What Happens on a Baker's Birthday?

Hello dear readers, thought I'd take this opportunity to share a bit of my life with you. I don't have a cake to feature today but here's a bit of musing about what happens on a baker's birthday. Who will bake for the baker?

Well, what usually happens is you get a lot of jokes about whether or not you'll be baking your own birthday cake. With this baker, the answer is probably no. It's kinda like, the chicken rice seller won't really make chicken rice for herself, right? In any case, I'd be at a lost as to what to bake, what do I like that could be represented in a cake? These days, my hopes and wishes are less tangible - more family time, happy healthy kids, cheaper air tickets, parking lots at the supermarket!

This makes me think how wonderfully sweet and simple the time of childhood is, where your favourite toy, character, object represented in a cake would totally make your day. One of my most memorable birthday cakes from childhood is a 3D English Cottage. It was a time when fondant didn't exist and this cake was made entirely with vanilla sponge and buttercream! It came complete with a walkway and a rose garden. The bakery that made this for my 5th birthday is still around and they are still making these amazing cakes... check it out Balmoral Bakery.

Now many years later, I'm making cakes, who would've thought! And I've baked enough birthday cakes now to know how a castle cake can mean the world when you're 2 or 7 years old.

So anyway, the baker will probably receive a store bought cake - I'm not complaining, my personal favourites are Rive Gauche's Guanaja and The Patissier's Croquembouche (I love profiteroles). I don't think the hubby has time to run to the stores for anything fancy, but his coming home from Jakarta tonight is present enough.

Talking of presents, I received one of the sweetest presents a Mother could ask for this morning. Jake who turned 3 years old just 3 months ago wrote on his drawing easel - "Happy Birthday Mama" though in an abstract way that would make Kandinsky proud.

Happy Birthday Mama

Now how do you make that into a cake?

Join the Quest

Betty Boop mummy was certain she wanted me to bake her son's birthday cake, so she gave me many weeks of notice for a Camp Lazlo cake. Camp what? I asked. It was another lesson in Cartoon Network characters. Camp Lazlo is a quirky boy scout-like anthropomorphic bunch that play out adventures at a summer camp. Wow, where do I even start? After much consideration, I decided it was a cake project out of my depth. So sadly, I referred her to more capable hands.

Then the birthday boy had a change of mind for the cake and due to the timing, the project was still mine to undertake!

The new cake request: a Deltora Quest cake! Both his mummy and I were stumped. What is Deltora Quest? Well, it's a fantasy cartoon series that follows the characters across the land of Deltora to recover the magical 'Belt of Deltora' and defeat evil forces (think Lord of the Rings  or belt in this case). We discussed over Youtube links of Deltora Quest and figured a boy castle featuring the magical belt was in order. I was all ready for adventure.

Immediately, my previous experience with the princess castle came in handy. I used wafer cones and sugar cones to create the castle. This time everything was grey scale. I wrapped the wafer cones in fondant and used my brickwork pattern to press out the castle wall. The monochrome outside worked well since the main cake is a round rainbow stack sitting on a chocolate base.

The other important element is the 'belt' of Deltora. I used hard candies to create the gems - it's amazing what candies and some colouring can do (emeralds and opals anyone?). FYI. Deltora is spelt using the first letter of each of the gems in the belt: Diamond, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, Topaz, Opal, Ruby, Amethyst.

Belt of Deltora

I also attempted a figurine of Lief, the main character in the story.

Lief in fondant

As I was building up the castle, I ran into some foundation problem so I called upon my 'structural engineer' (aka the hubby) and he provided the pillar support. To hold the two wafer cones together, a long satay stick was driven into the middle and into the cake.

Building castles in the cake

After toiling many many hours, here's my first boy castle cake...

Happy Birthday Darren

To be honest, I'm not completely happy with it. I know the problematic areas and wish I had done  some things differently - like a bigger base cake and better torting for a flatter surface (I need a cake leveller!) But in all of this, I thank you Mummy E for always being so supportive. 

True Blue Girl

When I got the order for a Winx Club cake, I didn't think twice about getting a topper doll of the leggy magical fairy with pretty wings. Good thing too my friend who ordered the cake for her daughter's 7th birthday thought the same. The only requirement was for the colour theme to be turquoise and blue - birthday girl's favourite colour (she's got good taste!).

At this point, I have to share my extreme weakness for the colour turquoise, specifically a shade of blue that is softly aqua, deep ocean teal, robin egg blue, and of course there's the hue from Tiffany & Co. That colour does something to me, I have such a deep affection, I'm drawn to it like moth to a light (just ask the hubby, he has lost count of the blue boxes given over the years). I couldn't wait to cover this cake and put in the details.

How pretty is that blue!

Then things got ambitious.

My baker friend Dawn is back from Shanghai for the CNY holidays and I told her about the Winx cake I was making. Instantly, she generously offered her time and kind help so I skipped the idea of a topper and decided to go with fondant figurine of the character Bloom.

She offered so many great tips for moulding figurines and the tools that are essential for the job. I don't have much experience making figurines, mine tend to be the cherubic cartoon type so I was eager to learn. She was going to send me a step-by-step on developing the face, torso, arms, legs and hair, then tragedy struck! Instead of drying out overnight, our humidity got to the fairy figurine and she was a melty mess :( Dawn is used to working in drier, cooler climate and didn't anticipate that this weather just won't do fondant any favours. Someone tugboat this country up north already!

What it could have been... sigh

Dawn was devastated, I felt really bad for all her wasted effort. So it was back to a topper doll. There weren't any actual Winx cake toppers so I went out and bought Bloom, the Winx doll. With that sorted (and no chance of melting), I focused on decorating the cake.

The flowers

The butterflies

Curls and swirls of girliness

When it was all done, I was totally in love. It is definitely one of my most favourite cakes. I had the Bloom doll hold on to a scalloped cutout for the birthday girl's name. 

All's well that ends well ; )

Happy Birthday Aeryn 

Go Go Power Rangers

It does look like I've carved a niche for myself making birthday cakes for kids age 1 to 7... I have doting mummies to thank ; ) But I reckon it could also be that that's the age parents go through the trouble of organising parties and cakes. Looking at my own kids now, I can't imagine making Thomas the Train cakes pass their fifth birthdays (and Jake turns 4 this year). Then I suppose they just move on to more 'serious' stuff.

A blogger mum (www.sanses.com) who found me requested for a superhero cake for her son who's turning 5! There are just so many superheroes to choose from but only one cake! In the end, Power Rangers made the day. This long-running children's action hero series has its roots in a similar Japanese production 'Super Sentai'. For some reason I always end up confusing it with Ultraman (doh!). 

Before I started work, I visited a few shops to look for cool-looking Power Ranger figurines that might work on a cake. But as the days drew near, I figured I should just bite the bullet and make these action figures myself!

I started out colouring the fondant and can't help but feel like I was making a rainbow cake. The primary colours made the figurines more cute than powerful.

Rangers ready to roll

Notice how their visors are all different. I had my laptop near me as I crafted these as there are so many versions of Power Rangers - like Samurai and the Megaforce? In the end, I went with the more commonly recognisable one (to me at least) - I think it's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It was hours of fun making them!

Guarding the cake with their powers

Once I was done with the cake, I can't help but still feel like embellishing it. As you can see I've added matching M&Ms and the lightning bolt symbol. I held myself back and just left a space for the No. 5 candle to go in the middle.

Happy Birthday Jayvon

The cake was delivered to a lovely little chalet party where Mummy S organised the celebration for her two boys complete with a water slide pool (how cool!). I also made an Elmo cake for Jayvon's little brother. Happy Birthday boys!

Handmade Cupcake Toppers

If you read my earlier post about paper crafts, you'd know how much I love making cupcake toppers. I had the opportunity to make Full Month cupcakes again and I convinced the mummy that paper toppers were the way to go!

So it was off to the paper shop for some shopping. I chose a variety of blue patterned paper and got very tempted to take up scrapbooking (ok, focus focus). But I have been investing in a variety of scrapbooking tools. Here are my favourite cutters...

3" Scallop Nesting Punch

2.25" Round Punch

1" Scalloped Circle Art Punch

With these, some nice papers and a colour printer, I could dress up any cupcake, and that's just what I did for Baby Ryo. The sweet boy received 50 cupcakes with paper toppers designed and handmade by me ; )

Sticks for holding up the topper

Glue down print design on the backer

And there it is!

Happy 1st Month Ryo

These were banana cranberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I piped a rosette and planted the paper topper. Don't they look amazing in a batch. I highly recommend anyone ordering cupcakes to consider these, I can work with you on the design too!

Dinosaur Rocks!

(Ryuu's Birthday Cakes - Part II)

Besides the Hungry Caterpillar, the birthday boy also loves dinosaurs! I heard he got into them because his mummy liked exposing him to factually correct content (as oppose to mindless cartoon, I guess). I think that's the way to go. 

For the party at home, my friend wanted her son to have a round cake to cut plus some cupcakes for easy takeaways. She sent me some ideas and I quickly fell in love with a cute looking dino stringing a red balloon along.

Cute-saurus

I'm not sure what 'saurus' I made but I did check against the list and it looks like the fearsome Ceratosaurus - for those of you who are interested, it's a large predatory theropod from the late Jurassic period. This one just happens to look damn adorable! It also contains a rich dark chocolate cake with Oreo cream cheese filling!

I was thinking how best to decorate the sides of the cake when inspiration hit me while shopping for Chinese New Year goodies. I love those crispy wafer sticks with chocolate cream in them and I thought they also look like tree trunks or wooden twigs. So I bought a box, had the sticks cut to varying lengths and lined them all around the sides. It looks a bit like a wood forest.

Jurassic Cake

Then I spotted a bottle of chocolate rocks and it was a no-brainer. I had it scattered all around to cover the board. It was all the decoration you'd love to eat ; )

That was not the end of my dinosaur discovery. I felt a bit like a Palaeontologist as I scoured for dinosaur toppers that can go onto the cupcakes. This took me to the Party City shop at Raffles City where they carried a whole range of dinosaur party ware. They had the cutest dinosaur toy ring and it comes in a pack of 12. What a find!

To mount them, I used those yummy wafers again so I could get them to prop up nicely on top of the cupcake. It sat handsomely on the Oreo cream cheese swirl.

Topper-saurus

Look ma... there's a dinosaur on my cupcake!

Did you know that Johnny Cash had a song called the "Dinosaur Song"? I know I'm digressing but when I was googling for all of this, I came across the song and it's fascinating. Check it out - Johnny Cash Children's Album

Hungry Caterpillar 'Unabridged'

I made many cakes this weekend and they were all for little boys from their doting mothers ; )

A good friend's son was celebrating his 3rd birthday and he got all his favourite characters in a day. On Friday morning, I delivered the Hungry Caterpillar from Eric Carle for the birthday celebration at his preschool. Some time last year, I had actually made the cupcakes of the same theme for my son but this time round, the insatiable critter was presented in it's complete glory - I made the caterpillar head with cupcakes for its body.

The Hungry Caterpillar head

Little fondant toothpicks 

All it took was a round cake covered in red fondant complete with little feelers. It was simple enough. But I couldn't really claim any design credit as I went online to look at the many many versions of the Hungry Caterpillar made by talented bakers around the world! 

Happy Birthday Ryuu

Ryuu went on to receive more cakes that day, made by yours truly. Read on...