Bubble Guppies

Sometimes it's great to be able to repeat a cake. Then you get to do all the things right a second time around (hopefully) and better your effort before. A mummy who found me online gave me that opportunity when she asked if I would do a Bubble Guppies cake for her little girl.

Mummy M contacted me almost 3 months in advance about the cake (thank you!), we waited patiently for this day to come. She wanted a 2-tier chocolate cake featuring her little girl's favourite Bubble Guppies friends. Ever since I got to know these adorable underwater characters, I am hooked to their cuteness. If you recall, it was Lauren's cake back in November last year that probably caught Mummy M's eye. For that cake, I only had the bandwidth to make Mr Grouper, so this time round I was eager to create the lot!

The cast of characters

While I was making these cuties, my trusty iPhone camera failed me :( Frustratingly, it just wouldn't focus on near objects so I was unable to document the fondant crafting in closer detail. But as you can see in the above pic, I made the Bubble Guppies, Mr Grouper, little fishes, starfish, seashells, sea sponges and billowing kelp, all ready to decorate the cake with.

In the process of researching this cake, I came across a few fine examples online. I even found on Etsy.com that you can purchase ready-to-use Bubble Guppies fondant toppers - check it out here. Some of these crafters are charging USD175 for a set of these characters in 3D. Talk about enterprising!

But I decided to make these with gum paste in 2D. They adhere better to the cake and work much better in our weather (yes I've learnt all my baking lessons in 100% humidity). The easy ones to make in 3D are the seaweed pieces (I twisted these into a twirl for maximum effect) and the starfish and seashells. They may not be the main characters but they are totally essential in setting the scene.

Mummy M also asked if I could make the cake a bit more girly since it was obviously going to be a predominantly blue cake, so I had Prudence's name in pink outline and dusted it with edible pink sparkles - when in need of some girly glam, just add sparkles - does the trick every time ; )

What I love most about the cake has got to be the bottom-of-the-sea look. I crushed some digestive biscuit and sprinkled it all around the cake base to make it look like the sea bed. Digestives rock!

Put the biscuit crumbs in a cup for easy sprinkling

Seabed Biscuit

And here's the completed cake... I'm very happy with it and so were the recipients, yay ; )

Mr Grouper leads the pack

Happy Birthday Prudence

Cake Out in Jakarta

Here's another one of my random musings about a baker's life. So I was in Jakarta last month and I've discovered that the Rainbow cake and Red Velvet cakes are hugely popular in the Indonesian capital! My hubby joked that my business would boom if I started baking there. Then I found out from my Indon friends that 2012 was the height of the coloured cake craze. Still, the demand is apparent seeing how many cafes, restaurants, supermarket counters and cake shops offer the multi-coloured cake.

This called for a bit of investigative tasting.

I went to Pacific Place, one of the many upscale shopping malls in Jakarta. There's a lovely cafe there called The Goods Dept Cafe & Diner. It reminds me of the first P.S. Cafe. It's actually a store selling exclusive imports as well as local designer goods from apparel to accessories and lifestyle products, books and gifts. I zoomed into the cafe as the cakes in the display caught my eye!

Here's the Red Velvet cake. Five layers of dense chocolate-flavoured crimson cake with cream cheese frosting in between and topped with cake crumbs.

Flatiron of red velvet

The cake looked impressive and at Rp 60,000 (approx USD6) a piece, it's considered a pricey confectionery. It's got good flavour but a little dry for my liking. The cake is very dense so although it's a modest slice, it was a feat to finish. 

And here's the Rainbow cake (also Rp 60,000). I've made so many Rainbow cakes but have yet to really sit down to eat a piece. The colours were perfect, so I was eager to find out how this tasted. 

Pelangi Pelangi ('rainbow' in Bahasa)

There is something quite artificial about the cake. I couldn't decide if it was my brain playing tricks because the colours were just too vibrant to be food. But I do believe this cake is not butter-based, probably oil-based which is not ideal for taste if there is no other flavour anchoring it - i.e. chocolate, banana cinnamon, etc. Having said that, it's just gorgeous to look at.

The perfect coffee break

I wanted to try out a few more Rainbow cakes, I really did... but I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy baking more than eating cake. Is that possible? If you're curious about how popular these cakes are, you only need to google 'rainbow cake' and 'Jakarta'.

Here's what you'll typically see in cake shops in Jakarta, Rainbow cake by the slice in the top shelf!

Dapur Cokelat Shop

The Harvest Patissier

Dear Zoo

I love going to the zoo, and our zoological gardens is pretty impressive for a small island state. Now that I have kids, the zoo has become the perfect adventure for our whole family. I especially love experiencing the wonder of nature through their young eyes. There is a great book that reinforces our affection for the animals at the zoo - Rod Campbell's Dear Zoo.

This classic lift-the-flap book is a wonderful read to kids as young as 9 months old. It's about a child who writes to the zoo requesting for a pet, and takes you through a gamut of animals beautifully illustrated by Campbell. Next to the Hungry Caterpillar, this is our other favourite book. So I was delighted that a close pal requested for a Dear Zoo cake for her little boy.

Mummy T tells me that Baby Z loves the lion, elephant and giraffe. So for his first birthday cake, the zoo will present him these 3 animals. I made them out of fondant and realise I have a knack for sculpting animals!

Here's a step by step look at crafting Mr Lion...

Ready for the mane event

Fit the mane around the head

Snip snip snip 

Hello Lion

Baby Z is so nice that he gets the cake twice. I made two sets of animals and for a moment it looked like a Noah's Ark cake!

Two by Two

I made a rectangular chocolate cake with Oreo cream cheese filling. The animals sat nicely on top and I made the distinctive red crate for the side of the cake. Then I used colourful M&Ms to line the sides, makes the cake light up instantly! 

Happy Birthday Zach

For the second cake, I made a rainbow cake covered in pale yellow fondant. It has a smaller surface so the animals sat closely and actually made them look bigger too. For this cake, I used yummy fruit gummies to line the sides.

Happy Birthday again!

The birthday boy was totally taken by the elephant. After blowing out the candles, he would grab Mr Elephant and nibble on the ears. Well, it's his birthday, he can do whatever he wants to... well almost (bedtime is still 7.30pm).

Zach's Dear Zoo