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.

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! :)

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 ;)

The beginning is not the end

This kid's birthday was what had me started. After taking proper considerations (and ignoring a VARIETY of suggestions from both the mother and grandmother), i decided to go with what i had in mind all the while (Please DON'T do this to your customers!) - with some extra extra. The cartoon character was chosen by the mother, though - even before i attended the very first class, if i may add. Yes, it was that advance!

Elmo face cake plus little cupcakes and a dialogue bubble were eventually the end result.
(Novelty pans such as for this Elmo cake can be rented at International Centre of Cake Artistry - ICCA). The dialogue bubble can be done using the same cake pan, even when your oven is NOT working properly. No kidding! All you need to do is improvise! ;D Read about it here.

The mum seems happier here than the kid :)
Happy birthday, kiddo.
Elmo loves you!

Cakes make people happy...

... won't you agree? :)