also had to go for a short trip to Kuching on 8th Jan too hence, it was the only one commissioned being accepted. A thousand apologies. Turning down orders isn't the best feeling in the world. I think one person was even kind of pissed with me too! ;'(

I was told to make a small hantaran cake since it will be transported via air all the way to Kelantan. White was the chosen colour, the rest was up to me.

I had to opt for a store-bought sugar flowers despite having attended a class for this particular reason because some scum decided to smash my car window for the new year's eve celebration and left me crippled with no car for some time to do the necessary shopping and prepping and that had successfully killed my spirit to produce my own peonies. Thank goodness the cousin and mum of the groom-to-be were okay with that.

Congratulations to Hisham & Sabrina!

I had to flatten the petals to fit into the box for transport (top pix). 

cornelli lace that i wanted to do for my wedding cake in the Wilton class.  Also did some crimping on this one too.

Wedding bells

Here's an old (and i mean old) wedding-themed cake i had made for the graduation of my Wilton Class in 2010. I wanted to make a brush embroidery cake (inspired by Toba Garret) and finish it off with a cornelli lace on the base but as usual, time in class was never enough! Can you guess which one's mine?? :D

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I thought i was playing it safe with a 2-tier cake - the lesser the tiers, the lesser the decoration and more time at hands, right? Wrong. It seems that the tiers weren't the only thing that sets me back from time... i guess the techniques i chose was a bit too ambitious... or i might just as well admit that i'm just too slow at making intricate works (but didn't they say good works need longer time??? :p). I only managed a brush embroidery for only 1 flower, ONE!! I had no time for the cornelli lace at all and i forgot to bring my ribbon for the border on top of that too! Great! :"( 

Wilton roses made from scratch.
I have always loved pastels....

Ah well, that didn't stop me from graduating.. so what? Hehehe. Here's a snapshot with my fellow course mates and our sweet instructor, Lay.

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!!

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.

Gift-wrapped

It took me a while to upload this because i was not able to complete the whole thing (in class) and been putting it off until recently. Heh.

Done in Course 3 where we learned the technique of covering cake with fondant, making bow & streamers. I actually like it better without the streamers, but i should do more ruffles on the tails:

HAND MADE GUM PASTE ROSES USING NO CUTTERS: FONDANT SUGAR FLOWERS MAKING...

This is the Cakin' Crazy youtube video i've been meaning to share on how to make your own sugar roses like i did for my friend's engagement cupcakes, but i was having trouble then trying to put it up. Enjoy!

Will people eat fondant now?

I'm so excited to find this online. Real fruit fondant!

Generally people love fondant icing for its versatility and it makes beautiful cake presentations. But sadly, once the cake is cut, it will be peeled off and left on the side of the plate while the cake is being consumed. And more often than not, they usually end up in the trash can. Sometimes, i wish it was made of wax instead. Such a waste of (expensive) resources and effort. It is, literally an eye candy.

Perhaps now that it comes in flavours, (orange, lemon, blackcurrant, raspberry and strawberry) people will start eating fondant. I for one, don't really have a sweet tooth, but i can't wait for them to reach our shores to sample 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! :)

Friend's E-day cupcakes

My first fondant cupcakes.
Freshly made, of course.

A friend of mine is getting hitched! :D

The cupcakes were made according to the theme colour - Black, Silver & (deep) Purple. I was going for ready made flowers at first, given i've no experience or whatsoever in crafting sugar flowers. But since i couldn't find any, i then tried dusting food colour to white ones but wasn't very happy with the end result (pix below). So in the end, i decided to give myself a try on making roses as seen on David of Cakin' Crazy video on youtube. Not as refined, but i was quite happy with it :)

There was some drama happening while in progress, (at 3.30am.. yep) but luckily, everything worked out in the end.

Also made the tier for the dulang.

The before & after dusting work.
Not really a success.

Testing on the tier.. kind of Alice in Wonderland-ish i think..

Ready to go..

CONGRATULATIONS, Farra & Edy!

Line impression

Here's a tip on how to get line impression on your fondant cake at a fraction of the cost.

As an alternative to the Line impression mat like the one here,

Impression Mats
(cost about RM35 each)

... use this:
the roller for rolled pineapple tart (tat gulung)
(bought at RM6 which u can get from almost any baking shop)

Very cost effective, wouldn't you say so? Plus, it comes in handy when i need it for a tart gulung. Ok, let me rephrase that, that's IF i ever need it for a tart gulung ;p

p/s. just found out that it only costs RM4.80 at Tesco! Ciss.. daylight robbery!!

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!

Fondant fun 101

It's like a trend these days to have chic fondant cakes for any occasion. Having seen so many gorgeous home-made ones, i just had to give it a try. (One of my cousins has the knack for this and she makes absolutely beautiful cakes for her children! I absolutely adore them!)

This was done at Fondant Fun class, also at Cake Connection.

Chic, yes? Well, compared to the usual cakes u get from the bakery..

p/s. If you happen to be interested to know what happened in class or that you have not much to do (ie. takde kerja), you can read my previous post on this - if you haven't already.