I Do

You know you've reached a milestone of sorts when you get to make a wedding cake for someone. That someone is a former colleague who truly believes in my baking and has no qualms that I never made a wedding cake ever! God bless her sweet soul.

This is a very special project for me for many reasons. I'm a hopeless romantic; a wedding cake symbolises the commitment to love in a very edible way. Marriage is a wonderful journey that I'm lucky to have embarked on with a kindred spirit - we are five years into ours - and I'm always happy to see friends making that lifelong promise to someone they love.

When the bride requested for me to bake her wedding cake, a million ideas raced through my mind. I was lucky to be given total creative autonomy. I told myself, keep it simple, focus on a few details and make those really stand out. So I proposed fresh flowers on a white fondant covered cake. She said yes!

Wedding cakes may seem simple enough, as compared to say a boy castle cake with towers and turrets, but in reality, it requires more finesse for that flawless finish. I prepped 2 dozen red and pink roses to go between the two-tiered cake. It's the first time I'm working with fresh flowers, it's totally stunning on a stark white fondant cake...makes me wonder why it's not more popular than sugarpaste flowers.  

Here's the first tier with flowers...

Red Velvet Cake + Roses

This is a red velvet cake covered in Wilton white fondant. The roses are nipped from the stalk and inserted with floral wires and assembled into a styrofoam disc about 5" smaller than the base cake. When that is done, the top tier is gently placed on top of the styrofoam disc. I topped the cake with 2 roses to represent the happy couple.

For Annie and George

While putting this cake together, I became slightly obsessed with ribbons! There are some wedding cakes that are embellished with nothing but ribbons and it's just too pretty! Some of the best examples I've seen of wedding cakes have nothing more than clever use of ribbons and a simple flower feature. I especially like this Singapore-based wedding cake boutique - Crummb - check out the website

All the best Annie & George!

Love is patient, love is kind. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Terrific Toppers

So there were a few more cakes that were put together quickly, thanks to the terrific toppers that were provided by mummies for their little one's special day.

Sophia the First
Lauren (who also got a My Little Pony cake) got to celebrate her birthday in school with Sophia the First! I love that new Disney princess series, even my two boys enjoy it when it comes on Disney Junior. Since they will never request for a Princess Sophia cake, I'm glad Mummy K asked me to help her with one. She managed to get the toppers, not an easy task since the series is so new. I just had to bake the cake and set the scene for the toppers.

Happy Birthday Lauren

Chugginton
Isaac (who also got Peppa Pig) received his new Chuggington toy atop a chocolate cake. I got this idea online - I especially loved how the shrubbery was created using the scallop cutters and layering the pieces together. I did that all along one side of the cake. Then made a little railway and just one prop, a street lamp. Choo-choo-chugga-chugga!

Happy Birthday Isaac

Lion King
This request for a Lion King cake got me researching for safari-inspired cakes! There were some beautiful examples of cakes online with the African landscape, including some painted ones of Serengeti sunsets...amazing. For this cake, I made a simple rectangle cake and a rock mount that we can perch Simba on. I used floral wires for the fondant leaves so they could stand upright to break up the flat green cake surface. These toppers are some of the best I've seen anywhere, the quality is excellent. Mummy A had them ordered online from US.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn

Did you know The Lion King is 20 years old? The feature film debut in 1994...an oldie but a goodie!

Ty-saurus Rex

I seem to be getting an opportunity to have another go at cakes I've made earlier in the year. This time round is another dinosaur cake and cupcakes with dino toppers. I made the exact same order in February for a 3-year-old dinosaur enthusiast, this time it's for a T-Rex-loving one-year-old.

Mummy R sent me her invitations and party favours for a feel of the theme and colour. She also sent some cake ideas but when I finally showed her my first dino cake, she was more or less sold. She liked the 2D design and wanted a speech bubble that said "Rawrr"!

I made some variations on the dinosaur. I decided to replicate what she had on the invitation - a forest green T-Rex showcasing some serious serrated chompers. But before I embarked on the cake, Mummy K asked me to make a quick draft of how the cake would look like. To be honest, I always get a bit embarrassed about having to draw anything. I really can't draw to save my life... I can't explain why I can then create the stuff I do with fondant. It's one of the mysteries in my life.

Still, I made an attempt to draw T-Rex going "Rawrr", with the caveat that the cake will be a LOT better than the draft ;p

My piece de resistance

I think we all had a good laugh upon seeing the draft. Well, it didn't deter Mummy R from going ahead with the order (brave Mama).

Here's Tyler's invite...

Tyler's T-Rex Party

And here's the cake...

Rawrr!

I used the same embellishments as the last time, which is the chocolate wafer sticks for the wooded forest look, but I made it a little different by interspersing it with fondant leaves and green grass frosting.

Happy Birthday Tyler

Mummy R also asked me a question a lot of mummies enquire about - can my one-year-old eat the chocolate cake? Well I'm not the authority on kids' nutrition, but I do think a bit of cake on your bub's 1st birthday is kosher unless your little one has dairy allergies or gluten intolerance. Just give the cake minus the ganache. Personally, I think if your child has not had any sweets before, then chocolate is a good option as an introduction as compared to candy.

Peppa Pig

I love children's literature, it's such a great fodder for cute cake ideas. I've done a few including Dear Zoo and Hungry Caterpillar, now adding to the library is Peppa Pig!

A friendly neighbour who has 2 little boys just like me requested for a Peppa Pig cake for her elder boy who turns 3. She had already actively researched for ideas online for the cake and wanted a 2D design fondant cake. Peppa Pig is a simple enough character as they are drawn in basic shapes with simple details. Still, it was hard deciding on a design. My son's library has a great Peppa Pig book but in the end, I couldn't resist this design that Mummy C shared...

Peppa Pig and Family

It's a neat cake with all the signature Peppa Pig narrative - sunny day, playing in the mud, Peppa with her family - little brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig.

So off I went replicating it the best I could...

Character development

Story board

From screen to cake

2D cakes are truly tons of fun to make. With the fondant cutout, it looks almost like a page out of the story book. I added a few little details like a ladybug and a simple trail of trains that can hold the candles.

Peppa Pig!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Birthdays @ Home

As we enter into the last month of the year, I always get a bit contemplative. What have I put into 2013 and what did I get out of it? Well, there sure was quite a bit of travelling, mainly shuttling between S'pore and Jakarta. But mostly, it's a year of adjustment for our whole family. I think we did well and I was still able to bake and even squeeze in some freelance work!

The recent birthday celebration at home pretty much sums up our 2013 - making home in 2 places. We got back just in time from JKT (like a day before) to hold a simple party at home with friends and family, I managed to bake two cakes for my favourite boys. 

Remember that rainbow cheesecake with the colourful concentric circles? Well, I made a monochrome one for the hubby. He loves the colour blue and I made him a cheesecake in 6 hues of blue. While I was making this B, who is pedantic about colours, gave me some insights into how shading works. So it seems if I made this monochrome cake with the outer rings from dark to light, it would have a tunnel with light at the end effect. In this case, he wanted a bulls-eye effect - so outer rings from light to dark. 

Blue Cheesecake

Happy Birthday B

And here's what my 4 year-old big boy got...

Cake on Fire!

Happy Birthday Jake

So our little guy has a new obsession - Hot Wheels! Where I used to have a gazillion Thomas the Train toys strewn all over the house, it's now little die cast cars. This cake allowed him to add 4 more Hot Wheels cars to his collection, needless to say it's the best birthday ever! Till next year, I say :)