Laylapalooza

If there is one thing from my misguided youth that I regret, it is that I didn't go to music festivals like Glastonbury, Coachella and the likes while I could still weather the elements, large crazy crowds and budget youth hostels.

I only went as far as Big Day Out in Melbourne and though I did get to see The Strokes, The Darkness, Jet and got on stage with The Flaming Lips, in truth, it wasn't quite Glastonbury.

It does seem like that window has closed for me, but my friend Eve who runs the awesome motherhood blog thebottomsupblog.com gave me the opportunity to remember those heady days and showed how as young mothers now, it is still possible to have a rocking party!

Eve threw her daughter Layla a super awesome Rock n Roll theme party, complete with posters, props, memorabillia and a band where her friends can bring a song (instead of a toy/gift) and perform it! I don't think it gets any cooler than this for a 8-year-old! 

So where I came in was to provide cupcakes in line with the colour scheme and theme. I made little fondant electric guitars as toppers and stencils of their favourite bands which include AC/DC, The Beatles, Ramones, Metallica, Nirvana, RHCP, GnR...

I was thinking real hard how to transfer the band logo without resorting to printing it on sugar paper and realised there is no other way but to print it and penknife it out into a stencil. Then I dusted edible black dusting powder and voilà, a decent transfer that actually looks like it was spray painted on!

Rawk on!

Happy Birthday Layla

Now if you want to see the rest of the party and how Eve had put it together so wonderfully, do check it out at http://thebottomsupblog.com/laylapalooza-2014/

Look Whoo Turned One

My little niece Clare, who is also my defacto No.3, celebrated her first birthday recently! I'm constantly amazed at how quickly time flies when you're minding children. You go from swaddling them to chasing after the pitter patter of their little feet in a span of 12 months. And being contented with cute gurgles to encouraging them to say their first words in just 6 months. Well with Clare, her first word turned out to be "bird", with big eyes gazing to the sky too!

She also happens to love a little youtube video of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star featuring an adorable owl. So naturally, when it came to picking a theme for her first birthday, birds were a natural choice and the owl was the main character.

My sister, the actual creative and artistic one in the family (it's just that she doesn't bake), made great efforts in creating the party favours and a dessert table for the celebration. She had little owl motifs on the invitation, party wares, goodie bags and even the ballons. Of course, I provided the cake for the occasion.

Check out the invitation!

Call me bias but she is the cutest little girl ever! And all the inspiration I need for the cake.

Happy 1st Birthday Clare

Here's what the rest of the party looked like...

'Thank You' tags hanging from balloons

Party wares with a hoot

Specially printed labels for all the goodies

All for one very special little girl

Owls are known as symbols of wisdom, here's wishing my little No.3 a year old, a year wiser!

Tayo Buses Make Cool Cakes

A former colleague who's been following my cakes saw the first Tayo cake I made and commented on how his boy loves Tayo the Little Bus too! My brood at home are fans as well, and I almost don't know any little lad who doesn't like the cheery Korean vehicular animation. It's such a hit!

So naturally when Baby A's 2nd birthday rolled around, I got the call for a Tayo cake. Daddy D was pretty cool about leaving the design to me, we both sort of figured that when you're 2, as long as you see the toy you like on a cake, it's the best birthday cake ever! With that, I recommended to get the toys to decorate the cake with.

With the previous Tayo cake, I found out you could buy Tayo toys from the website qoo10.sg. So I went on it to find the toy topper for the cake I had in mind - a set of four Tayo and friends buses
Then I crafted the 'bus terminal' with cake - a rectangular block with a red roof and four colourful garage doors from which the buses emerge!

The cake is a triple layer eggless chocolate cake; Mummy H informed me that Baby A was allergic to eggs. Luckily, I had a wonderful eggless chocolate cake recipe so the birthday boy wouldn't need to miss out on his own cake ; )

Buses and Cake

I was told the kids loved the cake, I suspect the toy buses had something to do with it. Imagine a bunch of 2-3 year olds trying to get their hands on it. The adults had a hard time keeping them away before the candles were blown out. Then it was sweet treats and fun toys for all!

Tayo and friends

Happy Birthday Akira