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.

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!

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.

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 ;)

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!

Sama tapi tak serupa

These Lightning Mc Queen cakes were also done using a rented pan from ICCA. I have done 2 Mc Queens so far and the second order was requested to be done no different from the first one.

But of course u can never produce the exact same thing, right?

(Done in Chocolate chip butter cake with buttercream and a candy bar for the writing/printing).

p/s: from my (little) experience, i notice that chocolate chip usage is not very ideal when using novelty cake pans. It makes it more difficult to release the cake from the pan.

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!