Going One Direction

I had a chance to revisit teen hood when a mummy asked me to make a "1D" cake. At first I thought, so it's not 3D (3-dimensional) or 2D, but what's 1D? (hoping it's not a mathematical concept cake) It's the boys from the Simon Cowell X-Factor franchise, One Direction! (doh moment)

Back in my days, NKOTB ruled. I had the biggest crush on Joey McIntyre (I was young and foolish). I see that the teen music phenomenon hasn't really changed much two decades on. These five English-Irish boys can carry a tune but their main marketing purpose is of course, to endear to pubescent teenage girls. Hence my opportunity to make a 1D cake ; )

So my 10-year-old recipient is a fan of the band. Her mummy was very sweet to think of how best to come up with a 1D cake that would make her daughter's day. While I couldn't make figurines of these singing lads, I thought perhaps we could go with the signature "1D" logo on a cake plus fondant placards with a doodle of the boys to place around the sides.

Here's how it turned out...

Harry Styles

Liam Payne

Louis Tomlinson

Niall Horan

Zayn Malik

I actually spotted this idea while researching online and saw someone doing these faces on cookies! How clever and they look cute too. I made them completely out of fondant and outlined it with Americolor pen.

I asked Mummy V which is Isabelle's favourite 1D guy... she said "I think it's Harry"... went to confirm it and she's right ; ) So Harry gets the middle spot.

Happy Birthday Isabelle

This is the first time I'm covering a cake in black fondant. I really love how intense it looks and I can only imagine how nicely the rainbow inside would stand out. I should replicate this with NKOTB just for laughs. 

And for those of you pop-loving teens back in the 80s, here's 17 boyband facts that will make you feel old. Aah, the good ole days.

Busy Bee

I've been a busy bee.

Since coming back from a trip last week, I've baked a Pororo birthday cake for a handsome little fella (my nephew Tim turned 2) and also made a big batch of red velvet cupcakes for a returning customer. She actually wanted the 'Despicable Me' Minion design but didn't really have the budget for the customised fondant, nonetheless I surprised her and went ahead to make one silly Minion holding a birthday sign ; ) it sure made her day!

But what I really want to blog about is a special order of Honey Beehive cupcakes!  I got the request for the bee themed cupcakes for a BodyShop event. The BodyShop recently put out their Honeymania product line and the cupcakes went out to the media.

I made a lemon butter cupcake with a honey cream cheese beehive swirl. The cupcakes were topped with a honey bee, which I put together using lemon fruit gum and almond slivers for the wings.

Have you heard the buzz?

The details on the honey bee were added with the Americolor gourmet pen. It was so fun putting this together. When I was thinking about what to use as the bee's body, Marks & Spencer's fruit gums came to mind immediately. They are super yummy! But what really made me smile is how the lemon fruit gum is in the perfect shape for a honey bee ; )

I also made some paper toppers with the honey bee artwork. I love the yellow and black theme, it such a great combination. Nature really has great taste!

Honeymania

A friend who went on thebodyshopsg Instagram showed me the postings on the cupcakes. You gotta love social media. I was super thrilled. So glad the recipients enjoyed it.

Another Year, Another Penguin

One year ago, Motherkao got in touch with me for a penguin cake for her little one. So quickly, it's been a year. And when she called me again to bake a cake for Rebekah, I was delighted. It's amazing for me to meet doting mothers through this baking venture of mine, and it's especially heartening when they come back to you after a year... it's almost like being a part of their journey.

So this year, it's another penguin cake for Rebekah. And like last year, I had the help of Dawn - even she laughed that it's penguin time again ; ) We created an adorable penguin figurine, complete with a chain of pearls, three pretty rosettes and a green bow (green being Rebekah's favourite colour). I perched the penguin atop of rainbow cake that is covered in pale icy blue then added small details like turquoise flowers and a bauble border.

Here's the cake...

Happy Birthday Rebekah

In the same week, I also had another returning customer. Mother D first got in touch for full month cakes for her little girl. I made luscious chocolate peanut butter cupcakes for the occasion complete with paper toppers. Now little Isabel is a year old and I got the request for a red velvet cake with a giraffe design! I love making giraffes, they are too cute. 

Here's the cake...

Happy Birthday Isabel

Notice the design is very minimal - a style I've grown to really like and it requires just as much time to get the details very neat and clean. In the end, you get a very elegant-looking cake that could make for a timeless classic.

The Princess Project

My baking soul mate is in town! Dawn is back for the summer school holidays and although she's declared that she's on a baking break, it didn't stop her from galavanting with me to Phoon Huat, Bake It Yourself and Art Friend for supplies. And of course, we baked!

We took on an order together - the first official collaboration. It's a princess cake that includes the full works - ruffles, tiara, bows, flowers and it's got to be pink pink pink! We spent 2 full days together planning, baking and decorating while the kids watched copious amount of TV (we had our hands full!) and ate levelled out cake!                  

I baked my trusty moist chocolate for a two-tier cake with ganache filling. Dawn planned the cake design and showed me how to make fondant ruffles - a repetitively therapeutic thing to do on any given afternoon. We moulded fondant in many shades of pink for the ombre ruffles and had to resist introducing some other complementing colours because the recipient insisted on a pink cake. In the end we used some white for contrast, we just had to.

Here are some scenes from the making of...

The ball tool is essential for ruffles

Here's the ombre skirting

Stacking the pinks

Dawn putting in the finer details

Dawn had made the pretty tiara with gum paste and it sat wonderful atop the cake, making it fit for a princess birthday celebration. When we finally added in the final details, I couldn't imagine how anyone could bear cutting into this cake. It is definitely my most professional-looking cake to date.

The Princess

Happy Birthday Kara

Dawn bakes in Shanghai. If you'd like to follow her amazing cakes, check it out here - Cakes from D'Heart

Before They Grow Up

Hello readers, it's time again for my casual musings. So my younger son James turned 2. We had two small parties and two cakes - Elmo and Cookie Monster. While I can't say he is the biggest Sesame Street fan, he does, however, recognise the furry red monster and the cookie muncher. Nothing is more delightful than hearing your 2-year-old shout out in excitement - "Elmo! Cookie!"

Here are the cakes...

Happy Birthday Jamesy

But I'm not going to wax lyrical about the cakes in this post. As I watch the boys grow from gurgling babies to toddling tots to 3-year-old with an opinion (Jake), I suddenly feel like I'm running out of time.  This precious age of innocence will flash by before they turn into surly teenagers (god help us). We are taking a trip with the boys next month and while I was planning on where to go, it suddenly occurred to me I went from places to see before I have kids, to places to see with your kids before they grow up.

We are fortunate to be able to take the kids on trips. While I lament that with them in tow, it means we'll have to forgo some (nice) restaurants, skip some (cool) museums, forget the pub crawls and night scene and generally keep it kid-friendly, there is a part of me that realises that they are not going to want to travel with us after a certain age. You only have a small window to see the world through their young eyes while they are still filled with wonderment. So that got me thinking, what are the places to see with your kids before they grow up?

Here are some places on my list... in no particular order:

1. Legoland Billund, Denmark
2. Disneyland / Disney World, USA
3. Great Ocean Road, Victoria
4. Great Wall of China, Beijing
5. Terracotta Soldiers, Xi'an
6. Northern Lights, Arctic Circle
7. Big Five, Kenya
8. Las Vegas the husband says no need, you'll always feel like a kid in Vegas
9. Christmas Markets of Europe
10. Vatican City, Rome

I don't know if we'll ever get to some of these places with the boys before they turn 12, well, I have a good decade to work on it. We are checking off one on the list as we head to Melbourne next month! What are some of the places you'd like to see with your kids before they grow up? 

Oh Toodles!

A mummy I knew from childhood got in touch with me when she saw I was baking children's cakes. It's always so nice to hear from old acquaintances who are now mothers, all looking for cakes for their little ones. Mummy A's little boy was going to celebrate his 1st birthday with not one but two Mickey Mouse cakes!

The two cakes were going to be for two separate parties as celebration was spread out over a day - a.m. session and p.m. session. I totally get that; I did that with my boys' birthdays too because we wanted to group our guests such that we can entertain them adequately.

We discussed the design options for Mickey. As you can imagine, there are loads to choose from and every single one looked wonderful - that's the thing with Mickey Mouse, it's a design that always works; it's timeless!

In the end, Mummy A got a very cute plush and some great Mickey character toppers for the two cakes. For one, we had the Mickey plush hugging a cake. Simple enough but when you get the colours right, it's such a very happy cake!

Mickey hugs a cake

Emmanuel's First

Mickey hugs a rich and moist chocolate cake layered with chunky Oreo cream cheese frosting. I love how the red fondant cover complements the plush toy, which admittedly did all the work. All that was needed were some stars, Mickey's emblems and the No.1.

For the second cake, I borrowed from some designs Mummy A sent me - the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse design. Again, the toppers did all the work and I just set the scene for it.

Happy Birthday Emmanuel

Huat Ah!

I come from a family of avid mahjong players. I grew up familiar with the racket of mahjong tiles clacking around the house and inherently know all the high (pong!) and low (grunts from a loser) sounds of the game. No family function is ever complete without a few rounds of mahjong and I've had some cousins who were almost born at the table! My mother at 73 is still at the top of her game. But, guess what, I don't play mahjong. The constant drone of mahjong makes me feel numb; every time I hear those tiles, I get bored, very bored.

I may have missed out on the necessary DNA to play mahjong, but I sure can make a mahjong cake. Considering my disinterest in the game, I was quite excited to get a cake request for the 發 ('fa cai'; prosperity) mahjong tile with a rainbow cake inside. It's my first mahjong cake and making it came quite naturally to me - thanks to those years of packing up mahjong tiles for my mum after the game.

I usually only make round rainbow cakes but I made an exception here and baked the six layers one at a time as I only had one rectangular pan. It was simple enough to cover the cake, one layer of white fondant, followed by a green trimming for the back of the tile. Then came the tricky bit which is carving the chinese character 發.

Here goes...

Happy Birthday Freddie

Birthday boy F had his mahjong and ate it too! Let's hope this brings him lots of good luck at the table.

HUAT AH!