Baby Needs a Change

When I gave birth to my second child, my dear colleagues came by to visit and brought me the cutest cake ever - a diaper cake! Made of individual diapers that are tightly wound up and decorated with newborn essentials like lotions and bath soap, the cake is such a great idea and wonderful gift! And since I'm in the business of cakes, I gave it a go!

A neighbourly friend who lives in the block across from me is expecting her second child, a baby girl! She has an elder girl who is friends with my boys (they often say hello to each other from the window - I love our little kampong). Little M always gets to see the cakes I'm working on from her window. "Mummy, what is Aunty Debbie doing?" she will ask. My neighbour also has front row seats to my fondant-moulding projects late at night (especially when she has gestational insomnia). I kinda figured I'm probably the only lighted house at 1:00am when I'm working on a delivery for the next day. So I decided to surprise her with a cake she can use!

Here are my ingredients for a diaper cake...

Doll topper, stickers, ribbons and rubber bands

You can also include travel size lotion, soap and powder that baby can use. And of course you'll need diapers!

Roll up each piece of diaper and band it up

Bind it together with a ribbon

I bought this super cute fairy doll from Lamaze, one of my favourite brands. A soft toy makes a great  topper; much like the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae.

This is the top tier

Two tier diaper cake

To complete the 'cake', I got some themed scrapbook art paper and made the 'Baby Girl' tags with glittery stickers and paper cutouts!

Congratulations!

I got a message this morning that the little bub has arrived! Congrats D&T! Welcome to worthwhile sleepless nights all over again.

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